Value of "unhappy" 6 1/2" Model 29-2 (kinda long)

[grinchcop]

I'll cut to the chase: one of my guys ended up being the executor of his late partner's estate. Among a number of firearms was a Model 29-2 (P&R, blued with 6.5" barrel). I asked to see it, but was UNpleasantly surprised.
It appears that it was fired years ago, then stored without cleaning. The barrel is heavily leaded and might have some pitting, but I can't tell. There might also be some damage on the chamber walls, but it was hard to say for sure (dirty gun + poor lighting). There is some evidence of pitting on both the face of the cylinder and the recoil shield, but none I saw on the exterior of the frame or barrel. The white outline is missing from the sight blade, having been "eaten" away by corrosion and the red front sight insert has been replaced by a yellow one. It's out of time on 4 chambers.

Now the bad part....

The side plate appears to have been heavily (and unevenly) polished, then reblued. The sideplate's finish matches the rest of the gun nicely, but there's no evidence the rest of the gun was refinished. The rear half of the S&W logo was removed during the polishing and it appears that some serious gouges might been removed, based on light marks still evident. The cylinder has almost no drag line on 1/2, but the other half shows a drag line that is a deep furrow!

No box/papers, no history and Pachmayr Presentation grips only.

I had no camera to document what it looks like, but I think that I've accurately described it. What do you think that he should do? Sell it as is? Send it to S&W for diagnostics & repair? Sinker for lake trout?

Thanks for any suggestions or advice I can pass on.

John

 

[grinchcop]

I'll cut to the chase: one of my guys ended up being the executor of his late partner's estate. Among a number of firearms was a Model 29-2 (P&R, blued with 6.5" barrel). I asked to see it, but was UNpleasantly surprised.
It appears that it was fired years ago, then stored without cleaning. The barrel is heavily leaded and might have some pitting, but I can't tell. There might also be some damage on the chamber walls, but it was hard to say for sure (dirty gun + poor lighting). There is some evidence of pitting on both the face of the cylinder and the recoil shield, but none I saw on the exterior of the frame or barrel. The white outline is missing from the sight blade, having been "eaten" away by corrosion and the red front sight insert has been replaced by a yellow one. It's out of time on 4 chambers.

Now the bad part....

The side plate appears to have been heavily (and unevenly) polished, then reblued. The sideplate's finish matches the rest of the gun nicely, but there's no evidence the rest of the gun was refinished. The rear half of the S&W logo was removed during the polishing and it appears that some serious gouges might been removed, based on light marks still evident. The cylinder has almost no drag line on 1/2, but the other half shows a drag line that is a deep furrow!

No box/papers, no history and Pachmayr Presentation grips only.

I had no camera to document what it looks like, but I think that I've accurately described it. What do you think that he should do? Sell it as is? Send it to S&W for diagnostics & repair? Sinker for lake trout?

Thanks for any suggestions or advice I can pass on.

John

 

[arfmel]

Clean it up and put it on auction with good photographs. It sounds like a good candidate for the parts bins at Numrich Gun parts, otherwise.

 

[Oryguner]

The sad fate of an unfortunate few fine old S&W's. I purchased a "salvaged" pistol which had suffered similar poor care. Mine was originally a blued, 4 screw, S170,XXX .44 Mag that had rested in it's case in a damp environment until the right side had thoroughly rusted.

Purchased by a local gunsmith, when I found it, he had replaced the original barrel with a 5" classic tube and refinished it in a very dark, matte black. Side plate logo is also very thin. I guess I felt sorry for the old girl and bought it on a whim. Not as elegant as her former self but still a fine shooter.

 

[grinchcop]

Arfmel & Oryguner;

Thanks for the replies.

I have no desire to take on a project like this, and neither does the estate's executor. I think that I'll do the photo thing and then see if maybe someone here might want to try to resurrect it. I have to come up with some type of value, so guesses would be welcome.

I will work on the barrel and see if I can get some of the leading out. Hopefully, the bore is okay. What a shame.

John

 

[mod57]

I wish I could fall into something like this. Model 29s don't grow on trees around here.
regards,
Ralph

 

[okie john]

Sounds like a candidate for a hunter's revolver. The fouling will probably scrub out. The sights are a fairly straightforward fix. I'd have Smith address the timing, then hard chrome the carcass and shoot the hell out of it. It would be great for shooting blacktails in the rain around here. Karl Sokol at Chestnut Mountain Sports could probably do the work. If all else fails, send it to Hamilton Bowen or Alpha Precision to be made into an ultra-precise, ultra-accurate 45.

As for price, if it's as raggedy as you say, I'd guess $250 is about right. Certainly not much more...


Okie John

 

[grinchcop]

I'm going to try to get ahold of this thing tomorrow and take some pics. It's in a holding pattern (I think that 11-12-08 is the date that the estate's property can start being sold off). All proceeds will go back to the court; what is left will go to the daughter.

At least there were a couple of other really cherry firearms that were all quickly spoken for by his friends, who've generously offered market value because of the situation.

I think that this particular specimen is more a liability than an asset. However, as a few of you have pointed out, some funding and TLC might turn this into something very special.

Thanks for the input. I'll share it with those involved and see how they wish to proceed.