Whats wrong with my 29-3?

[muskrat man]

Ok, so a guy I know is wanting a .45 auto, he has a 29-3 to trade, just so happens I had a colt 1991A1 I was going to trade off so we did a deal. Well I got a nice shooter grade 29-3, nickel, 4" barrel. I give it a good cleaning and take it to the range. I wanted to sight it in with XTPs but when I tried loading it 3 of the rounds would not seat in the cylinder on their own and it takes considerable force to seat them, so I brush out the chambers again thinking it was probably still just a little dirty; but that didn't change anything. So i went ahead and shoot the 3 "good" chambers. It grouped nice but was shooting to the left about 4" which is odd because the sight is already adjusted past center to the right. So i make some adjustments and dial it in. Well, since seeing it didn't want to chamber the hornady rounds in the other 3 chambers I tried my other go-to load which is a Winchester soft point. Those all slide right in and it grouped them good too but it grouped them about 6" to the left of POA. I maxed out the windage adjustment to the right and it's still grouping 2-3" to the left!? So I was hoping that perhaps someone on here had run into similar problems and could offer some guidance. The gun groups great and shoots like a dream other than those two problems. Any ideas fellas?

 

[DaveBreck]

I know that Hornady XTP's are .430 diameter. What dia. are the Winchester slugs? What distance were you shooting? Does the barel appear to be canted to the right as in not screwed in far enough to the point where the front sight looks crooked?

 

[amazingflapjack]

If the gun shot mostly 44 SPL's, there could be a build up of carbon or what ever in the cylinder bores that will require more than typical cleaning. This is not unusual in guns that shoot two rounds of different lengths. What worked for me was a slotted patch holder with some wet and dry 220 grit folded and put through the slot long enough that when rolled up it would loosely fit in the cylinder bores. Put the cleaning rod with the sand paper and slotted end in a drill and CAREFULLY move it in and out/back and forth, stopping at intervals to check your progress. It might be best to remove the cylinder for this operation. There is a tool made specifically for this, but the above worked well for me in my 610. If you have a 44 SPL round, you can easily check your cylinder to see if that is the problem. The POI issue might even be related to the same, or another, ammo issue. Go safe. Flapjack.

 

[DaveBreck]

Another quick cleaning method I've used on dirty cylinder chambers is simply a steel bore brush in an electric drill with lots of solvent. Run the drill at medium speed back and forth and dry it out with dry patches.

 

[edwardhartsock]

Your problem with point of aim is similar to what I had with a M-57 once. S&W told me to send it back. It returned with the rear sight centered and has shot to POA ever since. In my opinion it is a barrel to frame alignment problem. Read that as clamp the frame in a vise, and pound the barrel with a bag of shot. A procedure best done by S&W technicians. FWIW
Ed

 

[bgrafsr]

Your problem with point of aim is similar to what I had with a M-57 once. S&W told me to send it back. It returned with the rear sight centered and has shot to POA ever since. In my opinion it is a barrel to frame alignment problem. Read that as clamp the frame in a vise, and pound the barrel with a bag of shot. A procedure best done by S&W technicians. FWIW
Ed

Yep, there's two lead bars in the armorers kit to use to "straighten" the barrel to correct POI/POA amongst other things. Have done it once or twice myself.