Jerry Miculek S&W 929... Questionable build quality

ChromeArty

ChromeArty

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I've been thinking about picking one of these up... But I have come across some rather discouraging comments about build quality. I'm not going to drop $1500+ on a POS...

Does anyone have any personal experience with this gun? ... Is an Alpha Project a better bet at one third the price?

Cheers,

Trev
 
Like mine, did a little trigger work on it. If shooting reloads it likes fully resized brass with federal primers (if your going to lighten up the trigger). Otherwise I'm happy. Sold my Alfa.
 
You are probably reading post from competitive pistol shooters who spend tons of money in the quest of shaving hundredths of seconds off or their times. If it matters you can not use this gun in IPSC revolver division, and I am not that familiar with IDPA but I bet that it does not make weight.
 
JBD said:
You are probably reading post from competitive pistol shooters who spend tons of money in the quest of shaving hundredths of seconds off or their times. If it matters you can not use this gun in IPSC revolver division, and I am not that familiar with IDPA but I bet that it does not make weight.
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Thanks for the post...

But these posts are just from regular shooters. I think I've read enough horror stories to avoid it.

Cheers!
 
JBD said:
You are probably reading post from competitive pistol shooters who spend tons of money in the quest of shaving hundredths of seconds off or their times. If it matters you can not use this gun in IPSC revolver division, and I am not that familiar with IDPA but I bet that it does not make weight.
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Sorry yes you can use it in IPSC. Just have to reload after 6 shots. Also legal in USPSA. May be 8 shot legal in IPSC in the near future.
 
Beav said:
Sorry yes you can use it in IPSC. Just have to reload after 6 shots. Also legal in USPSA. May be 8 shot legal in IPSC in the near future.
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That is super practical getting a procedural every time you miscount. Or maybe run it in production with your moonclips behind your hip bones. It is not a good choice for IPSC because of our rules if it was I would have bought two instead of using a couple 629 modded for moonclips.
 
I'm really liking mine, I just can't find anyone to come play in revolver division with me in IPSC lol. I can use it in USPSA, and shoot the entire 8 rounds too, but not too many USPSA matches here in Western Canada. I'm going to try it in some steel matches in the fall once IPSC season dies down a bit.
 
:)
JBD said:
That is super practical getting a procedural every time you miscount. Or maybe run it in production with your moonclips behind your hip bones. It is not a good choice for IPSC because of our rules if it was I would have bought two instead of using a couple 629 modded for moonclips.
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But you deserve the procedural if you miscount! :d:
 
ChromeArty said:
But these posts are just from regular shooters. I think I've read enough horror stories to avoid it.
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The question is who is telling the story. I've read so much BS on the Internet that my filter is on full all the time. S&W's are pretty well built on the whole, Performance Center stuff is supposed to be built in smaller numbers with a closer attention to detail. IF you got one I'd be more suspect of the stories than S&W quality control. You could get a bad one, all manufactures have the odd lemon, I still say keep the AR.
 
an update on my 929 - I've used it in a couple of matches now and still really loving it. Shot it in a revolver match last weekend where I could shoot all 8 rounds and found it really competitive! I finished 2nd in Open class and I think ~4th overall. I know at least one of those guys is a GM in IPSC revolver division. Pretty happy with that as it's only my 4th revolver match. When they start allowing 8 shot minor in IPSC revolver, I'll definitely be shooting my 929 more :)

I had read in some of the other forums that the 929 is produced with the same tooling as the other S&W 38/357's, so I decided to slug my 929.
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The cylinder throats all measured in at .357 and the barrel was .356". I think I'm going to get some .357 38special projectiles and try loading them into 9mm brass. I'm hoping to get an increase in fps and better accuracy. Currently I'm finding my reloads with 147gr Campro (.355") are ~100fps slower in my 929, and I'm only getting ~3" groups at 25 yards.
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I liked my 929 so much that I decided to buy a 2nd one as a backup gun for matches. This one had a few small issues:

  2. the ejector star had burrs on it and not properly fitted, so a full moon clip will not seat properly
  3. the barrel is just slightly off index to the left, while the sight has been fully adjusted to the right. Not sure if they actually sighted in this 929 at the factory, but it's a little worrying :confused:

The good news is that a quick email to Murray Charleton, and they arranged prepaid Fed-Ex overnight to get it into their shop to have a look. I have full confidence that they will address whatever needs to be done. Then I've got all off-season to be doing some slicking up and tweaking.

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A fellow at our club bought one. It would fire off 6 or 8 rounds, then misfire (left very light primer strike marks). This was with factory Winchester ammo. He sent it away to Charlton(remember this was a brand new gun) and they had it for 3 months. He got it back, put 8 rounds through it and it started misfiring again. He called Charlton and they said he could send it back but it would probably be 3 more months in the shop.:mad: I sent him to a friend who is a machinist/gunsmith who replaced the firing pin with a new one he had built. Gun now shoots 100% dependably. Pretty crappy QC for a Custom Shop gun and the warranty service wasn't much better. Glad it wasn't my gun.
 
ted_dent said:
A fellow at our club bought one. It would fire off 6 or 8 rounds, then misfire (left very light primer strike marks). This was with factory Winchester ammo. He sent it away to Charlton(remember this was a brand new gun) and they had it for 3 months. He got it back, put 8 rounds through it and it started misfiring again. He called Charlton and they said he could send it back but it would probably be 3 more months in the shop.:mad: I sent him to a friend who is a machinist/gunsmith who replaced the firing pin with a new one he had built. Gun now shoots 100% dependably. Pretty crappy QC for a Custom Shop gun and the warranty service wasn't much better. Glad it wasn't my gun.
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Light strikes are not uncommon when it comes to revolvers. Did your guy play around with the strain screw and/or main spring? I can tune any of my revolvers to run any factory ammo, but then I'd be running a 12lb DA trigger pull which would be ok for casual plinking. Or I can tune my revolvers for competition and tune it to a 6lb trigger pull and use Federal primers in my reloads.
 
I'm gonna try some thicker moon clips. The factory supplied ones are .035 thick. Tk Custom has some .040 Might make a difference on hard primers??? I certainly don't want a heavier spring, its got a sweet double action pull now
 
VanMan said:
Light strikes are not uncommon when it comes to revolvers. Did your guy play around with the strain screw and/or main spring? I can tune any of my revolvers to run any factory ammo, but then I'd be running a 12lb DA trigger pull which would be ok for casual plinking. Or I can tune my revolvers for competition and tune it to a 6lb trigger pull and use Federal primers in my reloads.
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He didn't touch anything. He's a noob and not inclined to fool around with his guns. Plus shouldn't Charlton have adjusted the strain screw properly? As for light strikes & revolvers I've been shooting revolvers for over 35 years & never had a problem with light strikes in any revolver from .22s through 44 mags. Unless someone deliberately tinkers with it a properly constructed revolver should not have a problem with light strikes.
 
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ted_dent said:
He didn't touch anything. He's a noob and not inclined to fool around with his guns. Plus shouldn't Charlton have adjusted the strain screw properly? As for light strikes & revolvers I've been shooting revolvers for over 35 years & never had a problem with light strikes in any revolver from .22s through 44 mags. Unless someone deliberately tinkers with it a properly constructed revolver should not have a problem with light strikes.
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:agree: If the factory wants to lean heavily on the "hand fitted, pro shop H:S:" It had better shoot out of the box.
 
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