[WeeWilly]

I like my G29 a lot. I have never needed any spring upgrade to shoot the hottest loads, some of my reloads are hotter than the Underwood offerings. Recoil is substantial on my hottest loads, but nothing like a full house Magnum revolver or even snubby .357's. I use mine for woods carry mainly.

You can shoot standard 40S&W from your stock G29, so plinking and range fun is very reasonable. I have 10's of K rounds of 40 cased ammo through my 10mm Glocks.

 

[WeeWilly]

I was looking for a lighter more compact handgun for carry to, from and on my hunting lease. I was carrying a S&W 629 6 inch stainless at the time. I bought a Gen 3 20 and 29. I shot them side by side with various loads over a chronograph. I then shot a number of common defense drills and finished up with accuracy testing out to 50 yards. I then carried them both to the lease. Here is what I learned:
Little velocity difference between the two guns;
The delta in practical accuracy between the two was inconsequential;
I could not comfortably carry the 20 concealed;
I was constantly bumping the longer grip frame of the 20 with my long gun;
When I carried the 20 in the field I still carried the 29 CHL.

I sold the 20 and have been carrying the 29 ever since. That was 15 years ago. I am 5'11" and 175 pounds and have no problem concealing the 29. I typically use Bladetech IWB or Glock Sportsman OWB holsters. I actually like the thickness of the standard 29 over the SF version. It fills my hand and helps me have that "locked in" feeling with my grip. The 29 is my constant companion when out hunting and hiking. I will not be parting with it anytime soon. YMMV.

When chronographing my hottest loads, I found my stock G29 delivered about 50fps less than my stock G20. I like to use a 200gr WFNGC bullet at about 1200fps for my woods carry and that is a pretty stout load for my G29, but nothing nuclear, just hot. I probably carry my G29 90% of the time when out in the sticks.

On the hip, I use the Glock Sport holster 100% of the time, deal of the century.