Lew Horton S&W 29-3 with 3" Bbl

I'm not sure about the porting, but I'm a big fan of the 3" 44 mags. I keep an eye out for them on Gunbroker. Price wise I'v noted the unfluted Lew Horton's going between $ 650.00 to $800.00. You have a fine revolver, enjoy it.

That is a nice one.
How can you tell if the revolver is a Lew Horton model?

If it's a round butt and has a 3" barrel it's a Lew Horton. I don't believe Smith & Wesson made 3" barrel 29's other than Lew Hortons. Though I could be wrong.

Nice gun!

I have a L.H. 3" 629 (not ported) which I purchased (new) five years ago for around $650 or so, ( retailed for $850). You can call Lew Horton re. the origin of the porting job. I don't know, myself.

Extremely accurate guns although you may need a shorter front sight to bring POI up at 25 to 50 yards as I did...no big deal. It equals or beats the accuracy of both my 4 5/8" SBH and my 5 1/2"629 out to 50 yds. Impressive.

Three years ago I purposely fired one round w/o ear protection to sample its effect in a self defense role. Trust me...you don't want to shoot full house loads through it w/o "ears" unless a great bear or cape buffalo is knawing on your leg.

Congratulations on a very nice handgun.

I have a LH M29-3 3" , fluted cylinder, goncolo alves Ahrends wood grips. I think it was mfg'ed in the early 80's.

It has a great trigger and the grips are very well designed. It is very accurate and a pleasure to shoot.

I shoot mostly .44 Spl's in it (want it to last to be handed down to my son), though it is not at all uncomfortable to shoot full house .44 mags.

I mostly carry it when backpacking in bear country.

It is by far one of my favorites and I was lucky to find it near new condition at a great price. The previous owner did not care for the big recoil and muzzle blast. (I think he bought it to show off, but only fired it a few times)

f it's a round butt and has a 3" barrel it's a Lew Horton. I don't believe Smith & Wesson made 3" barrel 29's other than Lew Hortons. Though I could be wrong.

Click to expand...

You're wrong.

Okay, that sounded harsh. But you are wrong. The model 29s made for Lew Horton weren't full lugged and they were fluted, just like the one DMZ describes. The one I had (gave it to my little brother) had an "ALB" prefix in the serial number. What you have there is a classic example of the S&W "Gun of the Week" phenomenon from the early 90s.

I'll bet that the serial number is BDZ4xxx or something close to that. That's what these have:



By the way, that looks like the porting you see on my chromed one in that picture. Is there a small symbol like this on the right cover plate?



If so, the work was done by Jack Weigand.

rbmcmjr
Any idea on what year those were made and how many made in that series?

I don't know about the number. I'd guess somewhere between 500 and 5000 but I have no way to back up that guess.

I bought mine in May of 1993 from Ron Hess there on Tidewater Drive in Norfolk, VA. The purchase price, new, was $425 each.

Rick

I carry a three-inch pre-agreement model 629 two or three days a week. It's a trifle on the heavy side to carry all day long, but I figure as expensive as ammunition has become, it's probably a good idea to stop a crime with just one shot.

Standing Wolf,

You will also have an easy time picking the bad guy out of a police line up if you miss him with that one shot. It is always going to be the guy with the singed eyebrows and eye lashes.