Revolvers that will not shoot.

[44man]

A friend bought a used S&W 629. I can NOT make it shoot with anything.
I slugged the bore at .4294" and the throats at .4336". I tried over size boolits. It still does better with 240 XTP's.
I never had trouble with my old 29's but this one just rubs me wrong.
Then the cylinder unlocked and went backwards so the next shot was a "click." I did not have a stronger cylinder stop spring but found a tiny spring that fit inside the other. It stopped the cylinder reverse.
I don't know if any of you have seen the .500 S&W double with the first shot with the cylinder full but there are videos out there. The cylinder unlocks, goes backwards and hammer bounce will fire the round. Seems as if it is only safe with an empty chamber under the hammer.
Accuracy with this 629 just plain sucks!

[GLL]

What is the model "dash" number on this 629?

Jerry

[9.3X62AL]

I "balked" on buying one of a NICE brace of Model 29s two summers back, all of which had .433"-.434" throats. Priced decently, but I didn't want the potential headaches. Especially since I have a Redhawk with NICE dimensions that is a pleasure to run. If there's another 44 Mag in my future, it would likely be a Ruger BisHawk and/or a lever rifle of some sort. The S&W revos in this caliber are too "iffy" for my taste, when subjected to a "tale of the tape" via pin guage.

[Bret4207]

Every now and again you run into a gun that just doesn't want to co-operate.

[MtGun44]

Send that one down the road or accept mediocre accy with only J-bullets.

Life is too short, and there are a LOT more 629s out there, many will work just fine.
Some users will not be able to tell the difference due to the common 'jerk -n- flinch'
shooting by many .44 Mag owners. Minute of berm is good enough for some, and
this is the perfect gun for one of them. It IS kinda irritating, tho!

Bill

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got a 3 in blued 29 that is about the same. Ive been tryig to get a cast bullet to shoot but am really struggling. Mine doesnt really like jacketed either. the throats measure .4335 and the biggest sizer die i have is 432. Ive got a 433 comming right now but im not holding my breath that it is going to turn it into a tack driver. Its suck a cool little gun that ill probably just live with it and use it for pig hunting where the range seldom is over 25 yards or self defense where the range is rarely past 25 feet.

[Guesser]

I came into a really nice M29-2 back about 1997 or so. Beautiful 8 3/8ths", really nice. I liked it but could never get it to keep pace with my Super BH or my 10" Contender. The SBH was sold for something else and about 2 years ago someone fell for the 29 and now I don't have to worry with it. The 29 never did shoot as well as I thought it should.

[44man]

What is the model "dash" number on this 629?

Jerry

No dash, it is one of the first stainless guns they made. It also has the pinned barrel.
I have some .433" and .434" boolits here somewhere. I made the molds for the Marlin, just have to check and see if I have any left without casting. It is just too hot to stand over a pot.
I don't hold much hope of such a large boolit in the tight bore.

[Jack Stanley]

Hearing stories like this makes me feel fortunate to get not one but two that work pretty well with .433" bullets . My six inch I bought brand new in 1985 and I shot it enough to wear two barrels and cylinders off it . It was nice of S&W to replace them at no charge . This one is fun to use in IDPA matches

The four inch gun I found a couple years later , it was an unused pinned and recessed in a Bangor Punta box . It's been used out to twenty-five yards and does what you would expect of a service revolver . Oddly enought the trigger was fine right out of the box with the exception that I really don't care for the grooves on the face of the trigger in double action .

Jack

[subsonic]

Could always fire-lap the snot out of it until bore is closer to throat?

[44man]

Could always fire-lap the snot out of it until bore is closer to throat?

Not worth it!
The gun should go away and he should listen to what I tell him. But he has too much money for that. He is a "see and buy person."

[Char-Gar]

A couple of thoughts..

1. The cylinder unlocking and turning backwards was the problem the early silhouette shooters had with the 29 that caused the factory to change the lock work to a more durable set up. These early 29s and 629s, often shot loose in less than 1,000 rounds.

2. The factory or a good pistolsmith can put the sixgun back in fighting trim, but less than full snort loads is what is needed to get good service life out of these earlier pistols.

3. I had a good 29 (early lock work) with .433-434 cylinder throats and it gave me good accuracy with 250 grain Keith bullets over 10/Unique. This is a 1,100 fps load and has all the power I can use. Some years ago, I had RCBS make a .432 sizing die and this is what I used with ACWW bullets.

5. I gave the pistol to my son last year along with 500 rounds of the above handload. I told him if he needed more ammo, bring me the cases and I would load it for him.

[subsonic]

Not worth it!
The gun should go away and he should listen to what I tell him. But he has too much money for that. He is a "see and buy person."

Would probably run out of rifling depth too, now that I think about it.

[44man]

I tried the RD .432" boolits that will do 3/4" at 50 from my SBH. I only had 3 hit paper, shotgun at best.
I get the impression that 3 chambers hit close and 3 somewhere else. I might have to test POI from chambers. I found nothing wrong with chamber alignment but who knows?

[9.3X62AL]

Has anyone here tried the 11* forcing cone modification to address the wide-throated S&W M-29/629 issue? I gave that blurb about 15 seconds of consideration while fondling that VERY NICE 5" M-29 two summers ago, but balked as above.

[subsonic]

Have you looked at the crown? Good mainspring?

[Changeling]

Have you looked at the crown? Good mainspring?

I looked at the crown today though not through a magnifier and it looked fine to me. This is not a crown type problem, not at the close shooting range! The target shots are random, on each target !

[Char-Gar]

We often are overly concerned about cylinder throats larger than we would like. It is not uncommon to find older Smith and Wesson 44s with throats .433-.434. I have several Pre-War 2nd Model Hand Ejectors like that. Even so mine and others can shoot very well.

Our problem in these days, is we want to shoot bullets too hard to obdurate at 44 Special or even 44 Magnum pressures. It is no trick for a 38/357 bullet to "slug up" .001 and a 44 or 45 bullet to "slug up" .002. We just think our cylinder throats are too large because our bullets are too hard. Soften our alloys and the problem goes away.

[Lloyd Smale]

I would think the soft bullet and obdurate theroy, alough i dont buy into it, would apply more for a gun with a cylinder smaller then the bore. I dont think id want to have a bullet bump up to the throat and then squeeze back down through the barrel. There wouldnt be much left that looked anything like a bullet. This isnt just smiths either. Im also stuggling with a redhawk in 44 at the same time that also has .433 throats and wont shoot.

[songdog53]

I guess a blind hog will find an acorn once in while, for i have model 29 and model 629 that have worked well for me for several years and real pleasure to shoot.