When I first tested that M29, it was on a friend’s nack porch, he was selling it for a guy who had used it as an arctic backup gun. Took aim at a clod fist-sized clod of dirt 70-80 yards away, and it just blew away. Fell in love with the gun right there and grabbed it. It’s one of two favorites - I can regularly hit thumb-sized targets at 25-30 yards on mil shoots with the 45 1911, and the old 29. Have an “assault” 9mm too (18-shot mag), but it doesn’t feel that natural. The 9 seems to have more “bite” to it than the 45 softie, for some reason.
I traded my model 57 off when I was in grad school and needed money. A fellow student traded me 7 guns for the model 57.
We met at his place which was in a rural area. He had me shoot it instead of shooting himself. I was really in good form that day and he was impressed.
Several students told me I had made a bad trade as all the guns except one were sort low price ones. The only nice one of the 7 was a Ruger Security Six. I had done some quick figuring in my head and knew I was getting the better end of the deal and sure enough I sold them all separately for a total of around $900.