A couple of years ago, I came across a mismarked revolver at the gun show. As I looked into a virtual 'pile' of sixguns of various flavors I noticed what appeared to be a 4" Model 29. Looking closer, the tag attached to it said M-19 with a decent price for a 19. After getting permission and trying not to look to pumped up, I handled it and found it to be a Model 29-2 with no blue wear and that fine smooth action so common to those revolvers. I negotiated a deal which would have been excellent for a 19 and was over the top for a 29 (about 300 less than any at the show, damn I feel guilty. Not that guilty!) and floated out to the Jeep and drove home dazed. Glad Nellebelle knows the way home! It shot like a dream and I had traded a few years earlier for an original set of Deacon Deason N frame grips. I was in Elmer/ Skeeter Heaven.
So here is where I am a little confused. Someone has installed a set of 3-dot night sights. The front one is a steel insert with a tritium dot that exactly fits into where the red insert was and the rear is a thicker blade with a tritium dot on each side naturally that fits in place of the stock S&W blade. When I got it they worked OK but not super bright and now it is basically a 3-dot system with no illumination. There are no marks on them and I have not seen any and have done a few search's.
Has anybody out there seen any of these before? Any idea who made them? I was leary at first but they really are kinda cool. I will try to attach a picture soon or send one to Al and have him add it in.
Smith and Wesson sight inserts
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Horsetrader, have you looked at Brownell's to see if anything they have listed is close to your sights? They have pretty much every manufacturer and style available and maybe you can see yours there to get an ID. Chris
Yes, I have looked at all of the normal sources and catalogs and showed them to several smith's and have come up sort.
I am wondering how old they are it may have been a passing thing as more and more folks started using revolvers for recreation and auto's for defense. It may have been a short lived proposition.
Normally I am not a 3-dot sight guy and prefer all black or maybe a white rear outline, but these seem to line up nice and are pretty nice and are visible for these aging eyes. I am a little color blind and red ramps were no good for me at all as far as a sighting advantage.
Nice looking 29
I would have wet my pants on the way to the car after I found that. Smiths are so nice. I have a 1950 in 44 Spl and a 25-5 in 45 Colt. I will never give them up. T he 29-3 4" in the top of the shelf. T reasure it and stop fretting.
Mike
It may have been raining that day and I did not notice. I had sold a Ruger I had taken in trade that day also and invested a total of about $350 in trade goods on a Belgium Browning BLR in .308. It is a sweetheart also.....It was the best show I have ever been to.
Good shows are hard to beat. We don't get many here in Mudhole, Mississippi, but every once in a while, I strike gold.
It's very rare to find a good reloading booth, but last summer, I found a guy that had everything I needed to get going with progressive reloading. And, he had good prices on 8 lb. cans of powder.
When I was in Montana, we had great gun shows. I loved the Kalispell ones and would stay for two days at the Outlaw Inn. It had three floors of great vendors.
Oh, well, maybe I will get back to the high country one day. Monsoons for the next week. Yuck.
Mike
I know that's a very personal question but I am very curious. I left New Mexico because of family illness and I regret it terribly, but in your case you seem to have loved Montana and I cannot imagine any scenario that would have induced you to leave. If you feel it is too personal to answer I understand but I am a curious fellow. Are you going back? That probably is the more important question. Chris
We lived in Montana fron 1968 to 2004. First it was at Havre Air Force Station in extreme north central Montana and later in Great Falls in central Montana. We loved it and raised two kids to be real people. Had lots of friends (ranchers and townies) all over the state that we met while I was shooting competition muzzle loader. Our mothers lived in Mississippi. Our brothers, both the younger babies, lived in Dallas and Mississippi. As our mother reached old age, our brothers would not take up the yoke. So, we sold our house in Montana and moved here. I can only sound bitter when I think about moving from a nice place to a fourth world country. My wife's mother has passed on, so we are almost though with that problem. My mother is 89 and in assisted living. Meanwhile, we suffer through a medical system based on raping medicare and a culture where blood relations are everything. Gack. It is like moving backwards 200 years. There are no real sporting goods stores, no restaurants open on Sundays, and nowhere to get a glass of wine with your dinner. It is like living in Sartre's No Exit. And, on top of that, all wood is rotten, the air is full of insect life, and the air is like a full time steam bath.
