How gentle to be with a 29 (no dash)?

[SWBigBang]

Passed up a chance to purchase a 29 no dash as I knew I would be doing a lot of shooting with it and I vaguely recall reading these older models are not the best for doing lots of shooting.

Also recall the 29 no dash is more of a "collector" piece than a "shooter".

 

[akviper]

You are correct that early Model 29s are gaining value to collectors. If you plan to shoot a lot of heavy loads a later version with the endurance package is a better choice.

 

[440turner]

just picked up a 629-1 for $575, the board here tells me its a 1984 model, does it have the endurance package on this model.

 

[sureshotbob]

440turner I believe the endurance package came out on the 29-4's

 

[myellowc5]

What is considered shooting alot and what loads? I have a 629 no dash scoped that is 2 for 2 on deer shots the long being 75 yards. I shoot and practice with Georgia Arms G44MC "44 Magnum Deer Stopper.
Is this to much for practice? Probably only 350- 500 down the barrel total but want to pass gun down the line in the future.. I never considered this could be a problem in the long run.

 

[Sebago Son]

29-3 "E"'s

440turner I believe the endurance package came out on the 29-4's

Actually the "Endurance Package" made it's first appearance in later 29-3's. Guns so modified have an "E" stamp in the crane cut out.

 

[bgrafsr]

What is considered shooting alot and what loads? I have a 629 no dash scoped that is 2 for 2 on deer shots the long being 75 yards. I shoot and practice with Georgia Arms G44MC "44 Magnum Deer Stopper.
Is this to much for practice? Probably only 350- 500 down the barrel total but want to pass gun down the line in the future.. I never considered this could be a problem in the long run.

If you don't shoot full house magnum loads all the time, you should be just fine. Mild loads will not hurt the gun, but remember, they are getting to be "collector" status, so if you want to hunt and shoot, you would be better off with a newer one as mentioned above. I have a 29-2 that I do not intend to shoot very much, if at all, and bought a 29-6 for shooting.

 

[Pisgah]

The "trouble" with 29s didn't really emerge until silhouette shooting became popular, and some folks were shooting thousands upon thousands of heavy 300 gr.loads in them. They were never designed to stand up to such use, and some began having problems. These problems were addressed by the endurance package.

But if you stick to standard .44 mag. loads, you will wear out before the gun does.

 

[Boxhead]

I keep my 29/629's gently loaded with cast 250 gr SWC's at 1200 fps maximum. I have no problem chasing elk with that load. I play with the larger bores including the 45 Colt and the 475 and 500 Linebaugh's but still hold to 1200 fps maximum (actually 1100 fps in the LB's). Really no need to go any faster with a good hard cast bullet.

 

[1081]

The "trouble" with 29s didn't really emerge until silhouette shooting became popular, and some folks were shooting thousands upon thousands of heavy 300 gr.loads in them. They were never designed to stand up to such use, and some began having problems. These problems were addressed by the endurance package.

But if you stick to standard .44 mag. loads, you will wear out before the gun does.

The very first handgun (centerfire) I shot was a 29 6 1/2" in 1973. The owner made me shoot out the cylinder of full house loads. We were actually checking the zeros of a few deer rifles at 100 yards before going deer hunting. I was shooting at a car-sized granite boulder with many areas to sight on due to discolorations and crevice marks. So it was easy to pinpoint on a place on the boulder.
I was able to keep the full cylinder of shots within a 6" circle and watch in absolute fascination at the boulder as it crumbled and exploded in the area the shots were aimed. It seemed like a high powered rifle!

That began my .44 Magnum handgun fascination. I soon bought a Super Blackhawk 7 1/2" barrel and reloaded for it. My favorite loads were two; the 180 gr Sierra JHP and the 250 gr Keith lead semi-wadcutter.

Soon I began buying SW 29s p and r'd and felt I had arrived. I put over 5000 rounds through the Ruger but never shot the 29s near that much.

Later on I did run into a 29 nickeled 6 1/2" of early manufacture. I experienced the rebounding effect of the cylinder timing latch that allowed the fired round chamber to fall back into the next to fire chamber! What happens is the weight of the cartridges in the cylinder after firing a couple of rounds or so rotates the cylinder back to the empty fired case chamber. I believe this was one problem SW fixed by elongating the cylinder engagement cuts to cylinder latch.

About this time SW also strengthened the design to fire the heavier loads more often than the older design could handle in large volume.

I don't fire my 29-2 that much and don't plan on using it as a choice for continued firing every time I go to the range.

For me my earlier collectible "weaker" gun is sufficient to keep me from looking for another 29, which, as you know, can easily become a fever!

 

[Joed49]

I had always wanted a model 29 in .44 mag. When a gun shop near where I worked had a 629-1 for sale I bought it. I asked the gun smith at the store what he thought of the gun. He told me as a used gun it was in very good shape and should give years of good service.

