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

So the factory plastic and rubber grips were broken in 7 different places altogether and I think I got all the broken bits out. I opened up the cracks with a small Dremel bit and filled the grips with Gorilla Glue. This was a bad idea! Gorilla glue foams up to about 4 times its original volume.

Removed all the Gorilla Glue and refilled with 5 min epoxy. (2x25ml for ~ $12.47 or 2x118ml for $25ish, bought the big size) let it set and then rough carved it to fit. Applied another thin bedding layer after covering the frame with thin tape, clamped together and let set. Drilled both sides for the lower locating pin and reassembled.

Results are good. The grips that used to be able to move slightly even after shimming them are now rock solid. The weird thing is that after cleaning them, the two halves are now different colours. The left side is a shiny black and the right is a much duller flat black. Yay for S&W.
 
8539rds After way too long, got out yesterday and put another 379rds through this thing and what a treat. The grip repair works great (but I will call about those other grips) and I did the best shooting I've ever done with this thing,

I'm culling more and more of the Federal brass, no surprise as some has been loaded 18 times now, and have started loading some Starline with the lighter IMR4227 loads as I have just over 400 pieces of Federal left. Not counting the couple hundred of non-striped once fired Federal still stashed.

Anyway, 129rds of 18(!) times fired Federal brass, 21.6gr IMR4227 a Campro 240gr TMJ bullet and a CCI300 primer, since everything used the same bullet and primer this time, I won't keep repeating it. Another 100rds of 3 times Starline brass and 22.0gr of IMR4227, 50rds of the Starline and a lighter 21.2gr IMR4227 load and 100rds of Starline with 23.6gr of H-110.

The lighter load was slightly milder and delivered great accuracy even when shooting DA, might have to explore this further but then everything worked great and with the improved grips, absolutely no trauma to my hands. Maybe I can stop having to tape up my fingers some day.

Just about to deprime all the brass and hopefully don't have to cull another 20 pieces like last time although I've already scrapped the 9 that were cracked going in. Still hoping to get 20 loads from some of it though.
 
dirtybarry said:
8539rds After way too long, got out yesterday and put another 379rds through this thing and what a treat. The grip repair works great (but I will call about those other grips) and I did the best shooting I've ever done with this thing...
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I'd venture to say you have already shot more thru this than most will in a lifetime. It's holding up very well ( I'm not really surprised owning a 6" & 2.5" 629 myself). These are great revolvers and I'm glad to see you doing this and enjoying it at the same time.

About the grips: would you think they broke apart as a result of coming loose?
 
Boomer686 said:
I'd venture to say you have already shot more thru this than most will in a lifetime. It's holding up very well ( I'm not really surprised owning a 6" & 2.5" 629 myself). These are great revolvers and I'm glad to see you doing this and enjoying it at the same time.

About the grips: would you think they broke apart as a result of coming loose?
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I have to admit that this gun is exceeding my expectations and other than things coming loose and this minor grip issue, its holding up pretty darn good considering.

Not really sure about the grips, they were a sloppy fit right from day 1 and I had already added some brass shim stock to try and tighten them up but then 2 sessions ago, maybe 3, I fired so much hot stuff that I hurt bad all over for days afterwards.

Was it because of the grip issue or did it cause the grip issue? I really can't say and it seems like a chicken and egg thing.
Knowing what I know now, bedding the grips would have been a great thing to do right at the beginning because the results are fantastic.
Can't say if it would have prevented them from breaking but it would have made things a lot more fun up until they they did at least.
 
dirtybarry said:
8539rds After way too long, got out yesterday and put another 379rds through this thing and what a treat. The grip repair works great (but I will call about those other grips) and I did the best shooting I've ever done with this thing,

I'm culling more and more of the Federal brass, no surprise as some has been loaded 18 times now, and have started loading some Starline with the lighter IMR4227 loads as I have just over 400 pieces of Federal left. Not counting the couple hundred of non-striped once fired Federal still stashed.

Anyway, 129rds of 18(!) times fired Federal brass, 21.6gr IMR4227 a Campro 240gr TMJ bullet and a CCI300 primer, since everything used the same bullet and primer this time, I won't keep repeating it. Another 100rds of 3 times Starline brass and 22.0gr of IMR4227, 50rds of the Starline and a lighter 21.2gr IMR4227 load and 100rds of Starline with 23.6gr of H-110.

The lighter load was slightly milder and delivered great accuracy even when shooting DA, might have to explore this further but then everything worked great and with the improved grips, absolutely no trauma to my hands. Maybe I can stop having to tape up my fingers some day.

Just about to deprime all the brass and hopefully don't have to cull another 20 pieces like last time although I've already scrapped the 9 that were cracked going in. Still hoping to get 20 loads from some of it though.
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^ This I find incredible! The round count on the gun...not so much. Barry; your other 629 that went KABOOM was sudden if I recall (It didn't wear out as much as it blew up). What is your call on the S&W product line now? I mean you're over eighty five hundred rounds of some really hot loads with almost no noticeable wear on the gun.
 
plinker 777 said:
^ This I find incredible! The round count on the gun...not so much. Barry; your other 629 that went KABOOM was sudden if I recall (It didn't wear out as much as it blew up). What is your call on the S&W product line now? I mean you're over eighty five hundred rounds of some really hot loads with almost no noticeable wear on the gun.
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Like I said and it hurts btw, this gun is exceeding my expectations and based on the few relatively minor things that have gone wrong with it, I have to say ( and this really hurts) the the S&W 629 would appear to be a durable and reliable gun.

