Big Dave in WNC
Member
Hi everyone. Late 50s (semi)retired LEO here. I have taken a really long way around the gun world to get here! I'm very long-winded, but I'll be as brief as I can to introduce myself and give you my background with shooting/S&W.
Growing up in rural western NC in the 70s and 80s, I was a gun nut. My dad was not, and only had three guns in the house (.22 Marlin bolt action, 20 gauge single barrel, and a .22 RG snubbie that he and mom thought sufficient for home defense.) We were also poor, although I got my hands on ANY gun magazine I could, new or used and read them cover to cover. Also, I was such a gun nut, I used to get all of the "freebie" catalogs the gun stores and sporting goods stores used to carry and carried them in my book bags to school. I read these anytime I could-lunch, between classes, on the bus, etc. While I was never able to actually shoot much I could quote most factory ammo muzzle velocities and energies! I even learned the formula for figuring kinetic energy if I only had velocity and bullet weight! And this was in the 8th grade!!!
I had an older cousin however who was my neighbor and he loved guns and shooting and would let me handle and/or shoot about anything he had. Later, my best friend was from a gun and skeet shooting family (they managed the local range and all of them-his mom included-had numerous trophies) and I starting hanging out there.
Around 1980 after a widow in our community was burglarized while she was home, my mom "ordered" my dad to get her "a .38" THAT DAY. I followed dad in the store (around 12 or 13 years old maybe) and while dad was looking at some off-brand .38, I spied a Ruger Security Six .357 and called him over. It was more than my dad wanted to spend, but I began explaining what a great deal it was: Being .357 he could shoot .38's in it, being a Ruger it was very strong and had a great warranty, AND it had the transfer bar safety, so all six chambers could be loaded and carried safely. Now remember I'm a kid basically-but the clerk laughed and told dad "Your boy knows more about these guns than I do!" (Had plenty of "book learning" but no hands on experience.)
While in the store however (while dad did the paperwork) I noticed a GORGEOUS gun-probably the most beautiful handgun I'd ever seen up till them, AND it was also quite intimidating. I first thought it was a "police gun" (I knew my local PD carried 4" M10 bull barrels in nickel, my local SO carried 19's and 66's, and the SHP carried a K-frame .357.)
This was TOO NICE, and TOO SHINY, a bit bigger, and those giant chambers in the cylinder were WAY bigger than a .38 caliber. I zeroed in on it, and it was a 4" Model 29 Nickel, displayed in the blue cloth presentation case. I literally couldn't take my eyes off it. Dad finished and came over and asked what I was looking at. I told him it was a .44 magnum and he laughed about how we would never need "that much gun". We left but this store was a Tire store/Appliance store, garage, and my dad had an in-store credit account there, so we were in there almost monthly buying something or paying on the account. I ALWAYS ran over to the case and looked at the big nickle M29. It was there for years I guess as I recall seeing it for a long time. I even told dad I'd be the Sheriff one day and it would be my duty gun!
I did start hanging out with LEOs and shooting more handguns, and I was biased toward Ruger then, but had to admit the Smiths had more character and were WAY prettier to look at! I owned a Colt Python (which actually gave problems believe it or not) and a few 1911s. Had lots of Smiths over the years, but not one was ever issued, believe it or not. Found that I loved the Airweight J Frames (specifically Bodyguards) for ankle carry/backup. I had some nice Smith's over the years but I've always been a trader and had to trade often to get the "latest greatest". I have one friend though through all that time has ALWAYS been a S&W nut. I swear-I think he has a blue S&W shrine in his house! He was always the one calling and asking "You bought any old Smith and Wesson's lately?" or "If you're not doing anything Saturday lets go the the gun store and Charlotte gun show and look for old classic Smiths!"
Over the years I had many and I'm sure I don't recall all of them. I recall the Bodyguards, a 3" M13, a 3" M10, a 4" M10 BB Nickel, a 3913 when they came out (and I carried it for probably 18 months off duty which was a long-standing record for me until a SIG P239 in the early 2000s), a 469 I carried off-duty in a holster or even some pocket carry (!), a 4506 that while HUGE, allowed me to shoot the tightest "100" I've ever fired in my career, and probably the nicest S&W I ever owned was a 4" M19 round-butt with finger-groove rosewood grips, electoless nickel and and Magna-Ported! I don't recall a moments trouble with ANY OF THEM.
