the naked prophet
Member
I picked up an 8 inch .44 mag Smith & Wesson model 29 at an estate auction. I had been wanting a big bore revolver for some time, and upon doing the revolver checkout (thanks to Jim March for that! After about 50 revolvers both here and previous gun stores/pawn shops I had a pretty good feel for good vs. bad revolvers by now) I discovered that it had been worked over by a good gunsmith. It was very tight, had a very smooth, consistent double action trigger with a crisp break. Not pinned or recessed, but at least it lacks the lock and full underlug of the new S&W revolvers.
I love the gun, but the 8 inch barrel is just so long that it makes carrying difficult even in the woods (especially if I have to sit down), and it's so front heavy. There's also some scratches on the last 2 inches of barrel (as if the first owner carried it in a holster meant for 6" guns). The blue has worn off the muzzle end of the barrel, but the blue is nearly perfect everywhere else.
Is it somehow a horrible thing to get a S&W revolver barrel cut down? I doubt it's collectible, but I wouldn't want to ruin the gun anyway.
I'd like to have cut down to 5 inches. I doubt I can just get a new barrel put on it (it's blued, and has the short underlug), but how much will it cost me to get the existing barrel cut down? I'm guessing around $100-150, but I don't really know. Would it be cheaper to just buy another 5" model 29, and not have the nicer smithed trigger?
I love the gun, but the 8 inch barrel is just so long that it makes carrying difficult even in the woods (especially if I have to sit down), and it's so front heavy. There's also some scratches on the last 2 inches of barrel (as if the first owner carried it in a holster meant for 6" guns). The blue has worn off the muzzle end of the barrel, but the blue is nearly perfect everywhere else.
Is it somehow a horrible thing to get a S&W revolver barrel cut down? I doubt it's collectible, but I wouldn't want to ruin the gun anyway.
I'd like to have cut down to 5 inches. I doubt I can just get a new barrel put on it (it's blued, and has the short underlug), but how much will it cost me to get the existing barrel cut down? I'm guessing around $100-150, but I don't really know. Would it be cheaper to just buy another 5" model 29, and not have the nicer smithed trigger?