Range report on my "Good Conscience" S&W Pre 29

[Patrick L]

Well, the good karma surrounding my recent acquisition seems to apply to the shooting qualities of the gun too. I shot it yesterday and today.

In case you missed the original thread, here she is
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/patrickl_01/Pre%2029/Pre29001.jpg

Here is the very first target I shot with it, fired with my standard .44 Special plinking load. That is 4.0 gr Bullseye, a Lee 200 RF bullet unsized and lubed with LLA, loaded in a Special case. Actually, I rarely use these Shoot N C targets, but since the gun was new I wanted to see quickly if I was on target.
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/patrickl_01/Pre%2029/Pre29029.jpg
Distance was 25 yards. There are two six shot groups. The five clustered together in the bottom of the black, as well as the leftmost shot on the target, in the upper cluster of two (called flyer) were shot with a two handed stance. The six grouped just above the orange center were shot in a classic one handed bullseye stance. Nice!

Next are two moderate .44 magnum loads. Both are 5 shot groups shot off the bench at 25 yards. Bullet is a Keith SWC from one of our LEE GBs from last summer, and two different charges of 2400.

17.5 gr 2400
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/patrickl_01/Pre%2029/Pre29032.jpg

18.0 gr 2400
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/patrickl_01/Pre%2029/Pre29030.jpg

An interesting little thing is that there was no sight adjustment needed switching from Specials to Magnums. All in all, I'd say its a shooter. I'll run these two loads over the chronograph later this week. I may very well just stop here and go hunting. I see no reason to beat this fine old girl. The .44 Spl load will be used 99% of the time.

[Patrick L]

No one?

Do I need to shower or something? Range reports usually get at least some responses!

[Doby45]

Those are very nice targets. I am too busy looking for lube and powder burns. ;) Nah, you did great and I wish I could slip up on a 44 like that.

[timkelley]

I'm jealous, of your pistol and your shootin.

[NSP64]

:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

[44man]

I owned many, many of those over the years and loved them but always wanted another gun. Had to sell to buy.
I found they do not like light boolits at all. 240 to 250 gr is best. I would try the Keith with 7 or 8 gr of Unique for a plinker. The 200 is just not right.
Don't worry about hurting her, she was built to take it. A moderate magnum load with 2400 can be shot forever.

[Patrick L]

I found they do not like light boolits at all. 240 to 250 gr is best. I would try the Keith with 7 or 8 gr of Unique for a plinker. The 200 is just not right.

I don't follow.
Based on the target I shot with the 200 gr boolit, what is not "right?"

[geargnasher]

Shoot it at 100 yards and you'll see what's "not right".

VERY nice gun BTW, is that the one just offered for sale here? I couldn't believe anyone in their right mind would ever let a pinned and recessed M29 go, but your good fortune!

I've done a lot of work with a M29-3 silhoutte model (made right after S&W cheaped out on the manufacturing process). It's a nice gun but it doesn't like anything approaching maximum loads. Cylinder walls are too thin and cases stick with loads my Ruger laughs at and it jumps time on firing occasionally with the hot stuff.

Gear

[leadman]

Good shooting.

My experience with the Lee 200gr. is it is not a long range boolit. If you don't shoot long range, no problem.

[TCLouis]

Congrats, looks like yo have a shooter there. Good thing it is modified, now you can shoot it to your hearts content the way it was meant to be enjoyed, not stuffed away in a safe some where.

I would suggest just putting up lower powered loads in Mag cases and save the SPLs for a revolver chambered in 44 SPL.

[nicholst55]

Sweet looking old Smith, despite what you said about the top strap being drilled and tapped. Pretty fair shooting, too! I always had really good luck with the RCBS 250 Kieth-style boolit in my S&W M29. Unfortunately, I didn't own the mold at the time. I now have an older (square-groove) Lyman 4-cavity 429421, and it's every bit as good a boolit.

[HeavyMetal]

That Unique load should be a good shooter but the truth is my 8 3/8's Nickeled gun prefers a full 10 Grains with the sq groove 429421 seated on top.

[Patrick L]

Thanks for the clarification.

Truth is, I don't do any long range shooting, so the 200 gr load will be it for 99% of my shooting, done mostly at 25 yds and maybe a bit at 50 (that's as far as my range goes.) I'm going to stick with the Special case because my 24-3 also shoots this load like a dream and I'm big into the KISS principle. That LEE six banger piles up a lot of boolits, the shallow groove are great for LLA, 50 gr less lead means more boolits per pound, and as a plus that RF profile works great when I break out the speedloaders and play Magnum Force on the combat range.

Magnum loads will be limited to maybe a hundred or so a year moderate loads like the ones in the initial post, just enough to keep me in practice. The Boolit is the Keith GB that was run last year. Powder will be 2400, since I use that in lots of other things (KISS again.) Also, it just seems appropriate for a gun of this vintage. I will take her into the woods, maybe I'll get a shot at a deer.

[44man]

I don't follow.
Based on the target I shot with the 200 gr boolit, what is not "right?"
We did a lot of testing when shooting IHMSA and even a 240 gr will rotate around the flight line of the bullet in a S&W. Looks like a corkscrew. TWIST!
When we got to 250 gr, the bullet shot a straight line. You need a good spotting scope to watch bullets.
Even a Ruger hates anything under 240 gr.
Your boolit is OK for close range fun. Don't expect much at 50.
Every S&W I owned would do 1/2" at 50 meters off the side of my leg, shooting Creedmore, once all is in balance.
No revolver ever made will shoot every boolit made, you must think about twist.
Believe me when I say a S&W is fully capable of 1" groups at 100 meters.
At 25 yards you should have one hole even with a light load.

[ole 5 hole group]

Believe me when I say a S&W is fully capable of 1" groups at 100 meters. At 25 yards you should have one hole even with a light load.

Some S&W's may be capable of 1" groups at 100 meters but there's not many people that can shoot that well.

Shooting one hole groups consistently at 25 yards with a well setup revolver is no small feat either, as not many people are able to put in the trigger time necessary to accomplish that feat - 3 maybe 4 shots in one hole isn't easy by any means but putting all 5 in a ragged hole 8 out of 10 times is downright difficult for a damn good pisterlo. Getting a good group (one big ragged hole) a couple times a day is a delight and I think his groups look pretty darn decent.

[Patrick L]

I'm with Ole 5 hole on this one. The gun may be capable, but I'm not. Most (not all) people that claim they are, are not.

I was pretty pleased with my targets.

[Mal Paso]

We did a lot of testing when shooting IHMSA and even a 240 gr will rotate around the flight line of the bullet in a S&W. Looks like a corkscrew. TWIST!
When we got to 250 gr, the bullet shot a straight line. You need a good spotting scope to watch bullets.


Wow! That explains a lot! Thanks!