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Thread: S&W Pre Model 29: Does This Look Right?

  1. #1
    Site Supporter FrankB's Avatar
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    S&W Pre Model 29: Does This Look Right?

    Someone posted a YouTube video about this revolver, but the breech face looks kind of funky. He said it’s never been fired.
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    Last edited by FrankB; 11-07-2019 at 12:00 PM.

  2. #2
    Site Supporter LtDave's Avatar
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    I just looked at 2 well used K-38's I had handy, one from 1954, the other from 1967. No 50's or 60's vintage N frames available. The machining is much smoother on the K frames than your pictures show. Could be the tooling used that day was due to be replaced due to wear? You might want to peruse Gunbroker and check out some of the photos of Pre '29s there for more comparisons.
    Last edited by LtDave; 11-07-2019 at 12:08 PM.
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  3. #3
    Site Supporter FrankB's Avatar
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    Here’s a pic 9f my 1957 Model 36, and it looks nothing like the Pre Model 29. Just curious....
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  4. #4
    It's impossible to say anything definitive without actually handling the gun, but based on these two photos, I believe that this gun has been fired.
    • The thinning blue as circled in the first photo comes from the extractor star and ratchet striking the frame during recoil.
    • There is similar thinning in the blue around the firing pin hole in the second image. This comes from the case moving back slightly against the frame when the gun is fired. This is your main tell-tale, and in this case, you can actually see part of an arc corresponding to the rim of a case starting just above the clearance cut where the ratchet slides past the recoil shield.
    • There's a turn line evident on the rear of the cylinder in the first image. This doesn't necessarily mean that the gun was fired, but it does indicate that it has been handled and/or dry-fired quite a bit.

    I'd want to handle it in person before reaching for my wallet, especially if the buyer wants a premium for an unfired gun.


    Okie John
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  5. #5
    Site Supporter FrankB's Avatar
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    @okie john

    The revolver isn’t for sale as far as I know. The YouTuber said that Massad Ayoob and Hickok45 were both of the opinion that it had never been fired. I just can’t see why S&W would carve that groove for the cylinder pin.

  6. #6
    I’ll defer to both of those guys.


    Okie John
    “The reliability of the 30-06 on most of the world’s non-dangerous game is so well established as to be beyond intelligent dispute.” Finn Aagaard
    "Don't fuck with it" seems to prevent the vast majority of reported issues." BehindBlueI's

  7. #7
    @bac1023 has a pre 29. Perhaps he can chime in.

  8. #8
    Site Supporter Trooper224's Avatar
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    It looks unfired to me, due to the lack of strike marks on both the recoil shield and the firing pin bushing. However, it does appear to have been handled repeatedly, opening and turning the cylinder, etc.
    Last edited by Trooper224; 11-08-2019 at 09:48 AM.
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  9. #9
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    This type wear would be seen in movie prop guns played with by idiots and fired occasionally with blanks. When this amount of rub wear exists, the term unfired means nothing. Barrel of yoke(crane) is bent upwards causing drag marks at top. Slamming cylinder shut in Hollywood style most likely did this. Believe me when I say this revolver was not born this way.

  10. #10
    Never fired, outside of the three factory test rounds in alternating chambers... I dunno. But, I'd doubt you will soon see one with less evidence of use. JMHO.

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