Hey guys , just went and shot my new to me S&W 629 with some of my reloads . This will be the first time I ever fired a new to me gun with out factory rounds before trying reloads .
FWIW my loads are
Same bullet for each 240gr .429 diameter PLFP
Unique charges are 8gr through 9.5gr
Win 231 charges are 7gr though 9gr
Standard primers
44mag cases ( mixed )
Seated to crimp groove with heavy-ish collet style crimp COAL 1.545
Here are some random primer strikes . I dumped them all into a bag so I don't know which cases had which charge but they all pretty much looked like these
Those look fine to me and all seemed good but the primers were pushed out a tad after firing , not sure how normal that is but don't remember my 357 loads doing that . I was unable to adjust the rear sight low enough to hit POA at 40-ish feet , not sure why that is . The one other thing that surprised me a little was before ever test firing the gun I replaced the hammer spring and trigger return springs . Also polished up the internals , great trigger pull now compared to before . The thing that surprised me was how deep the hammer strikes are . I was anticipating the possibility of light strikes but it appears I'm more then gtg . Double action is about 8.5lbs and single is 2.5lbs . Not sure if it matters but this is an older 629 with the pinned barrel and firing pin on the hammer .
It came with a box of what I thought were old factory Remington fully loaded cartridges . How ever after closer look the box was originally marked 50 primed cases and says 50 empty primed cases and does not show any bullet weight . This leads me to think they are reloads .
Well I was hesitant but I did fire a few and holy cow were they thunderous . Not sure I ever fired a handgun with that much recoil before . FWIW they ejected from the cylinder easily pretty much just fell out .
Not sure If I'll be shooting those anymore but here are those fired cases . I see some cratering on some of those .
I think I'm happy with my reloads but those other reloads make me a little scared
FWIW my loads are
Same bullet for each 240gr .429 diameter PLFP
Unique charges are 8gr through 9.5gr
Win 231 charges are 7gr though 9gr
Standard primers
44mag cases ( mixed )
Seated to crimp groove with heavy-ish collet style crimp COAL 1.545
Here are some random primer strikes . I dumped them all into a bag so I don't know which cases had which charge but they all pretty much looked like these
Those look fine to me and all seemed good but the primers were pushed out a tad after firing , not sure how normal that is but don't remember my 357 loads doing that . I was unable to adjust the rear sight low enough to hit POA at 40-ish feet , not sure why that is . The one other thing that surprised me a little was before ever test firing the gun I replaced the hammer spring and trigger return springs . Also polished up the internals , great trigger pull now compared to before . The thing that surprised me was how deep the hammer strikes are . I was anticipating the possibility of light strikes but it appears I'm more then gtg . Double action is about 8.5lbs and single is 2.5lbs . Not sure if it matters but this is an older 629 with the pinned barrel and firing pin on the hammer .
It came with a box of what I thought were old factory Remington fully loaded cartridges . How ever after closer look the box was originally marked 50 primed cases and says 50 empty primed cases and does not show any bullet weight . This leads me to think they are reloads .
Well I was hesitant but I did fire a few and holy cow were they thunderous . Not sure I ever fired a handgun with that much recoil before . FWIW they ejected from the cylinder easily pretty much just fell out .
Not sure If I'll be shooting those anymore but here are those fired cases . I see some cratering on some of those .
I think I'm happy with my reloads but those other reloads make me a little scared
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