model 29 "

[black mamba]

Oldscot, I also tried a red dot on mine last hunting season, and took a nice 8-pointer with it. Even though it has a 5-minute dot, I was able to shoot a 3½" 5-shot group with it at 100 yds. off sandbags. Another nice thing about the red dot sight is that it, along with the base, only adds about 6 oz. total to the gun, making it still pretty shootable offhand.

 

[oldscot3]

Like it, I should have bought that instead of a scope.

 

[44 AMP]

but without the recesses you can see with a glance from the side if the revolver is loaded or not.

Small point of order here, you cannot tell from the side if the gun is loaded or not. You can tell if there are CASES in the cylinder, but not if they are live ammo or not.

Now, if you look at the cylinder from the FRONT (I do NOT recommend this) you can see the bullets in place, or not, so from the front, you can tell if it is loaded.

S&W calls one model the "classic" and I will admit that the "square" (not sloped) cylinder latch helps a lot returning the gun to the look of the earlier models.

But if it has a lock, doesn't have a pinned barrel, or recessed chambers then to me, its not "THE" classic.

And while recessed chambers are not needed with centerfires, (and S&W freely admitted that they only put them in the magnums as a sign of the extra work -quality- used making the gun. You won't see them on an "ordinary" .38, but you will find them in the high quality .357 Magnum! (ok, it was just a marketing ploy, but we LIKED them!)

On a rimfire, the recessed chamber is a useful feature, helping contain fragments in the event of a rim blow out. (rare, but they do happen).

 

[James K]

When the .357 was introduced in 1935, the most common .38 Special case was the old "balloon head type", which could mean trouble if loaded to pressures close to those of the new round. So to prevent the old cases from bulging or blowing, S&W built the cylinders for the new gun with recessed chambers. When the .44 Magnum came out, some old .44 Special "balloon head" cases were still around, so they carried the feature over to the .44 Magnum, as part of S&W's usual "better safe than sorry" attitude.

Today, with the old cases in both calibers pretty much long gone, the need for recessed chambers doesn't justify the greater cost.

Jim

 

[tipoc]

Actually while Jim is partially correct about the recessed cylinders it had little to do with the cases of the 38 Spl. and did have a great deal to do with the new pressures that the .357 operated at, as S&W said at the time and as gun writers and others described, it was to protect the shooter from the case heads rupturing which S&W considered a very real possibility. I've shown that elsewhere.

See here for example...

http://www.elmerkeithshoot.org/AmericanRifleman/Keith357.pdf

The practice was carried over to the 44 and 41 Magnum. By the time the 41 Magnum came along S&W may not have thought it was needed but placed them there anyway. It was done away with to save costs in the early 80s. They never were in the L frame .357s.

That doesn't bother me, but without the recesses you can see with a glance from the side if the revolver is loaded or not.

You can see that with the recesses as well. Or at least see if there are cases in there.

tipoc

 

[jwise]

If I was into reloading, I would pick up a model 29 in a heartbeat! I'd roll some really underpowered rounds for fun.

I just don't like shooting loud magnums.

 

[oldscot3]

It is indeed a very small point of order; so small that it could go without saying that you can't tell a loaded round from an empty by looking at the edge of it's rim through a cylinder gap. I should not have said you couldn't see case rims through the gap of a recessed cylinder Smith, on that point I stand corrected. What I meant to convey was that the non recessed cylinders have a wider gap that exposes the entire cartridge rim and therefore, for the average person, they should be easier to see "at a glance".

That doesn't mean safe gun handling practices are not needed. No you don't point the gun at your face to see if the presence of bullets mean loaded or empty cases. You open the cylinder to check.

BTW I wasn't trying to start a controversy over pins and recesses, just stating that for practical purposes, the lack of them doesn't mean your Smith is sub-par in the quality department. Perhaps, the lock doesn't either, but I object to that on principle alone. If I remember my history correctly, it was added when S&W was in the hands of British corporate managers (during the Clinton administration I think), and it knocked the hell out of their sales because a lot of buyers felt the same as me.

Lastly, for the record, Smith&Wesson thought the 90's models Classics were THE Classics. I know this because they engraved "Classic" right on the side of the barrel. I think the earlier 29s were just model 29s. I don't know of them carrying the moniker "Classic" other than perhaps someone using the word as an adjective.

 

[tipoc]

BTW I wasn't trying to start a controversy over pins and recesses, just stating that for practical purposes, the lack of them doesn't mean your Smith is sub-par in the quality department. Perhaps, the lock doesn't either, but I object to that on principle alone.

Agree 100%!

tipoc