Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Request for info on Smith and Wesson 29

I just got a 4" blue Smith 29-2.
Smooth wood factory grips.
I'm the right side of the pistol are the words "Performance Tuned".
I'd be grateful for any information regarding this.
Thank you in advance.

Internet S&W scuttlebutt has it that:

"It was an extra cost service S&W offered just prior to their Performance Center start up, which included full action tuning with PERFORMANCE TUNED laser engraved on side plate."

Is there anything known about the specifics of the tuning? Does it include the endurance package?

No idea, Elmer. Was told by S&W customer service they can't answer that question, and that one would have to submit a written request to S&W Historical Foundation to get that level of precision on what the service involved.

Elmer,

It is unlikely to include an endurance package. More likely than not it is some light polish/stone work of the sear and trigger engagement surfaces, lightening of the poundage of the DA trigger pull, narrowing and smoothing of the actual trigger, and removing of the serrations if the trigger was a serrated one.

The trigger has obviously been altered, grooves removed, rounded & polished.

The cylinder does seem to have the longer notches that was part of endurance package. Not original for a dash 2.

Look at hammer spring to see if it's been ground.

And, I don't think the grips are factory, not S&W factory anyway. Nice though.

Bet it's a sweet shooter.

The endurance package was a design change that was done starting with dash 3, so it's unlikely to have it.

So it's from before the "Replace Some Cosmetic Parts Center" started?

Would like to know what "full action tuning" really means. But, since I don't own a S&W revolver with this notation on the side plate and they won't accept phone calls, I won't be chasing it down with the S&W Historical Foundation.

That's funny right there!!

you could ask over on the S&W forum but be careful how you ask it or NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!

Lol. Yeah.

😂😂

The stocks look like Herretts Roper's. No medallions but great feel in a normal sized hand.

That’s a nice one!
I’ve had my fair share of S&W’s over the years but never saw one with that engraving.
Very cool!

That's a prize in my book. I'd love to shoot it.

I’m only speculating here… I seem to remember something from back in the early days of Magnaport, Maybe an article or two about their now offering revolver tuning besides just porting. IIRC, they didn’t start as a “full service “ operation at first, just did the porting. It’s difficult to tell, given the level of resolution in the OP pictures, but enlarging it as best I can, it looks to me like the “engraving” might very well have been done via EDM. If I had the piece in hand I would be able to say with a very high degree of accuracy. As it is, I’m basing my speculation on the appearance of the letters, the somewhat soft radii on the corners and what appears to be the lack of a sharp, well-defined edge that a cutting tool would use…more like what I would expect of an EDM’d edge without using multiple, fresh electrodes. Given that Magnaport, when they started, was pretty much just an EDM shop, it would make sense to me if that were the case. Again, just speculation based on technical experience and an old memory.

Never seen or heard of one before this thread. I like the smooth trigger. Looks like a real gem in the pics. With some good leather that's a real packer for street or trail.

cra1948, I had enough interest in this yesterday to call Magnaport. They assured me that this "PERFORMANCE TUNED" package was not their work. Who knows.

My go to smith reference, 80 year old lifelong collector. Probably has more smith's than anyone on the east coast got back to me.
Thank you guys for the interesting information and speculation.
The pistol was a Lew Horton acquisition. They were bought from smith and Horton had them tuned and marked. Grips were added by Horton and are origanal to the new purchase.