Calling all 329PD Owners

[Virgil]

Hey guys. I just purchased a like new 329PD and was wondering what advice can you all give me about this gun. What ammo do you all use in yours? What ammo have you had the best accuracy results with? Is there any that I should stay away from? I'm sure it's tougher than it feels but honestly I'm afraid of blowing it up with hot loaded .44 Mag ammo. Will the titanium cylinder withstand the higher pressures?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rburg]

Hah! OK, I'm going to guess the cylinder is up to the beating more than your hand will be. You'll hurt yourself before you hurt the poor gun. Loads to stay away from? Go find yourself some of the 300 grain bear loads and try one or two. That way you'll become the ambassador for staying away from those!

The gun, in all honesty, is the best 44 Special ever produced. Its sure got a lot going for it. It can still be painful with 240 grain loads if you shoot too much. I'm a chicken, so I only fire a few. What I'd like to try and will when the temps warm up are some of my ancient SuperVel 180 grain hollowpoints. I bought a box to test, but I'm ready for spring. The theory I'm using is the 240s are the standard, but they don't hurt near as much as the 300s. So by extention maybe the 180s will hurt by the same amount less. I'll let everyone know if I can still type after I try it.

 

[Virgil]

Hah! OK, I'm going to guess the cylinder is up to the beating more than your hand will be. You'll hurt yourself before you hurt the poor gun. Loads to stay away from? Go find yourself some of the 300 grain bear loads and try one or two. That way you'll become the ambassador for staying away from those!



The gun, in all honesty, is the best 44 Special ever produced. Its sure got a lot going for it. It can still be painful with 240 grain loads if you shoot too much. I'm a chicken, so I only fire a few. What I'd like to try and will when the temps warm up are some of my ancient SuperVel 180 grain hollowpoints. I bought a box to test, but I'm ready for spring. The theory I'm using is the 240s are the standard, but they don't hurt near as much as the 300s. So by extention maybe the 180s will hurt by the same amount less. I'll let everyone know if I can still type after I try it.

Thanks for the reply. I guess we're the only two that owns one of these.

 

[mc5aw]

If you want to consistently shoot hot Magnums, buy a steel 629 or a Ruger. The 329PD is a great lightweight big caliber revolver that is best suited for Specials and moderate Magnums. You'll suffer irreversible nerve damage in your hand long before you hurt the revolver.

 

[CWH44300]

Love the 329's, but they are a carrying gun that's not much fun to shoot. Mine gets the same ammo all my 44's get. A mid range 250 Keith (950fps) and a 1200fps load built around various 240-250 gr bullets. I use unique and 2400 to build these loads and haven't had any problems. One of mine has around 2k rounds and the blast shield is still intact, not by much though. I would avoid the 180 gr screamers and anything loaded with H110-296. I also personally don't see a need for any of the super heavy bullets in the 44 magnum.
Enjoy your new sixgun

 

[Mule88]

Right now I'm using Speer 210 Gold Dots and 9 to 10 gns of Universal clays. This should take care of most situations id need to get out of. Well except maybe Bears...Bears will just kill you.

 

[dla]

What is nice about the 329 is that it is always lightweight, always nice to carry, and you can choose how much buck&roar you want from it. And due to the lightweight, you can pretty much feel how the combustion process is doing with each shot

Bullet weight effects point of impact vertically with heavy bullets printing higher than light ones. And bullet weight effects perceived recoil with lighter bullets feeling a bit sharper than with the heavies.

The gun is plenty tough, as others have said, you'll fall apart long before it does. And S&W Customer service is stellar.

Here is some information you might find helpful.

 

[dla]

Hah! OK, I'm going to guess the cylinder is up to the beating more than your hand will be. You'll hurt yourself before you hurt the poor gun. Loads to stay away from? Go find yourself some of the 300 grain bear loads and try one or two. That way you'll become the ambassador for staying away from those!

The gun, in all honesty, is the best 44 Special ever produced. Its sure got a lot going for it. It can still be painful with 240 grain loads if you shoot too much. I'm a chicken, so I only fire a few. What I'd like to try and will when the temps warm up are some of my ancient SuperVel 180 grain hollowpoints. I bought a box to test, but I'm ready for spring. The theory I'm using is the 240s are the standard, but they don't hurt near as much as the 300s. So by extention maybe the 180s will hurt by the same amount less. I'll let everyone know if I can still type after I try it.

Playing with 180gr bullets is on my list of things to do as well. With the component shortages, I've only seen a box of 180gr XTPs sitting on the shelf instead of my normal 240gr. I've been wanting to load up some "personal defense" fodder (180gr @1000 - 1200fps) to see how it handles. Most of my other loads are fine for shooting through a couple bad guys with a single bullet. Or shooting through a car in the way to get to the car the bad guys are in.

 

[lscocoa]

The 329PD is just one theS&W .44's on my list , you can't have just one , but I can't see how anyone would want to shoot full house any kind of loads in it . Reload yourself some nice practice loads and occasionally shoot mags. just in case you go walking with bears. I am curious though how the wood grips feel with mid range and up loads . I like wood grips .

