In search of the perfect grips for a Dirty Harry Special .44 Magnum

When I first bought my S&W 29-3 .44 Magnum 4" barrel (at left), I found the factory target grips (at right on a S&W 21 .44 Special that I foolishly traded away) were a bit rough on my soft office-worker hands when firing magnums. So I bought a set of Pachmayr Decelerator grips for the 29 and put the 29 grips on the 21.

The round-butt Rosewood grips that came on the 21 were not to my liking and the 29 square-butt grips made it feel better in my hand. They were fine for shooting .44 Specials, but not magnums. And then I found a dealer who had a Sig P226 .357 Sig he was willing to trade for the S&W 21 and it was gone. That was my first Sig pistol and since I now have four more, I should call that trade a success. But I still miss that Model 21 and will probably get another one some day.

But as good as the Pachmayr grips shoot, they sure ain't pretty, so I continued to seek some nice-looking wood grips for the 29 that would also shoot good. I know that Herrett's makes custom grips for the 29, but they just cost too much for this poor boy. And even though Dirty Harry had some Herrett's grips for his 29, I just couldn't bring myself to spend more than $100 for a set of grips.

Then a customer traded in a S&W 29 with the factory target grips customized for his hand. I tried them out and they fit my hand, too. They've been carved and sanded down into finger-groove grips and whoever did the work did a very nice job. I traded the shop my factory target grips for this custom-carved pair and we were both happy. It's hard to sell a gun with custom anything done to it. The custom work may have been just what the previous owner wanted, but it usually isn't what anybody else really wants.

In this case, the grips felt good to me, but I found that while they're fine for shooting .44 Specials, there just ain't enough wood there to hold onto when shooting .44 Magnums. Back to the drawing board.

Then I finally tried something I shoulda thunk uv to start with, I looked on the S&W website for grips and found these N-frame square-butt Rosewood combat grips with S&W medallions. And only $79!

They look great, they feel great and come Saturday I'll try them out to see if they shoot great. I'm betting they will. Every now and then, even a blind hog finds an acorn. S&W grips from S&W, why didn't I think of that?

The lower and upper limitations of handgun calibers: Choose your own

"A man's got to know his limitations."-Dirty Harry in Magnum Force

That's always been one of my favorite movie quotes by Clint Eastwood and I know mine, both upper and lower, when it comes to handguns.

I have thus far abstained from any handgun smaller in caliber than 9mm and smaller in size than my Kel-Tec PF9 subcompact pocket pistol.

I can shoot it well enough to hit what I want to, within reasonable distance, say 10 to 15 yards max.

But today I listed a handgun that harkens back to a manufacturing period of 1910-17 and I gotta admit, I'm tempted even though it's only .32 ACP. It's a Model 1907 Savage Arms and it's a pretty neat pistol in very good shape, particularly considering its age.

It's got a 10-rd. mag and an external-cocking hammer, which is quite unusual for a single-action pistol. It's also got a combination thumb safety/slide lock which is also unusual. And instead of the heel-mounted magazine release that was common for the period, it has a mag-release lever in the front-bottom of the grip frame. (Besides, Tam's got one.)

It's even reasonably priced on gunbroker at $485, but it is still a .32. Maybe as a fun pistol, I'd be interested, if I had $485 to spare, which I don't.

I've got a .32 revolver, a Charter .327 Magnum, so if I get a hankering to shoot .32s, I can shoot .32 H&R Magnum, .32 Long or .32 Short. I even tried .32 ACP in the Charter, but the hammer strikes apparently aren't hard enough as only one in six ignited.

Then there's the upper limitation I have set for myself, and the S&W .500 Magnum revolver is definitely way beyond line that for me.

I do own the Dirty Harry Model S&W 29, but not because I'm an Eastwood wannabe. I owned a S&W 21 .44 Special at the time I walked into a pawn shop and spied a S&W 24 .44 Special and a S&W 29 .44 Magnum in the counter. I really wanted that Model 24, the adjustable-sights upgrade of the Model 21.

But the S&W 29 was more reasonably priced, plus it had a 4" barrel and the 24 had a 6.5" barrel. I really like 4"-barrel revolvers, that's my favorite size. I went with the 29 and have been so happy with it I later traded away the S&W 21.

But after shooting the .44 Magnum the first time, I knew for sure that is my upper limit. No .454 Casull, .460, .480 or .500 Magnum, nor any other magnum larger than .44. A man's gotta know his limitations and I know mine.

Ultimate Colt Ananconda .44 Magnum in RealTree Camo in the bag

We have an Anaconda emergency at the gun shop last week. We sold down to our last Colt Anaconda and the Colt counter was looking skimpy with just one of the big .44 Magnums in residence.

So the owners decided that at long last, I could take photos and list on gunbroker an Anaconda in RealTree Camo they had been hiding in the back office for several months.

Colt only made this beauty one year, in 1996, and the owners just weren't tired of looking at it yet.

BlueBook on COLT'S MANUFACTURING COMPANY, INC. : REVOLVERS: DOUBLE ACTION, SWING OUT CYLINDER
Anaconda with scope
- .44 Mag. cal. only, 8 in. barrel, Realtree Grey camo finish on gun and scope. Mfg. 1996 only.

But since it was an Anaconda emergency, they agreed to let me list it.

Here's the Ultimate Colt Anaconda, in the Colt Team RealTree Anaconda camo bag, just like it came from the factory, complete with Redfield scope, also in RealTree Camo.

It can be yours for a mere $1,850 for buy-it-new on gunbroker.com.

I have been a Colt owner only once briefly when I bought a .22 Huntsman for $300. Then along came a guy who offered me $450 for it and it was gone. Besides, I had shot it alongside my S&W 22A-1 and the Smith beat it easily for accuracy and ease of shooting.

Anyway, I've been Colt-less since. I'm not counting the brief period when I had a Colt Cobra .38 Special on layaway, but before I could get it paid off, a Charter Bulldog stainless .44 Special came in the door. So I bid adios to the Cobra. A .44 trumps a .38 every time in my book.

So fellow gun nutz, you're welcome to the RealTree Anaconda. Can't afford it and don't even want to try. I could buy half a dozen nice handguns for the price of this beauty.