Thought you guys might like to see the new toy.....

I've owned the pistol (S&W 629 Classic) for a little over 4 years, but the scope is a brand new addition. It's a Leupold FX-II 2x20mm and is mounted on a Weigand Combat Handgun scope mount with 3 weaver style rings. In the last picture, you can also see the new grips I purchased from Smith & Wesson. They are the same grips used on their X-frame revolvers, and they are MUCH more comfortable to shoot. Let me know what yall think.....

Very nice. Have you started planning next season's hunts with it?

I have the 629 Classic in 8 3/8". Mine's an older gun with a few differences in details. Mine has the more old fashioned red insert front ramp shaped sight. Yours looks more fiber optic maybe? I think I prefer yours. Mine is 1991 and doesn't have the trigger lock. When they went to that, they also apparently had to re-design the shape of the cylinder release button. The barrel markings on mine are also slightly different. On the left side it has two lines with S&W spelled out fully and 44 Magnum on the under-lug.

Hard to believe the 629's already nearly 20 yrs old. I go back to when the Model 29 was the new kid on the block and everybody wanted one.

The only other difference between ours is that mine wears a Nikon scope with Buehler two ring mounts. Yours is definitely heavier duty, although I've honestly never had any problem at all with the scope staying put. It's just standard cross-hairs however. How is yours set up?

I also have the factory grips. They are as yours, so they've been using them a while. They are Hogue and built on a round butt frame. The only difference in grips is mine have the silver S&W medallions.

Good luck with it afield!

Btw, I'd be curious to know what kind of max distance accuracy you're seeing now that you have the scope.

Shack,

Thanks for the comment. I plan on hunting with it a lot this fall for both deer and hogs, but I hope to test it out here shortly on a big hog. I'm going this weekend.

Yes my front sight is a Hi-Viz fiber optic sight. It is okay, but the scope is MUCH more accurate. I'm shooting Federal Premium Cast Core 300 gr. loads and I have it sighted in at 50 yards. I'm consistently shooting 1" - 1.5" groups with a good rest.

Regarding the grips.....I believe these should be a little different from yours. They look almost identical but these are better than the stock factory grips. The stock grips that came with the pistol had the steel "backstrap" exposed on the back of the grip. I just purchased these 2 weeks ago from Smith & Wesson and they have a sorbothane pad on the back of the grip to cover the steel and makes it much more tolerable to shoot the heavy loads. These new loads I'm shooting do have pretty stout recoil, but it's still comfortable to shoot with the extra padding.

You're right about the grip backstrap. That is what I have. I discussed the gun with S&W in 08 and asked about other grips, but they didn't mention the ones you have. The only other they talked about were the laminated fancy walnut checkered, either round or square frame. I wasn't interested in those and they had no speedloader cutout anyway which I consider real important.

They said an action/trigger job was available, but frankly this is one gun that never needed that, unlike some others I could name.

I also seriously considered getting a factory presentation case, but it's not designed for the scope.

At our club we have a 600 yd range. Just for fun I'm thinking one day I'll start at 100 and see just how far out I can take it and still get something resembling a group. Would be happy to hear the advice of anyone who likes to experiment with long range handgunning.