Is this a 629–2 Magna-Port

[doubletapp357]

A gentleman offered this to me and said it's a 629–2 Mountain Gun. It's ported with a tapered barrel. Grips are not original but has box and paperwork…..

I've been wanting a 4 inch for a while!
I can't find anything on this.

 

[doubletapp357]

Other pictures won't upload

Not too sure why

 

[doubletapp357]

There we go!

Sorry about that! I'm going to take a look at it tomorrow

 

[s&wchad]

That is a 629-2 Mountain Revolver, but it's been modified.
They originally came with a beadblasted finish. The one you're considering has been heavily polished, except for the thumbpiece. The Mag-Na-Porting is almost certainly aftermarket. They were supplied with K-Frame Pachmayr Grippers that would stretch to fit, because round butt N-Frame grippers weren't available at the time.

 

[Bald1]

The generally sell for about $1k with original grips , box etc……. Sometimes a little more

 

[Baxter6551]

I agree while the ports may have been done by MagNaPort, I don't think they would have done that to the finish. Absent any invoice from MagnaPort I would price it lower thank a stock 29-2 unless you really like the polished finish and are willing to pay more for it.
I bought a 29-3 last year that was Magnaported and hard chromed. I sent photos to their customer service and they said those were their ports and possibly their finish - but they could not research by serial number. The shop I purchased it from who knew the owner said they thought it might have gone to Metalife for the hard chrome.

 

[stansdds]

The ports appear to be trapezoidal in shape, that is Mag-Na-Port's standard port shape. The revolver has also been polished and the stocks are replacements. Who knows what was done to the internals or how much it was shot or what ammo was shot in it. Given all the modifications, I'd say a fair market value is going to be under $1000.

 

[Engine49guy]

The 629-2 was the first "Mountain Revolver".
Has the old style square front target sight leaf,
Afaik it's the only one that came with the satin bead blast finish.
Cons are the bead blast finish will polish from holster wear and can't be easily fixed like the satin SS finish,
The dash 2 is pre endurance package so not as strong as a dash 3 and up,
The old rear sight means it's not drilled and tapped for mounting scopes or red dots etc.
When you see the box look for any marking on the box end that might say " Magnaport".
Iirc a small amount were sent from SW to Magnaport to be modified with the ports exactly Iike yours.
The Magnaporting has kinda fallen out of favor so some put them below one without it,
If you like ported revolvers it's a big plus because you don't have to send it off and she'll out the $$$.
I would look at it in two ways,
If the box indicates it was originally magnaported you could bead blast it to original finish and get a set or original style Pachmayers and put it away as a collector piece or if it speaks to you as is make an offer you can be happy with and shoot it.
Imo the Magnaports don't make much of an improvement but they do vent gasses towards the barrel front sight and sight ramp which will need to be cleaned more often.

 

[doubletapp357]

Here is what the gentleman sent me…. He claims under 1000 were done like this

 

[Bald1]

That is indeed the Mountain Revolver. It came before the Mountain Gun. I've heard others say there were 1000 produced. They are much more common than that. According to S&W 4th edition 5000 were produced. One just sold on this forum last month. The Magna Porting was definitely done later. For what it's worth I have a Magna Ported 6" 629-2. It does reduce muzzle flip and felt recoil. But it's a bit louder if that matters to you.

 

[doubletapp357]

How much would you say it's worth

That is indeed the Mountain Revolver. It came before the Mountain Gun. I've heard others say there were 1000 produced. They are much more common than that. According to S&W 4th edition 5000 were produced. One just sold on this forum last month. The Magna Porting was definitely done later. For what it's worth I have a Magna Ported 6" 629-2. It does reduce muzzle flip and felt recoil. But it's a bit louder if that matters to you.

He wants $1000 Trade

 

[Bald1]

He wants $1000 or he wants $1000 in edition to a trade? A thousand to purchase outright is a fair price. Collectors will say Magna Port lowers values but many shooters like it.

 

[doubletapp357]

he values his 629-2 at $1000 trade value….. I declined

 

[hkcavalier]

Not aware of factory Mag-na-porting on the original MRs, but as my wife reminds me, I am often mistaken.

 

[Bald1]

he values his 629-2 at $1000 trade value….. I declined

I see. Yeah that'd be all the money for it. I forgot about the polished finish till I went back and looked at pics. It looks like it's been shot a fair amount. But again it's a limited run S&W. So there's that.

 

[Engine49guy]

I have two 629-2 Mountain Revolvers,
One is Magnaported exactly like yours and also has the BDV serial prefix, the other is a BDW Serial prefix and is not.
While there is no mention of the Magnaporting option there are other 629 variations that did so SW offered other 629 models with it.
I didn't keep notes there was a thread discussing that a batch of the 629-2 Mountain revolvers were shipped to Magnaport for the porting, I thought a sticker or stamp was applied but it's been many years.

 

[CH4]

Although I believe some Mountain Guns were Magnaported OEM via Magnaport, none of the 5000 -2 Mountain Revolvers were.

625-6 MG with OEM Magnaporting
629-2 Mountain Revolver

I bought both NIB