TINCANBANDIT's Gunsmithing: Featured Gun: Smith & Wesson model 29

The story of the Smith & Wesson model 29 begins long before the introduction of the 44 Magnum in 1955, even before S&W made their first cartridge revolver under the Rollin White patent 100 years earlier.

The story starts with two men named Sam. Samuel Colt and Samuel Walker, the latter was a Captain in the Texas Rangers and was one of the first to recognize how a repeating weapon can be effective in battle.

In 1846 Walker asked Colt to build him a revolver, much larger and more powerful than the Colt Patterson (Colt's first revolver). Walker wanted it to be a .44 caliber revolver, why that is, we may never know.

The load for the Walker was a 141 grain lead ball in front of 60 grains of black powder. This pushed the ball to around 1,200 fps and around 500 lbs of muzzle energy.

The 44 Walker Colt was the most powerful handgun in the World and maintained that status until S&W introduced the .357 Magnum in the 1930s.

As with the 44 Magnum revolvers that followed, many thought the Walker was too heavy and produced too much recoil.

Fast forward to 1907, black powder has been replaced by the more powerful smokeless powder and Smith & Wesson introduced a larger version of their model of 1899 .38 Military & Police. This was done to compete with the Colt New Service revolver.

This new S&W revolver also came in a new cartridge, the .44 Special, the 44 Special was derived from the 44 Russian, a cartridge developed by S&W for the Imperial Russian government.

Fast forward again to the 1950s, gun writer Elmer Keith and others had been experimenting with the Smith & Wesson .38-44 "triple-lock" revolver and loading the .44 Special to its limit. These wildcatters called themselves "The 44 Associates."

After lots of pushing and questioning both Remington and Smith & Wesson agreed to look at the possibility of "magnumizing" the .44 Special, exactly as they had done to the .38 Special 20 years earlier.

The operation was simple, the 44 Associates had already done the load development and proved the .44 Special case could handle the pressures.

The developers lengthened the .44 Special cartridge by .14". This was done for two reasons, one is adding room for extra powder, the other is to prevent the new, more powerful cartridge from being chambered in the .44 Special guns.

In 1955 Bill Ruger had heard about the new cartridge, stories vary on how he came about the information, but it was probably not a big surprise that a .44 Magnum would be created at some point.

Ruger went quickly to chamber his Blackhawk revolver in .44 Magnum and was able to get it into the hands of customers before Smith & Wesson could. Read more about that story here.

On December 15th, 1955 S&W announced the new gun, they gave it the name: "The .44 Magnum Hand Ejector". Two weeks later on the 29th, the first .44 Hand Ejector was assembled. This first revolver was presented to the president of Remington, RH Coleman.

Elmer Keith was presented with the 3rd 44 Magnum. On January 19th, 1956, the new revolver was introduced to the rest of the world via advertisements in outdoor magazines.

The first 500 44 Hand Ejectors were blued with 6.5" barrels. The inital price was $135, but was raised almost immediately to $140.

Later 4" barrels and nickel plated revolvers were offered.

In 1957 Smith & Wesson assigned model numbers to their guns, starting with serial # S179000, the .44 Magnum Hand Ejector became the model 29.

In 1958 the 8 3/8" barrel was offered along with a special run of 500 5" barreled guns.

Sales were good for the new revolver, but many buyers did not anticipate the stiff recoil. There are stories of many a model 29 for sale in the 1960s with a free partial box of ammo with only 6 rounds missing.

By the end of the 1960s the model 29 was not in regular production due to slowed sales.

Just when it looked like the model 29 might be dropped from the catalog, work began on a film about a New York Cop named Harry Callahan. This cop not only had a penchant for ignoring rules and policies, but also carried an over the top sidearm, the S&W model 29.

The film's main character was originally written for Frank Sinatra, who according to legend, owned a model 29.

After the script was sold a couple of times (and re-written) and numerous actors turned down the part of Callahan. Things came together when Clint Eastwood was drafted to play the part of San Francisco Inspector # 2211, but Eastwood would not be the only star of the movie, the S&W model 29 would share the spotlight.

After release of the movie, on December 22nd, 1971, sales of the model 29 increased dramatically. So much so that the model 29 was on backorder. Dealers, when they could get them, were charging prices well above MSRP.

Now everyone wanted the gun carried by Dirty Harry.

In 1978 S&W began offering a stainless steel brother to the model 29, per S&W's model designation, they simply added a 6 to the front of the model #, so the stainless model 29 is the 629.

As the years passed S&W engineers discovered problems with the design, the first being the ejector rod, who under recoil could unscrew itself, locking the gun up. The cure was to change the threads to left-hand, the change in design was designated the 29-1.

Every major change would result in a dash and a consecutive number.

Original model 29 specs:

Length: 11.25” (with 6.5” bbl)

Barrel Lengths: 4 & 6.5” (originally)

Weight: 47 ounces (with 6.5” bbl)

Capacity: 6 rounds

Sights: Adjustable rear, ramp front

Value: $250 (parts gun) to $2,500 (unfired, NIB)

Timeline:

1955 44 Magnum Hand Ejector designed.

1956 introduced to the public.

1957 renamed the model 29.

1958 8 3/8" barrel and 5" barrel offered.

1960 (Nov) presentation case changed to mahogany

1968 prefix changed from S to N

1978 stainless model 629 introduced.

1979 barrel shortened to 6”

1981 29-3 update pinned barrel and recessed chambers eliminated, also grips receive relief cut for speed loaders.

Of course, there many other updates, I believe they are currently on the 29-10 series.

The model 29 has been much more than Dirty Harry's gun, it has been used by real law enforcement as well has home defense. The gun has also taken just about every game in North America including the infamous 12 foot tall Polar Bear shot by publisher Robert Peterson, whose stuffed carcass now resides at the NRA Museum in Fairfax, VA.

The bear is shown below in Peterson's warehouse, next to a snowmobile and motorcycle.

The model 29 has come and gone and come back to the S&W catalog. At the time of this writing the model 29 is still available.

This post, as most of them are, was inspired by a recent acquisition I made. This 29-3 was made in 1983 and features the blued finish, 6" barrel, adjustable rear sight and red ramp patridge front, .500" target hammer, .500" target trigger and target stocks.