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

[VanMan]

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

Just checked, the moon clips I have from Revolver Supply Co are .035 thick as well, and work great in my 929. The .040 moon clip would theoretically tighten up the head space, but I don't think that .005" would make difference in light strikes. I tested a C&S extended length firing pin and found that the stock S&W Performance Center firing pin worked better. Here's the thread where I posted the results http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1332635-S-amp-W-REVOLVER-EXTRA-LENGTH-FIRING-PIN-Anyone-have-experience-using-these?highlight=firing+pin

I think the profile of the firing pin point makes a bigger difference.

 

[VanMan]

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.

Definitely would agree with this, but unfortunately there are a lot of variables at play. Did he try any other brand of factory ammo? Was that batch of factory Winchestor ammo produced in spec? Winchester primers are known to be on the harder side, were they seated properly at the factory? Maybe they had a batch of harder than normal primers? Was Charleton asked to test the revolver with the Winchester ammo? Was the moon clip slightly bowed or twisted?

Anyways. I'm glad your friend got his problem sorted out

 

[VanMan]

If the factory wants to lean heavily on the "hand fitted, pro shop " It had better shoot out of the box.

you are preaching to the choir on that one. I've got 3 "Performance Center" revolvers and straight out of the factory their trigger actions were horrible! The only saving grace is that I like to tinker and find slicking up the DA trigger pull a lot of fun (I leave all SA sear/hammer surfaces alone). Add in a fibre optic front sight and an extended cylinder release and color me happy Now about that Apex hammer kit ......

 

[ted_dent]

Definitely would agree with this, but unfortunately there are a lot of variables at play. Did he try any other brand of factory ammo? Was that batch of factory Winchestor ammo produced in spec? Winchester primers are known to be on the harder side, were they seated properly at the factory? Maybe they had a batch of harder than normal primers? Was Charleton asked to test the revolver with the Winchester ammo? Was the moon clip slightly bowed or twisted?

Anyways. I'm glad your friend got his problem sorted out

He did try it with other ammo but had the same issue. Hard to tell about the primers but he gave me 8 rounds that had the very light primer strikes and I put all of them through my CZ75 Tactical Sport which has an extremely light trigger (under 2 pounds)and does not have a heavy primer strike at the best of times. It lit up all 8 with no difficulty. I don't know what he asked Charlton as I only found out about his problems after the fact but he tried it with several moon clips and they didn't seem to make any difference.
He was pretty discouraged after dropping over $1500 on the gun, I can tell you that.

 

[VanMan]

He did try it with other ammo but had the same issue. Hard to tell about the primers but he gave me 8 rounds that had the very light primer strikes and I put all of them through my CZ75 Tactical Sport which has an extremely light trigger (under 2 pounds)and does not have a heavy primer strike at the best of times. It lit up all 8 with no difficulty. I don't know what he asked Charlton as I only found out about his problems after the fact but he tried it with several moon clips and they didn't seem to make any difference.
He was pretty discouraged after dropping over $1500 on the gun, I can tell you that.

It's difficult to compare the firing pin strike performance of a 2lb SA semi-auto against that of a DA/SA revolver as the slide cycling back does all the work of cocking the hammer.
Those TS's are great handguns. I have a CZ SP01 Shadow that is just great

 

[VanMan]

an update from my post #14. I had emailed Murray Charleton on Monday, exchanged emails with Tim their service rep who arranged prepaid FedEx shipping. I shipped the gun Wednesday morning, and just got a call from Murray to go over his assessment of the gun. Net is, ejector problem resolved, barrel has been reindexed, and he will sight in the revolver next week and send it back to me. We then had a great chat about the 929 and revolvers in general.

I am sure there may be times where his shop gets over-run and he may fall behind on his warranty work, but this will be my 2nd time having work done by Murray and both experiences the same. Great customer service and very competent, friendly people.

 

[Caboose]

929 owners - check your strain screw tension. Mine was backed out. The DA trigger pull is a little stiffer now... I'm gonna go back and try a few clips of UMC ammo

 

[VanMan]

929 owners - check your strain screw tension. Mine was backed out. The DA trigger pull is a little stiffer now... I'm gonna go back and try a few clips of UMC ammo

Once I've got mine set to the pull weight I want, I set it with a bit of blue locktite. Note: it's not recommended to back off the strain screw too much as it's not really intended to be used to adjust your trigger pull weight. I adjust my trigger pull weight with a tuned main spring and rebound spring, and just use the strain screw to fine tune the DA trigger pull (~ 1/2 turn back out).

