Quick 929 review

[old&slow]

Quick review of the 929 I picked up yesterday.
I looked at 4 of them and picked the one that appeared the best to me. The barrel/ cylinder gap appeared to be what I thought it should be. The cylinder throats on the one I picked was to my liking. Overall appearance was good.

The outside edge of the barrel, inside the frame , next to the cylinder is very sharp. Probably cut the heck out of you on a quick reload. A edge of the crane also has a sharp edge. The hammer spur has a somewhat sharp edge to it.
The double action trigger pull measure 10.5 to 11 lbs. with my equipment. but was ruff as a cob, in my opinion.
All of these things are easy to fix / correct. But, on a gun from the Performance Center and at that price, I was quite disappointed in S&W and the Performance Center Quality .

I loaded up the moon clip ( only ONE moon clip are you Kidding Me ) with my normal 9mm auto load. 147 FMJ @ about 950 fps. Just to see if it would go bang.. Double action 8 X ,, went bang 8 X. Spent rounds / moon clip fell right out of the cylinder.
However, the federal primers were Really flatten out. If I didn't know better , I would have thought they were over pressure loads. I guess I haven't noticed this in my other moon clip guns ( 610 , 625 , 25 , couldn't find any spent rounds out of them to really check )
Too cold here to go out and check for accuracy, etc..
Overall happy with the firearm , but somewhat disappointed with S&W quality.

(edit ; should have said, double action trigger pull wasn't any smoother than any other new S&W. rather than ruff as a cob.. )

 

[Co Th G]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Unfortunately, you are not alone. The performance center seems to be nothing more than an additional profit center for S&W nowadays.

 

[old&slow]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Unfortunately, you are not alone. The performance center seems to be nothing more than an additional profit center for S&W nowadays.

I've been tinkering with guns and shooting competition for many many years. Plus I have a couple friends that are really good gunsmiths.

So, these things are just minor annoyances, rather than real problems.
I was just disappointed with the attention to detail, especially from the Performance Center. Use to be, you really didn't have to check inside any blue cardboard box that said S&W. You knew you were getting an quality product. The fit and finish on every S&W was Excellent.
The only reason to check inside the box was that one may have a little prettier wood on it than the other..It's a shame that S&W quality has went so far down hill.

I remember the bad old days when if you wanted a 1911, a Colt 1911 was the only game in town. You want sights you can see ?? You want a beaver tail safety ?? You want it to actually work out of the box ?? Colts additude was You'll take what we give you,, and Like it !!!
That's when, and why Bill Wilson,, Les Baer,, Steve Nastoff ,, etc.
Became very well known far and wide.. Thank goodness for Springfield,, and Kimber and others for picking up the ball..

Sorry for the rant.. It's just S&W revolvers are some of my favorite toys... I hate to see my beloved S&W drop the ball..

 

[Kernel Crittenden]

However, the federal primers were Really flatten out.

Maybe you had oily chambers. What ever it is that S&W puts in there for long term storage. That can increase the back thrust.

 

[JonnyB686]

929 quality out of the box ..........

" The outside edge of the barrel, inside the frame , next to the cylinder is very sharp. Probably cut the heck out of you on a quick reload.'"
.

Mine certainly had a viciously sharp ragged edge around the outside of the barrel inside the frame. A few minutes with a strip of emery paper soon fixed this but again should not be necessary for an expensive PC gun. As this is my first PC gun I didn't really know what to expect but side-by-side with my 1990 686-3 6" the fit and feel of the 929 is nothing special. It is however a lot of fun to shoot which is what I wanted !

 

[old&slow]

Update : I wanted to shoot the 929 some more before I opened it up and started messing with it.. But, it's cold here and yesterday I got bored.
The inside of the Performance Center 929 appeared to be the same as any other S&W. Didn't notice any special polishing or work on any of the parts. ( other than the over travel pin in the rebound bar spring, something that S&W use to do but don't remember it on any S&W's I had or worked on recently )

Worked about 3 hours on de-burring and polishing. ( remember I'm old & slow) I did not change or modify any springs.

I cleaned and lubed everything. The gun was very dry from the factory. Put it back together and had a Very Smooth and Consistent 10.5 lb. trigger pull ( per my equipment).

As soon as it warms up, and I get my moon clips in, I'm wanting to run a few hundred rounds thru it. So, far I'm happy with the 929, it's cleaning up very nicely. And figure it's going to be lots of fun to play with ..

ps: what's up with the hollow firing pin ? First time I've seen one of those.

