Blasphemy! Safe queen dethroned

[murf205]

At the range yesterday, a guy 2 benches down was watching me shoot my well worn 4" 29-2 Smith&Wesson. He walked down and asked me if I liked it. I told him that I did and was a self confessed S&W addict. He went back to a backpack and pulled out an ufired and (looked like) unturned 8-3/8" nickel 29-2 with box and all the tools and paperwork, The cylinder had only 3 stain marks on every other hole and the recoil plate was spotless. It was a beautiful specimen if I ever saw one. He then preceded to load the gun and run about 25 or 30 rounds through it, not hitting the steel plate at 25 yds 1 single time. Then he put it in an old wool sock and dumped it back in the back pack. He also asked me if $1700 was too much to pay for it. I told him (of course) that he got a great deal but since I am not in the $1700 club, I really couldn't attest to that fact. I wonder what monetary damage he did to that gun by shooting it. I did tell him that using 44 Spl ammo in it would help his shooting and be kinder to the gun. I do remember that it had a N prefix in the 50000 range serial number. I don't fault him for shooting the pristine gun, it's his after all, but somewhere somebody is cringing at the thought.

[contender1]

Boy do I understand your thoughts.
I collect,, and I also shoot. It's MUCH easier to buy a "shooter" already used a bit,, than to find a minty vintage gun.

I know folks who say; "I won't own a gun that I won't shoot!" I FULLY accept & appreciate their view. But instead of buying a minty gun & then shooting it,, buy a "shooter" & enjoy it. And if a minty gun come along,, at a very good price,, buy it,, and find a collector, who may want to buy it, swap it for an upgrade to their collection, or whatever.
Everytime a minty vintage gun get used,, and devalued,, the value of the others goes up. then people complain about the prices of these fine guns. I say appreciate the minty ones in collections, and find shooters already devalued a bit.

In fact,, I have a few guns,, that I'll never shoot, and I have identical guns that were bought already shot,, and BOTH are very precious to me. I get "one to shoot & one to admire on display.!"

[murf205]

I have a few that I don't, and will never, shoot as well. Not because I am a S&W snob but because I consider it the preservation of the history and days gone by from a company that had to change the way they manufacture and finishing process to stay in business or had to move the manufacturing location to a more friendly law state. I have a couple of Hillary Hole guns that serve well but the older guns escalate in value quicker that a 401k. When a guy lays their money down, the decision to shoot or not is up to them. But it still was kinda' unusual to see this happen.

[rockrat]

He probably could have bought a slightly used gun for a whole lot less. Was one at our last show, that I just missed, for $850. A 1990 gun shot very little. LGS had one, with box, but lightly used, like the guy at the range had, 1974 ish year of mfg, for a lot less. Blue felt from the box needed replacing.

[Ramjet-SS]

I shoot everything I own…..

[TNsailorman]

Everyone to his own wants and wishes. I have never been a collector and for me a firearm is useless if it is not to be shot. I do understand collectors though as I have one in my family. He collects old military stuff and rarely ever does any shooting and when he does it is with the modern "tupperware" stuff. james

[slim1836]

I to shoot every weapon I own, however, I have several I acquired I have yet to shoot. Life is good, but life is better if one has rifles and pistols to look forward to shoot.

Slim

[Mk42gunner]

I'm more of an accumulator than a collector, and it is a whole lot cheaper to accumulate shooter grade guns than it is collector grade ones.

That said, I have shot some very nice guns with out hurting there value. If I were to somehow acquire a LNIB N frame like murf205 described, I probably wouldn't shoot it.

And if I did, I would hope to at least hit the target.

Robert

[Winger Ed.]

I think the 3 stains on the cylinder face is from the proof house.
I've heard S&W fires 3 shots to proof their revolvers.
If that's correct, it was unfired until you saw him with it.

[elmacgyver0]

Someone has to shoot those new guns or there wouldn't be used ones for us shooters to enjoy!

[murf205]

Someone has to shoot those new guns or there wouldn't be used ones for us shooters to enjoy!

That is probably the best way to look at it and if I had my druthers, I would buy a really nice one and shoot it. Heck, I gave too much for a 4" nickel 29-2 that had some freckling from being carried and having rubber grips on it for too long but it was as tight as a new one with perfect timing and lock up. BUT...it rewarded me with outstanding accuracy and I'm not afraid to stuff it in a holster and go on a walkabout like I would be a pristine gun. My old 629 has been dunked in the Kenai river twice (along with yours truly) and to dunk an unfired 29 would be a baaaaad idea.

[wwmartin]

When S&W quit counterboring cylinders my gun runner offered me a counterbored model 57 distributor sample because the current version wasn't counterbored. New and unfired 8 3/8 nickle with 3 power burned chambers. I probably shouldn't have but it didn't take long to make them all look the same. It hasn't been shot much in the past years and I still own it. Recoil wasn't much different than the 629 no- that I was shooting and the 44 was easier to find ammo for. Recoil finally effected my shooting and I went back to the 38 special and 45acp. Like others I have some that are unfired but not because of collector values. I don't ever plan on selling them andwhat they do with them when I'm gone ain't my problem.
Bill

[Winger Ed.]

