I am looking at buying a very early model 29 (made in the late 1950s). I am concerned about its strength as far as modern 44 mag loads are concerned. I do not have any firearms that I do not shoot so it will get plenty use.

Any input on this matter??

I've shot a couple 29s lose. That won't happen to a 27.

I've shot a couple loose enough to require factory service, back in the '80s. One a no dash and the other a 29-1.
One had to be replaced. Go easy on the earlier 29s. I own a 629-4, which has the full endurance package - but still wouldn'r feed it what I would a Redhawk or SRH. Beautiful revolvers though and I'll always own at least one.

The early ones did have a tendency to "shoot loose" They added the endurance kit to later models for a reason. That being said unless you want full house loads on a consistent basis they will hold up to more than most will shoot in a life time. Do the normal checks as it is used, End shake being a big one.

I consider early 29s to be .44 Specials that can occasionally handle full Magnum for special purposes, such as big game or bear defense.

This is my very nice 29-2. When I got it, it looked very little used (still does). I've only put like 50 rounds of full magnums through it.

If you're asking, you might want to get a -4 or later. IMO though, guns like you describe are fine with 240 grain loads at say 1400 fps, IOW normal old-school, 44 Mags. If you're shooting these fire-breathing 300 grainers, you probably want something different. Of course if your gun has already been shot a lot, then all bets are off.

Thank you guys. In your opinion when did the model 29 loose the smoothness of the original models???? After the pinned and recessed were gone????

That would be dash 3. The dash 3 (1983) changes (getting rid of pinned barrels and recessed chambers) were largely for cheapening production costs, but some of the changes were legitimately for increasing durability with heavy loads.

If you have a pre-83 Model 29, do most of your shooting with lead .44 "Magnum" light loads, or .44 Special lead loads, and it will last several lifetimes. Save the full power jacketed heavy Magnums for big game hunting or bear defense.

Stick with 10 grains of Unique and a 240 grain cast SWC type load or the equivalent and you will be G2G for many thousands of rounds.

This old -2 has had many thousands of rounds, and it still is fine. When it was my only .44 I ran heavy loads through it, but they were maybe 3 to 5% of the rounds fired overall. The N Frames are not nearly as "delicate" as internet and gunshop myth has made them out to be. No, they will not take many thousands of full house 300+ grain loads, but the very vast majority of owners are never going to shoot that many hot loads in their lifetime anyways.



Stick with standard 240 grain loads for 95% of your shooting and use the heavy loads sparingly and you will most likely never have a problem. Even then, correcting some endshake is not too tough, and it is an extremely rare gun that has been shot to the point of being not repairable.

Yep, Hickok45 says that his old Model 29 has been repaired a couple of times since he bought it in the 1970s. He used to compete with it in, I believe, steel silhouette matches.

Mackay, I'm not seeing a barrel pin on your -2. Is that just due to lack of detail in the picture?

noticed that also

Nice Herrett Troopers.

I have no experience with the newest guns, but IMO most of them are pretty smooth. The Bangor Punta models were widely decried as inferior but...I dunno. Most of the ones I've owned were fine. I've owned a bunch of them too including old ones, Bangor's, etc. I'd say finding a smooth one is a crap shoot because I'm guessing the one you're looking at has been shot and even if they were a little burry, they smooth up.

One of the ones I REALLY wish I had back was a 4" nickel which a gunstore employee just sat there and dry-fired over and over and over. It was the smoothest one I've ever owned. Dang, now if I win the lottery I'll have to get a couple more 29's and I don't need them at all.

Nice gun; I'm envious.

MM

Thanks. I bought it about twenty years ago. It was pre owned, but obviously not much used.

IHMSA shooters I knew had them get loose.

Smith told me back in the day to keep my 240gr loads in the 1250 fps neighborhood and the revolver would be A-OKAY.

