Model 29 - 4” blued pinned vs. mountain gun

[Hammergun]

I am thinking about buying a 4" blued Model 29. I have a 34, 36 and 19 that are all older pinned classic guns. So I'm leaning toward a 29-2. I want to carry it for bear country if I ever get back out there. I will probably only shoot .44 specials in it. I like the tapered cylinder and slimmer barrel and lighter weight on the mountain gun but I don't like the trigger lock. So my question is did they make blued Model 29 mountain guns in a prelock model which would be the best combo for me.

Or is it not worth the 7 oz of weight reduction and I should just find an early model 29.

On another note: I just saw that Talo has a reproduction of the Military 1950 .44 special with fixed sites and smaller original styled diamond grips in Nickel. This would be a cool gun if it were in blued without a trigger lock. What do you all think of that gun?

 

[colt_saa]

None of the Mountain Guns/Revolvers were ever pinned or recessed

The oldest Model 29 Mountain Gun/Mountain Revolver is the 25th SWCA Anniversary revolver.

134 of these were manufactured with 129 of them being embellished. The remaining 5 have no SWCA marking except the serial number. These were built during the -6 engineering revision

I believe that the first non-embellished Model 29 Mountain Gun was during the -8 engineering revision. That was after Saf-T-Hammer bought S&W so it does include the internal lock

While the above revolver remains unfired since leaving the factory, I am a big fan of the Mountain guns and have a blue and stainless in bot 41 Magnum and 45 LC.

 

[RMFnLA]

I cannot imagine a singe reason to not get this in SS.

 

[Muley Gil]

I cannot imagine a singe reason to not get this in SS.

Some folks just don't like stainless.

Welcome to the Forum, Hammergun. I have a M629 Mountain Gun and I really like it. It is about the weight of the M24-3 that I had to sell years ago. Mine is a -4 and is what I carry if I think I might run into a black bear. No lock, but it does have the frame mounted firing pin.

 

[Hammergun]

Thanks for the great replies. Yes the blued preference is just looks. Thanks for the explanations on the locked models etc. So the 629 came out prelocked. That's good to know. I will keep learning. Thanks again.

 

[Meeteetse]

I have both the 629 (44mag) and 625 (45 Colt) Mountain Gun and I love them both. The 625 does not have the lock. The only drawback to the 44 mag is some additional felt recoil because of the slightly lighter frame and barrel. Both are stainless and while I am not a fan of SS it does have some advantages in the weather.

I am curious to know if anyone can put a current value on the Mountain Guns?

 

[JohnRippert]

My personal preference is for a 4inch heavy barrel, which is why I prefer a M19 to a M15 in K frames. That is why I picked up the 4inch Model 29-3 that I found for a good price. I also shoot mainly .44 Special in it.

 

[Pig Hunter]

Get the heavy barrel gun and use it for a while. If you don't like it swap barrels.

 

[Hammergun]

Thanks for the advice. I will do this. That's a great idea. Can you do this and install a lighter weight mountain gun barrel on an older 29-2 vintage gun? Are there good S&W gunsmiths who do this work?
Thanks again
I love the journey of discovery.

 

[Pig Hunter]

Shouldn't be an issue. I put a Mt. Gun barrel on my M-57 without issue.

 

[Hammergun]

So I have another question. Do the 4" barreled model 24's come with tapered barrels and tappered cylinders and are lighter like the mountain guns compared to the Model 29's.

 

[Xfuzz]

I would go with a 29-2.
My current "woods" rig.
No bears in my part of the world.
But it is lighting and thunder on an occasional hog.

 

[kennethg]

Without looking at my 4" 624 (buried in my safe), I know the barrel is tapered and I think the cylinder is a little shorter than 29 cylinder and the cylinder is not configured like the Mt. Gun cylinders. I am not sure of the exact weight comparisons.
I would think the 24-624's might be a little lighter than the 29's and also the 44mag Mt Gun due to the shorter cylinder.

 

[WPWarhawk]

My 624 doesn't have the beveled edges on the cylinder like my Mountain Guns do, and the cylinder is significantly shorter.

If I were in your shoes I'd also look at the model 69. A 5 shot 44 Magnum built on the L frame. Comes with either a 2.75 or 4.25 inch barrel.

 

[WH1]

I would go with a 29-2.
My current "woods" rig.
No bears in my part of the world.
But it is lighting and thunder on an occasional hog.

Very nice! What grips are those?

 

[M29since14]

I also much prefer the heavy barrel Model 29s. Four-inch 44 Magnums are mean enough without the lightweight barrel. Hamilton Bowen once showed me a 4-inch gun he had made by shortening one of the full-lug "Classic" barrels. I don't recall shooting it, but it seemed like a perfect solution to the vicious behavior of 4-inchers. I always wondered why S&W didn't offer that length in the so-called Classic series. I certainly would have been a customer.

 

[Hammergun]

Hi everyone,
I want to thank everyone for their input.
I am going to buy a Model 29-2 4" blued and shoot specials in it mostly. As an engineer I love the parameters of the decision.
That said I was at a friends this week who had several of these guns that we weighed. Here were the results. All were 4" guns SS and rubber grips unless noted.
629 Early Model - .44 mag. - 2.80 lbs.
624 Early Model - .44 spec. - 2.65 lbs.
625 Mt . Gun - .45 Colt - 2.4 lbs.
57 Mtn. Gun - .41 mag. - blued with wood grips - 2.5 lbs.

So the max. Difference is 6.4 oz. for the 629 and 625 Mtn. Gun and 2.4 oz for the 629 to the 624.

That said, I love the blued finish and walnut grips and will enjoy the searching and buying of one of these early models. I may search for a tappered barrel in the future but will see how it goes. Thanks again
Jeff P.

 

[M29since14]

Enjoy your Model 29, when you find it. And Jeff, remember, you can always have more than one! There are plenty to go around.

 

[ColbyBruce]

The 29-5 had the endurance package, not sure which version of the 629 the package started on. Such guns are built a bit stronger to tolerate heavy loads. You might want to look into that.

 

[cowboy4evr]

I have a 629-4 that has the endurance pkg . It's a " no lock " and " no mim " parts if these things are important . It is not pinned nor recessed . regards, Paul