I haven;t looked at revolvers much lately as I can't afford old guns (but have a penchant for "pinned and recessed"!) and am not a fan of any of the lock models.
I became a firearms instructor in mid-career and didn't enjoy shooting as much once it became "work". I also preferred semi-autos so I went maybe 10-15 years without a S&W, EXCEPT the occasional concealed hammer J Frame.
Now not to slander or sling mud but all was not always rosy either. While I was a FI for my agency (medium sized Sheriff's Office) we also allowed a large number of NC DOC staff to use our range (they used it weekly one day a week). In the 2000s I started hearing about DOC revolvers (M67 .357 but .38 Special +P was issue ammo) "blowing up". That turned out to be the barrels loosening and POSSIBLY coming off after untold amounts of rounds. I DO THINK NC DOC tried to keep this on the down-low, as one release I seen said something like "four" revolvers had been affected but one armorer told me he had SIX just in his facility and we heard it was more like 15-20 State-wide. It was a year or two later we heard S&W had agreed to replace these guns FOR FREE with the new M&P .40 semi-auto. The local armorer told me he knew from his paperwork and records that these were free, gun-for-gun trades that S&W offered. After that, DOC did start paying for them. Months later, I started seeing ads about how these guns had been "selected" after "grueling" tests by the NC DOC, as marketing. Yeah, okay... Grueling tests...lol.
Anyway, the earliest first generation of the M&Ps were absolutely garbage in all our opinions. There were uncountable malfunctions, half the guns would drop the magazines while you fired, and so on. Out of 10-12 shooters, firing 50 rounds each, I've seen magazines fall as much as 20 times in a course of fire. Instructors initially blamed the shooters, telling them they were hitting the mag releases, but it became more obvious some were no where near the release, and it would do it with US firing them. The main instructors even had to come up with new range procedures to deal with all the dropped magazines during sequences of fire, and it got to the point no instructor ever even challenged alibi rounds, even if it was the entire sequence of fire. Some of the instructors even started telling shooters to insert the magazine G-E-N-T-L-Y, and then just LIGHTLY press it ever-so-gently until it clicked, and "NEVER slam it in" (yeah...like that would happen in a gunfight
). Some of the long time instructors (NC DOC or retired LEOs that contracted with the community college, but were not direct DOC employees) that had always thought the WORLD of S&W would go on long rants slamming the guns, NC DOC, Smith and Wesson, etc.
Meanwhile, a few years later, my main "S&W buddy" I mentioned earlier worked PT in a gun store. I was looking for a single-column compact 9mm (to carry if my G26 was too thick) and he pushed the new Shield over to me. I (firstly) adamantly refused given my experience with the early M&Ps. He told me the Shield was a very refined model, and suffered NONE of the new issues of the early M&Ps. He stayed on me until I tried the trigger and admittedly I like it. I bought it and took it to the range, almost EXPECTING it to fail. Ended up LOVING it, and it became my main off-duty gun. My wife shot it and I noticed she shot it 50% better than HER G26, so both G26s got traded! We still have these first gen Shields today and I picked her a Shield Plus a few months ago, so we have THREE Shields now!
And to end this and tie back in to the first paragraphs, I have ALWAYS wanted a Model 29 but never owned one. I decided a while back to get one, and I really pondered trying to land a 29-2 or 29-3 in 4 inch nickel like the one I used to gush over in the tire store, but I felt like a blued model would be more to my liking. I let 2 or 3 pass as I didn't have enough cash squirreled away. FINALLY, last week I found her! I was able to pick up a Model 29-2 6" blue in dang near immaculate condition at a gun store in Georgia. It's being shipped as I type this, and I may have it as early as tomorrow afternoon.
Hunting for, locating, going to get and buying that big beautiful N frame was the most exhilarating gun purchase (or maybe "anything" purchase) I've made in YEARS! I can't wait to shoot it and I can't wait to find my next old Smith revolver!