Someone has to shoot those new guns

I try to convince people that if you don't fire your guns once in awhile they'll get 'lot rot' like old cars people never drive.

[Mal Paso]

Early this year I was looking to replace my warn out 629, none available. Well what about the new Anaconda? Not available in california, didn't pay the extortion but we happen to have a Classic Anaconda here in the case. The trigger was perfect and now it's my regular range gun.

A friend at the range said CZ bought Colt and the new Anaconda is Czech. Maybe they'll make the list next year meanwhile I'll shoot the USA made one.

[megasupermagnum]

Maybe if it was something rare or super expensive I could care. As far as I'm concerned the a S&W 29-2 is a good sedan that people treat like a sports car. Great guns, but not hard to find, nothing special about them. Everyone and their brother has one with a 6" or 8 3/8" barrel. The only reason they are worth so much is because people pay that much. Maybe if it were the more rare 10 5/8" silhouette model I could see putting it in a glass case to look at. I will never understand why someone would take a basic N frame, or a Ruger Redhawk (maybe the 3 screw blackhawk is a better example?) and just sit and look at them. What do I know, I wouldn't pay $1700 for that unless I really wanted a pinned and recessed nickel 44 mag N frame either. I guess that's what you get from those who will pay $300 for standard off the shelf grips too.

[imashooter2]

Guns are for shooting. A few hundred dollars more in your estate won’t make up for a lifetime of pleasures lost.

[murf205]

"S&W 29-2 is a good sedan that people treat like a sports car." In more ways than one. Those don't have the Endurance Package of the later 29's and I have seen people load them with some very high pressure handloads. I know because I was one of those people when I was a lot younger and the club I shot silhouette matches with in the 70's had a lot of people shooting some loads that I would not dream of now. 29-2's are fine guns but not when we try to make bazooka's out of them.

[Bmi48219]

I shoot everything I own…..

^^^ This ^^^
Many are 40+ Y.O and don’t get out much but at least 4-6 times a year. Then again for the most part they don’t see full power loads.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

In 1976 I bought a Colt Python and a Diamondback 22, both new in the box for $500. I bought them fom a coworker who wanted to buy a set of tires for his dunne-buggy. I bought them for my brother. He passed away in March. His son owns them now. I never owned a Python but I do have Diamondback and a S&W 29-2. Here are their pictures.

[dogdoc]

I have dethroned several and will continue to do so when the opportunity presents. I do t buy guns as investments and don’t get pleasure just looking at them. I want to shoot them! Hell I am going to die someday so why save it for somebody else to enjoy?

[Winger Ed.]

I shoot everything I own…..

Yeah, me too.

The only thing I haven't shot is a antique Dan Wesson single shot in .32 rimfire that I got when one of my favorite customers
passed away and his widow gave it to me because she wanted all the guns out of the house.

I'd shoot it, but ammo for it is higher than giraffe lips, even if you can find any.
But it looks really cool hanging on the wall above my desk!

[murf205]

"she wanted all the guns out of the house." That has been the start of more than 1 tale of "how I came across this gun!"

[porthos]

why would someone own a gun to just look at!!!

[Winger Ed.]

"she wanted all the guns out of the house." That has been the start of more than 1 tale of "how I came across this gun!"


Oh yeah.
I've had a few like that.
One was a real fancy Italian flintlock gentleman's pistol from the 17th century, ivory tipped ram rod & all.
It looked like something you'd see in a fancy dueling set.
If it had ever been fired, I sure couldn't tell.

I kept it for awhile............ just to look at.:bigsmyl2:
Then I gave it to my Dad so he could look at it awhile, and when he passed away,
I gave it to my sister so they could admire and look at it too.
And it hasn't been fired yet.

[FISH4BUGS]

I shoot everything I own…..

Up to and including my 1956 5 screw pre 29. Also the 1948 pre 24 44 special.
Oh...the 1924 Savage sporter and the 1921 Winchester 92 both in 25-20.
Gee...I almost forgot...the 1933 S&W Hand Ejector in 32-20.
There are more but you get the idea.
Nope....guns are the used. And I use them all.

[375RUGER]

Some people buy guns as investments, same as gold or silver. Take my buddy for instance, 77yo, he has several unfired firearms and he needs money. Last week I relieved him of a Win 9422, 1 of 500, case hardened. His initial investment yielded a 500%+ increase. Now, somebody cringe. I devalued it before I got home and have put 200+ rounds through it this first week. I like the fact that I can buy a brand new 16-20 yo gun and I'm the first to pull the trigger since it left the factory. I'm going to shoot it especially if I'm going to pay a premium price for it and it's even sweeter knowing there are only 499 others like it.
You can’t take it with you when you die and you can’t take the money.
Fired or not they are all investments and almost all of them are worth more now than they were when purchased new.

[murf205]

Oh yeah.
I've had a few like that.
One was a real fancy Italian flintlock gentleman's pistol from the 17th century, ivory tipped ram rod & all.
It looked like something you'd see in a fancy dueling set.
If it had ever been fired, I sure couldn't tell.

