Crappy 29-2 worth any effort??

[Apachedriver]

Nickel plated 4" Smith and Wesson model 29-2

Nickel is in rough shape and flaking off at cylinder

has some pitting near the end of barrel

original wood smith and wesson grips

good shooter or truck gun

priced according to condition at $450

I saw this ad while surfing a For Sale section. Is something as described in this ad worth buying? Is it fixable? I was thinking for potential use as a low cost truck gun. Or is it just better to wait for something else?

I'm leery. What do you think? Is it worth checking out?

 

[19-3Ben]

Can't hurt to take a look at it and see if it is REALLY that bad. Also, a lot of people don't know what they are looking at. they look at fouling in the barrel and assume it's corrosion/pitting.

Depending on condition, I'd also see if I could get the price down low enough that I could have the gun worked on or refinished without being upside down on price.

 

[Apachedriver]

Just to add a couple of points.

I'm waiting to see if the seller will email pics. For now, he wants to text to cell phone but that's a no-go with me. If he emails pics, I'll update the post.

Also, I've always been a semi-auto user, mainly 1911's, M9's, and HK's. Revolvers are newer to me, and nickeled guns I don't know anything about.

What sort of costs could be incurred with refinishing a nickeled gun?

 

[CraigC]

If it's really that bad, then it's at least a hundred bucks too high. Older S&W's are commanding premiums but not if they're in such piss-poor shape they need refinishing. You can have it hard chromed by Accurate Plating, which is a harder, more durable finish for $185. Redoing it in bright nickel will be more painful, expect to pay at least $300. Factor in shipping both ways and stripping the old nickel. Of course, you can also take the opportunity to have other custom work done like an action job and/or installing a Weigand interchangeable front sight system. You can end up with a really nice semi-custom sixgun for well under $1000. Or you can pay $600-$800 for a nicer factory nickel gun. Depends on what you want and how much you want to spend.

 

[BYJO4]

As you said, you need to see pictures of it. The finish is not a major issue if you are just going to keep it in your car for defense. However, if you want to refinish, the degree of pitting is critical as to how deep it is inorder to restore. If deep, you can have a glass bead or matt finish put on it. If mechanically good, the max I would pay for it as is would be $400.

 

[bikemutt]

Much too high for condition described. Not always but, when I see a gun that has been allowed to see it's finish fall into such a poor state, it's just the tip of the iceberg. Look at it another way, $500 will get you a darn nice 28-2 if a truck gun is what you are considering.

 

[Apachedriver]

Much too high for condition described. Not always but, when I see a gun that has been allowed to see it's finish fall into such a poor state, it's just the tip of the iceberg. Look at it another way, $500 will get you a darn nice 28-2 if a truck gun is what you are considering.

Funny...that's where this whole quest started for me about a year ago.

I saw a really nice looking 28-2 Highway Patrolman but couldn't get my work schedule to fit for the drive to go see it. Next thing I know I'm considering 629's, 29's and 686's but I can't get to 28-2. There was finally another one I missed out on last week as it got sold a couple of days after I saw it online.

What aimed me towards 29's is that I read on here how firing .44SPLs is similar to .45ACP. I'm a big fan of that caliber for semi-auto pistols.

No response from the seller yet.