S+w 460v

[buckeye]

I have a chance to buy one of these and want to know if it is going to hold up.I've had a couple of 629s that shot loose and had to be repaired prematurely. I'm done with the 35$ down and 35$ back and 3-6 months downtime.Any input appreciated.

[jameslovesjammie]

I don't think you're going to wear out a .460. They're built like a tank. Why did you pay for shipping on those 629's? If they were made from the 1990's to current, S&W has a Lifetime warranty AND they pay s&h both ways. You call them and they send you a prepaid shipping label.

[44man]

I have a chance to buy one of these and want to know if it is going to hold up.I've had a couple of 629s that shot loose and had to be repaired prematurely. I'm done with the 35$ down and 35$ back and 3-6 months downtime.Any input appreciated.
I don't know how you can shoot a S&W "loose." Proper lube (I use STP.) on the ratchet, cylinder pin and the front of the cylinder has given me thousands and thousands of heavy loads from a pile of mod 29's. Fast double action use can beat the lock notches wide but who shoots a .44 much like that? I cock all of my guns slowly to keep cylinder inertia from hammering the lock and notches. My SBH is as tight as the day I bought it and it is approaching 59,000 rounds. HEAVY loads to 330 gr boolits.
The only thing that I have found will hurt a Smith are heavy boolits close to or over 300 gr's. Recoil is no good for them once it gets over a certain point. Parts get peened and the cylinder lock will bounce.
I have seen Colt single actions beat to pieces from speed shooting. So bad cylinders and locks had to be replaced and the lock holes needed closed up and the guns re-timed. Cowboy action shooters and guys like Bob Munden need a lot of money! [smilie=1:
Slamming the cylinder closed by flipping the gun raises hob with a fine Smith too. You will not realize how soft the crane is. I have had guns in the shop that would not close. I could bend the crane straight by hand.
Treat a revolver like a fine piece of machinery and they last many lifetimes.
I worked with a SRH that was customized recently. Pulling the trigger like I do and the trigger would catch on the double action hammer dog and stop the hammer. I found the inside of the gun was DRY. A little lube and it works just fine. I can NOT get it to act up again.
How many of you lube ALL moving parts? I hope you don't drive your cars without oil! I can't imagine any of you shooting a custom 1911 with dry slides or a dry barrel in the bushing or lock recesses.
Even a bolt gun needs a film of lube on the lugs or you will wear them slowly and increase headspace over time.
Totally clean and dry guns are about the most common thing I seen in the shop. But the firing pins in bolts were always full of WD-40! :bigsmyl2:

[Lloyd Smale]

got to agree with 44man. It takes alot to shoot one loose, im not saying it isnt possible but with good maintanace and some common sense with loads a newer 29 or 629 will out last about any shooter. You will not do it with factory level loads. If you insist on shooting 300 grain plus bullets at over 1200 fps it will destroy it. But then ive shot a ruger single action loose. If you abuse a gun you have to expect it. With the internet knowlege so prevelent now i doubt theres an owner of a 29 that reloads for it that hasnt heard the advice that 44man and i am writing and what loads to avoid. then to shoot two loose you about have to be really torchering those guns and have hands alot tougher then mine. N frames with heavy 300 grain loads are not gentle on me. Id rather shoot full power 500 linebaugh loads out of one of my 500s.

[shotman]

If you shoot a 29 or 629 loose there is NO gun that you need.

[Whitworth]

Hang on, you know good and well that the 29 can't take the abuse of say, a Redhawk. You can't feed them a steady diet of really hot loads with heavy bullets -- they weren't built for that. They will stretch and this is well documented. I love my 29s, but if you want to shoot heavy, there are better revolvers out there that are up for the task.

I have it on good authority that Smith is getting a lot of X-frames back that are showing premature wear from some of the heavier factory loads -- I'm talking in .500 Smith now. Just like the Model 29s....... They are not built like a tank -- maybe a light troop carrier, but not a tank. They are big, but not over-built like some other factory revolvers. You want a tank, buy a Ruger.......

