Welcome, if you’re a newcomer to this enjoyable bi-weekly phase of AllOutdoor.com! The final time round was chronicling one in all my favourite World Conflict One period pistols, the Steyr 1912 with its historical past, variations, relationship particulars, components, and vary time. You’ll be able to revisit that multi-part collection through the use of the hyperlinks under. Right this moment we’re leaping into the historical past of the legendary Smith & Wesson Mannequin 29, also referred to as the revolver Soiled Harry used. Our revolver right this moment is technically a contemporary one from Smith & Wesson’s Basic lineup however the design has remained unchanged within the general appears division. Let’s go from scorching hand hundreds to the films with the Smith & Wesson Mannequin 29!
Latest Content material in Curious Relics:
Welcome to our recurring collection of “Curious Relics.” Right here, we wish to share all of our experiences, data, misadventures, and fervour for older firearms that one may categorize as a Curio & Relic – any firearm that’s not less than 50 years outdated in line with the ATF. Hopefully alongside the best way you’ll be able to garner a larger appreciation for older firearms like we do, and concurrently you’ll be able to educate us issues as effectively via sharing your personal experience and ideas within the Feedback. Understanding the firearms of outdated, their significance, and their growth which result in lots of the arms we now cherish right this moment is extremely fascinating and we hope you take pleasure in what we’ve to share, too!
Historical past Abridged: S&W Mannequin 29
The story of the Mannequin 29 begins within the early twentieth century with a gaggle of firearms fans looking for extra highly effective handgun cartridges for looking. Amongst these pioneers was Elmer Keith, a colourful and influential determine on the earth of firearms. Keith, together with different handgun aficionados like Charlie Askins and Phil Sharpe, started experimenting with “hot-loading” current rounds such because the .44 Particular. By the Fifties, Keith had change into a vocal advocate for a brand new, extra highly effective cartridge. His technique was easy: take a heavy-for-caliber forged bullet, typically of his personal design, and pair it with a beneficiant quantity of powder. Keith’s persistent lobbying of arms producers, coupled together with his prolific writing in gun publications, finally caught the eye of main gamers within the trade.
Within the mid-Fifties, Carl Hellstrom, president of Smith & Wesson, and R.H Coleman of Remington started discussions about implementing Keith’s thought for a magnum .44-caliber revolver. Remington developed the cartridge, and by the summer season of 1954, they despatched Smith & Wesson a design that was 1/8-inch longer than the .44 Particular cartridge. Smith & Wesson started testing prototypes in mid-July 1954, producing 4 specifically heat-treated N-frame Hand Ejector fashions chambered for the brand new spherical. After preliminary testing, it was instructed that the barrel and body be strengthened for higher recoil absorption and longevity, including about 7.5 ounces to the revolver’s weight.
On December 29, 1955, the primary .44 Magnum revolver got here off the Smith & Wesson manufacturing line. Initially cataloged with both a 4-inch or 6.5-inch barrel, the primary 500 .44 Magnums have been made with a 6.5-inch barrel. The 4-inch model grew to become accessible a number of months later, and an 8 3/8-inch barrel choice was launched in 1958. On the time of its introduction, the .44 Magnum was certainly essentially the most highly effective manufacturing handgun cartridge on the earth. Nevertheless, the Mannequin 29 designation wasn’t utilized till 1957, when Smith & Wesson started stamping mannequin numbers on the yoke of their revolvers.
The Mannequin 29’s preliminary reception was combined. Whereas orders have been brisk, many shooters discovered the revolver’s energy overwhelming. Tales circulated of practically new Mannequin 29s displaying up in gun outlets or for personal sale with barely-used ammunition. The extraordinary recoil and muzzle blast proved difficult for a lot of customers, significantly those that had bought the revolver for self-defense fairly than its supposed goal of looking.
