Older Model 29 with full power loads?

[smokehouse4444]

A little off topic, but any of you M29 owners out there...which way do you turn the top screw on the rear sight to make point of impact go up or down? I know, that should be easy enough, but there were numerous problems at the range the day I took it in to test the sights. I thought CCW would bring it down, but even though it is at full CCW, it is still shooting about 4" high at 25 yds.

Also, cases seem to be sticking in the cylinder a bit more. Maybe it just needed a good thorough cleaning, but just wondering.

 

[Wyosmith]

"Unscrew" takes the point of impact up.
Scrweing "in" takes the POI down.

On windage, screwing "in" makes the POI go to the Right
"unscrewing" the windage screw takes it Left.

 

[smokehouse4444]

Thanks for the info. I had not sighted it in in a long time, so I took it to the indoor range the other day to do just that, along with sighting some others in. The lane I was on has a vent that somewhat blows the target from about 15 - 30 yards, so the target is generally moving. I usually fire 3 rounds and assess. I fired one cylinder of regular Winchester 240gr jsp mags. On the second cylinder, suddenly sand poured out of the small sandbag rest I was using. The blast totally ripped it. After getting a new one, I was aiming for the upper left target and the pole that the clip on was too low. Bent the pole at more than a 90 degree angle. Took care of that when the hammer started sticking some. Fired a cylinder with some Hydra Shoks and some Buffalo Bore and the cases were sticking...

Anyway, gave it a good cleaning and I'll get it back out soon and try it again. Hopefully this time it won't be so eventful.

 

[Bob Wright]

For what its worth, here's my experience with the Model 29 S&W:

My earliest Model 29 was a 29-2, 6 1/2" barrel. My loads were 245 gr. Keith cast SWC, pushed out at 1400~1500 fps. After about 3,000 round of this I experienced difficulities and found the trigger pivot pin had sheared off. Had this repaired by a gunsmith and after another 1500 rounds or so, same thing happened, plus another pin sheared off as well. I contacted Smith & Wesson and they told me to send it in. Further telephone calls with the factory and they advised me they were making an "Endurance Package"
and when it was ready they would install it in my gun. After a couple of months Smith & Wesson called me to tell me my gun would be ready by the end of the week. I asked if they could install the full lug barrel on my gun while they had it, and they did, giving me an 8 3/8" full lug barrel. All this was of no cost to me.

After I got the gun back I put some 13,000 rounds more through the gun without a hitch, also bought a couple more Model 29s already having the Endurance Package and no problem in that respect.

As to why I shot such high velocity, I was using the gun for long range varmint shooting, out to 100 ~150 yards on groundhog, so wanted some pretty fast stepping ammunition.

I sold this gun this year, putting a total of just short of 18,000 rounds of magnum stuff through it.

Bob Wright

 

[ThomasT]

IIRC some people were having trouble with the cylinders coming unlatched with heavy loads in the early model 29s. The recoil would cause the cylinder latch to move foward. I think the solution was to install a heavier latch spring. But I am not sure. This is an old, long ago memory. And my memory is nothing you want to bank on. But I bet an inquiry at the S&W forum would answer that question.

 

[bamaranger]

not me

My 629 Mtn gets 240-250 gr SWC at about 1000+ fps, and that is about all the .44 I need. I liked the old Speer 240 half jacket, and for a while I had a source for genuine hard cast 250's.

More than that and sustained shooting pales quickly. For me anyhow.

 

[cornbush]

Just had mine out recently, 240 grain Speer deep curls over 23.5 grains of 296, hasn't fallen apart yet......

The only times I personally know of where they had any issues was....

#1 Friend of my dads, used one for a few years shooting silhouette, lots of heavy loads eventually created timing issues, we are talking somewhere around a 1,000 rounds a month in the summer and 200 to 300 in the winter for about 5 years.
Don't think thats too bad myself....

He sent it back for a once over and a re-blue, uses it for hunting now.

#2 Friend at work trying to make it into a 44 ultra super mondo mag with 300 grain bullets at mach 5, He is an idiot, pushed it too hard and created some timimg issues.

Stick with the 240 grain loads and never look back.

 

[WESHOOT2]

great gun when driven appropriately

Real heavy loads in M29s make the cylinder rotate backward.
That's why there are Redhawks.