Less than a week ago some asked here about 25-5 cylinder throats. He was told that any 3-letter, 4-digit serial numbered revolver should be properly dimensioned. Having once owned a very generously throated model 29 I'd like to ask if there is a similar simple way of telling about 29 and 629 throats from their serial numbers. As a cast bullet shooter, this information is critical for long distance shopping. Sadly, most sellers neglect to publish throat dimensions.

Thanks, Ed

Welcome to the forum!

I'm the guy that said that about the serial system on the 25's.

I can tell you this- all model 29's made before the 29-5 had throats that were standardized by the factory at .432" to match the original bullet dimension of factory Remington ammo which contained soft lead gas checked semi wadcutter bullets that were also .432" even though bores tended to run .430" as standard. I have read a reliable source that said the factory did that to boost pressures without going to a higher/larger charge weight. Apparently that was a common practice at the time the .44 was introduced.


I know that all of my 29's that were made before the -5 that I owned, had/have the .432" throats, while the -5 guns and later had throats that measure(d) .430" which is correct for normal .44 caliber jacketed bullets. The tightening of the throat dimensions was one of the last endurance upgrades introduced, but is rarely mentioned when talking about the endurance package. S&W even used .428" throats on the Classics, and Magna Classics for a short time (which were in the -5 & -6 series range of guns), but after too many issues were reported by owners of high pressure problems, Smith went to the standard .430" again.

ok, one of my questions have be answer, about my m29-4, with a 2" or 3" barrel. which is mag-na-ported. where does s&w measure their barrel lenght from? the front of the frame or the forcing cone to end of barrel?

Revolver-
face of cylinder to muzzle end of barrel (does not include chamber)

Auto-
rear of chamber/standing breech face to muzzle end of barrel (includes chamber)

These rules go for most all, if not all handguns. There may be an odd manufacturer one out there that does it differently, but I am unaware of who that might be.

thanks a lot. jw-1

I ran my plug gauges on the sample of 44's here. Sort of mirrors gun 4 fun's post...

29-2 .433
29-2 NIB .432
629-1 .432
629-1 .432
629-4 .429
629-4 .428
696 no dash .428

45 caliber
625-1 .451
625-6 .452

__________________
NRA Benefactor Member

Thanks guys. Exactly what I needed. My 29-2 ran .435-.436 and was pretty hopeless with cast bullets unless they were extremely soft.

I just bought a model 29-5 unfired because I was convinced it had to have the current throats to shoot jacketed ammo.

Not so: The throats are exactly 0.432

Only endurance upgrade I saw were longer stop notches.

My model 29-2 from 1978 has 0.433.

Both are super nice not complaining, I was just surprised.

Cast ammo being made up to give her a try.

Shoot them before reaming if small. They may shoot great. I have reamed one that was 428 to shoot cast bullets and it is a tack driver. True Keith semiwadcutters extend into the throats a little and may be hard to chamber unless sized smaller than throats. I like 432 in my 44s . That size shoots most everything well and makes it easy to chamber cast bullets
Dogdoc
It

Here are my measurements.
624 3" 1986 0.433
624 4" 1986 0.432
624 6.5" 1985 0.433
28-2 5" Custom 0.430
29-2 6.5" 1976 0.429
29-2 8-3/8" 1976 0.433
29-3 4" 1988 0.433
629 8-3/8" 1980 0.433
629-4 6" 1996 0.429
696-1 3" 2000 0.430

The 624-4, 696-1 and 28-2 are by far the most accurate with normal loads.
Had Penn make me a special run of .432 bullets for the rest.

__________________
-jwk-
US Army '72-'95