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

Am I the only one who's read this thread and thought "wow... S&W built a pretty rugged 629 for you"?

OP - you keep trashing S&W's product, but you are willing to put 12000 44 mag loads through one and you haven't had any failures of significance? I submit you have fired this thing more than 99.99% of .44 Mag owners will ever fire theirs.

Maybe it's not such a terrible product after all???
 
Claven2 said:
Am I the only one who's read this thread and thought "wow... S&W built a pretty rugged 629 for you"?

OP - you keep trashing S&W's product, but you are willing to put 12000 44 mag loads through one and you haven't had any failures of significance? I submit you have fired this thing more than 99.99% of .44 Mag owners will ever fire theirs.

Maybe it's not such a terrible product after all???
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Problem with S&W lately is the quality control and skill/workmanship of some of their workers :(

I had to look at a few 686s to find one that was not flawed. But when you find a good one, they can't be bet :)
 
Claven2 said:
Am I the only one who's read this thread and thought "wow... S&W built a pretty rugged 629 for you"?

OP - you keep trashing S&W's product, but you are willing to put 12000 44 mag loads through one and you haven't had any failures of significance? I submit you have fired this thing more than 99.99% of .44 Mag owners will ever fire theirs.

Maybe it's not such a terrible product after all???
Click to expand...

I've said several times in this thread that this particular gun seems to be holding up fine despite the exclusive use of my own reloaded ammunition. (to clarify, I have not fired a single factory produced round in this gun)
I feel this only supports my contention that the broken 29-10 in my safe failed because it was defective and not as a consequence of using reloaded ammo.
S&W feels differently, so game on but I seriously doubt that they will revisit their denial of my warranty claim.

edit - the 629 has not been trouble free either, the ejector rod came loose, the mainspring tension screw came loose, every screw in the frame has come loose, the front sight blade came loose and the grips shattered. There's a lot of Loctite and epoxy in this thing now.
 
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buckbrush said:
is this revolver not a Custom shop revolver? Or am I mis remembering?
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It's an off the shelf current production 629 Classic. Not sure what makes it a "Classic" though. 6.5" barrel, full underlug, round butt with internal lock and manufactured in 2014.

The broken 29-10 is also a "Classic" with a 6.5" barrel, half underlug, square butt frame and internal lock and manufactured in 2012.
 
dirtybarry said:
I've said several times in this thread that this particular gun seems to be holding up fine despite the exclusive use of my own reloaded ammunition. (to clarify, I have not fired a single factory produced round in this gun)
I feel this only supports my contention that the broken 29-10 in my safe failed because it was defective and not as a consequence of using reloaded ammo.
S&W feels differently, so game on but I seriously doubt that they will revisit their denial of my warranty claim.

edit - the 629 has not been trouble free either, the ejector rod came loose, the mainspring tension screw came loose, every screw in the frame has come loose, the front sight blade came loose and the grips shattered. There's a lot of Loctite and epoxy in this thing now.
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Most impressive!
 
12581 rounds and the very first post is at the maximum size limit according to the software so no more additions to the table for now. I'm still keeping track of every round though.

Today was 199 rounds of 20.21 & 22 times fired Federal brass with CCI350 primers, 22.5 grains of IMR4227 and Campro 240gr TMJ's with 1 lone round of Starline brass with the same components along with 100 of 6 times fired Starline loaded with 23.6 grains of H-110, S&B primers and the same Campro's.

Let a couple of others that shoot .357mag give it a spin and they quite enjoyed it. Things started to go weird when the grips came loose along with some frame screws so time for some more detailed maintenance.



 
dirtybarry said:
I've said several times in this thread that this particular gun seems to be holding up fine despite the exclusive use of my own reloaded ammunition. (to clarify, I have not fired a single factory produced round in this gun)
I feel this only supports my contention that the broken 29-10 in my safe failed because it was defective and not as a consequence of using reloaded ammo.
S&W feels differently, so game on but I seriously doubt that they will revisit their denial of my warranty claim.

edit - the 629 has not been trouble free either, the ejector rod came loose, the mainspring tension screw came loose, every screw in the frame has come loose, the front sight blade came loose and the grips shattered. There's a lot of Loctite and epoxy in this thing now.
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Trouble free. Loose. Loose is a maintenance thing and does not reflect poorly on the product. If things got loose the gun was not being maintained in a manner that suited the use. But, why not blame S&W because that is the real theme here.

I am not saying for a moment that I have not let things get loose! Nope. Had to tighten some fasteners up on the trail today as a matter of fact. Was it a manufacturers fault? Nope, it was mine.

The sad thing about this thread is that sooner or later your gun is gonna give up the ghost and likely take a piece of you with it and your spin will be that S&W are sh!t and are at fault. Every mechanism has an in service lifespan. They wear out. I really hope that you don't wear out your .44 and continue to feed it hot rounds to the point where it fails and causes you harm.

Machines wear out and fail. You need to understand this, it doesn't seem that you do.

Have a good time and be safe.
 