I had a M29-2 6 1/2" I bought in 1978 lasted a year and a half before the barrel needed replacing and the firing pin. 10.0grains of Unique and a 225 gr RCBS semi wadcutter mold with gas check. The barrel face burned out and it was spitting burning powder bad. Smith replaced the barrel and pitted fire pin. Took about 11,000 rds as I recall, summer of 79 I competed at the Second Chance National street Combat match (bowling pins). Most guys used semi autos but that big Smith and I were good friends. Bought a 8 3/8" M629 in January of 81, second year of production,it's never been the gun that old M29 was. Over the years selling that M29 has been 1 of my greatest regrets. 5-6 years back I picked up a blued M29-3 6" it's okay but it ain't the gun the 29-2 was either. Now days I use a 250 gr Keith SWC 429421 and 9 gr of Unique or big dose of 2400. Some will argue the point but I feel if you want to shoot full throttle jacketed bullet loads go buy a Redhawk because they are heavier made for that, those loads will beat a SW to death and you won't be happy about it. I've had to learn more than a few things in life the hard way, but I never had to learn any of them twice. Magnum Bob

There's very little a stoutly loaded, lead, .44 Special load can't do about as well as a full Magnum load. It's mainly a matter of flattened trajectory in the Magnums vs the Specials.

Yes an older 29 will shoot loose with full house mag loads but who cares?

-2 and older are beauties and shooting full house 44 mags is mostly stupid anyway. Especially in 2019.

The -3's catch a lot of schit but I have a 6" that will go 6 for 6 on milk jugs at a 100yds. It's a shootah.

I've had a six inch 29-2 for years. An article in Gun Digest a ways back suggested an 80-20 ratio of using mid range loads most of the time and full loads when really needed. Mas Ayoob wrote an article for American Handgunner called, I think, The 4 by 44, about four inch Smiths and stated he had three, one shooting, one just back from repair and one out for repair. I have lived by that 80-20, probably 90-10 for me, and my 29 is still tight. Arthritis keeps me from shooting it much now. My three screw Super Blackhawk, in the family since my late brother got it new, has never had anything but factory or equivalent loads and is tight even now.

With factory loads and now reloading data being powder puff loads compared to the older factory loads and reloading data I would figure the elderly M29's would last almost indefinitely with them.
Thousands and thousands of these cream puff loads shouldnt even begin to leave the faintness of faint use.
Much less the wearingness and tearingness of the hottness of the pressure-fullness of the young age loads.

Post a pic of your 29-2.

It is a miracle. An absolute miracle. I asked about the creampuff loads nowadays. As watered down as they are there shouldnt be any problem. They are watered down arent they?
Its a miracle and absolute miracle.

Post a pic of your 29-2.

I traded all my 44 Mags for a 380 Auto. With the downloaded creampuff 44 loads a 380 Auto is better.

Good effort.

But we can all see the truth.

I know I have. With the downloaded 44 Magnum i am going with the 380 Auto. If I could just get a 380 in a full size 1911 in 380 Auto life would be good.

Are you done attempting your nonsense?

I was just wondering why, with the watering down of the 44 Magnum ammo, plus all the loading data why an elderly M29 wouldnt last for an indefinite time. Wasnt that why the loads were watered down? Since I am not a ballistic expert i would like to know since ive never seen a 44 Magnum

So you don't own one? Is that what you're saying?

One what?

Look it up using Google and come to your own conclusions. Then come back to us with your findings siting link, paragraph and graphs depicting what you seek...😎

Yes, is the answer to your question. You’re a tool! 😎

I have many tools they come in handy when working on home projects.

Poor dufus can't afford one.

LMAO

I have bought many tool in my life. I just said I have many.

1957 vintage pre 29 4 screw:

Beautiful firearm. You should be able to shoot untold thousands of the now creampuff loads of today through it.

a few (4) 29s in this picture, back when I was enamored with camo Pachmayrs a couple years ago!

