David Bradshaw Photos Vol. VI

[buckheart]

Perhaps to shoot straight it is not necessary to understand how a revolver builds accuracy. However, in my simple mind, to shoot straight I must trust my equipment and not think about it, to READ and SQUEEZE the SHOT without a thousandth distraction.
David Bradshaw[/quote]

Sounds like a meditation. If so that would make your mantra---BANG

[buckheart]

Just an FYI. Last week my performance center 629 went back to Smith&Wesson with the pictures I posted on here of the leading and the reamer marks on the forcing cone. Just for common knowledge I will post what I get back.

[bradshaw]

Buckheart.... Great & Thank you,
David Bradshaw

[bradshaw]

Craig.... the M-29 10-5/8” is not the equal of these 8-3/8” .44 Mags. Not by a long shot.
David Bradshaw

[cmh]

Mar 10, 2020 22:27:22 GMT -5 bradshaw said:

Craig.... the M-29 10-5/8” is not the equal of these 8-3/8” .44 Mags. Not by a long shot.
David Bradshaw

Thank you!!!! Craig

[bradshaw]

Craig.... in case I haven’t mentioned it, the blue M-29 8-3/8” campaigned extensively in IHMSA silhouette. The one time I recorded ammo expenditure, this revolver consumed 3,300 .44 Mag silhouette loads in 3-months. The barrel was set back at Smith & Wesson to eliminate forcing cone erosion, a service performed both by Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger without batting an eye. When you have a great barrel you don’t casually replace it. To over tighten a barrel was unheard of in those days; mechanics knew their business and did things right. No torque wrench crap, it’s done by THREAD TIMING! Chamber-to-bore alignment by S&W proved you don’t have to LINE BORE to do it right. It’s in the fixtures and hands doing the work. The S&W is a spectacular piece of old school design and manufacturing. It plays two games without ever looking over its shoulder: ACCURACY and RELIABILITY.

Both of these 29’s are 2-inch revolvers @ 100 yards. Tighter, in the hands of someone who can shoot. They’re probably 1-inch revolvers, but I haven’t proved it.

A sharpshooter has a right to expect accuracy from a PRODUCTION REVOLVER, simply because manufacturers have achieved it for nearly one and a half centuries. Slack accuracy is for slack shooters. Today there is no alibi. Once Computer Numeric Control (CNC) machining was put into play----accompanied by declarations of superior quality----the revolver should have been better in every way. Advertising wrapped in polyester suits tends to fade on the Firing Line.

The Enhanced Model 29/629 addressed real issues... incompletely.
* Pretty much eliminates CYLINDER FLOAT. Sometimes by masking quality control issues----which greatly influence occurrence.
* Doesn’t reintroduce the old cylinder stop spring & plunger.
* Doesn’t change INERTIA FACTOR of S&W lockup.

The M-29 survived an era more Hell-bent than today. IHMSA silhouette did not prove the M-29’s undoing. Rather, silhouette articulated limitations written in volumes of magnum ammunition. A great 29 remains great, no apologies anywhere. It is not the vehicle for contemporary artillery fire. Silhouette proved beyond doubt specifications must align for durability.
David Bradshaw

[cmh]

Thanks 😊

[bradshaw]

encore64.... in re your newly acquired M-29-2, in line for service by Jack Huntington.

The M-29-2 8-3/8” herein pictured was kept in top IHMSA shape by none other than Al Plaas at Smith & Wesson. His service included, on various visits to S&W, replacing Baughman Red Ramp with Partidge blade; a taller rear sight siide, without white outline; the usual replacement of cylinder stop, cylinder pin, ejector rod; set back barrel to eliminate barrel face erosion; clean up endshake, etc. Numerous M-29’s fell by the wayside while this one carried on. It factored in four IHMSA Revolver Aggregate Championships, development of Federal 44C .44 Mag Sierra 220 FPJ (Full Profile Jacket) silhouette load; countless revolver battles in the steel shooting game; factored in the IHMSA All-America Team selection at least twice (of the only 5-time team membership); together, with a Ruger S410N Silhouette Super, collected the Revolver Aggregate at the first International Revolver Championship.

Most of all, this M-29 8-3/8" lived a life of discovery & joy. It taught me more precisely than any other revolver to gauge wind drift @ 100 meters in order to track drift further downrange. It closed the deal on various fun shoots at the conclusion of silhouette tournaments. This revolver emphatically factored in creation of the IHMSA Revolver category. Fond memory the Wild Turkey Shoot hosted by seminal IHMSA director and organizer Ron Ricci, where Scottish sharpshooter Walter Rogers and this shooter teamed to win the sudden death 200 yard offhand stage, each of us with 8-3/8” M-29 (no speed loaders allowed on reload).