Barry, I can't believe your wrists, elbows and shoulders even retain their shape.
When you're waving your arms, it must sound like you're shaking a box of Tic-Tacs!!

Twelve rounds of 'Full-house' loads out of my 29 and I feel like a mule kicked me in the wrist!

12,500??
I'd offer to shake your hand, but I've no interest in testing your 'grip'.
 
To clarify... not faulting or bashing you at all.

Just concluding that you lucked out and have indeed a quality product in your hands.
 
dirtybarry said:
I've said several times in this thread that this particular gun seems to be holding up fine despite the exclusive use of my own reloaded ammunition. (to clarify, I have not fired a single factory produced round in this gun)
I feel this only supports my contention that the broken 29-10 in my safe failed because it was defective and not as a consequence of using reloaded ammo.
S&W feels differently, so game on but I seriously doubt that they will revisit their denial of my warranty claim.

edit - the 629 has not been trouble free either, the ejector rod came loose, the mainspring tension screw came loose, every screw in the frame has come loose, the front sight blade came loose and the grips shattered. There's a lot of Loctite and epoxy in this thing now.
Click to expand...

Screws loosening over thousands of rounds is nothing new. I've seen it happen on .38SPL Model 10's, let alone a .44 MAG revolver. The ejector rod, similarly is just screwed in.

I would not consider a screw coming loose to be a defect, just a maintenance issue.

The front sight blade is an easy fix and grips are a replaceable part. The OEM grips aren't great anyhow, I'd bet decent pachmayers or similar would hold up better. S&W went to synthetic grips largely because people almost always threw away the more expensive wood grips and put one something more personal. The cheap grips are , I think, offered with this truth in mind to keep costs down.
 
fdc said:
Trouble free. Loose. Loose is a maintenance thing and does not reflect poorly on the product. If things got loose the gun was not being maintained in a manner that suited the use. But, why not blame S&W because that is the real theme here.

I am not saying for a moment that I have not let things get loose! Nope. Had to tighten some fasteners up on the trail today as a matter of fact. Was it a manufacturers fault? Nope, it was mine.

The sad thing about this thread is that sooner or later your gun is gonna give up the ghost and likely take a piece of you with it and your spin will be that S&W are sh!t and are at fault. Every mechanism has an in service lifespan. They wear out. I really hope that you don't wear out your .44 and continue to feed it hot rounds to the point where it fails and causes you harm.

Machines wear out and fail. You need to understand this, it doesn't seem that you do.

Have a good time and be safe.
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You don't say? Gee, my lifetime of experience as a mechanic/machinist/technician has taught me nothing about machines....or how to maintain them.
Guess I better get rid of my 49 year old car and 41 year old tools then. And the 111 year old rifle in the safe, come to think of it my wife is getting up there too.
 
Hoakster said:
Barry, I can't believe your wrists, elbows and shoulders even retain their shape.
When you're waving your arms, it must sound like you're shaking a box of Tic-Tacs!!

Twelve rounds of 'Full-house' loads out of my 29 and I feel like a mule kicked me in the wrist!

12,500??
I'd offer to shake your hand, but I've no interest in testing your 'grip'.
Click to expand...

I did get a boo-boo on my trigger finger today but otherwise the drive to the range was more traumatic.
 
Pulled the side cover off for the first time and washed everything out with parts cleaner. There was some gunk from unburned powder carbon and oil but nothing unexpected. Everything looks and operates fine.
The crack in the side plate is a non-issue as it is in an extremely thin section that is nothing more than a cover. It can propagate about another 1/8" before it gets to a much thicker structural section.
Cleaned and threadlocked all the screws and fixed the grips, so functionally it should be good for another 10,000 rounds or so. If the grips keep failing, I might break down and replace them or just wrap them in hockey tape...:p
 
dirtybarry said:
And the 111 year old rifle in the safe, come to think of it my wife is getting up there too.
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gammasquadduckhunt1.jpg
 
After 3 months of hard slogging with school it was way past time to hit the range, so another 300 rounds through this thing today. 200 rds of 22.2 gr IMR4227 in the same old Federal brass. Some fired for the 23rd time (!) now and 100 of the hotter 23.6 H-110 load. All using the usual Campro 240 gr TMJ's and CCI 350 primers except for 50 H-110 that used S&B's.
Zero issues today and some of the best grouping I've ever done and without taping up my hand either. Cleaning afterwards revealed nothing scary but the flame cutting of the top strap is definitely there but not serious enough to require any action at this time.
On a side note, I also ran 304 rounds of 9mm (4.8gr Titegroup, 115gr Campro, S&B) through the SR9 trying out 3 levels of crimping. The "usual", "light" and none. The rounds with no extra crimping beyond what the bullet seating die does seemed to shoot nicer. Less perceived recoil with better follow up and noticeably tighter groups. Could just be cognitive bias so I will do some more testing next time. Also had one legitimate FTF, good hard primer strike but no bang. That makes two duds out of well over 20K S&B primers that I've used. *cue the internet rage* I'll never use them again...until I can find some more that is.
 
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