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Howdy all. Earlier this week I picked up a 6" 629 at one of my LGSs. When I bought it 10 days before (thank you California 10 day wait), I really did not look at it at all other than a cursory look to try and corroborate the claims it was "like new, in box, possibly unfired". I just wanted another 629 (but then again, when don't I), and (as I told my wife) it would have been irresponsible not to buy this one considering the price it was listed for ($700, remember I am in California). This gun was part of an estate, and the collection had several firearms that appeared unfired. I ended up getting three of them (the 629, an Anaconda, and a Ruger New Model Blackhawk in .357 / 9mm), all apparently unfired, all roughly like new, in box (the Ruger is minus original paperwork), and at what I consider decent to excellent prices even for average guns.
I did not really look at the 629 all that close. Just picked it up, held it a few seconds, and looked it over for defects / abuse. I did notice it was P&R and that it was a no dash, saying MOD629. So I guessed 1979 to 1982 range as when it was produced. Other than drag marks on the cylinder the revolver looks new.
When I picked the guns up was the first time I looked at the 629 box. Blue cardboard (as I expect for those years) and in excellent condition, with only a few marks from shipping / sliding across the counter (mostly on the bottom). All original paperwork, the Smith and Wesson marked brown waxed packing papers, and the tools were present, as claimed.
However, the box does not have any of the printing on it I expected ("Pistol", "Revolver", Smith and Wesson", roped border, etc). It is the right color blue, but with no printing on the outside. Also, I noticed there was no paper label on the box, and no residue where it appeared a label may have been and had fallen off. To the best of my ability to determine, there has never been a sticker on this box. Inside the box there is an envelope, and in that envelope is the expected sticker and another sticker I have not seen before. The first sticker has obviously been on something before, and the second is cut out of a light cardboard box surface.
One of my wooden cased 29s was originally shipped in a brown cardboard box. If I took the stickers off that cardboard box they would look something like the stickers that came with this 629. But I wonder why it is now in a blue box if it came with a wooden case, or possibly did this blue cardboard box come inside a brown cardboard shipping box?
Looking at the serial number of the revolver, and the box sticker, it is in the first 100 after the initial production serial of N748564.
So I do not know if this is a replacement box, or if it was something Smith did in the early 629 production revolvers. I know all the other 629s I have do have some kind of printing on the cardboard the box.
Outside of box:
Box open:
T!
I did not really look at the 629 all that close. Just picked it up, held it a few seconds, and looked it over for defects / abuse. I did notice it was P&R and that it was a no dash, saying MOD629. So I guessed 1979 to 1982 range as when it was produced. Other than drag marks on the cylinder the revolver looks new.
When I picked the guns up was the first time I looked at the 629 box. Blue cardboard (as I expect for those years) and in excellent condition, with only a few marks from shipping / sliding across the counter (mostly on the bottom). All original paperwork, the Smith and Wesson marked brown waxed packing papers, and the tools were present, as claimed.
However, the box does not have any of the printing on it I expected ("Pistol", "Revolver", Smith and Wesson", roped border, etc). It is the right color blue, but with no printing on the outside. Also, I noticed there was no paper label on the box, and no residue where it appeared a label may have been and had fallen off. To the best of my ability to determine, there has never been a sticker on this box. Inside the box there is an envelope, and in that envelope is the expected sticker and another sticker I have not seen before. The first sticker has obviously been on something before, and the second is cut out of a light cardboard box surface.
One of my wooden cased 29s was originally shipped in a brown cardboard box. If I took the stickers off that cardboard box they would look something like the stickers that came with this 629. But I wonder why it is now in a blue box if it came with a wooden case, or possibly did this blue cardboard box come inside a brown cardboard shipping box?
Looking at the serial number of the revolver, and the box sticker, it is in the first 100 after the initial production serial of N748564.
So I do not know if this is a replacement box, or if it was something Smith did in the early 629 production revolvers. I know all the other 629s I have do have some kind of printing on the cardboard the box.
Outside of box:
Box open:
T!