 

[dla]

The 329PD is just one theS&W .44's on my list , you can't have just one , but I can't see how anyone would want to shoot full house any kind of loads in it . Reload yourself some nice practice loads and occasionally shoot mags. just in case you go walking with bears. I am curious though how the wood grips feel with mid range and up loads . I like wood grips .

Yea you don't wanna do that - have somebody you hate shoot regular 44mag fodder with those pretty wood grips installed. That backstrap needs to be covered with something cushy that won't bleed

Or maybe I should put it this way: in an emergency you won't feel it but you wont get past one or two shots at the range.

The pretty wood grips are the best if you are going to carry it socially.

 

[Bobbysixkiller]

Mine came with wood grips installed, but an extra set of houges were in the box. I havnt shot it with the wood grip. I put the houges on as soon as i got it home. It shoots 44 specials great, 240 gr 44 mags not to bad. You wont want to shoot box after box at one time though, its a bit stout. Super nice gun.

 

[M29since14]

...but honestly I'm afraid of blowing it up with hot loaded .44 Mag ammo. Will the titanium cylinder withstand the higher pressures?

The gun is safe with any standard .44 Magnum ammunition. If you mean hotter than factory loads, you're on your own - like you would be with any other gun.

My 329 has one of those awful ECM barrels - either that or it is the worst conventionally produced barrel I have ever seen. It is so rough I don't use lead in it. It's hard for me to tell a lot about the accuracy of the gun. It's a tough one to shoot well, particularly past 15-yards or so. I have used 200- and 240-gr JHP Blazers and would have to say I prefer the 200s. Much more user-friendly.

Good luck with your new revolver.

 

[Rocket-scientist]

I just loaded some 240 grain XTP on 21 grains of 2400 for about 1300 FPS. Great carry load in my opinion. And works great in my 1894 Cowboy!

I use a Missouri bullet company 240 SWC on 19 grains of 2400 for a mild 44 magnum plinking load. Very accurate as long as I do my part and rings steel plates with authority

I also shoot my 44 specials through her. A 200 grain round nose flat point on 7 grains of Unique. Easy to shoot but not very accurate. Works great in my single action army's though.

My girlfriend can't put 6 consecutive rounds on an 8 inch plate at 7 yards with full power loads. The recoil is controllable!

 

[BUFF]

I bought my 329 when they were first introduced. With the exception of handgun masochists, they seem to be best for "carry a lot - shoot a little" with full-charge ammunition. Mine came with the wood grips installed. I tried it out with a box of Federal 240 grain factory ammo. Mind you, I have been shooting magnum handguns for 40 years and don't consider myself more than normally recoil conscious, but I stopped after 6 rounds to swap out for the rubber grips. I was actually relieved when I finished up the box and was glad I hadn't brought more!

I found my group size to be 2 or 3 times larger than what I can shoot with a M-629 Mountain Gun. I attribute that to the recoil. I am sure I will shoot it again, but I haven't shot it since.

I bought a 4 inch M-500 for a belt gun for Alaska, should I go fishing there in the future. It is far more pleasant to shoot!

 

[M29since14]

...I was actually relieved when I finished up the box and was glad I hadn't brought more!

If you made it through 50 rounds you were being a champ! I think I stopped at either 18 or 24. That was enough for one session, for me.

...I found my group size to be 2 or 3 times larger than what I can shoot with a M-629 Mountain Gun. I attribute that to the recoil.

That is exactly my experience. Kind of relieved to hear someone else say it that way.

That darned gun is difficult to consistently hold the same from shot to shot as it goes off and that bullet is going down the barrel! For me, it is a "Minute-of-Bear" gun at 25-yards. That may be exaggerating a little, but as a practical matter I think your 2-3x analogy is pretty close.

 

[FTG-05]

That's been my experience too. The first bunch of .44 mag loads and I thought I had made a terrible choice in .44 mag revolvers.

Luckily, the next range session, I brought some handloaded .44 special specs - mucho betta!!!!

 

[dla]

I found my group size to be 2 or 3 times larger than what I can shoot with a M-629 Mountain Gun. I attribute that to the recoil.

Yea, there just isn't any mass to dampen out shooter movement. And after you get pounded by a few full-up loads it is easy to start to flinch.

Put a good grip on it and it is much nicer to shoot. But no matter what you do, it won't become a range gun.

I typically launch 3 cylinders full when I'm plinking - just enough to remind me where it shoots and not enough to make the web of my hand bleed. Then I shoot my other guns

 

[00stormbringer]

I run Speer 200gr. Short Barrel Gold Dot's for 2 legged predators and Buffalo Bore 255gr. Keith's for 4 legged ones. Recoil is not an issue with these rounds, and they are powerful enough to get the job done.

 

[Hank Dodge]

Are the grips on the 329PD the same size as other N-frame round butts? Would the grips from a RB steel frame gun interchange with the scandium frame this gun has?

 

[M29since14]

Yes they should. However, almost everyone seems to put a Hogue 500 grip on the 329PD - sooner or later. It does help make the thing a little more tolerable.