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Post by rjm52 on Jun 14, 2019 8:21:58 GMT -5
I've shot two of these and owned two of the 357 (.41 Magnum), a PD and NG.... Have found with all of them the lighter bullets are all one needs really. In .44, the Heavy .44 Special loadings work well as does the Speer .44 Magnum 200 grain Gold Dot HP Short Barrel Load load when it was made. I duplicated this round with the Gold Dot Bullet and 10.0 grains of Winchester 231. The load data for this bullet is in the Speer #14 Manual. Also used a Berry's plated 200 grain bullet (that has been discontinued) and GT Bullets has a nice cast 190 grain HP that will do the job nicely...and is cheap... www.gtbullets.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=69Bob
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Post by needsmostuff on Jun 14, 2019 10:13:13 GMT -5
All this kinda gets back to this. model 296 Defensive only ,Not a range gun, 44 spl. only, slightly smaller frame. Yet they could not give them away.
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Post by seancass on Jun 15, 2019 10:12:11 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies and discussion guys. It answered my original question: Is this gun up to a lifetime of 44 Mag? Nope, it's a purpose built carry gun.
Also, I think i need to place an order with GT Bullets...
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Post by 38 WCF on Jun 16, 2019 10:46:55 GMT -5
I just got a 329PD. It'd been on my list for a long time, just never near the top. One popped up at a too-good price so I snagged it. I plan to shoot this a little and I'm wondering if there's anything I should do(or not do!) to extend it's life. I'm sure it won't see many magnum loads! I've already got plenty of guns that recoil! Seems like light bullets at low velocity will be the rule of the day. Maybe 180-200 grains at/near minimum loads. Mine has the little anti-flame cutting steel. Out of curiosity, would anyone say "It can take all the Magnum loads YOU can handle!"? Am I trying to baby a perfectly sound (44 Magnum!) working gun? edit: After a search and before writing this, I picked up my copy of The Book of the 44 and read the chapter on this gun. It didn't directly answer this question. It did remind me that I enjoy Taffin's writings. I'm glad technology lets me have even the smallest interactions with him on here. Obligatory picture: (wow, I need a new phone...) ***** It would have been fun to see a Model 329 on firing lines of the International Handgun Metallic Silhouette Association (IHMSA). Some guns with steel frames suffered durability problems. No aluminum frame .44 Mag would have stood a chance in the long haul. Hell, a season likely would do it in. And forget one’s anatomy; let’s leave orthopedics out of this discussion. (By DEEP SEATING in .44 Mag brass to .44 Special performance, the 329 should last quite a while.) I just don't see trying to build a diesel on a gas engine block. David Bradshaw David, I am intrigued by that comment. So, deep seat the bullet in 44 mag brass and use a charge weight from a 44 Special load ? Please explain your thought more. Cast bullet ? weight ? Powder type etc. And why. Thanks
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Post by bula on Jun 16, 2019 13:37:31 GMT -5
Hey Paul105, with your experience from behind the trigger on 329's and M69's, any lock failures, or did you disable all of them from new ?
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Post by paul105 on Jun 16, 2019 21:10:28 GMT -5
Lock auto engaged in both 329 and 629 (6" half lug) and one lock failure (picture) - all early guns - 10+yrs old. None on M69s. Range guns I don't worry about (although the 629 did it a couple of times so I removed the lock). Carry guns lock removed. My guns are either on my person or locked away. FWIW, Paul
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Post by bradshaw on Jun 17, 2019 21:46:34 GMT -5
38 WCF.... I did not DEEP SEAT in .44 Mag case to duplicate .44 Special. My intention was to roll crimp above the shoulder of a swaged half-jacket, for which swaging provides no crimp groove. Swaged 240 SWC Half-Jacket deep seated over 17 grains/ Hercules 2400 in Remington, Winchester, Norma brass with CCI 350 Large Pistol Mag primer. Just about sonic, phenomenally accurate deer slayer, barely breathing by high velocity standards. Along with swaged .357’s, deep seated for the same reason. When I fell into IHMSA in 197,7 I shifted to the wonderfull Hornady 240 JHP over 22/H110, with its pure lead core another surefooted deer killer. (Hornady at that time made more great deer bullets in more calibers than anybody.)
Veering sharply to an accuracy maestro, the .44 Sierra 240 Jacketed Hollow Cavity (JHC), which gave me the impression a good hollow point commands flight stability shared by few other bullets. Mind you, the Swiss watch Sierra never overrode my DEEP SEATED swaged 240 SWC @ 100 yards. Yeah, it’s worth learning to call your shots....
Enough digression. I deep seat cast .38’s, .44’s, 45’s over light and medium charges for powder efficiency, to reduce noise, and because I haven't seen an accuracy deficit. A favored DEEP SEAT .45 Colt load----cast, POWDER COAT, 330-335 SWC Plain Base over 10.9 grains/HS-6 in Federal or Starline .45 Colt brass, standard LP primer. If all you have is mag primers, the mag primer works fine. This load is amazingly quiet from the Ruger 03 5-1/2” and a Freedom Arms M83 4-3/4”. Much better around the barn than louder loads.
A mild load in .44 Mag brass sees a cast 240 SWC deep seated over 5.5/Win 231 or its re-label Hodgdon HP-38, for 800 fps. Capable of 5x5 4-inch groups the length of a football field.
Deep seated over 10.6/Hodgdon HS-6, the same bullet cuts 1,000 fps, opening groups to about 6-inches @ 100 yards. Slightly looser than 5.5/Win 231, although another cast 240 SWC might equalize accuracy.
Note quick, a 240 SWC .44 @ 800 fps is not my idea of a deer bullet. Nor the same slug @ 1,000. For the barnyard, yes; the Big Woods, no. David Bradshaw
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Post by bradshaw on Jun 18, 2019 10:03:55 GMT -5
Lock auto engaged in both 329 and 629 (6" half lug) and one lock failure (picture) - all early guns - 10+yrs old. None on M69s. Range guns I don't worry about (although the 629 did it a couple of times so I removed the lock). Carry guns lock removed. My guns are either on my person or locked away. FWIW, Paul ***** Paul.... please detail your experience with S&W lock failure. I’ve shot the guns but not lived with the lock. Your photo and the models you designate suggest recoil as a factor. RECOIL changes everything, despite macho rhetoric which pleads immunity to recoil. A magnum revolver must have a fundamental robustness to endure the hammering which takes place in thousandths of a second. Anything added to the design which threatens function impugns those who made the decision. It would be outrageous to need your revolver and not be able to use it. David Bradshaw
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