I tried teaching chemistry and physics at a private school for a few years, but math preparation is so poor that I spent most of my time teaching basic math to people who think the only purpose of a school is football. When my science fair kids started winning ribbons at the State Science Fair, the headmaster said, "that's a waste of time". That's why you never see a person from Mississippi on a national level. They are happy to inbred idiots. Besides the fact that they cannot speak intelligible English. Oil is oohl, why is wah, etc.
More than you wanted to know, dude? I can;t eait to get to higher elevations. I always say, "Life sucks below 4000 feet.".
Mike
mworkmansr, Don't hold back, how do you really feel?
I hear what your saying.
Mike: I understand totally and sincerely hope you find your way back to Montana soon. Where I live isn't too bad but as a general rule Michigan has some of the East Coast gun control philosophy and it isn't very accomadating to gun owners in general. However, I can't complain too much so I'll leave it at that. Chris
I can sympathize with going from 'The Big Sky' to 'The Big Muddy'.
My family roots are all in Montana and my Grandpa had a horse ranch on Willow Creek near Red Lodge. I used to get to spend my summers there as a teenager and swore I would be moving there someday. Don't think it will happen.
I've spent most of my life in Washington where life was good ad a kid but the western part of the state has become Californicated in my opinion where I lived in a small logging community. After a stint in Colorado I am now in Eastern Washington. I am close to the Idaho Panhandle and we have CAS and other shooting ranges all over. We are lucky to enjoy clean air and lots of decent hunting and fishing. With a body growing older and the aches and pain that come with age and a left wrist just fused by the VA, I see one last move in the future probably to a hopefully 4 season part of Arizona.
We had another good gun show in Spokane today and I picked up a pristine S&W model 60-2 2"bbl rnd butt with rubber grips and within 10 minutes scored some stock grips. It is at it's new home polished cleaned, oiled and wood grips in place and stoked with some .38 +P Golden Sabres waiting for a wave of Commies or Tailban to attack. Going back tomorrow in search of a Marlin 45-70.
A lot of rural places are just like this. Maine, for instance, and backwoods Connecticut. But I'm stuck here for now, so these people get my wrath. Hate to say it, but it reminds me of Bob Dylan's verse: "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you". Anyway, Chris, at least you have the Upper Peninsula. And, Horsetrader, Washington ain't bad, but I agree on high country Arizona, or New Mexico. Don't worry about the Commies or Taliban; it's the politically correct whiners that we need to repel.
Oh, well, at least here, since there is no law, I don't have to behave either.
Mike
Ahem. Point of order. The song "stuck in the middle" was penned by the late GerryRafferty and his group "Steelers Wheel". Just FYI.
Well, we have been all over the country no but nobody seems to know anything about the sights. Has anyone out there ever seen or know who made these?
Is it possible to remove the tritium inserts and replace them? I don't know if you can just buy the inserts but it may be possible and then you would not have to replace the entire set of sights. Chris.
Chris,
I could put a stock rear sight on in minutes and have installed front colored inserts before so that isn't an issue. In fact after about the initial first 50 rounds shot after aquiring this M 29 the front sight moved a little and I could grab and wiggle even though it is a visually perfect fit. A small drop of red Loctite solved the issue. As stated I usually do not care for three dot sights but the visibility these add to this particular revolver are pretty cool for my aging eyes. Not precision but very quick acquisition. If I could locate a set of new ones I would probably put another set on. The dot's have just gotten old and the tritium is not doing it's job any more.
I found this site after much searching, they make tritium vials for inserting in various products. Perhaps you could contact them and see if they have something in the size you need to repair your sights. I took it from another forum so the quotes aren't mine and I think it is an old post so who knows, bad me. I think you send them your sights to do the inserts?? Anyway the second site actually makes vials but they are expensive. Chris
"contact these guys http://www.ptnightsights.com/ I had them put inserts in my HK P7, cost me $30 +$12 S&H."__________________
Horsetrader;
You might check Brownell's. They sell paints to refresh or create dots. They have both flat and flourescent colors. I have used them on my Llama Minimax, and they work fine and are durable.
Mike
WOW! Kudo's to you for the effort. It would be really cool if they were the original maker of the sights. I'll contact. Thank you again for finding.
The post above this was Thanks intended for Chris as the tip on the website is a good one. Thanks to uou also MWORKMANSR. I actually have bought a set of the paint to try on my XD and have never got up the guts to try it. On your recomendation I will. Now I have to find the damn vials of paint!
Jack
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