VanMan1961

I went with the Double Alpha Race Master holster. With the N frame insert, it fit my 610, 625 and 929's regardless of barrel length. It feels very secure, especially when locked, and it eliminates holster wear on the barrel or frame. It's legal for IPSC and USPSA too

you have great tastes in guns! I have been competing with my Grand Power X-Calibur in IPSC/USPSA for ~3 years now. Just loving that gun, but there's not much tinkering allowed in Production div, so I started playing with revolvers. For my main competition 929, I've done a home trigger job with reduced power main & rebound springs, Hogue G10 grips, Hogue extended cylinder release, Dawson firbre optic front sight, and Apex hammer. It fires federal primed reloads very reliably at ~5lbs, but I have it set to 6lbs anyhow. For my backup 929, I've only done the trigger job with reduced power main & rebound spring and Hogue G10 grips. I prefer the big blocky iron sights for accuracy and bulls-eye shooting. It sounds like you were lucky in getting a 929 with a decent trigger. Both mine were horrible straight out of the factory. ~11-12lbs DA pull, and VERY gritty. I left the backup 929's trigger stock for a while, just to show my friends the difference a little trigger work would make. They were all astounded in how much better my competition 929 trigger was. Now they are asking me to work on their 929's & 627's lol.

I've started playing in IPSC Revolver division now that they allow 6+ minor. Here's my kit I brought along to qualifier last weekend. Found a tool organizer that fits my loaded moon clips perfectly (also fits loaded moon clips for my 625 & 610). BMT Mooner tool to load up all my moon clips the night before a match, and makes demooning a breeze the day after. Moon clips were from Revolver Supply co (.035) and they run fine with mixed brass. Also picked up a moon clip checker (bottom right) from them also. That`s very handy as I had a bent moon clip cost me ~10 seconds on a stage once. I got the pill cases from a local drug store, they just happen to fit 10 moon clips perfectly. I pack a demooning tool as well, just in case. Can't remember where I got this one, but Revolver Supply co has something similar. Here's the make/model of the tool organizer

both my 929's came with horrible gritty trigger pulls. Polish the heck out of that rebound bar and the surfaces it slides on. Once the rebound bar moves more freely, you can go to a reduced power rebound spring (I run a Wolf 11lbs). You can get a reduced power main spring from Wolf too that will still reliably fire most brands of primers if you set the trigger pull to ~8lbs. It will make a vast improvement on your trigger pull. You can get a full trigger job done by a gunsmith, but this will get you over half way there for minimal costs.

when I shoot PPC with my model 64, I hang a dump pouch off the front of my belt. I eject the spent brass in to my right hand and throw it directly in to the dump pouch. I reload with Safari Comp III reloaders using my right hand and throw the reloader in to the dump pouch too. Doesn't take too much extra time and I don't have to crawl around and pick up my reloaders and brass after. For IPSC, I'm still using moon clips though

no experience with Bayou, but here's my workup with 38sp 158gr Berries (.357" dia) loaded into 9mm cases and shot through my S&W 929

is it possible that the cooler temperatures may have affected the oil/lube used on your handgun internals? I learned early not to over-lube

I really like these ones from Brownells. I put one on my 625 and it gives a very precise sight picture. They didn't have the .125 wide notch at the time. That would have been better for IPSC and speed steel. http://www.brownells.com/handgun-parts/sights/rear-sights/competition-rear-sight-blade-kit-prod323.aspx

The timing is ok, but there were sharp burrs on the underside of the extractors on both 929's. They would sometimes catch a spent moon-clip if I didn't eject it hard enough and drag it back in where it would jam. I spent some time filing and stoning off those burrs. An easy fix, but disappointing quality for a S&W "Performance Centre" hand gun.

I picked up one in late 2015, and the 2nd one last summer. The serial numbers are CYA68NN and CWP96NN. That tiny chamfer is really hard to see (at least for me) unless you use a magnifying glass or macro lens.

