Les Jones: Smith &Wesson's New .44 Magnums

April 05, 2005

Guns > Smith &Wesson's New .44 Magnums

The first gun chambered for the .44 magnum S&W cartridge was the S&W Model 29, the gun made famous in the Dirty Harry movies. The blued steel 69 was later replaced by the stainless steel 629. S&W has manufactured many variations of the basic guns, from the Mountain Gun with a 4" tapered barrel to the long-barreled Hunter models.

This year S&W re-introduced the Trail Boss, a 3" barrel 629 with a lanyard loop and a ported barrel to reduce recoil. There's the standard version, the unfluted cylinder version (shown to the right), and the deluxe version with wood grips and custom carrying case. The wood grips are OK, but I'd prefer the finger groove wood grips from the Lew Horton Special 29.

If you like blued guns, you can once again buy a blued 29. This is a new variation that's decked out with Weaver scope, interchangeable front sights, unfluted cylinder, chamfered chambers, and black wood grips. It might take a while for that barrel profile to grow on me, but I like the rest of it.

PS S&W needs to clean up some of their pictures. I borrowed the pictures above from their site, opened them in Photoshop, and did what I always do to my own photos (adjust levels and contrast and run the Unsharp Mask filter). They look noticeably better than the same pictures on S&W's site.

Posted by lesjones

Alphecca linked with Weekly Check on the Bias
Alphecca linked with Weekly Check on the Bias
Resistance is futile! linked with Carnival of Cordite #8

Comments

check out special engraved editions on the S&W site. They have the Thunder Ranch Special Edition. I had a chance to shoot one this weekend at special gun show at a local gun shop and fell head over heels in LUV!!
Old School style with Jordan type grips and shoots like a house 'afire. I put 22out of 25 round on the bull at both 15 and 25 yards, double and single action. Two of the other three were on the paper and most shots could be covered with the palm of your hand.
Now I just have to win the Lottery, lol.

Posted by: shawn randall at April 05, 2005

Gotta love the S&W .44 Magnum. Mine is a 1978 vintage nickel-plated beauty. Damn it's loud.

Posted by: Barry at April 11, 2005

I'd like that new 29 more if they'd just go with a traditional vent-rib down the whole length of the barrel.

Posted by: Gullyborg at April 11, 2005

Damn, that 6.5" 29 is PURRRTY! I even like the barrel profile.

Posted by: Kevin Baker at April 11, 2005

Bleah. The swoopy barrel looks dreadful.

Way too many of these bizarre "fewturistik" wheelguns in the new S&W catalog. Like they're ashamed of making revolvers or something.

That company needs to get right with the Lord.

Posted by: Plainsman at April 22, 2005

j'aimerais connaitre les adresses en france pour trouver un 629 en 3 pouces.

Posted by: depretz at April 26, 2005

The s&w model 29 with the 6.5" barrel is the most accurate and deadly pistol i've ever held.

Posted by: Beau Jones at July 05, 2005

The s&w model 29 with the 6.5" barrel is not that accurate but really powerful.

Posted by: gunsman 44 mag. at July 16, 2005

I am intrested in the S&W Model 29 6" blue Barriel .what is the price and do you have them in stock . it seems there that it is hard to find a 6" Barrel In Blue.Most are stainless.
I like the blue.

Posted by: Jesse R Salazer at March 24, 2006

I have a S&W model 29, 6.5" barrel, nickle plated I bought about 30 years ago. It has the red dot at the end of the barrel and adjustable rear sight. It has large Pachmeyer grips as well as the original wooden grips.

I wonder if you could tell me what something like this may be worth. I haven't fired it in 15 years and it's in excellent shape and I want to sell it. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Gabriel

Posted by: Gabriel Magno at August 23, 2006

Comments on the old blog are closed.