I kept it for awhile............ just to look at.:bigsmyl2:
Then I gave it to my Dad so he could look at it awhile, and when he passed away,
I gave it to my sister so they could admire and look at it too.
And it hasn't been fired yet.

Mine is a FN Mauser 30-06 with "Wards" stamped on the barrel. The stock was a treacherous abomination but a saw to cut the hideous cheek piece off and a rasp to cut off enough lumber to make a campfire, it turned into a very pleasing sporter. The poor guy looked like a whipped puppy when she told him to get rid of it and I told him I only had $125 on me(true) and he said sold. It shoots 220 gr Hornady's into less than an inch.

[Winger Ed.]

I got home and have put 200+ rounds through it this first week. I like the fact that I can buy a brand new 16-20 yo gun and I'm the first to pull the trigger since it left the factory. .

In the mid-80s, one of our vendors came in and told me he wanted me to buy his Remington O3A3.
He was a WWII guy and he'd bought it in the early 50s when the govt. was selling all the surplus stuff.

He went to the armory to buy one, got to talking to the guy, and being a vet that served in the Pacific,
the fella said, "Wait right here"..... then went and got him a unissued, and unfired new one.

In his travels, he used to go past the Fajen place back when people would fly in, land on their property to have stocks fitted.
He had them put a stock on it, and had Fajen send it out to be blued.
It looked like someone's final project from gunsmithing school.
Just beautiful........and still unfired.

I asked if he actually knew what it was worth, and I said I couldn't pay it.
He said he knew exactly what it was worth. And he didn't want his son to have it to sell and buy drugs.
This was when one assembled from parts was going for about $500.


He asked how much I had on me. I had a $100. and a $5 dollar bill. I gave him both.
He gave me back the $5 for Lunch.
A month or so later, he brought in the Redfield 5 star 3x9 he never got around to mounting.
I brought my lunch that day, but had a new hideout $100 bill. He was happy with that.

When gun shows were still worth going to- new bolts in the paper wrapper were $11.00 each.
I got three new bolts to practice welding a new handle on, some bolt handles from Brownell's,
drilled & tapped it for a Leupold scope rail and put in a sport model Timney trigger.
I shot it a lot, killed a couple deer with it, and it loved 170RN cast.
When I quit hunting, I passed it on to my sister and her family because I didn't want my kids to have it.

[murf205]

Ed, can you make a pic of that gun? We would love to see it. Knowing the history behind these guns makes them all the more endearing. I have a Ruger 77 that I bought new as a 7mm Mag in 1981. It was a looong way from accurate so I had Graham Bostick, who is an American Custom Gunmakers Guild member, remove the barrel and send it to Douglas for an exact duplicate contured barrel. He chambered it for 350 Rem and installed it back in my stock in my stock. I sold it later to a friend and he had the late Harry Deal blue the whole rig. When he passed, I bought the rifle back from his son who is not a hunter/shooter. Then, During my Alaska trecking days, Jimmy mcCoullough (McCoullough Rifle Co. Valley Grand , Al) rechambered it to 358 Norma. I don't shoot full snorts anymore in that rifle but it has a history and the handwork of 3 of my old friends on it and that makes it sort of heirloom status, if you will, for me at least.

[FISH4BUGS]

Fired or not they are all investments and almost all of them are worth more now than they were when purchased new.
I started buying full auto back in about 1980, with my last on being 1987 after the ban.
I sold 3 of them in 2011 for the down payment to buy a house.
You would not believe the prices I got for them then, or the prices they fetch today.

[Winger Ed.]

Ed, can you make a pic of that gun? We would love to see it..

Sorry guys.
I sent it along with some of my Dad's guns, including the flint lock pistol to my sister out of state back in 2015.

When I first saw it--- I almost sprinkled like a happy puppy.

Just imagine:
The most beautifully and professionally done sporterize job you ever saw on a 1944 Remington Springfield 02A3. (not the 2 groove barrel)
The stock was done by Fajen from a walnut tree that probably had squirrels running around in it when George Washington was President.
It's the Monte Carlo one with a white spacer and black ebony wood tip.
After some practice, I replaced the bolt handle with one of the in house brand ones from Brownell's that sort of looks like a Rem 700 bolt.
No sling swivels, Fajan's plastic butt plate, and the sport model Timney trigger set at 3 pounds.
Leupold one piece scope mount.
Redfield rings that have the clamping screws coming up from underneath.
They're no big deal now, but it wears a Redfield 5 star 3x9 scope of the day.

Years later, I got ahold a a unfinished Fajen stock for it with the flat sides like a Weatherby.
Beautiful piece of wood that I think came from the same tree as the original one.
It took several weeks, but I cut and added a black ebony wood tip to it and finished it with tru-oil.
It came out real well too, and it has some sort of gold colored minerals in it that stand out with the tru-oil

I'm not that great a shot, but it'd hold right at 1" with anything, even with cast RCBS 170RN and 190SPs.
My kids don't shoot unless I take them, and I don't think they could appreciate it for what it is,
but my sister & BIL and his son do shoot some, and just love it. So I gave it to them.