unsatisfactory accuracy

[bobthenailer]

I just bought a used S&W 629-2 44 mag ! i tried 5 different loads that have been accurate in at least 4 other S&W 44 mags in the past . so i decided to do some checking of deminsoins , cyl throat demensions was 0.433 on every cyl , measured with a pin guage and the barrel slugged at 0.427 with 2 different slugs useing 2 different micrometers .
I beagled a mould to produce a bullet of 0.432 dia and for the first time ever used the pan lubed method , and cutting them out with a fired 444 marlin case with the primer pocket drilled out to use a ejection rod to remove the bullet from the case.
I checked my other current S&W 44 mags and 2 had 0.427 chamber throats and are accurate useing bullets sized to .430 dia the 3ed is a older pre stainless one that was never as accurate as any of my other 44s ive ever owned it has 0.432 cyl throats . I rebarreled this gun with a compensater for bowling pin shooting at close range so accuracy was more than good enough for that game. I havent slugged the bores on my other guns !
Am i going in the right direction ! IMO i have a oversized cyl and a under sized bore or a bore constriction ! Any input would be appreciated
Thanks Bob

[44man]

I just bought a used S&W 629-2 44 mag ! i tried 5 different loads that have been accurate in at least 4 other S&W 44 mags in the past . so i decided to do some checking of deminsoins , cyl throat demensions was 0.433 on every cyl , measured with a pin guage and the barrel slugged at 0.427 with 2 different slugs useing 2 different micrometers .
I beagled a mould to produce a bullet of 0.432 dia and for the first time ever used the pan lubed method , and cutting them out with a fired 444 marlin case with the primer pocket drilled out to use a ejection rod to remove the bullet from the case.
I checked my other current S&W 44 mags and 2 had 0.427 chamber throats and are accurate useing bullets sized to .430 dia the 3ed is a older pre stainless one that was never as accurate as any of my other 44s ive ever owned it has 0.432 cyl throats . I rebarreled this gun with a compensater for bowling pin shooting at close range so accuracy was more than good enough for that game. I havent slugged the bores on my other guns !
Am i going in the right direction ! IMO i have a oversized cyl and a under sized bore or a bore constriction ! Any input would be appreciated
Thanks Bob
It does no good to make a boolit over throat size. A much smaller bore is a problem too.
I have also heard of screwy dimensions on later S&W's. Why are groove sizes .427"? .429 is standard with .430" common.
I have seen the opposite with a few Freedom .357's that had .3599" grooves and .357" throats.
This is a problem with gun makers of every kind. Seems as if a hole in the gun is all you need.
Gun shows are great to peddle bad guns! [smilie=w:There are more out there then anyone would like.

[Char-Gar]

.432 - .433 were standard cylinder throat diameter in old Smith 44s. Most often the barrel groove diameter was .429 - .430.

I have measured a couple of dozen older Smith 44 and never found one .427. .427 was common in old 44 Colts.

My first thought is you have mis-measured the barrel at .427. These Smiths have 5 groove barrels which are very tricky to measure with with an ordinary micrometer. There is one tiny spot on the edge of two opposing grooves that will give you an accurate measurement. You have to rotate the slug between the jaws of a micrometer and slowly open it until you can just feel the "tick" of the high spots as they rotate through. If you try to horse the slug through the jaws it will remove these slight high spots.

I am also skeptical of .427 cylinder throats in the newer pistols. If that indeed is a fact, it is time to think of opening them up to .430. It doesn't matter what size bullets you put in them, they will be cylinder throat size when they come out and hit the barrel forcing cone.

I am not so certain shooting bullets larger than cylinder throat does any harm , but it doesn't do any good either.

I shoot .431 bullets through these old Smiths will good results. But, I have never had the accuracy that I can get with my 1991 Model 625. This fine sixgun has .430 cylinder throats and barrel groove measurements.

I have found a good .431 240-250 SWC cast of an alloy not harder than air cooled WW (softer won't hurt) over 10/Unique to give me good accuracy through these older 29s.

[Larry Gibson]

So how did the "beagled" bullets fair with the same loads?

BTW; what are the loads and bullets?

Larry Gibson

[bobthenailer]

i just made up 2 different styles of bullets , one moud was beagled to produce bullets of .432 dia and the other mould will cast bullets in .432 with no modfication . I also have made some lap bullets with the 2ed mould and plan on shooting 50 of them this weekend to try to possibley take out some of the restriction at the barrel threads if any is present and to generally smoothe the barrel for cast bullet shooting , as it leads a little more than my other guns.
After laping im going to try working up loads useing the bullets that are at as cast dia approx .432+ dia to see if accuracy hopefully improves. with the .433 cyl throats. the best i was previously able to do was about a 1 3/4 at 50 feet for 12 shots from a rest and a red dot sight my other 44s will do about a inch or slightly better at 25 yards with several different cast loads
I took the sluged bullets to a machinest friend and he used his mike & came up with the same bullet dia as i did ? .427 maybee ill slug the barrel again and let the machinest ck them .
thanks for all of the input so far ! keep them comeing !
Thanks Bob
Forgot! im useing 2- Saeco moulds a #420 200 gr tc and the #944 200gr wc . I also have the Saeco #441 240 gr swc and the RCBS 240 sil bullet but i dont use them very much as the 200 grainers have worked excellent for me in the past in several other 44 mags with the loads that i use, usually from 800 to 1250 fps

[bobthenailer]

i seem to be on the right track as i tried the same powder charges as last time only this time the bullets were at 432+ dia , and my 12 shot groups shot under the same condtions were 1/2 the size as the previously fired groups with no flyers. just ordered a .433 sizer die from latheman
Thanks for the advice guys !