He offered one bit of advice that I have always followed. "The early models of the 29 and 629 were manufactured when the 240 gr bullet was the max weight available. The gun was built for that bullet and not a 300 gr. Do not shoot a 300 gr bullets".

Every so often I hear from someone that has shot their 29/629 loose. Usually it turns out they have been shooting heavy bullets in the 300 gr range.

I now have a fair number of these older guns. I limit bullets to no more then 250 gr. Also, being a reloader and having no use for heavy magnum loads I keep velocities to a level somewhere between the .44 Spl and .44 Mag. I enjoy shooting these .44's with a velocity between 950 to 1000 fps.

 

[Dale53]

I have a Model 29-2 with 8 3/8" barrel (scoped). I have probably 10,000 rounds through it. My practice load is 23.0 grs of H110 with a 250 gr Keith (1200 fps). My hunting load is 24.0 grs of H110 with the same bullet (1300 fps).

It is tight as it was the day I bought it.

Dale53

 

[Gun 4 Fun]

Just for the record for those who are wondering, the endurance package upgrades started in 1988 with the 29-3E & 629-2E, and ended in 1990 with the 29-5 & 629-3. I own both types of 29's, and will say that the endurance guns are much better suited to steady shooting with full house loads, regardless of bullet weight.

Also, it doesn't hurt to shoot 300 grain bullets in any of them. You just need to keep in mind that they aren't Ruger Redhawks and can't be loaded with some of the charges that are a walk in the park for Big Red. If you follow currently listed loads for the 300 grainers that are listed as being suitable for all .44 magnums, you won't have any trouble.

There is an excellent article in Handloader # 241 June/July 2006 by Brian Pearce (available from wolfe publishing through their backorder issues) that is strictly on handloading the different variations of 29/629's, and it lists lots of loads of different power levels using all sorts of bullet weights. He tells you which loads are safe in which dash guns etc.

Basically, all 29's are the same strength. It's their durability that comes into play, and endurance guns have it all over the older non-endurance equipped guns, period, and unless you're a "Smith snob" that just can't bring yourself to admit it, there's no denying it. I prefer the older P&R guns like most people for general use and beauty, but if I need to do a lot of shooting with full power loads and a Smith and Wesson, I use my endurance equipped guns.

There is also an article in the September 1989 issue of Shooting Times by Dick Metcalf, that covers all the details of the endurance package, how they uncovered exactly what was happening, and how the re-enginerred the gun to fix the problems. You should try to contact them to see if a bcak issue is avalilable for that issue.

It beats the heck out of simply trusting internet forum opinions (including this one), to have some actual facts to read at your disposal.

 

[MMA10mm]

OUTSTANDING post Gun 4 Fun. You said it all, just right! A lot of other good advice on this thread above also.


I too have both a pre-endurance (629-1) and a full-endurance (629-4) package 44s, and I load for the -1 like the old recommendations for the Model 19s and 66s - that is, load them light 90-95% of the time, but don't hesitate to use full-loads when the occasion is right.

When I first got my -1, I did not follow this advice and shot it hard. It now has end shake, and once in awhile the cylinder will unlock and rotate backwards. I NEVER shot silohuette and I never shot bullets heavier than 250grs. I just shot it a LOT with full-power loads, almost exclusively with cast bullets.

As was said above - all of them are strong, but the later guns have better endurance and will stand up to shooting heavy loads for a lot longer.

 

[C J]

As someone who is new to the .44 magnum world, I've been shooting 240 gr. Winchester soft point shells which seem to be rated at 1180 fps and Hornady Lever Evolution 225 gr. shells that are rated at 1410 fps. Can someone with more experience with these guns tell me if these are too much for my 629-2? It is not an endurance package gun AFAIK. It doesn't have the "E" listed with the "-2". I don't expect to be shooting a lot of these rounds but I could find myself shooting 1000 or so. I like carrying this gun in my car with me and I don't want to overload it. I would just be shooting enough to keep in realtively good practice with this gun. So far I've shot about 50 rounds through it.

 

[Gun 4 Fun]

CJ-
You'll be just fine with those loads.

We are really talking about shooting a steady diet of full power loads here. The guns were designed to shoot full power ammo. It's just that when they were first designed, no one, either at S&W or the ammo companies, expected people to shoot them regularly, due partly to the fact that the .44 has quite a bit of recoil. When people did start shooting the 29/629 with regularity, they soon found out that a steady diet of full power loads will loosen these fine guns up quicker than other guns like the big Dan Wessons, and the Redhawk, along with the accompanying other problems like the cylinder coming open under recoil, rotating backwards, etc.

Putting 50 rounds downrange here and there won't damage the gun, but if you want to shoot full power ammo on the order of say 50-100 rounds every week, you would be better off with a heavier duty gun like the Redhawk.