How long does a S&W 629 last? Let's find out! 13K+ now

abb1 said:
Actually, the side plate would be the first area to crack as it is held in place with 3 screws to a precise fit. Because of the high pressure on the frame by the magnum cartridge, it will affect those areas fastened to the frame first such as the side plate and even wooden grips (if you have them, I would use rubber for magnums myself).
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Shattered the internal plastic structure of the rubber grips already (pics a few pages back) and might tig weld the side plate instead of replacing it as a big "up yours" to S&W.

The epoxy set up nicely for the front sight and will get tested in a couple of hours.
 
buckbrush said:
do not tell S&W you were shooting handloads in your pistola. They may void the warranty.
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You have no idea how funny that is:p since the whole point behind shooting nothing but my own reloaded ammo is to support the contention that the failure of the previous gun, a 29-10 was the result of Smith & Wesson's shoddy manufacturing. After going around the block with them on that one, I found out that using any ammunition of any kind makes it not S&W's problem. There's a whole other thread about my experiences with the 29-10 that split the forcing cone at ~5500 rounds or so. Short version > S&W to me: not our problem. Anyhow moving on...

9788 rounds



Don't know why the big space but whatever, there are bad days, OK days, good days and great days. Today was a great day at the range. Having the front sight not flopping around tightened up my groups by about 80% and everything worked as it should. 170 rds of 21.5gr IMR4227 in 17, 18 and 20 times fired Federal brass, 30 rds of 23.8gr H-110 and 50 rds of 23.6gr H-110 in 4 times Starline all with Campro 240gr TMJ's and CCI300 LP primers.

300, actually 299 rounds of 9mm since I had my first true misfire of anything I've ever reloaded. Nice big dent in the primer but no bang. A few FTE's but no surprise considering the sketchy range brass.
 
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i just bought a 629 with 4.2" barrel and will be loading 23.0gr h110 under a campro 240gr bullet. would that be considered too hot?
 
thechineseguy said:
i just bought a 629 with 4.2" barrel and will be loading 23.0gr h110 under a campro 240gr bullet. would that be considered too hot?
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Shouldn't be, Hodgdon lists that as the starting load for that powder and bullet weight. I've fired hundreds, maybe even thousands of rounds hotter than that.
 
10038 rounds

I did it, more than 10,000 rounds of .44mag through a S&W 629 in one calender year. The first time this thing went to the range was Nov 8, 2015 and every single round was reloaded by me.

Today was 100 of 19 times fired Federal brass with 100 4 times Starline loaded with 21.5gr of IMR4227 and 50 Starline with 23.9gr of H-110, all using CCI300 primers and Campro 240gr TMJ bullets.
 
Yea! 10,000...
birthday-parties.jpg
 
dirtybarry, I'm a little envious of how much you shoot, but I have to give you credit:

-this thread is great, there is a ton of info for revolver fans, and the way your dealing with any frustration caused by S&W is pure gold!

Congrats on 10,000 rnds
 
dirtybarry said:
10038 rounds

I did it, more than 10,000 rounds of .44mag through a S&W 629 in one calender year. The first time this thing went to the range was Nov 8, 2015 and every single round was reloaded by me.

Today was 100 of 19 times fired Federal brass with 100 4 times Starline loaded with 21.5gr of IMR4227 and 50 Starline with 23.9gr of H-110, all using CCI300 primers and Campro 240gr TMJ bullets.
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Well done. Been waiting for the 10,000 to come up but my shoulder is sore just thinking about it. 50 - 44 Mag at a time is tops for me. So net result of this test is the first S and W was a dud not a fault of the design. Nice to know but S and W warranty and client relations still sucks.
 
thechineseguy said:
holy crap! 10,000 rounds of .44mag in a year? i wish i could afford that. lol
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Reloading my friend, reloading. Getting pretty close to a $10,000 savings so far considering how much and of what.

grinder08 said:
Well done. Been waiting for the 10,000 to come up but my shoulder is sore just thinking about it. 50 - 44 Mag at a time is tops for me. So net result of this test is the first S and W was a dud not a fault of the design. Nice to know but S and W warranty and client relations still sucks.
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I'll be sending them an email sometime with the spreadsheet attached just to say "hi" or something.

Shrek said:
dirtybarry, I'm a little envious of how much you shoot, but I have to give you credit:

-this thread is great, there is a ton of info for revolver fans, and the way your dealing with any frustration caused by S&W is pure gold!

Congrats on 10,000 rnds
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Thanks, just wait until I fix the broken one. Can you say "Frankenstein"? :evil:
 
grinder08 said:
Well done. Been waiting for the 10,000 to come up but my shoulder is sore just thinking about it. 50 - 44 Mag at a time is tops for me. So net result of this test is the first S and W was a dud not a fault of the design. Nice to know but S and W warranty and client relations still sucks.
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Your evaluation of S&W client relations couldn't be further from my experience. In my experience they went far beyond any warranty commitment to fix my gun which they knew had been fed hand loads because I told them so and even included the casing which was involved in my frame cracking incident.

As far as welding the side plate on the 629 goes, almost anyone can lay down a bead with a TIG, but a real welder who understands metalurgy will be the one to repair this crack and end up with a part that is not deformed. The sticking it to S&W bravado is not productive from a repair or financial standpoint. Although I do love to repair things as much as the next guy.
 
Turkinator said:
How were you thinking of fixing it? I could see that side plate warping like crazy once any heat is applied, especially being stainless. Maybe alternating spot welding and waiting to cool?
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Tig weld while clamped to some heavy plate.

fdc said:
Your evaluation of S&W client relations couldn't be further from my experience. In my experience they went far beyond any warranty commitment to fix my gun which they knew had been fed hand loads because I told them so and even included the casing which was involved in my frame cracking incident.

As far as welding the side plate on the 629 goes, almost anyone can lay down a bead with a TIG, but a real welder who understands metalurgy will be the one to repair this crack and end up with a part that is not deformed. The sticking it to S&W bravado is not productive from a repair or financial standpoint. Although I do love to repair things as much as the next guy.
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My experiences with Smith&Wesson's "customer service" and their "lifetime service policy" have already been posted on here (http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...amp-W-warranty-experiences?highlight=warranty) including the actual emails wherein they say that it is not their problem specifically because of the use of reloaded ammunition. So in my opinion Smith&Wesson is a scummy low grade bunch of a-holes that build some low quality junk which they do not back and they can go fornicate with themselves.
 
dirtybarry said:
Tig weld while clamped to some heavy plate.



My experiences with Smith&Wesson's "customer service" and their "lifetime service policy" have already been posted on here (http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...amp-W-warranty-experiences?highlight=warranty) including the actual emails wherein they say that it is not their problem specifically because of the use of reloaded ammunition. So in my opinion Smith&Wesson is a scummy low grade bunch of a-holes that build some low quality junk which they do not back and they can go fornicate with themselves.
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Ha ha ha now I have to clean all the liquid off of my screen. Thanks Barry!!!
 
10785rds
Been busy with school so no time for shooting except I managed to get out 3 times in the last 2 weeks. Rather than break all the rounds down by type, I've just updated the table. Nothing new went wrong at the first 2 sessions but after the 3rd and most recent the side cover screws came loose and the side cover had started to separate from the frame. I think that now every single screw or thing that can come loose has done so. But groups were good and I was happy with my performance. The 180gr rounds were as awe inspiring as always and some day I must video them going off.
 
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