[44man]

That's what we have been saying. They will run on a steady diet of normal .44 loads with 240, 250 gr bullets. It's when a guy gets carried away and wants to push the limit or go to a very heavy boolit that problems start.
You know yourself that some can't work loads unless a chronograph is used for every shot and if velocity is not what the book says, more powder is added.
The most accurate load will be under max and will not hurt the gun. Even then it is a good idea to use more lighter loads then heavy ones but I never had a problem with my silhouette loads, maybe because they were the most accurate, not the fastest.
I watched guys on the line using a stick to beat the empties out after every five shots because they thought they needed more power to knock over the steel.
I also stand by what I said, you will wear out a dry gun! Add to that over pressure loads and then super heavy boolits and you have three things working against you.
I have told many times what happens with the 4227's in the .44 when shooting the gun hot. Some of those guys were using 25 gr behind a 240 gr bullet. I would estimate that pressure was approaching 50,000# with the final shots from a hot gun.
I have to ask the guys that ruined a S&W if they were using 4227?

[High Desert Hunter]

Earlier this year, I was contemplating my first S&W, I wanted a Mtn Gun, so I did the research, and decided I wanted either a 44, or a 45 Colt. I really wanted a 45 Colt, as it has for years been my favorite handgun round, but I was worried about shooting a steady diet of RCBS 270-SAA bullets from it. So on a whim, I placed a call to John Linebaugh, he carries one, and I figured he would be the man to ask. He informed me that as long as I kept the gun properly lubed, and didn't shoot a steady diet of my 330gr bullets, the gun would likely last 2 lifetimes, but a steady diet of the 285gr bullets over HS6 would be fine. I then asked him what kind of lube would he recommend, he stated he uses straight 30 weight, as it provided a better barrier between the moving parts, especially the parts being slammed together during recoil, he didn't say what brand, or whether or not he used synthetic.

Dave

[44man]

30 weight oil will be OK. I just started using STP long ago because there is always a film left on the parts. It works like a champ on cylinder pins of cap and ball revolvers too, seems like I can shoot all day without the cylinder binding up.
The old RCBS case lube works too. I have to wonder if it is just STP, looks and feels the same.
Chain lube oil for chainsaws also works.
I only use the sticky stuff on the ratchet, pin, front of the cylinder and it will work in the mainspring strut hole although I usually put Action Lube there and on the sear. 30 weight or gun oil is better for the pins.
Yes, John is correct that lube provides a cushion between parts.

A lot of guys buy that gun blaster stuff and squirt the insides out, then leave it that way. THAT is when the gun needs to be taken apart and lubed properly.
The next worse thing is squirting the insides with WD-40! [smilie=1:

[Redhawk1]

I have it on good authority that Smith is getting a lot of X-frames back that are showing premature wear from some of the heavier factory loads -- I'm talking in .500 Smith now. Just like the Model 29s....... They are not built like a tank -- maybe a light troop carrier, but not a tank. They are big, but not over-built like some other factory revolvers. You want a tank, buy a Ruger.......


I have not heard much about that. I know quit a few people shooting the S&W 500 mag with big bullets and also heavy loads. No problems at all, and I am talking over 3000 rounds.

Care to divulge your source?

[69daytona]

I have been shooting my 2 500s with very heavy loads with 535,600and 700grain boolits without one problem, I have my 600gr over 1800 fps out of my 10 1/2" and I chronograph all my new loads I make for them, I cant see any problems with them as they were tested to over 90,000 psi before they had any problems and that was just a split in the cylinder. that was from S&Ws web site a few years ago.
My first model 29 first gen did not hold up to a constant diet of hot 300 grain FMJ, timing went pretty quick. My old first Gen Dan Wesson is still working perfectly after more than 15,000 hot loads. I use H110 mostly for these.