By far, most of its diet consisted of the Sierra 240 JHC (Jacketed Hollow Cavity). Top accuracy flows from 23-24/296 or H110 (both are Winchester 296); 23-24 IMR or Hodgdon 4227 (I can’t tell the difference); 21/Hercules 2400. Probably more 4227 loads than 296/H110, and much fewer loads of 21/2400. Powder tune depends on wether you shoot in extreme heat----for example, 24/4227 drops to 23/4227, an important difference in the summer Southwest. Barrel face erosion precedes more slowly with 4227 than 296/H110. Federal 44A 240 JHP looks just like the Sierra 240 JHC, but is made in Anoka by Federal. Leastwise back then, Federal 44A was every bit the accuracy equal of the Sierra 240 JHC, with mirror performance in meat. The Smith’s feed bag included various 1,000 round cases of Federal 44A.

Today, thanks to the late Al Plaas at S&W, this old M-29 continues tight as a vault. Provided Jack Huntington gives your sixgun a clean bill of health, I’d let him do his thing and leave the factory barrel as made. If you indulge anything remotely resembling silhouette, be sure to oil the rear sight. And do not let the tiny rear sight mount screw loosen. Periodically check on the ejector rod (left hand thread); another DB photo essay illustrates cylinder pin compression and proper fit-length of ejector rod. Make sure the ejector rod is flush with the cylinder pin or a hair shorter.
David Bradshaw

[squawberryman]

I'm kinda bummed we didn't get to see the fixed 29 cone. As with other threads I've printed David's (and others) load info that will get sorted, built, and shot someday.

[flyingzebra]

I really like these conversations

[messybear]

It would be nice to see photos of more cones as one poster mentioned.
An important but often not well understood component of the revolver

[wilecoyote]

Mar 10, 2020 22:27:22 GMT -5 bradshaw said:

Craig.... the M-29 10-5/8” is not the equal of these 8-3/8” .44 Mags. Not by a long shot.
David Bradshaw  ...Sir, I own both these 29, a 8-3/8"29-2 and a 10-5/8": I would be very interested about this evaluation,
if the rating concerns these two guns as released by the Factory and not your match-accuratized specimens_ Since you have explained extensively about the 29-2, I would like to understand more about the reasons behind the different rating of the 10-5/8"_ I know it's been a long time since this thread, but thanks for your attention, anyway

[bradshaw]

Feb 20, 2024 5:39:49 GMT -5 wilecoyote said:

Mar 10, 2020 22:27:22 GMT -5 bradshaw said:

Craig.... the M-29 10-5/8” is not the equal of these 8-3/8” .44 Mags. Not by a long shot.

David Bradshaw  ...Sir, I own both these 29, a 8-3/8"29-2 and a 10-5/8": I would be very interested about this evaluation,
if the rating concerns these two guns as released by the Factory and not your match-accuratized specimens_ Since you have explained extensively about the 29-2, I would like to understand more about the reasons behind the different rating of the 10-5/8"_ I know it's been a long time since this thread, but thanks for your attention, anyway

*****

wilecoyote.... first, to clarify, all guns shot in Production categories of IHMSA----Production, Revolver, Standing----were stock. Factory tuning was maintenance work done by factory service and usually meant replacement of worn factory parts. Frames, cylinder, chambers, barrel rifling & forcing cones were all factory, no special parts. A hand or pawl, or cylinder stop, etc., might be filed, stretched, or replaced to improve functioning or durability. A top silhouette shooter might ask a manufacturer to replace barrel or cylinder but, more ofter he or she would try different revolver. A winning Ruger, Smith & Wesson, Colt, or Dan Wesson would be maintained to keep performing. A revolver lacking the accuracy for top level play would find a different owner.

It was during this period I really got to study the relevance of a concentric, smooth, modest forcing cone. Realizing, in the process, REVOLVER ACCURACY is an ORCHESTRA of DIMENSIONS.

As an example of the winnowing done by sharpshooters in search of production gun accuracy, during the sunup to the first International Revolver Championship, four competitors in California shot 19 Super Blackhawks and kept one to share at the World Championship. The barrel face of my S410N “Silhouette Super” eroded pretty seriously during it first year or year & a half of life, so I asked Bill Ruger, Jr., to set the barrel back to take up “forcing cone erosion.” I forbade Bill to replace the barrel. That barrel shot smooth as cream.

Smith & Wesson had already set back the barrel on couple of my guns, and they didn’t even question whether I wanted a replacement. When you have a good barrel, honor it.

Don’t have time for a proper description on the 10-5/8” Model 29. Against the Ruger blue 410N “Silhouette Super” and stainless KS4!!N “Silver Hornpipe” .44 Magnums, the S&W silhouette M-29 was too little, too late. More important, these guns seem to have come off a shop floor suffering the blues under Bangor-Punta’s exploitative ownership. I’ve detailed the 10-5/8” before, and shall endeavor to do so, again.
David Bradshaw

[wilecoyote]

Sir, I've only been here a short time, but it will be interesting to look for your past references to the ugly duckling 29 Silhouette, defined as too little, too late also by another well-known member, in one of his books. 

about the 29-2, I can only tell you that, when I was not yet of legal age nor did I have the money,

I entered a gunshop politely asking to see it and, if allowed, hold it in my hand: it was the only time I seriously considered running away with what was for a moment entrusted to me by the shopkeeper ...thinking about it still makes me smile...

thanks again for your reply, too_

mario

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