Some 629s. The no dash one in the lower left, I had converted to .380 a few years back.

I bet the one in 380 is hard to hang on to.

1957 vintage pre-29 4-screw nickel in .32 auto:

Beautiful! I bought my blue 8-3/8ths barreled 29 in 1981, don't know what 'dash' it was, do know I had a bag of 400 Remington 240gr scalloped hollow points, never hit an animal with them, but at 1250 fps they'd blow holy hell out of water filled milk jugs, stumps, staubs, dirt clods, and rocks laying about.

Man I am beside myself. My desirification for one in 380 is a greatly great.

And lastly for me, a 1958 vintage 29 no dash in a pancake croc/beef holster, with elk grips, in 9mm caliber:

As you may guess, I do not own any Tupperware guns, as they tend to melt out here in the Arizona summers.

I bet you use the "grizzly bear load" in it.

If you desire, I could trade it for a well-used flock, I mean, glock, in 9mm...+ a little cash. Let me know if you interested!

Ill let you know.

How dare you conceal that Smith in holsterage?

That holsterage is nice. It sure beats underwearage and other coveragements that he could selectificate to offer concealmentage.

There's 3 Smith 29-2's and one 44 Magnum Smith in this pic of 44's (except a 32 Smith standing vertical).

The Smiths, including the 629, get 8.5 grs. CFE Pistol and the H&G 503/265gr. bullet.

The Rugers eat mostly the same, but also get fed 280 LBT's and 24 grs. Lil' Gun and the 300 WLN with 18 grs. Lil'Gun (Marlin1894 load).

The Redhawk gets the 350 LFN and 18 grs. Lil' Gun.

Someone asked when the Smith's lost "smoothness"; I don't think they ever have and if they did, its not a difficult fix, from any era.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/g3YpVSR.jpg?1[/img]

Gonna restate a few previous posts, with my own narrative.

Full power loads aren't fun to shoot a lot.
Slightly lighter loads will not harm the thing.
You only need the hot stuff for hunting, if you need it at all,
And your not going to shoot that much hunting.

If you buy it to use in competition, with hot loads,
you are a fool. There are better guns for that. (But not better guns in general)

Damn! Thats a beautiful collection of S&W revolers.....Congrats!....👍....Hb

Since we are talking durability I have a model 627 Pro that i always shoot 357 Mag 125gr loads in, will it outlast me? And i have heard that the cylinder stop on these will wear out......Hb

Much like the model 19 is a 38 Special that can handle some occasional 357 mags.

Whenever S&W threads pop up the topic always becomes "what will wear out first". That's why I'm getting a Super Redhawk this weekend. The answer will be "nothing".

I have been having great wonderment since the later 44 Mag ammo and load data has been lesserfied as to pressureness shouldnt the elderly S&W M29's have not a problem shooting thousands and thousands and thousands of the lesserized ammo?
Wasnt that why the ammo and load data has had a milk toastyness trend in powerfulness?

desertoakie got some nice ones.

You couldn't afford to shoot one regardless.

Don't worry about it.

You couldn't afford to shoot one regardless.

Don't worry about it. [/quote

The questioness of my amountness of my financness isn't the question. The pertinenceness of the question is the lesserfulness of pressurefullness of the now loaded ammo along with the declineness in the loading data that has been provided for the lastly years.

Dimness

You are in rightness. No one can understandeth a question. Ask about the longevitiness since the downloadedness of the currentness ammo and the load data and all one gets is greiviousness and tribulationess.

Yeah, that's the way I see early K-Frame .357 Mags. That, in fact, appears to have been the idea with them to begin with. Bill Jordan asked S&W for essentially a Combat Masterpiece, but in .357 Magnum (along with a heavy shrouded barrel, Model 27 style), and they gave him the Model 19, with the caveat that it wasn't meant for a regular diet of Magnums, but only to be shot with them for special limited purposes, such as shooting through barriers and such (like might be needed during a police roadblock). Otherwise, it was to be considered a .38 Special, as they didn't believe the K-Frame could then be built strong enough for a regular Magnum diet and survive a high round count. It that were required, they recommended the Model 27/28.

