S&W 629-5! What an awesome revolver!

D

Dogger

New member
Saw and handled an "M640 on steroids" today: the 629-5 is a .44 magnum snubbie with 3 inch barrel and fixed sights, supposedly a limited edition run of 300 units. Handles well and feels great in the hand, must have weighed in somewhere near 40 ounces. Asking price was $595. I darned near traded my Colt CCO in on it. Talk about a home defense piece! Loaded up with six big fat .44 special Silvertips to keep recoil reasonable -- it would send even Arnold Schwartzenegger fleeing out the back door.

Man oh man, what a revolver! Makes me want to throw all my autos away!

Six shots for sure! :D

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"Why, I'd rather suffer through a proctologist's exam than pack a Kimber!"
Gen. Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson
Manassas, VA
1862
 
I have two of the older Lew Horton 2-3/4 " .44magnums. I love them. You are correct, they are great with .44spl. I f you want to torture your friends, throw some wood grips on it and load up the stiffest full house magnums you can find. Its like holding a grenade when you drop the hammer. The muzzle blast and report is incredible. God I love big bore wheel guns!
 
Dogger,
Is this the revolver you saw? There were actually two production runs of this piece. In 1992, the Performance Center made 300 for Lew Horton Distributinig. During a factory tour in 1995, I had a chance to ask the Performance Center folks if they planned on making more. I was told that they had 75 more frames, and that they were making them up for Hortons. My dealer received 4 of the 75, I eventually ended up with two of those. Recently, I found one from the first run. These are truly nice firearms, and very manageable due to the port. The price of $575 is extremely low, as these had a list of $1000, and dealer was in the $750 range as I recall. Get it, you will enjoy it.

View
 
Smithnut, no, your picture is definately a more refined piece. The 629-5 I handled is not ported and has a fixed, ramp front sight post which is integral to the frame, rear sight is the groove cut into the top of the slide a la the Centennial. Also, the gun I saw was produced this year. If I purchased it I would have to put some paint on the front sight so as to help acquire it. The performance center is offering a .41 magnum and a .44 magnum in revolvers very similar to yours, you can see them at their website. These I believe would be in the $1000 price range you describe.
 
Dogger,
Thanks for the reply. The current products from the PC are adjustable sight units. I would be interested in knowing more about the piece you saw. I have not heard of any new "fixed sight" revos coming from Smith. If you see that piece again, if you could jot down the product code and post it, I would really appreciate it. Fixed sight N frames are really cool. ......SmithNut
 
I've got two .44 Magnums with 3" barrels, a 29-4 and a 629-5, both with wood grips, unfluted cylinders, and adjustable sights. Much fun! Lew Horton is involved two different ways with S&W, as I understand it. Some guns are "Lew Horton Specials", which are done by the Performance Center, are distributed exclusively by Lew Horton, and list around $1,000. Others are S&W runs of a certain gun of non-standard configuration (e.g., 625 with 3" bbl and rosewood grips) done especially for Lew Horton, also exclusively distributed by Horton, but these are not Performance Center guns. I don't think these are referred to as "Lew Horton Specials", although in a way they are, which adds to the confusion. My 629 is one of those, and list was $595.
 
Byron, I do believe you hit the nail on the head. SmithNut, I'll get the info from my local shop and post it.
 
Dogger,
No need to get me the product code. I saw one today. My local dealer received one just before I arrived. You are right, this looks like a larger than life M640, with the squared off frame near the hammer. Three things I do not like with this model. 1)Hammer is Target sized, 2) Trigger is Semi-target - much wider than service style and too wide for DA work IMO, 3) the price is a bit high. Dealer price on this gun is right at $500. Now, this is NOT a Lew Horton commissioned piece. Although my dealer has one on the way from Horton, the one he received today was from another. Therefore, I think the limited run of 200 is questionable, but not totally unlikely. I will call S&W next week to find out if they will tell me. It is a nice piece, don't get me wrong. For the guy venturing into bear country and wants a true "pocket rocket", this qualifies. I like fixed sight N frames, and if I did not already have the Performance Center version, it would be a candidate for take home. Just another cool model that Smith has put out for public comsumption!! Have a great New year all! ......SmithNut
BTW - the barrel length is 2 1/2" on this new M629....



[This message has been edited by SmithNut (edited January 01, 2000).]
 
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