Growing up in rural western NC in the 70s and 80s, I was a gun nut. My dad was not, and only had three guns in the house (.22 Marlin bolt action, 20 gauge single barrel, and a .22 RG snubbie that he and mom thought sufficient for home defense.) We were also poor, although I got my hands on ANY gun magazine I could, new or used and read them cover to cover. Also, I was such a gun nut, I used to get all of the "freebie" catalogs the gun stores and sporting goods stores used to carry and carried them in my book bags to school. I read these anytime I could-lunch, between classes, on the bus, etc. While I was never able to actually shoot much I could quote most factory ammo muzzle velocities and energies! I even learned the formula for figuring kinetic energy if I only had velocity and bullet weight! And this was in the 8th grade!!!
I had an older cousin however who was my neighbor and he loved guns and shooting and would let me handle and/or shoot about anything he had. Later, my best friend was from a gun and skeet shooting family (they managed the local range and all of them-his mom included-had numerous trophies) and I starting hanging out there.
Around 1980 after a widow in our community was burglarized while she was home, my mom "ordered" my dad to get her "a .38" THAT DAY. I followed dad in the store (around 12 or 13 years old maybe) and while dad was looking at some off-brand .38, I spied a Ruger Security Six .357 and called him over. It was more than my dad wanted to spend, but I began explaining what a great deal it was: Being .357 he could shoot .38's in it, being a Ruger it was very strong and had a great warranty, AND it had the transfer bar safety, so all six chambers could be loaded and carried safely. Now remember I'm a kid basically-but the clerk laughed and told dad "Your boy knows more about these guns than I do!" (Had plenty of "book learning" but no hands on experience.)
While in the store however (while dad did the paperwork) I noticed a GORGEOUS gun-probably the most beautiful handgun I'd ever seen up till them, AND it was also quite intimidating. I first thought it was a "police gun" (I knew my local PD carried 4" M10 bull barrels in nickel, my local SO carried 19's and 66's, and the SHP carried a K-frame .357.)
This was TOO NICE, and TOO SHINY, a bit bigger, and those giant chambers in the cylinder were WAY bigger than a .38 caliber. I zeroed in on it, and it was a 4" Model 29 Nickel, displayed in the blue cloth presentation case. I literally couldn't take my eyes off it. Dad finished and came over and asked what I was looking at. I told him it was a .44 magnum and he laughed about how we would never need "that much gun". We left but this store was a Tire store/Appliance store, garage, and my dad had an in-store credit account there, so we were in there almost monthly buying something or paying on the account. I ALWAYS ran over to the case and looked at the big nickle M29. It was there for years I guess as I recall seeing it for a long time. I even told dad I'd be the Sheriff one day and it would be my duty gun!
I did start hanging out with LEOs and shooting more handguns, and I was biased toward Ruger then, but had to admit the Smiths had more character and were WAY prettier to look at! I owned a Colt Python (which actually gave problems believe it or not) and a few 1911s. Had lots of Smiths over the years, but not one was ever issued, believe it or not. Found that I loved the Airweight J Frames (specifically Bodyguards) for ankle carry/backup. I had some nice Smith's over the years but I've always been a trader and had to trade often to get the "latest greatest". I have one friend though through all that time has ALWAYS been a S&W nut. I swear-I think he has a blue S&W shrine in his house! He was always the one calling and asking "You bought any old Smith and Wesson's lately?" or "If you're not doing anything Saturday lets go the the gun store and Charlotte gun show and look for old classic Smiths!"
Over the years I had many and I'm sure I don't recall all of them. I recall the Bodyguards, a 3" M13, a 3" M10, a 4" M10 BB Nickel, a 3913 when they came out (and I carried it for probably 18 months off duty which was a long-standing record for me until a SIG P239 in the early 2000s), a 469 I carried off-duty in a holster or even some pocket carry (!), a 4506 that while HUGE, allowed me to shoot the tightest "100" I've ever fired in my career, and probably the nicest S&W I ever owned was a 4" M19 round-butt with finger-groove rosewood grips, electoless nickel and and Magna-Ported! I don't recall a moments trouble with ANY OF THEM.
