Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns S&W 29-2

My first 29-2 (and first Model 29) was a 6.5". I have put many thousands of rounds through that gun. For a long time it was my only centerfire revolver, so it filled a lot of roles.

After years of reading articles by Ross Seyfried, John Taffin, Elmer Keith, etc, I contemplated for considerable time on what would be my ideal "Perfect .44".

I finally decided to have it built.

My favorite 29-2 is my 5" that was built from an 8 & 3/8ths" gun. The barrel was cut back and set up with the same interchangeable front sight system as the Classic/DX revolvers. The wide serrated trigger was narrowed and polished.







From experience I found that the 5" was the sweet spot.

4" barrels were outstanding for a gun carried on the belt in a traditional holster. There was no reason to go shorter either as it did not gain you anything. With a 4" gun, with typical .44 Mag loads, recoil was still quite considerable. The sight radius was a disadvantage as compared to a 6.5" gun, but with practice you could still turn in some good accuracy.

The 6.5" guns, without question were the tops (for me) for hunting. Bear in mind that this is all in the pre-red dot sight days. As far as iron sight shooting, the 6.5" barreled Model 29 was perfect for getting optimal accuracy, especially at any decent distance. The downside was that it was not great for a belt carried gun, and getting into and out of a pickup truck on a regular basis. Great for hunting, but not great for a daily carry type gun.

The 5" gun was the ideal spot between. It was short enough, that when paired with a high quality holster like a 55BN from Milt Sparks, it was comfortable to carry all day on the belt, and was not a hinderance getting into and out of vehicles. The sight radius was such that I definitely shot it better than a 4" gun. As far as recoil goes. That extra 1" of barrel was notable. The 5" barrel really is the ideal barrel length for N Frames for me. It may not be for others, for various reasons such as height, or build or other reasons, but for me, it is perfect.