 

[9mmsubgun-m11]

Friday or Saturday you should be good to go as temps are to be near 40. I plan on doing a little shooting this weekend.

 

[Macinaw]

Thanks for the update. Please let us know how it shoots.

I've been shooting Steel Challenge for about five years with a 627 and M&P R8. I was thinking about getting the 929. I've heard about as much negative remarks as positive about it. Don't know what to think now.

 

[old&slow]

Thanks for the update. Please let us know how it shoots.

I've been shooting Steel Challenge for about five years with a 627 and M&P R8. I was thinking about getting the 929. I've heard about as much negative remarks as positive about it. Don't know what to think now.

I felt the same way.
Friday I went with a friend to check them out. The first one we looked at I didn't care for. The cylinder throat had seven holes that a .357 bullet would fit into and the 8th a .356. And I couldn't see any cylinder barrel gap.
I would have left at that point. But, my friend asked if they had another one. That one all the cylinder throats were .356 and the cylinder gap looked good. He purchased that one.

I argued with myself all night as to why I didn't 'need' one. But, lost the argument and went back the next day. I looked at 4 of them , and picked the one I thought was best .. The .356 bullet fit all the cylinder throats and the cylinder gap looked right. When I got home cylinder gap measured .006.

The 8 rounds I shot thru it were at 15 or so yards and I just wanted to see if it went bang. When the sights got on / near the target I pulled the trigger, so was not trying for accuracy.
Still haven't got my moon clips in , but maybe I can run a few rounds thru it this weekend..

I think I'm going to be happy with it..

 

[Smoke52]

Picked up my 929 , also on a whim, last Thursday. Gave it a cleaning, did not take the side plate off just removed the cylinder and yoke and ran cleaner and patches through all of the chambers and the barrel. Lubed it lightly. Used the ONE included moon clip and shot it. Accuracy at 25 and 50 feet was more than acceptable. Tearing up my hand with no moon clip tool was not, so I went home unsatisfied. Ordered up 50 moon clips from Revolver Supply and a FANTASTIC moon clip tool from BMT. Both items arrived on Monday and I went through 19 fully loaded clips. Had one FTF that went on the 2nd try. Very happy with this firearm. I am not a competitor, just like revolvers and this is a nice addition to my 9mm stable.

Oh yeah. Get one of the BMT tools, spendy but certainly worth it!

 

[old&slow]

15 -16 yds , 16 rounds , 147 FMJ, 6 o'clock hold.

Working up a load for the firearm. Getting a better nut behind the trigger. Better shooting conditions ( cold, sun glaring off snow). I'm sure you could get a better group. But, with me yanking on the trigger, it's pretty good.

Looks like the sights need to be cranked a bit to the right, other than that...

I think I'm going to be happy with it..

s/b titled, not so Quick 929 Review

 

[old&slow]

One last update on the 929.

I went to the range yesterday and ran almost 200 round thru the 929. A mix of 147 gr coated / cast and 147 gr FMJ's. WOW !
I was shooting a steel plate double action at approx. 20 yds. with either bullet the groups could be covered with the palm of your hand. Transition from one steel plate to another was very fast and smooth.
There were two moonclips that stuck in the cylinder that didn't want to come out. I'm not sure what was up with that, the rest of the spent moonclips dropped out no problems..

I also had the 625 and 610 with me to compare. After shooting the 929 ,, the 625 felt like I was shooting a Magnum .

Initially I wasn't very happy with S&W Performance Center attention to detail. However with a little de-burring and smoothing and polishing here and there. ( which I don't think you should have to do ). I think I'm going to be Very Happy with the 929.

 

[tommy F]

Handled one this weekend with checkered wood Hogues, felt very good

 

[qrachel]

Been thinking about the 929; I'm not a competitor but love shooting my Sig X5, 9mm. I think having a PC 929 to complement it would be fun when it's a 9mm day at the range.

After a lot reading I'm now not sure the S&W PC price is worth it. I thought it was but there's a lot of negative postings and positive too. Sounds like a **** shoot sort of.

Am also going to get the 629 Stealth Hunter, and it seems it's been well received ..... The 929 unQ does bleed over for me though, being QA Exec mfg QA and PM back in the day. I'm just don't get why such a dominant org wouldn't drive their completion crazy by completing on quality.


Great thread!!!