Your looking at the wrong side. How many full power loads can the regular handgun shooter shoot, Im pretty sure who is going to "shake loose" first

Not the gun its the magazines, the spacers use too much space

interesting use of set theory.

How much space will they take up? That is the question.
The weight of the gun should cut down on recoil greatly.

rightness--- defines Venn diagram

uses negative qualifier (conditional if) to define intersection

uses ness to define membership in set.

as much more space as the spacers used in the space of a 9mm round but less space the any spacer not used in a 38 super

See you have been on wikipedia.
Good move.

I understand now. Thanks for the clarificationess.

Post doc work in applied math.

If you would like I can send you the algorithms , that removes the hard definition , and defines the membership in fuzzy logic terms. but the hard wired circuit neural nets will cost real money

Please send them. I would be interested in looking over them.

not sure on your overlook ------- are you saying pastrami is the bacon of beef?

Back to OP
Had many 44s IHMSA, bowling pins, hunting, 29,Dan Wesson, Colt,Ruger

none were as pretty as the pictures shown here,

is pretty important---YES


get the gun,

I'm still enamored.

I would love to own one of those sloppy old sloven, rattle trap -2's.

Speak for yourself. I know I could shoot a model 29 loose in short order.

I'm embarrassed to say I shot a 29 in 44 mag loose, then done the same to two Anacondas, one a 44, the other a 45 Colt, left all three with my 'smith at different times, went and bought a FA 454C and a Ruger Super Blackhawk 44 mag, those two will ride the river with anybody.

My SBH is not exactly tight anymore, some of those shims might be in order.
The hand and a whatchamacallit have needed replaced.
Stuff does wear.
Bought it fairly used in '87. And have run a lot of rounds through it.
Nothing overly hot, or over 250 gr.

Blasphemy, I say!

Have over 8500 rds on a current 29-4. about 3000 mag loads. in 6" carry it in a Safariland "Dirty Harry" shoulder just for fun.
forcing cones don't count. end shake maybe if you shoot PPC.
pawls wear fast

44s shot out - forcing cone erosion, accuracy below acceptable levels.

29 silhouette model back when
Dan Wesson
Ruger SRH
629 4"

stopped shooting much 44 mag when the Casull came along.

Yeah it will be strong but damn its ugly and all you will have is a Ruger...I always heard the old saying that "If you get tired of shooting a Ruger revolver you can always use it as a boat anchor" 😁......Hb

Whereas that clapped.out.model 29 makes a stunning paperweight...

I shot all those D/A guns loose with 300gr Speer uni-cor/plated? bullets in both 44 and 45 cal, a young re-loader with modern guns using modern load data I remember using AA#9, WW-296 and H-110 powders, I only worked once or twice a year back then, had a couple horses stabled down by the river and went to the shooting range near daily, had a chit-ton of time on my hands.

I only wish I had a few model 29's around. I trade them for Super Redhawks and Super Blackhawks so fast...
And obviously, beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.

RedHawks are good looking in their own distinct way.

Yup, and so are Super Redhawks especially when one considers the functionality of the platform. It doesn't need to be pretty. I would rather the revolver be durable. Granted I have Model 29s and love them, but they don't do my heavy lifting.

Hahahahahahahahaha!

It is fulfilling to see that everyone has fully clabberated in clabberation on this. When everyone comes into togetherness and a humongus mass.

Yes.


Here is an older pic from one of many elk excursions.




That particular -2 has many thousands of rounds and is fine.


If people did a fraction of the shooting as they did regurgitating bad information on the interwebs they would be almost as good of shots as they claim to be....

2000 more pieces of .44 magnum Starline just arrived today..






Sure hope those fragile and delicate old Smiths can handle it.









