Model 329PD malfunction

oldsp · Aug 11, 2009

Purchased subject weapon 2005. Fired less than 100 rounds. Last week while shooting this .44 mag airlite, the gun literally blew apart. The barrel detached and pivoted 90 degrees. The frame cracked. No serious injuries, just a very sore hand.

If I could figure out how to post pix I would...can't figure how to do this though.

Has anyone experienced such a issue?? Contacted S&W and they said they would send us a 'box' to mail it back. Have not received any boxs as of yet.

Any all feedback welcome. As a former military cop (Air Force) I have fired thousands of rounds through S&W revolvers without ever witnessing anything such as this.

Thanks you in advance for your comments

alaskavett · Aug 11, 2009

Malfunction?

This is just speculation on my part from experience. I believe that you had a "squib" that lodged in the bbl, and you didn't notice it before touching off the next round.Round 2 cough up with the one stuck in the bbl and Viola! Kyle

oldsp · Aug 11, 2009

Thanks Kyle. Could you elaborate? What's a 'squibb'? We were shooting at a target appx 10 yards away. The first bullet did in fact hit the target. The second bullet created the malfunction. With the discharge of the first bullet, is it still possible something was in the barrel (even thopugh we saw the .44 slug hit the target)?

alaskavett · Aug 11, 2009

Where these hand loads of some kind? Are you sure the round left the bbl? There was some sort of obstruction left behind that caused this. A "Squib" is a "short" load, meaning it did not have the power to leave the bbl.

M29since14 · Aug 11, 2009

Scary story! I never heard of so many blow-ups until I started visiting the internet.

Alaskavett points out the obvious thing, but if you were shooting factory ammo and you are sure the barrel was clear before the kaboom, it could be some other fault. The fact that you say your hand was sore (sorer than normal, with a 329

) does seem to point to an obstructed bore, as opposed to possible metal fatigue.

Anyway, let us know what S&W has to say and how things work out. If you were firing reloaded ammo, you can understand that they may be leery to throw you a new gun. As a handloader myself, I always hate it when the subject is the first thing out of their mouth, no matter what the problem may be, but that is the risk we take for trying to save the money that allows us to shoot.

oldsp · Aug 11, 2009

Morning all. Thanks so much for your input. And your correct, this situation was SCARY. I had NEVER seen such an occurance in all my shooting days.

We were shooting factory ammo (federal). We have never reloaded our own. I am certain the first shot cleared the barrel, as we coul d see the .44 hole in the target.

Will be sure and provide an update when/if we hear back from S&W.

If anyone has any more thoughts please share them. Thanks!

Bullet Bob · Aug 11, 2009

Have you done a search on this forum for this? It seems to me this has occurred before with this model.

I only shoot .44 Special pressure loads in mine after one cylinder of magnums, but I'm a wuss.
____________________________________________________________________________

Couldn't stand it, tried searching myself. Could only search back one year on this forum, and it's an older thread than that. Did a cursory search via Google, found info about frame problems on the PC 329's - didn't search all pages by any means.

One piece of information you don't give us is what ammunition (jacketed, lead, half-jacket) you were using. It's possible a jacket stuck in the barrel while the lead went to the target, but that's a remote possibility.

Hey, I was in the USAF, and fired a bunch of that .38 FMJ round nose load they use (or used to); talk about low pressure, in my salad days I think I could have beaten it to the target!

oldsp · Aug 11, 2009

Hey Bullet Bob...the shells were underperfromers, huh? But oh so fun! (and free, too).
I'll have to try and find out what exactly the shells were. I am sure S&W will ask for this info. Meantime, happy shooting...

Bullet Bob · Aug 12, 2009

Did the threads of the barrel come out of the frame, or did the barrel break there, leaving the threaded portion still screwed to the frame?