 

[MustangFrank]

I've put about 1000 rounds through mine so far. Build quality is excellent. No issues with mine other than it doesn't light hard primers

I am ok with the build quality of my 929 but not too pleased with the accuracy. Right now I am blaming the crappy sights, so Caboose, please let us know what is that base and where you got the base and burris red dot. That combo on my pistol will put the accuracy question to rest for me at least. Thanks.

 

[VanMan]

Loaded up some test batches of N320 using .357 bullets. Will run them through the chrono first and then test for grouping size.

 

[Caboose]

I am ok with the build quality of my 929 but not too pleased with the accuracy. Right now I am blaming the crappy sights, so Caboose, please let us know what is that base and where you got the base and burris red dot. That combo on my pistol will put the accuracy question to rest for me at least. Thanks.

Well the red dot takes a little getting used to, you'll find yourself chasing the dot around. And for me not as fast as a good set of irons. My aging eyes appreciate it...

The base is from Allchin Gun Parts...they'll ship direct to your door $45 US dollars. You won't find a nicer optic mount. I went with the Burris FastFire III The Vortex Viper was a close second...I couldn't justify the extra $$$ for the Trijicon. Our local gun store in Sudbury is well stocked. For those that may wonder, the Hogue extented cylinder release does not interfere with a weak hand thumb hammer ####...

 

[VanMan]

Finally got some definitive (for me anyhow) results on the accuracy testing of my S&W 929 using various 9mm and 38sp bullets loaded into 9mm cases, and some 147gr 9mm rounds from a commercial reloader as a benchmark.

The net is, even with a 4X scope and shooting bench-rested, I am still the weakest link in testing accuracy. I found no meaningful difference between using 9mm and 38sp bullets. I could tell when a bad trigger pull pulled the scope off line and gave me a flyer.

Surprisingly the Campro 124gr HP gave excellent groups. I can`t say this is definitive with only a 2 target groupings, but I do intend to follow this one up work up some bullseye and steel shoot loads.

The only downside I can see from shooting 9mm bullets out of my 929`s is that it does not efficiently use the powder charge as there would be blow-by of gasses between the .355" bullet in the .357" cylinder throat. I did measure a 80fps decrease in speed between my Grand Power X-Calibur and my 929.

Here's some details on the test I ran and pic's of the targets.

Handgun - S&W 929:
· New, unmodified.
· 4lb 7oz SA/ 11lb 6oz DA trigger pulls
· cylinder throats measured (slugged) @ .357", bore @ .356"
· 4x fixed power scope

Projectiles tested:
· 147gr Campro Round Nose Truncated Point (.355" @ various loads)
· 147gr Berrys Round Nose (.355 @ 130pf load)
· 124gr Campro Hollow Point (.355" @ light bullseye load)
· 158gr Berrys Round Nose (.357" @ various loads)
· 148gr Berrys Hollow Base Wad Cutter (.357" @ various loads)
· Custom Reloading Services (commercial reloads) 147gr Round Nose Flat Point

Testing Method:
· gun supported on bench on top of case
· all shots fired in SA
· 2 groups of 8 shots fired for each type/load
· all groups shot at 17m, indoors.





Test Target #1
1. 158gr Berrys RN, N320 @ 2.8gr
2. 158gr Berrys RN, N320 @ 3.0gr
3. 158gr Berrys RN, N320 @ 3.2gr
4. 158gr Berrys RN, N320 @ 3.4gr
5. 147gr Campro RNTP, N320 @3.5gr (my 132PF semiauto load)
6. 147gr Campro RNTP, Titegroup @ 3.6gr (my revolver 132PF load)


Test Target #2
1. 148gr Berrys HBWC, N320 @ 2.8gr
2. 148gr Berrys HBWC, N320 @ 3.0gr
3. 148gr Berrys HBWC, N320 @ 3.2gr
4. 147gr Campro RNTP, N320 @3.1gr
5. 124gr Campro HP, N320 @ 3.6gr
6. 147gr Custom Reloading Services

 

[MustangFrank]

That is in the same ballpark as my testing. I was shooting at 25M outdoors though. I used at least 6 different factory loadings from 115gr to 147gr. I was well rested on a solid bench. The average was between 4 and 6 inches with some crazy flyers. This makes me think the rear sight blade is loose or something. I am replacing front and rear sights and getting trigger work done. Probably the Apex hammer. For comparison, I got a 2 inch group with my PPC gun with .38 HBWC. I'm in too deep now.