S&W 329pd ammo limitations

studenygreg

studenygreg

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I have a 329pd,327pc and 340pd. For 357mag there are listed ammo limitations for certain bullet weights. I do not see any for my 329pd. Can anyone explain why 357 has limitations but 44mag does not? Thanks in advance.

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Sky's the limit..toss a handful of 310gr Garrett Hammerheads downrange. The 329 has its own self limiting load range designed right in from the factory.. No load that will chamber and allow the cylinder to close is too big.
 
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My understanding is the lightweight J frame .357 revolvers are limited in bullet weight due to crimp jumping. With an appropriately heavy crimp in the .44 Magnum any sane loads should be perfectly safe. Pleasant is another question...
 
I'm not looking to shoot max loads through it. Just curious as to what makes the 44mag different than 357 in terms of cylinder erosion and wear since it does not have limitation markings.

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329 said:
I found the standard 240 grain magnum loads all I could take shooting in the 329. 12 shots a session and I was through.
Click to expand...
Yes, I shot 25 rounds of remington and Winchester 240 grain 44mag then 25 rounds of hornady critical defense 44 special. It was fun but my hand was sore for 24 hours. I got it to carry hiking,camping, etc not to shoot much. Once I find it reliable, I will limit the rounds fired through it and find another 629. I regret selling my 629 last year.

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Earlier scandium framed revolvers had markings on them that were placed there due to crimp jump possibilities. Most, if not all, no longer have those markings.

Just for an example, the early all steel ruger sp101 357 magnum revolvers had similar barrel markings/warnings, which did not last long, either.
 
The S&W still states the bullets less then 120 gr. Bullets shouldn't be used in a magnum titanium frame gun due to errosion of the frame from flame cutting. I got one of the earlier 340pd's and never saw anything in the manual or on the barrel about bullet jump. I did find with hot lead bullets I could get bullet jump on occasion. But never had that issue with plated bullets. Frame erosion was never an issue with bigger bullets in the .44
 
tgmr05 said:
Just for an example, the early all steel ruger sp101 357 magnum revolvers had similar barrel markings/warnings, which did not last long, either.
Click to expand...

The early SP101 revolvers were .38 special, if you reamed the chambers a 125 gr. 357 mag would just fit.

It was a very popular modification, so much so that Ruger started "modifying" them from the factory. The warning about "125 gr. only" was about cartridge length, 158 gr. wouldn't fit.


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Frame cutting is protected by the steel insert in the topstrap. Cylinder erosion can occur with titanium cylinders, but may actually be due to using cleaners that remove the outer coating of the titanium cylinder thus removing the protection and exposing the titanium which can wear. Whether 110 magnum loads or 180 magnum loads, once that coating is removed, the cylinder will wear.
 
Stainless blast shield only lasts so long under continuous shooting of magnum level loads in M329.
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329-1-2.jpg

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Never had a problem with cylinder face erosion.
.
FWIW

Paul
 
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The 329PD obviously doesn't need such markings. It can easily handle a couple of hundred rounds of hot .44 Magnum before any significant cylinder erosion or flame cutting shield failure occurs, and no one is ever going to approach that limit. If common sense doesn't stop you, your wrist will. :rolleyes:
 
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