Thanks

Paul105 · Aug 12, 2009

I had something similar happen to me. Took me 10 minutes to find the barrel. It ended up on the roof behind me. Sent it back to S&W. After a couple of weks, they contacted me and said it wasn't an ammo problem and sent me a new gun. When queried, the customer service lady said that the barrel was probably over torqued when origianlly installed. Anyway, here are some picts.

,
,

'
'

FWIW,

Paul

Hook686 · Aug 12, 2009

hmmmmm strikes that S&W was very generous. You got the barrel section there. Did the CS lady check the torque ? What ammunition were you using. I have a 329PD and certainly do not want such an occurance.

oldsp · Aug 12, 2009

Federal .44 Rem Mag 180 Grain HI-SHok Jacketed Hollow Points (These were the shells used during failure.)

It appears the barrel broke free of the threads, allowing the threads to remain attached to the frame (although the threads look pretty bunged-up).

Wish I knew how to upload pix.......I am discovering that the 'airlite' models have a very high failure rate (based on reports and anecdotal info).

After considering this failure I am very inclined to believe there is a mettalurgical probelm...and if S&W is aware of this (and I suspect they are) they should issue a recall or a service bulletin. This is dangerous and potentially deadly!

The things I am seeing and hearing (like the nice pix Paul105 provided) are really frightening.

Sportsterguy · Aug 12, 2009

oldsp said:
Federal .44 Rem Mag 180 Grain HI-SHok Jacketed Hollow Points (These were the shells used during failure.)

It appears the barrel broke free of the threads, allowing the threads to remain attached to the frame (although the threads look pretty bunged-up).

Wish I knew how to upload pix.......I am discovering that the 'airlite' models have a very high failure rate (based on reports and anecdotal info).

After considering this failure I am very inclined to believe there is a mettalurgical probelm...and if S&W is aware of this (and I suspect they are) they should issue a recall or a service bulletin. This is dangerous and potentially deadly!

The things I am seeing and hearing (like the nice pix Paul105 provided) are really frightening.

I've read the same things. I'd avoid the shrouded barreled/lightweight revolvers in the magnum models like the plaque. Light is nice but not at the cost of what happened to you. I'll stick with my pre lock all steel Smiths. Haven't blown one up yet and I do reload my own, many are hot loads.

CAJUNLAWYER · Aug 14, 2009

Paul105 said:
I had something similar happen to me. Took me 10 minutes to find the barrel. It ended up on the roof behind me. Sent it back to S&W. After a couple of weks, they contacted me and said it wasn't an ammo problem and sent me a new gun. When queried, the customer service lady said that the barrel was probably over torqued when origianlly installed. Anyway, here are some picts.

,
,

'
'

FWIW,

Paul

Hell....a little JB weld and some c clamps and that thing will be as good as new

AF CC · Aug 14, 2009

I was the shooter of oldsp's gun in question. Here is the pics.

peyton · Aug 15, 2009

Thanks for posting the pictures, a little super glue will fix that right up. Or maybe a little duct tape would work. I had been eying the 329PD and this will certainly make me shy away from it!! Keep us posted please on what S&W does.

AF CC · Aug 15, 2009

We were going to take rapid pictures of the .44 slug ripping through a watermelon, so I stood about 10 yds away so I knew I could hit it in the center without wasting the melon. I took a bit of grief from my wife and then I missed and shot below it, the second shot was even lower. So as you can imagine my wife was laughing it up, and I handed it to her to show us how it was done. Luckily she couldn't pull the hammer back and upon inspection we saw the damage. Good thing she couldn't make the shot because no one noticed the loose barrel.

oldsp · Aug 24, 2009

Just received shipping label for Fed Ex. Will post final response from S&W. BEWARE the 'Airlite's'...

Bullet Bob · Aug 24, 2009

No problem, I be wearing one of mine quite a bit

Wayne M · Aug 24, 2009

Peyton has the idea on the fix for THAT gun. Now if you want to remedy the problem tell S&W you want a 4" 629 instead of one of the exotic alloy, blast shielded, with two piece barrel and(from what I've seen personally) loose shrouded models.

Model 329PD malfunction

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