S&W 629 Performance Center sight alignment question

[danski26]

Call me crazy.....but could all the problems be atributed to a bent frame? Hammer? Barrel? lock up?

[Petander]

The barrel and frame is your starting point.
Then the Yoke / Crane alignment.
Next the cylinder allignment.
All this must be set before you start any kind of Timing adjustment.
The cylinder stop in the frame , must be working and securing the cylinder in allignment with the bore Before you try to adjust the Hand for rotation.

Will do. At the moment it's locking up fine -but late- and the chambers align good. Crane/yoke are straight, I have the tools so I checked all that before shooting it at all.

But after the barrel removal / re-seat everything can be different... there is a chance to crack the frame, especially now that the overall quality is highly questionable. Could be a reject frame to start with.

Call me crazy.....but could all the problems be atributed to a bent frame? Hammer? Barrel? lock up?

The barrel is clearly @ 11.55 instead of @ 12.00 o' clock,looking from the front. What is happening around hammer, I don't understand. Looks like random faults in MIM molding or something.

But I've been looking for a bad,cheap S&W to practise with. I just never thought it would be a new Performance Center gun.

[Petander]

I figured I'll take a look inside and start "slicking up" while waiting for more parts and tools.

I will be careful and NOT touch certain parts, trigger itself is pretty good but cocking and DA are very heavy. Dragging parts and burrs...

Mainspring has a rib,is it a Wolff? I have a couple of reduced Wilson kits but this needs to be de-burred , polished and most probably is just fine with the springs this came with.




Shooting it yesterday @ 100 meters, I got six bullets in a 12" circle - but two feet to the left of POA because of the crooked front sight / barrel.



There is something nice and rewarding,repairing things that don't necessarily make sense to be repaired. I'm sure I could find a good,old,forged,working 629 for less money than this poor little gun. Then add parts,tools and time.

But I like doing it.

[Don Purcell]

It's enough to make one weep. Might check the rear sight mounting screw, the tongue appears to be raised slightly above the frame. Wish you all the best.

[LAGS]

Remember to check out the forcing cone when you first remove the barrel.
You can set the Gauge in the forcing cone to make sure the taper is not to great.
Then you can decide if there is enough material left to polish out those rings and marks.

[Petander]

It's enough to make one weep. Might check the rear sight mounting screw, the tongue appears to be raised slightly above the frame. Wish you all the best.

Thank you - that screw is tight,it just looks like a one coming off. I have a 28 that needed Locktite here.

Remember to check out the forcing cone when you first remove the barrel.
You can set the Gauge in the forcing cone to make sure the taper is not to great.
Then you can decide if there is enough material left to polish out those rings and marks.

Very good note about the cone,thank you.

[Petander]

Funny how the previous owner managed to scratch this gun with a holster quite a lot, practising IDPA. The barrel end especially,can't see it in this pic though. Was he in Sahara desert?

He fired 500 rounds in a year, I have fired more in two weeks with no additional scratches. This matte brushed surface gets ugly very easily it seems.

[LAGS]

If the forcing cone can not be polished out and stay with in specs , then you will have to train the back of the barrel at least the thickness of one turn of the barrel .
Then the cylinder Gap will have to be ReSet by trimming the end of the barrel.
I prefer a .003" cylinder Gap or less.
Now that is with a Cylinder with No End Shake on the yoke.
End shake can be adjusted also with washers.

[Petander]

My B/C gap here is .004" when pushing cylinder back. Pushed forward it is .002". That makes for .002" endshake, a spacer might work.

Headspace with Magtech brass is snug and even .008" at every chamber.

[Petander]

Well I wanted to try a cylinder spacer but the yoke didn't come out...?

Only this much. What am I missing here?

[Petander]

Got it. It was not the yoke/frame, it was the cylinder sitting really tight.

Cylinder fit has been crazy tight, it was very hard to get the yoke (crane?) out. I had to get creative how to pry the cylinder out....

I think I found one reason for the premature time-off. The gun has been fired regardless of excessive force needed,it has been the tight,binding cylinder causing ratchet wear.

[Petander]

There was a piece of metal in between the cylinder and yoke.

Look at the yoke surface:



I got the yoke/cylinder surfaces polished and a .002" cylinder shim in there. Now my endshake is almost unmeasurable with my mm blades, my thinnest is 5 mm / .002". Next is .004". Timing changed very little. I have a 29 that was loose and late,two shims helped with timing a lot.

[Petander]

With this design you can not remove the crane and cylinder as one unit. You remove the crane alone first and that's a good way to work.

But now that the cylinder was very tight it took some thinking. I usually remove the crane only, holding the cylinder in hand but you can not do that when it's stuck. Having only two hands is frustrating at times.

Here you can see the design.

[Petander]

Some clays and steel after tweaking. No endshake feels good.

[Petander]

I sure am in need of a helping hand here,ordered it from Brownells two weeks ago.

[Petander]

Well, one thing at a time. Got a .431" reamer from Manson / Brownells.

Throats were .4285, some FMJ:s couldn't pass.



Now my .4305" - .4310" bullets are free to enter the .430" groove barrel. No worries about hard bullets extra pressure, shoots great and clean...

But undersize throats from "World's best gunsmiths" hands! S&W gimme a break.

A dealer told me about some S&W:s failing CIP proof test because of too tight throats... also one BFR 500 bulged a cylinder there... manufacturers sure are feeding us customers with questionable quality these days.