The Mannequin 29 remained primarily the area of handgun fans and hunters till 1971 when it gained widespread fame via the film “Soiled Harry.” Clint Eastwood’s character, Inspector Harry Callahan, wielded a Mannequin 29 with a 6.5-inch barrel, famously referring to it as “essentially the most highly effective handgun on the earth.” The film’s success catapulted the Mannequin 29 into the highlight. Demand skyrocketed, typically outpacing Smith & Wesson’s manufacturing capability. Retailers struggled to maintain the revolver in inventory, and it ceaselessly commanded premium costs above its record value. This era marked the peak of the Mannequin 29’s recognition and cemented its place in American popular culture.
The introduction of the Mannequin 29 and the .44 Magnum cartridge had a profound impression on handgun looking. As hunters started to appreciate the potential of this highly effective mixture, the follow of looking huge sport with handguns gained recognition all through the late Nineteen Seventies and Nineteen Eighties. The Mannequin 29’s capabilities expanded the vary of sport that may very well be ethically hunted with a handgun. Hunters efficiently used it to take a wide range of animals, from white-tailed deer to bear, and even a few of the largest sport on the planet. This success helped legitimize handgun looking as a difficult and rewarding pursuit.
Furthermore, the Mannequin 29’s recognition amongst handgun hunters and aggressive shooters within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties sparked a quest for much more highly effective handguns. This arms race of kinds led to the event of latest, stronger cartridges and the revolvers to deal with them. In 1983, the .454 Casull was launched commercially, surpassing the .44 Magnum in energy. This was adopted by different super-magnum cartridges just like the .480 Ruger and the .500 S&W Magnum in 2003. Whereas these newer cartridges eclipsed the .44 Magnum in uncooked energy, additionally they highlighted the Mannequin 29’s wonderful stability of energy and shootability.
Regardless of being overtaken as “essentially the most highly effective handgun on the earth,” the Mannequin 29 remained well-liked. Its extra manageable recoil in comparison with bigger magnums, mixed with its confirmed effectiveness on sport, ensured its continued relevance within the looking fields and on the vary. The Mannequin 29 additionally influenced the design of different revolvers. Its success prompted different producers to develop their very own .44 Magnum revolvers, and its sturdy N-frame grew to become a regular towards which different large-frame revolvers have been measured.
This era of magnum evolution demonstrated that whereas newer, extra highly effective choices grew to become accessible, the Mannequin 29 had discovered a candy spot when it comes to energy, accuracy, and usefulness. It proved that larger isn’t all the time higher and that effectiveness within the subject typically trumps uncooked energy on paper. Whereas the Mannequin 29’s recognition has waned since its Nineteen Seventies heyday, it stays an vital a part of Smith & Wesson’s catalog. Within the late Nineteen Nineties, the corporate discontinued many revolver fashions, together with the “primary” Mannequin 29. Nevertheless, restricted or customized configurations have been manufactured in as many as 10 evolutions since then.
The Mannequin 29 continues to be produced below Smith & Wesson’s Basic line, sustaining its enchantment amongst collectors, fans, and hunters. The revolver featured in lots of the photos is a Mannequin 29-10 from the Basic line.
Finish of Half One: Smith & Wesson Mannequin 29
Right this moment, the Smith & Wesson Mannequin 29 stands as a testomony to American firearms innovation. On the identical time, not essentially the most highly effective manufacturing handgun, its historic significance, cultural impression, and enduring design guarantee its place within the pantheon of traditional firearms. For a lot of, the Mannequin 29 stays the quintessential big-bore revolver, an emblem of energy and precision that continues to seize the creativeness of shooters and collectors alike.
Extra Mannequin 29 content material is over on our sister website TFB:
In closing, I hope our Curious Relics phase knowledgeable in addition to entertained. This all was written in hopes of continued firearm appreciation and preservation. We didn’t simply notice how weapons have been presupposed to look and performance. It was a protracted and tedious course of that has formed the world we stay in. So, I put it to you! Is there a firearm on the market that you simply really feel doesn’t get a lot notoriety? What ought to our subsequent Curious Relics subject cowl? As all the time, tell us your entire ideas within the Feedback under! We all the time respect your suggestions.
