Finally went and done it. Managed to bulge a chamber in my 29-2. First thought was to send it to S&W, but they're long since out of cylinders.
I would never try to sell it as a working gun.
So, It's either take it all apart and try to sell the remaining good parts separately or sell the whole thing as a "parts gun" or "gunsmith special"
Figured that I might put in on the board here, but have to name a price.
So, that's the question - what should one ask for a 29-2 wreck?

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Have a 629 cylinder fitted and have a pinto, I would ask S&W if they can do this. Or you could glue a case in the bad chamber and have a 5 shooter.

Mack,

Actually, I have pondered both. I saw a Model 57 nickel cylinder and barrel for sale and thought of making it a .41 pinto.

And, I usually shoot 5. Could turn the rim off one case and make a "dead man's chamber".

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Have another cylinder fitted to it. They do show up at times in the classified here or at auction sites. Just might take awhile to find one.
In the mean time use it as a 5 shot. Provided of course its continued use is not hampered by the bulge.

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U.S.A.F---E-7--Retired

jwk: I have a .41 mag barrel and cylinder in my parts box. I would like to build myself a .41 mag. Please give me a price that I can't refuse for your handgun as a "gunsmith special". ............ Big Cholla

S&W can put a new style cylinder in it. Won't be P'd and R'd but will work fine. They quoted me $173.00 I think it was to do my 57-0, with the what may be the same problem. No visible bulge but all chambers are bigger in the middle than at the rear. Cases move back a 1/4 in freely then get tight and have to be knocked out one at a time.

Amazingly, I just found a recessed replacement cylinder, so its off to S&W for fitment..

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

What causes a cylinder to bulge? An overcharge?

KREH, hey right now there is a stainless barrel and cylinder,on GB the barrel is pinned so it has to be from an older gun. Or just wait a while a cylinder will show up here or somewhere,give it a while. Hamilton Bowen will fit a cylinder (custom made) .
I may have one, but just had back surgery so it will be a couple days b-4 I can look through my stuff. Looks like a nice gun if the cylinder is all you need and you want to keep it,just keep your eyes open, others here will help too. Good Luck Bob

Bob,

Amazingly, I just happened to look at GB, and there was a new Model 29 recessed cylinder with 3 minutes to go and no bids, so I grabbed it. Cost a C-note, but at least I have it and can move forward. Will call S&W to discuss getting it installed.

I bought this gun new in 1975, so am pretty attached to it. Probably could use a freshening up anyhow after years of silhouette shooting.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

krehmkej, please tell us what kind of ammo you were using, so we can avoid same.

Thanks.

I accept full responsibility. My handload, normally 8.0 of Universal behind a 240 LSWC. All I can figure is that one was overcharged.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

For crying out loud just find another cylinder. They turn up for sale. Post a wanted ad in the classifieds of this forum. I bet it's a 95% chance it will drop right in.

And watch your reloads in the future. If you want a 460 then buy one. I can't imagine how hot you went to bulge a 27 chamber.

Oh, I see in the above post. An 8 grain load is a terrible idea. I never use any load that allows me to double charge the case (and that's what happened to you). Such a light charge in the Magnum case will not provide top accuracy. Use a load that nearly fills the case for accuracy and for safety.

How can these symptoms be caused by a chamber bulged in the middle? At .41 mag pressure cases normally obturate to fill the full length of bulges so there would be no free movement before the case's bulge contacted the rear end of the chamber's bulge. Either I'm missing something or you've got a different problem.

Not a bulge on one side but larger diameter near the center. All 6 holes. Well, my idea of whats happens is the case expands to the larger diameter and then shrinks back a little, allowing it to slide back a little before it reaches the smaller rear end diameter. Also each chamber has a shiney, as in no blue left, spot just in front of the notch on the outside of the cylinder. It was always hard to extract since bought new, many years ago. It was my first Magnum, figured it was normal. Never shot any max loads, but did shoot silhoulte for many years with it. After the cases are extracted, you can see and measure that they are larger about a half inch ahead of the rim. Putting them back in the cylinder, they start in easy, get very hard then the last 1/4 inch or so its loose. Actually with 7 grains of Unique, you can fire them then open cylinder and point it skyward and cases will start to drop out just under a 1/4 inch where they are then difficult to remove for a little piece. Any thoughts on this greatly appreciated.

