629 Competitor problem

[DocPit45]

I have a 629 Competitor. Nice gun, but periodically it stops firing. First, it will fail to fire an occasional round. Goes downhill from there. My gunsmith fixes it by giving it a deep cleaning, i.e., he takes the gun apart to clean it. He suggested I use a better quality ammo even though I'm just target shooting.

I had been using Georgia Arms .44 mag, which, I'm told, are reloads. I started using Fiocchi, but I still have the problem. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? Frankly, I do clean the gun carefully after a session, but I don't want to take the time to disassemble for cleaning, and I don't want to keep taking it to the gunsmith?

Is there any reason to believe a Ruger Super Redhawk would be more reliable, even if not as sweet on the trigger?

 

[amazingflapjack]

My 7.5 inch competitor has .428 cylinder bores-I use my own hand loads with lead semi wad cutters sized to that measurement-and have had excellent accuracy-and no problems. This revolver is made with close tolerances-so cleaning is essential. I use 10-12 grains of Unique over a 240 grain bullet.

 

[Fishinfool]

OP - A few more facts are needed. How many rounds before a clean gun starts to give you problems? Are they "dirty loads" with soft lead bullets? What exactly happens when the gun starts to fail to fire? Any modifications to the gun? Strain screw tight?

NO, its not normal to have to take a revolver apart for a "deep cleaning" after each range use, so there is a problem somewhere. What did the gunsmith say was the actual problem besides dirty ammo?

Super Redhawks are great revolvers, reliable and strong, but so are S&W model 629's.

Unless your idea of a range session is one or two thousand rounds at a sitting, there is something else going on here, especially if two different brands of ammo are causing problems.

Larry

 

[tt66]

Possibly check the strain screw. If it is too loose it can cause light hammer strikes.

 

[Protocall_Design]

Sounds like the strain screw keeps coming loose. take it out, clean the screw and hole with solvent, dry both off, put on some blue Loctite, and reassemble. That will probably fix it.

 

[Lou_the_welder]

Its possible the strain screw is tight all the way......I'll only mention this because it's a performance center gun. I know the ribbed mainsprings on those do run "light". And I forget now , which PC gun I had the problem. But if it has a "ribbed mainspring ", it might. I had one loose tension completely and fail to fire. Light strikes.

My fix was to replace the spring with a Wilson combat mainspring. The standard spring has the most tension. The Wilson one is between the standard and ribbed. With the ribbed being the lowest pressure.

 

[686PC]

Another vote for tightening the strain screw all the way.

My 686 Competitor wouldn't fire cheap 38 special bulk ammo when I got it new. I could see the lighter strikes on the primers of the ammo.

Upon doing some research on this great forum, I tried tightened the straining screw all the way and that took care of the issue for good.

Cheers,
686PC

 

[DocPit45]

Thanks

Thanks very much for the replies. I'll try tightening the strain screw.

 

[H Richard]

if after you tighten the strain scre3w it still occasionally has a problem, you might try an old trick, take a spent primer, remove the anvil, and put the primer shell over the tip of the strain screw before tightening it down. This acts as a spacer or shim.