Early 5" Pre-29 with a story.***UPDATE***
- Thread starter 29-1
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handejector
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What a fortuitous event-
that the gun and letters remained together. So many guns have an interesting history that gets lost to time forever. Buying the gun from his heirs instead of the original owner would likely have caused much of this history to be lost. I am so glad for you. Great gun, great story.
Thanks for sharing, Chuck.
that the gun and letters remained together. So many guns have an interesting history that gets lost to time forever. Buying the gun from his heirs instead of the original owner would likely have caused much of this history to be lost. I am so glad for you. Great gun, great story.
Thanks for sharing, Chuck.
curt hanshaw
Member
chuck,that is a very special gun,i know your proud of it and you should be.thanks for sharing.curt.
I wonder why he ordered from a dealer in Quantico, Virginia rather than one closer to home. It did appear that he got a pretty good deal that way though.
I am absolutely stunned! I am a fanatic for the 5" N-frames, and to date, have never seen a Pre-29 or a 29 with that barrel length, although I know they existed. I have obtained a 5" 44 Special 1950 Target, a 5" .45 ACP 1950 Target, a 5" Heavy-Duty and a 5" pre-27. The history of that gun is outstanding as well; that is what makes this collecting business so much fun.
Thank you for sharing!
MikeyL
"Life's tough. Tougher when you're stupid." -John Wayne
Thank you for sharing!
MikeyL
"Life's tough. Tougher when you're stupid." -John Wayne
29-1, thanks for sharing a gorgeous revolver and a compelling story.
Did anyone else notice that the Dr. Copperidge also ordered two boxes of 150-grain .308 Winchester ammo when he ordered his custom Model 29? On 14 March 1956, the 308 would have been hot off the press, just like the 44 Magnum.
Seems like the good doctor was consistently ahead of the power curve.
Okie John
Did anyone else notice that the Dr. Copperidge also ordered two boxes of 150-grain .308 Winchester ammo when he ordered his custom Model 29? On 14 March 1956, the 308 would have been hot off the press, just like the 44 Magnum.
Seems like the good doctor was consistently ahead of the power curve.
Okie John
OP
OJ, Jim Coppridge was definately ahead of his time gunwise in 1956 when he ordered this 44 Magnum. Ex-Army, competitive marksman, had dinner with Carl Hellstrom in 1956 at the Tampa Mid-Winter Nationals, a big game hunter, etc., Jim knew S&Ws and better yet, exactly what he wanted in a S&W revolver-a 5" barrel! It just took the factory a really long time to accomodate his request!
Chuck
Great documentation and history. It appears the good doctor really knew how to take car of his firearms as that one looks like new! I wonder how often he took it to the field?
OP
Night Owl, Dr. Coppridge hardly fired this example, preferring his 5" pre-24 .44 Special instead.
Interesting. To wait all that time and then find that you like your old gun better. Must have been a disappointment. I know it would have been for me.
Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the info.
I don't think he was dissappointed. He just wanted to 'collect' it! He obviously liked 5" N frames.
OP
I think this is probably the case as he had other 44 Magnums that he did shoot and reload for. This one was special because he waited so long for it. Good question though and I'm going to ask him the next time we speak.
H P Bushrod
Absent Comrade
Thanks for sharing the history of that rare pre-29. I wish we could have the kind of customer service today that was available in 1956.
OP
BTT for some pretty exciting news, to me anyway, concerning this rare revolver.
Great news, Chuck! What a score.
Thanks for the update,
Jerry
Thanks for the update,
Jerry
Apparently, your revolver was listed as being sold on June 30 when the order was placed. Correct? It was the first five inch sold and the second one shipped since S173849 was shipped on July 16, 1957. The gun that we thought was a 5-screw was really not made until late August or early September of 1957.
Bill
Bill
OP
Bill, Roy said that it was a Special Order that Hellstrom had to approve and that since he was close friends with the VanOrden's at Evaluators, it was allowed to be placed. He said the gun was then special ordered and put into production on 4/6/1956, but not entered into the production records until 6/30/56 and marked sold that same date because it in fact was already sold to Evaluators. Therefore, S172846 is the unknown 5" gun listed in the production records for 6/30/56. It just took over 18 months to get filled and finally shipped out. Why it didn't get shipped until 2 months after S173849 is unknown, but my belief is that S172846 was a manufactured 5" barrel which the factory was not set up to produce in .44 Magnum at that date in a reasonbly timely manner (see Miller's letter, where he even mentions to Coppridge that he, Coppridge, should buy a regular 6 1/2 model, shoot it a while and then send it back to the factory later and have it cut back to 5"), and S173849 which was a cut-down 6 1/2 " requiring only a few days to produce since no special tooling was required. There apparently is no 5 screw 5" 44 Magnum as we previously assumed and had hoped for. I'm glad to get this finally cleared up because I felt all along that the early date Coppridge ordered the gun (March/April 1956) and the entry into the production logs of a 5" 44 magnum on 6/30/1956 was more than coincidental.
Chuck
Chuck... Pre-Model 29,S154457, 5-inch, BT, was shipped to Rex Firearms in August 1959. I don't know if it has a 5-screw frame, but its serial number suggests it should have.
Bill
Bill
OP
Bill, one would think so. Maybe it'll turn up some day and we can know for sure. A look at the database however, tells me it could be either 4/5 screw in the S154XXX range. Just another one we won't know about for sure unless it turns up, but there's always hope
