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Smith & Wesson Model 29: The Dirty Harry Gun

Talyn

Talyn

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An iconic American film series, “Dirty Harry” revolutionized the crime genre in cinema. The series, spanning five feature films, follows the journey of “Dirty” Harry Callahan. His sidekick in the films, a Smith & Wesson Model 29, shares an equal amount of screen time.

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Smith & Wesson Model 29: The Dirty Harry Gun - Wideners Shooting, Hunting & Gun Blog

The Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver left an indelible mark on the film industry, read all about the Dirty Harry gun in this article.
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I and many of my colleague officers went out and bought them. I even carried one in a shoulder holster for a while, in violation of policy, but it was fun. Nobody could qualify with them, though. I have a 629 Classic that I admire but don't carry it much.
 
Back “in the day” I was a firefighter in a small town. We dispatched and worked very closely with the officers. Our PD hired a young police officer, big guy, who showed up carrying a model 29 with the long (8 3/4”?) barrel. Being young men we teased him unmercifully about his “cannon”. He was quiet, made the statement one time “ I never want to have to shoot anybody, but if I doionly want to have to shoot them once”. Kidding continued. In the meantime this young single guy was shooting this thing pretty much everyday. The following year he WON the state Police Pistol Championship with that 29. The kidding immediately stopped…
 
My father has one. Passed down the .357 version to me and kept the .44.

Well, late ‘70s when I was a young kid, parents had block parties at our house out in the rural suburbs of CT.
Neighbors were doctors and such.
One was a surgeon.
They had been having their party and the surgeon finally decided he wanted to try shooting the .44.
Well, he wasn't ready for the noise.

My dad laughs to this day telling the story of how the surgeon had to skip operations for days and have someone else do them because he couldnt hear 💩 from the round going off . Apparently he did the whole rebound off the head as well.
Every time dad takes that pistol out, he retells the story like yesterday and chuckles .
 
The first .44 mag I shot was a model 29 with a 4 inch BBL. It belonged to a friend . This friend also hand loaded and loved to push the limits.

The large frame S&W grips were to big for my hands but I got the best 2 handed grip I could and touched off the first round. It tried to break my wrists and jumped into the air. I brought it back down on target and got the same results. I handed it back to him and told him " That's not fun ! " . He just laughed.

Now at the time I was shooting my 4"BBL. .357 one handed But that 4" .44 mag. was potent. I have shot other .44 mags since several times but they were 6.5" Ruger Blackhawks.
 
KillerFord1977 said:
My father has one. Passed down the .357 version to me and kept the .44.

Well, late ‘70s when I was a young kid, parents had block parties at our house out in the rural suburbs of CT.
Neighbors were doctors and such.
One was a surgeon.
They had been having their party and the surgeon finally decided he wanted to try shooting the .44.
Well, he wasn't ready for the noise.

My dad laughs to this day telling the story of how the surgeon had to skip operations for days and have someone else do them because he couldnt hear 💩 from the round going off . Apparently he did the whole rebound off the head as well.
Every time dad takes that pistol out, he retells the story like yesterday and chuckles .
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my friend (classmate) had a 357mag (4-5" barrel) and he shot that and my ears were killing me...........that crack/frequency sound unlike the boom of a 44mag 8 3/8" was way easier on my ears of decades of shooting w/o ear protection.
 
I wish I had a dollar for every time someone came into the store and asked if we had any Model 29s :)
Many dealers would sell them for twice or three times the suggested retail price. Big money in those days.

Then there was the Regan assignation attempt, everyone wanted an Uzi like the SS agent pulled out :)
 
Couple f things here. In the 80s there was a series, “Sledgehammer”, a comedic police series. I was a Robbery Detective and some officers had recovered the titular firearm from. rolling stolen. It was a stainless .44 Mag, with a distinctive grip, a sledgehammer with a halo over it, finally tracked it down by the grip, it had been stolen from the set, leaning a fake behind. Really nice piece.

I was walking a foot beat in MacArthur Park 8n L.A.when the movie, featuring Dirty Harry hisself came out. Remember the large signs for it, of course every cop wanted one, contrary to LAPD regs. Closest I saw was another cop, probably psycho, who carried a nickel Python. Truewhite shot too many people and he, and his Python, were fired. Later he became an enforcer for 18th Street Gand and as shot from behind a few years later by Rocky Glover, the Temple Street gang enforcer.

Sorry for rambling on, but the early 70s were interesting times.
 
3L120 said:
Couple f things here. In the 80s there was a series, “Sledgehammer”, a comedic police series. I was a Robbery Detective and some officers had recovered the titular firearm from. rolling stolen. It was a stainless .44 Mag, with a distinctive grip, a sledgehammer with a halo over it, finally tracked it down by the grip, it had been stolen from the set, leaning a fake behind. Really nice piece.

I was walking a foot beat in MacArthur Park 8n L.A.when the movie, featuring Dirty Harry hisself came out. Remember the large signs for it, of course every cop wanted one, contrary to LAPD regs. Closest I saw was another cop, probably psycho, who carried a nickel Python. Truewhite shot too many people and he, and his Python, were fired. Later he became an enforcer for 18th Street Gand and as shot from behind a few years later by Rocky Glover, the Temple Street gang enforcer.

Sorry for rambling on, but the early 70s were interesting times.
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I loved that show.

In keeping with my comment on another thread about remembering everything I have ever seen flash across a tv set, the lead character's name is David Rasche.
 
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