Unlike their 29-10 Classic that I still think is a total piece of dung that isn't designed or built to be used heavily. (there, that helped ease the pain)

The brass holding up as well as it has is astonishing, I had figured a maximum of between 5 and 10 reloads based on various things I've read.
I've got about 420 pieces of this stuff left now after culling the 9 that I knew were already cracked. If I lose even 50 pieces each time, there should still be ~300 that will have survived being loaded and fired 20 times
.
Way back when I had sorted the Federal brass into 2 types as there some cases that have a narrow embossed or knurled line around them of varying depth and some that are perfectly smooth and I have no clue what that indicates. Different production plants, runs, do not know as they all measure the same as far as I can tell. And it is more common than the other kind.

The stuff I've been using has the knurled band and I've roughly 200 pieces of the smooth that has only been fired once for use after retiring the banded.
 
Hmmm, well I like my magnums too and now that you mention it, I have a lot of .357 and .44 magnums with this knurling band around the middle of the brass...I had always assumed it had something to do with the expansion of the brass on firing? But truth be known, I haven't the foggiest as to why it's actually there?

Anyone...Bueller...Ferris Bueller?
 
I rarely use factory ammo but I'm pretty sure the ring on the brass that you mention is impressed into the case just at the base of the bullet to prevent the bullets moving deeper into the case and causing higher pressures.
You would think they are most likely to move out but the consequences of them going in could be pretty dire.
Also, many lever guns are chambered for the same magnum handgun cartridges where it is more likely that the recoil might bang around the shells in the tube and force the bullets deeper.
 
I've got about 4000 rounds through my 500 mag 6.5" barrel without any issues other then the grip wearing out, 70% have been full house loads from 300gr up to 700gr. Good to know the 629 is holding up good so far, hopefully I get at least 10k from mine.
 
Nope, not a bullet crimp.
Image81.jpg
and.
rangeof44magammo.jpg
 
8889rds another 350 rounds, 216rds of Federal brass of 14, 16, 17 and 18 times fired and 34rds of 3 times fired Starline to top up the count using 21.6gr of IMR4227 and 100rds of Starline with 23.9gr of H-110, all loaded with CCI300 primers and Campro 240gr TMJ bullets.

The slightly hotter H-110 rounds were fun and showed no pressure signs with the brass falling out under its own weight.

And for filler, 250rds of Fiocchi 180gr .40 S&W through the SR40. Very snappy factory ammo but also had a few FTE's, and some of the flash holes are so far off centre that it was difficult to decap but it all went bang so it can't matter that much.

ps - 4 pieces of brass scrapped and 10 more conditional by having minor cracks at the mouth but good enough for one more trip around the block.
 
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9339 rds Went on a road trip to my outdoor range and made it worthwhile by shooting 450rds of .44 mag and a pile of other stuff. Was a very worthwhile trip as I was consistently hitting things at greater distances than I ever had before. And nailing cans of club soda at 35 yards and gongs at 50 yards did wonders for my ego.

All of the rounds used Campro 240gr TMJ's and CCI300 primers with the exception of 15rds that used up some leftover WLP's. I tried a lighter load and didn't notice any difference one way or the other and also decided to stress test some well used Federal brass by loading it with some H-110. It all worked.

One interesting thing is that a piece of bullet got shaved off and hit me in the hand. It only happened once so I don't know if it was a bullet or gun issue. No apparent harm done though and the gun never missed a beat.

I haven't started processing the brass for reloading yet and I did see quite a few that are badly cracked but there should still be a bunch that gets reloaded for the 20th time.
 
Hi Gander; we're referring to the band on the case rather than the knurling at the crimp area of the bullet/projectile. See the center left case in the second pic. Both of the upper pic's cases have the same band. I could be wrong, but I believe the band has something to do with the expansion of the case upon firing and relates to the ease of chamber release of the empty brass case from the chamber...I can be corrected though, it's just a guess on my part. Not all manufactures use the band, and I haven't noticed anything sticking in a chamber (revolver or auto)...so, I really don't know why its there.
 
Found this thread and just read all 32 pages. I loved it! Like S&M gun ####. Thanks to Barry for taking this on and sharing his experience.

I was kinda worried because I just bought a 629 on the EE and only intend to shoot magnum loads. I will probably never get to 8000 rounds and so I'm happy.

Very interested in learning more about the whole "Ruger being innately better at handling hotter loads" thing. Sounds like it's only in the extreme upper-end of round counts.

Noob question-what does "Classic" denote in the model description, I know the 629-XX denotes the version but can't figure out what classic means. FYI I bought a 629-7 classic with a 5 inch barrel. At least that's what is listed on the certificate.
 
plinker 777 said:
Hi Gander; we're referring to the band on the case rather than the knurling at the crimp area of the bullet/projectile. See the center left case in the second pic. Both of the upper pic's cases have the same band. I could be wrong, but I believe the band has something to do with the expansion of the case upon firing and relates to the ease of chamber release of the empty brass case from the chamber...I can be corrected though, it's just a guess on my part. Not all manufactures use the band, and I haven't noticed anything sticking in a chamber (revolver or auto)...so, I really don't know why its there.
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I am quite sure Gander realizes which feature you are talking about. Whether you call it "knurling" or, as I know it, a case cannelure, it is a band that is rolled into the case of factory loads below the base of the bullet to reduce the chance of the bullet moving under recoil. This is why it appears to be random, as the presence of a case cannelure depends on which load the brass was used for when loaded as a factory cartridge. A case that was used by Winchester to make a light target load might not have the case cannelure, while a case originally loaded by Winchester as a full bore magnum will have the cannelure rolled in. The two cases will probably be otherwise identical.
 
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