I'd send it in to S&W because they are making the m-29 classic .

No RR front sight, I noticed...?

Had it changed out years ago for the patridge.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

What causes a cylinder to bulge. Was once shooting several guns on hot sunny Texas day. I had laid several out on an uncovered shooting bench. Came time to shoot a 1951 issue M & P snub. On the third or fourth shot, it locked down. Finally got it unloaded and sent it to S & W. They fitted a new cylinder/ I suppose a combination of the heat and a +P factory load was the cause. Did not do that again. jack

What did we do before the internet?

We suffered in silence

I had the very same thing happen with a M57 8 3/8" a while back. My load was 10 gr. AA5 with a 215 cast bullet. Apparently, I had a double charge and bulged only that chamber. The other 5 were OK. I when back and weighed all of the remaining ammo on a digital scale and found one or two more with a double charge, all my fault, of course. I now use TrailBoss and a double charge will pour all over my Dillon 550. I was fortunate that the factory had one recessed cylinder left and it was repaired quickly. I gave some thought to having the bulged cylinder rechambered to one of Gary Reeder's bottleneck wildcats, which should have removed the buldge by the chamber reamer, but haven't followed through. Bob!

Hiked and fished and shot guns and reloaded and played outside with the kids and READ stuff at the library and looked up things in encyclopedias...

Have fun and be safe.
Nightshade2x

Just as a matter of curiosity, what is the deal with your front sight? I would have thought a gun from that era would have had an integral base & sight, so I am curious if this is some custom work (if so, looks nicely done), or just what?

BTW - glad you found that cylinder. Nice piece of good luck for you. Would be a shame to part that gun out. It looks well cared for and deserves the new lease on life.

That's just a standard pinned-on S&W patridge sight. I used the gun for target shooting and liked the sight picture on my matching M-14 and M17, so had this one changed over. I believe that most of these revolvers have pinned sights. They are so well finished that the pin is nearly impossible to see, however.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Respect your not passing it off as "working". That is a good attitude.

Karma is always tough to escape. That said, I think you have a parts gun. On the bright side total value of the parts in this cas is pretty good.

Good luck.

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Jim

As I'd posted earlier, I got lucky (?) and found a correct cylinder, so it will soon be off to S&W for installation and a general tune-up.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

I was getting excited about you selling it as is. I have been wanting to turn a long barreled 29 into a 45 colt magnum.

While this is possible in the M57s/.41 Magnum (as someone here mentioned), it's far less likely due to the extra steel in the cylinder. Precisely why I quit the M29s decades ago (wore out a 29-2 after about 10k full house rounds, though no bulged cylinders), have three M57s that run max loads w/o hiccup. Not a scientific observation, but really seems that the .41 is the perfect heavy load cartridge for the N frame. The cylinder cut is right over the chambers, not in between, and is the weak spot.

Another point worth restating - light loads and automatic machines offer potential for disaster due to double charges.

My reloading is more time consuming, single operation to all the cases in a batch, including powder charging. I also peer down into each case to inspect the charge level as an added safety measure (especially to ensure I didn't miss a case w/ powder). I also use a charge that will spill over the case if double charged (my magnum calibers all are loaded with magnum loads). Slower powders are your friend; 2400 has been a buddy of mine for a long time.

We knew people. We had stacks of business cards and a notebook of names and contact information. We had a problem and we mentioned it to a couple friends. Out of that group of friends, somebody knew somebody that could help us and we contacted them. Our friends would come to us asking us about a service or a product they were looking for, we would refer to our list and get them into contact with somebody that could help them. It was just like the internet, just a little slower and, alot more human contact. It was really kind of neat.

I had lots of peoples names and phone numbers memorized and, as soon as we got home, we called them....("when we got home" is the important part of that) When I first started as a cop, I always carried a pocket full of quarters and had a mental list of all the pay phones around my beat that I could pull up to and stay in the car to use the phone. Old cops I knew always had two quarters under the speedloaders on thier belt for emergency phone calls.

Now? I don't even know anyones phone number, I just look them up in my Iphone by name.

"Won't be P'd and R'd but will work fine."

I don't think changing cylinders will affect the barrel retaining pin any.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!