There was only a very small chamfer on my 929's. Really only enough to break the edge. The factory DA trigger pulls were just horrible too - very gritty. A lighter main spring, 11lb rebound spring, and a couple of hours polishing the rebound bar, trigger and hammer DA contact points made a huge difference.

it's because the 9mm case is actually slightly tapered, but the Dillon die resizes the case walls parallel. Other dies like the Lee Factory Crimp dies set resizes the case walls to a proper taper. That's brass processed with the Dillon dies on the bottom, Lee dies on top. I have gone through 30k+ rounds processed with Dillon dies in my semi-autos without a problem. I only switched to using the Lee FC die set for loading for my S&W 929 revolvers.

what are you crimping too? I've reloaded .355 9mm bullets and .358 38sp bullets into 9mm cases and have no problems in my 929. I use Lee factory crimp and Dillon dies sets. I set my crimp to .378"

I reload with my weak hand. With the extended cylinder release, I never have to change my strong hand grip at all From the people I have talked to who use the big butt grips, it's not really a matter of changing the balance point of the revolver. It's more that they feel they get more area to grip as well as being able to hook the little finger of their weak hand on something. I've tried my friends 625 with a big butt grip. It did feel like I was able to manage muzzle lift a little better.

I like these Hogue Round Butt to Square Butt conversion grips in G10. Very grippy so works great in the summer if my hands get a little sweaty. They work well for the lower recoil of 9mm minor PF, so I didn't bother going with a big butt style grip. For major PF in my 625 and 610, they work ok, but I found the palm of my strong hand started to hurt after ~50 rounds, so I switched back to the stock Hogue rubber grips. If I was going to compete with my 625, I'd probably try one of the big butt grips on it.

very nice Was it a drop in fit? I had to to a bit of filing & stoning to get the Apex hammer to fit and work in my 929

I've run 3.6gr of Titegroup and 3.7gr of N320 under Berry's 147gr plated round nosed bullets in my S&W 929 to make ~900fps. After ~200 rounds the cylinder and forcing cone is noticeably cooler with the N320. The best load though was 3.4gr N320 under a 38sp 158gr Berrys plated round nose bullet loaded into a 9mm case @ 1.170". Gave me a nice soft 840fps.

I've slugged both my 929's and found them to have have .357" cylinder throats and .356" barrel bore. My normal 9mm reloads ran ~10% slower in my 929. I've run 38sp 158gr RN and 148gr HBWC loaded in 9mm cases, and found those loads to be more efficient on powder, though surprisingly not much different in accuracy. As in developing any loads, start at the low end and work your way up to the results you want (and keep an eye out for pressure signs )

great news

looks like Colt is reviving their revolver line. http://www.colt.com/Catalog/Revolvers/Cobra

for me, the consideration was overall height of my press vs the lower ceiling height in my basement. My reloading bench is only 1" thick plywood & 2x4's, and using the strong mount would have made for a rock solid mounting. It would not have left me enough height to easily load my case feeder hopper though, so I ended up having to mount it directly to my bench and put in an extra leg directly under it for reinforcement.

rjkelso, have you chamferred the cylinder chambers? Even just breaking the corners 1/32" really helps the bullets align and slide in. Also, I've found an important part of the reload (at least for me) was maintaining a proper grip and coming back up to target quickly for that first shot. I always found I either took too long to line up that first shot, or I was going high right for a charlie or delta

I like to make up enough dummy rounds (brass & bullet, no powder or primer) to load up 8 moon clips or speed loaders. I then practice reloads in ~20 minute sessions, starting off slow and paying attention to my form, and then gradually speed up until I start to fumble my reloads at the end of the session. I go do something else for a while and then repeat. I also start off with static reloads and then throw in movement and walking.

I've shot in the evening with N320 and a fellow shooting win231. The N320 definitely had less muzzle flash. I load 3.4gr under a 147gr Campro @ 1.090 COL. Very soft shooting and burns clean, and still gives me 134PF

the scale will never match up because each powder may have a different weight per volume. For the Uniquetek, they provide a spread sheet so you can calibrate for a specific powder for that specific powder bar. I find it quite handy for getting to a new charge weight when I'm doing load development. You should still check your throw weights, but it's usually very close.