Ruger or Smith, I will take 'em.




Three old classics here:

I remember Elmer loved the Redhawk when it came out. I remember his Gun Notes column with a pic of him with the new Redhawk and a Jackrabbit he'd kilt with it.

A while back 29’s were known to double tap. Don’t know when S&W addressed the issue.

I didnt know S&W had anything to do with Double Tap ammo.
Wonderness will never cease. I learned something new.

LOL, may have been due to what I saw a guy do while shooting my old S&W 500 magnum, on firing, they lose grip on the revolver, while re-gripping and trying to not drop the revolver they hit the trigger again causing a double tap.

My comment was due to reading an article where Doug Koenig was doing some testing for S&W with the 29. After several rounds fired the gun began to double tap a little too often. I don’t remember the fix. But, it did take some cipherin’ to figure it out. It had something to do with the timing if I’m not mistaken.

I will ask him and get back to you.

10-4.

Mackay, on your last post, the two pointed cast bullets, can you tell me a bit about them??.. When I was a young shooter, one of my older friends loaded a bullet that looked like that in his .44 Ruger... Never saw them since... I am not a caster, but that bullet caught my eye... I always wondered why it was made that way... I thought Elmer said the best killers in cast were those of his flat nose design.. Thanks!

OK a revolver will double tap??????? Any one have a POS S&W 44 Mag they don't need send a PM . LOL

Better believe it.

Looks that way

Well is that the revolver or the shooter? Trigger finger and follow through? I have a S&W Model 52 with a 2.5# trigger that I have to be careful of, it will double tap if I am sloppy.

WCH,


Those were a gift from RJM, who I believe (If I remember correctly) got them from a buddy of his many years ago. They are lightweights, and when pushed by 10 grains of Unique make great small game loads.

Double action revolvers with very heavy recoil can "double tap" because the shooter pulls the trigger a second time while the gun is recoiling. There are slow-motion videos online of this happening with 500 S&W's where you can see the shooter pulling the trigger involuntarily as they struggle to maintain control of the gun. That likely is what happened in the video posted above, as you can see the second round firing while the gun is in recoil from the first round. This possibility--and the severe safety risk it poses--is one reason I don't encourage novice shooters to shoot heavy loads in double action revolvers. A single action Ruger is the perfect platform for learning to control a heavy recoiling gun.

I have seen very worn Model 29's unlock under recoil causing the cylinder to rotate backward, typically from a very worn or battered bolt.

A "double tap" in a double action revolver isn't a gun issue, it is a shooter error issue.

Exactly.

Mackay, thanks..

Got it today 29-2. Looks like new

Dude...

That's a beaut'.

Congrats.

Thanks

GFY

This is the situation most are describing, glad it finally showed up!

I've seen them unlatch without being worn or battered in the bolt; its one of the reasons Smith incorporated a hand/pawl re-enforcement with the Endurance package, so when recoil and inertia sets the latch spring rearward (the direction it goes as bullet weight goes up), the cylinder cannot rotate.

The fact of the matter is the pre-Endurance package Smith N-frames are the same gun as a 27,28 and were pretty much unchanged from the N frames of the 1900's, so it stands to reason they might be prone to some wear and weird things when pressed. Smith evidently thought so, which is why they made several changes to the 29/629 series.

Damn! How much you pay for that? Those grips alone are worth a few hundred dollars.

Fotis, I used to like you.......

Damn nice pistol!

Congrats on going "full joo."

Excellent. I once had one just like it.

That's antisemitic. Your account is hereby suspended.

NICE! Congrats.

Berry nice, Fotis! Congrats.

You would know.

Yours, too.

You do not want to know. Let's say I got a deal!

Nice 29-2 Fotis I've got a smooth set of light matched Rosewoods on my 629 and a set of Dark smooth Rosewoods matched on my M18 love those SW grips. MB

Smoothest revolver I ever handled! Thanks guys