[500bfrman]

So do you guys classify the reloading data hodgdon has for a 44 mag 300 grain as ridiculous hot, get a bigger gun hot. its over 1200 fps. I always thought a gun should be able to hold up to what it was built for.

[500bfrman]

I have not heard much about that. I know quit a few people shooting the S&W 500 mag with big bullets and also heavy loads. No problems at all, and I am talking over 3000 rounds.

Care to divulge your source?


I think ranger rick has like 10K rounds through one of his and the majority are hot and heavy. I would like to know how many are really being sent back

[Just Duke]

I think ranger rick has like 10K rounds through one of his and the majority are hot and heavy. I would like to know how many are really being sent back

Yes sir. 10,000 plus rounds and still going strong. His is a custom shop gun with a Lothar Walther barrel but I don't think that makes much differences. It's a machine and the US work force as a whole is no longer the industrious/prideful bunch it used to be. :( So exspect problems in anything you buy.

[Redhawk1]

If there was a big problem with the 500 Mag, I think there would be posts all over about it. I don't see any. I keep seeing post of people shooting the crap out of them and that is it.

Same with the S&W 460 Mag, they just keep shooing.

[dpaqu]

So the consensus is that;

629's shoot loose with heavy loads.
Some people have managed to shoot there 500 S&W's loose.
Ruger builds stronger revolvers than S&W

This brings up two questions in my mind. Is the Taurus Raging bull any stronger? When will ruger make a revolver in 500S&W?

BTW 700 grain Boolits? That sounds like some sick fun.

[44man]

Let me put it this way, I bought a Ruger BH in 1956 and a S&W 29 in 1957. I loaded 240 gr bullets and boolits with hot loads of 2400 and shot the living crap out of them. I also had to shoot the super hot factory loads to get brass to load. Those and all of the other S&W's I owned NEVER shot loose or had to be sent back for repairs. I love the S&W!
The only problem I have ever seen was when Marko and I tried to shoot 330 gr boolits from his 29. It peened the lock pin in the cylinder and would unlock the cylinder lock from recoil. They did not loosen anything, stretch anything or damage the gun in any other way. The fix was quick and easy with the pin. A stronger lock spring would solve the unlocking too but I had none to fit.
Now the X frame guns are much stronger for the larger calibers. If you stay with bullets the gun is made for, I don't see a problem but if you start looking at super heavy bullets, buy a BFR.
I would not worry in the least buying the .460! :drinks:

[wildbill49]

I bought a S&W29 6 1/2 in in 1963 while stationed in Germany. Shot nothing but full power loads in it until the early 70's when I became a reserve police officer and was allowed to carry it with .44 Sp loads. Continued to shot both Mag max loads with both cast and jacketed bullets until retiring from law enforcement in 2003. The last few years the revolver had been spitting lead out between the cyclender and barrel so sent it in to S&W for repair. Got a call back that it couldn't be fixed, but they gave me a real good deal on a S&W460. At the time it wasn't on the CA approved handgun list, so I had to wait for a few months, but got the revolver in Oct of '06. Like someone else said, that gun is build like a tank. I'm shooting both 330 cast and 200 copper boolits from it. Would guess I've put over a 1000 rounds down the tube. The first scope I put on it didn't stand up, but that's another story. The current scope seems to be taking the beating and still working well. It will shoot just over 1 in groups with the Barnes 200 gr. Cast opens up to about 2 in at 100 yards. I nailed a 275 lb boar at just over 100 yards with it for a single shot kill. As for the pirce, it cost me $790 plus my busted 29 that I paid $113 for when it was new. I've got another 29 and two 629's that are still shooting well.

[454PB]

This brings up two questions in my mind. Is the Taurus Raging bull any stronger?

I can't say because my RB only has a few thousand rounds through it, but I shamefully admit to firing some handloads that I certainly wouldn't recommend for others.....all in the name of learning and experimentation[smilie=1:

I did have to send it back for warranty repair when it started unlatching in recoil.