Anything special about casting & loading for a S&W revolver?

[Oreo]

I just bought a 629-4 mountain gun. (1993 vintage 4" 44mag) my first wheel gun.

I've heard some things about the old broach cut rifling vs the new ecm rifling. I won't know for sure which I've got till I take delivery in about a week. What do I need to know?

[bobthenailer]

Ive had perhaps 10 S&W 44 mag revolvers over the years from the dirty harry years to present and i curently have 4 , spaning over 20 years production , most all shoot cast .430 dia bullets well but out of those 10 ,2 had .432 to .433 chamber throats , i had to beagel my mould and size bullets @.433 dia to get accuracy from those 2 revolvers.
IN my 38 special /357 mag revolvers perhaps 15 or more over the years ive allways sized @ .358 dia for good accuracy. i currently have 6

[9.3X62AL]

FWIW......SAAMI sepcs show .433" as max OEM diameter for the 44 Special and 44 Magnum chamber, and 1980s S&W 44 Magnums were indeed that wide-throated. I don't know if the 1993-vintage example you have were reduced any.

[Oreo]

A friend warned me about that. He said the '90s era guns were better.

Also, I called S&W and they told me the 629-4s were all broach cut rifling.

[bhn22]

I have a 629-2 MR, and I originally decided to shoot only limited jacketed loads in it, but that never works out in the long run. I had Accurate make me a 260 gr SWC mold and had Lathesmith make me a Star die to fit my throats. I was beyond delighted when my first load with this combination shot perfectly for me, no leading and great accuracy. Because of the MRs light weight, I used 8.0 gr of 231 which should be giving me about 900 FPS from my 4 inch barrel.

[Mal Paso]

One of our members said the tight cylinder throats, cut for jackets, started with the 629-4. It's a fairly easy fix to ream them. I reamed my 6" half lug .4313" over a .429" groove and am very happy.

Blue Loctite is your friend. Mainspring screw, ejector rod (reverse thread), and sideplate screws. I don't loctite the cylinder crane screw (furthest forward) as I pull the cylinder every 250 rounds or so to clean the boolit lube off.

A lot of "tuning" can be done by reducing the Rebound Spring. The entire Wolf Spring Kit is like $10. so get them all and find the right one. Reduce Mainspring with care, too light will fail to fire.

Excellent Gun!

[shorty500M]

never have noted any major issues with casting or loading for S&Ws, same as any revolver- cast and size bullets to match chamber throats, use alloy appropriate to velocity and/or pressure level. .357 Magnums as in other brand revolvers may prefer gascheck type. the newer ECM barrels play by same rules mostly although i have a pair of .44s, one magnum and one special that definitely prefer extra hard alloys and gaschecks to show what they can do for accuracy

[bones37]

I also agree with Mal Paso on his statement. The experience with my 629-6 has proven exactly what he stated. It had tight cylinder throats averaging .428" and chambers cut for use with jacketed bullets. I had issues with leading in the area just in front of the chamber and up into the cylinder throats. Reaming helped solve the issues completely.

I am also currently searching for the same production variation (-4) with a 4" std. weight barrel to replace the -6 that I currently have.
Bones.


One of our members said the tight cylinder throats, cut for jackets, started with the 629-4. It's a fairly easy fix to ream them. I reamed my 6" half lug .4313" over a .429" groove and am very happy.

Blue Loctite is your friend. Mainspring screw, ejector rod (reverse thread), and sideplate screws. I don't loctite the cylinder crane screw (furthest forward) as I pull the cylinder every 250 rounds or so to clean the boolit lube off.

A lot of "tuning" can be done by reducing the Rebound Spring. The entire Wolf Spring Kit is like $10. so get them all and find the right one. Reduce Mainspring with care, too light will fail to fire.

Excellent Gun!

[Mal Paso]

My favorite Boolit for the 629 is the H&G 503 Clone the OP is honchoing down in the group buy section. Cast with 96/2.5/1.5 Alloy and water dropped, it likes to be pushed hard, 1250 fps and up. 19g of 2400 is my regular load, lubed with a variation of Glen Fryxell's MolyGraph and Beeswax.

[Oreo]

I scored a NIB mold from Miha's first run of that but its .432" and I'm hoping that will be big enough. I won't know for sure till I get to bring my new toy home.

[Mal Paso]

I scored a NIB mold from Miha's first run of that but its .432" and I'm hoping that will be big enough. I won't know for sure till I get to bring my new toy home.

Should be fine. All the 629s I've seen had a .429 groove. I size .002" over groove. I run a bronze brush and dry patch down the bore every 250 rounds or so, no solvent. Excellent first shot accuracy.

Of the 3 "Keith's" I have that 503 clone is the best!

[MtGun44]

Throat diam will tell the story.

Bill