Going off the reservation

[TexasRedNeck]

Supposed to pick up a pair of S&W 629 NIB in 4inch this week.  Not usually my thing but it was a good deal and I want one to carry with rat shot for snakes on the weekend place.

I have a 629-3 in 44 mag with 6 inch and its a moose and not very fun to shoot with my hot loads at 240gn at 1477 fps.  I hope the shorter 357 will be more fun to shoot.  Will post some picks and do a write up when I get them.

[cudakidd53]

First handgun was a 686 4" in .357 - had a trigger and action job - smooth as glass; I could double action and hold right at the break point.  Something you could easily do with laping stones on the action and a dremel on the trigger (finger surface)

[TexasRedNeck]

Yeah, I'm assuming these are newer trigger lock pistols and I'm not prepared to be amazed by the trigger.  The older 629-3 is a pretty nice trigger and its not been worked.  I may have to ping you for some advice once I get my gun room built at the other place.

[Flyin6]

I had a 629 in 6"
Carried it when I flew the general, the 3rd Infantry Division Commander
The other aviators carried .38 revolvers in shoulder holsters, but I carried that .44 mag.
The Huey we flew him in had two intercom systems. one for flight crew, the white system, and one for him and his ever present entourage, the red system.
I only flew him up on the East German Border when there was such a thing, as only 5 guys in the whole division were allowed to fly there, and I was one of them.
Every time, he would come onto our intercom and say "Chief, pass that hog leg back so I can show these boys what my pilots carry."
He got a kick out of it and never said a word about either it or my Ruger Mini 14 or Mossberg 12 gage hanging off the back of my seat.
I also had the small brother of the 629, a .41 mag which I actually liked more

[TexasRedNeck]

Like this one Don?  Hand load with 240 gn XTP and chrono'd @ 1477fps.


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[Sammconn]

That's some pretty good speed!

[TexasRedNeck]

So update.  I found out that one of the two was a six inch 357 and I'm not taking that one.  So I'll be picking up the 4 inch this week.

Don, I love the .41mag.  I have a family member with the Ruger Blackhawk .41 and it is a sweet shooter.  The crazy thing is I have a Glock 20 in 10mm that I put a KKM barrel in and loaded up hot and acheive the same ballistics as the .41mag but in a 14 round semi.  Talk about a hog killing machine! 200gn Barnes XTP at 1347fps.  Even with the Wolff 23lb recoil spring it slings brass about 20 feet to the right.

[Flyin6]

So update.  I found out that one of the two was a six inch 357 and I'm not taking that one.  So I'll be picking up the 4 inch this week.

Don, I love the .41mag.  I have a family member with the Ruger Blackhawk .41 and it is a sweet shooter.  The crazy thing is I have a Glock 20 in 10mm that I put a KKM barrel in and loaded up hot and acheive the same ballistics as the .41mag but in a 14 round semi.  Talk about a hog killing machine! 200gn Barnes XTP at 1347fps.  Even with the Wolff 23lb recoil spring it slings brass about 20 feet to the right.

Wow!

Yep, my 629 even had those same pachmyer grips I think

Funny thing about my .44

My German landlord back in the 80's had never fired a gun. I was shooting all the time with the local German hunters (Read: Aristocrats) who loved getting behind my semi autos. Germans are only allowed to fire one shot at a time. Anyway, one day I bring Here (Pronounced "Hare) Prinz to the range and load up the .44 and hand it to him. He squeezes away and all the fire jumps out of the cylinder and barrel which startles him. He lowered the barrel and out of fear squeezes off No.2 into the dirt a couple meters away! I moved him back to the Ruger Mark 1 .22!

[Nate]

did you at least let him clean his shorts before you gave him the .22?

[KensAuto]

hahahaha
I traded a S/A blued blackhawk (44), for the stainless D/A redhawk, and still miss that gun. My buddy loaded some 300 grains, that i still carry on a vaquero style belt, for bear and elk hunting..I used one to shoot a rattler at about 6 feet and lost some hearing for quite a while.

[TexasRedNeck]

Funny,  Ken.  Worst hearing loss I experience was on a run and gun stage in a competition that had us going all over obstacles and shooting UKD.  One of the next to last shots was in a 4 ft steel pipe buried through the berm.  Out of the abandoned school bus after a shot out the missing windshield, we ran into the pipe and had to lean against the wall of the pipe and make a shot out the other end to a 2 inch dot at about 100 yards while leaning.

Well the 300 WM had a muzzle break the size of an Abrahams tank and it was just inside the pipe when I pulled the trigger.  My RSO and I both staggered out of the pipe deaf and dazed from the concussion of the blast inside the pipe.  Last time I ran any evolution with no hearing.  Him too.

[TexasRedNeck]

Well. I picked it up tonight. NIB unfired.  However it's not a large frame N 629. It's a medium K frame 686.  7 shot 4 inch barrel with rubberized grips. I'll be testing it shortly.





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[cudakidd53]

Wee bit different than my old 686- extra round, rubber grips.  I tossed the wood from mine and had Pacmyer Grips.  The Dremel work on the finger surface of the trigger might be a no-go as it would appear that the backside is hollow.  What was done to mine was bringing down the shoulders some to create a smooth rounded peak that rested in the first digit joint of your trigger finger. By a peak, I'm not meaning sharp, but very radiused and rounded so it naturally falls in the same place each time.  With that hollow recess on the backside it'll be tricky.  Reason it was done was to minimize tendency to push or pull trigger from the old version with grip striations - more comfortable and no bind on skin through the trigger pull.  I always shot double action as real-life single action "use" wouldn't extend past maybe hunting big game.

The internal contact surfaces were polished with small stoned (mini versions of knife sharpening sticks) so that there was a glass like feel to the double action travel and trigger break.

Process also finished with light polish of those surfaces and heavy polish on the finger surface with rouge' and a felt dremel wheel.

[TexasRedNeck]

I haven't shot it yet but it feels good in the hand. Is there anything that can be done to reduce the DA trigger pull weight?  Once I get my gun room built here I plan on spending some time working on a few weapons and reloading again


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[cudakidd53]

I know mine had a spring change- from memory, it was a long flat spring with a slight arc to it with a slight hook at one end.  I'm sure they're out there- that and smoothing out the surfaces made it a sweet trigger pull!

[JR]

My dad had my brother Ruger in 357 but it was stolen (by a "friend") before he passed. Was the only wheel gun I ever liked at all.

Nice looking gun there. I do like wheel guns in SS.

[Flyin6]

I don't like em much

But as a hunting weapon or a back up gun for guys like Sam or the others up in grizzly bear territory, that 629 would have to be the go-to back up when the Garand and 8 rounds of 30.06 failed to get the job done!

[OldKooT]

I like to read these posts and learn.......keep them up.