I haven;t looked at revolvers much lately as I can't afford old guns (but have a penchant for "pinned and recessed"!) and am not a fan of any of the lock models.I became a firearms instructor in mid-career and didn't enjoy shooting as much once it became "work". I also preferred semi-autos so I went maybe 10-15 years without a S&W, EXCEPT the occasional concealed hammer J Frame.
Now not to slander or sling mud but all was not always rosy either. While I was a FI for my agency (medium sized Sheriff's Office) we also allowed a large number of NC DOC staff to use our range (they used it weekly one day a week). In the 2000s I started hearing about DOC revolvers (M67 .357 but .38 Special +P was issue ammo) "blowing up". That turned out to be the barrels loosening and POSSIBLY coming off after untold amounts of rounds. I DO THINK NC DOC tried to keep this on the down-low, as one release I seen said something like "four" revolvers had been affected but one armorer told me he had SIX just in his facility and we heard it was more like 15-20 State-wide. It was a year or two later we heard S&W had agreed to replace these guns FOR FREE with the new M&P .40 semi-auto. The local armorer told me he knew from his paperwork and records that these were free, gun-for-gun trades that S&W offered. After that, DOC did start paying for them. Months later, I started seeing ads about how these guns had been "selected" after "grueling" tests by the NC DOC, as marketing. Yeah, okay... Grueling tests...lol.
Anyway, the earliest first generation of the M&Ps were absolutely garbage in all our opinions. There were uncountable malfunctions, half the guns would drop the magazines while you fired, and so on. Out of 10-12 shooters, firing 50 rounds each, I've seen magazines fall as much as 20 times in a course of fire. Instructors initially blamed the shooters, telling them they were hitting the mag releases, but it became more obvious some were no where near the release, and it would do it with US firing them. The main instructors even had to come up with new range procedures to deal with all the dropped magazines during sequences of fire, and it got to the point no instructor ever even challenged alibi rounds, even if it was the entire sequence of fire. Some of the instructors even started telling shooters to insert the magazine G-E-N-T-L-Y, and then just LIGHTLY press it ever-so-gently until it clicked, and "NEVER slam it in" (yeah...like that would happen in a gunfight
). Some of the long time instructors (NC DOC or retired LEOs that contracted with the community college, but were not direct DOC employees) that had always thought the WORLD of S&W would go on long rants slamming the guns, NC DOC, Smith and Wesson, etc. Meanwhile, a few years later, my main "S&W buddy" I mentioned earlier worked PT in a gun store. I was looking for a single-column compact 9mm (to carry if my G26 was too thick) and he pushed the new Shield over to me. I (firstly) adamantly refused given my experience with the early M&Ps. He told me the Shield was a very refined model, and suffered NONE of the new issues of the early M&Ps. He stayed on me until I tried the trigger and admittedly I like it. I bought it and took it to the range, almost EXPECTING it to fail. Ended up LOVING it, and it became my main off-duty gun. My wife shot it and I noticed she shot it 50% better than HER G26, so both G26s got traded! We still have these first gen Shields today and I picked her a Shield Plus a few months ago, so we have THREE Shields now!
And to end this and tie back in to the first paragraphs, I have ALWAYS wanted a Model 29 but never owned one. I decided a while back to get one, and I really pondered trying to land a 29-2 or 29-3 in 4 inch nickel like the one I used to gush over in the tire store, but I felt like a blued model would be more to my liking. I let 2 or 3 pass as I didn't have enough cash squirreled away. FINALLY, last week I found her! I was able to pick up a Model 29-2 6" blue in dang near immaculate condition at a gun store in Georgia. It's being shipped as I type this, and I may have it as early as tomorrow afternoon.
Hunting for, locating, going to get and buying that big beautiful N frame was the most exhilarating gun purchase (or maybe "anything" purchase) I've made in YEARS! I can't wait to shoot it and I can't wait to find my next old Smith revolver!
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Her dad is in that area, and we have family in Monroe, Tucker, Cornelia, Ball Ground, and Monticello.
