EmanP Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 Revolver is the last division that I need my Master in for IDPA, I won't be using it in USPSA or ICORE. I was going to get a 686 and cut it for moonclips so that I can do Revolver and Enhanced Revolver but would a 629 work? What are the drawbacks? I figured PF would be easier for a 44 special and it would load faster and it would make a good companion for my leverl 44mag. Do they make speedloaders or moonclips for it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Christian Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 The 629 is going to be over the 42 ounce weight limit for Stock Service Revolver, although it should be under the 50 ounce weight limit for ESR. The 686 would be a better bet if you wantto use onegun for both divisions. Chris Christian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBorland Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 (edited) I was going to get a 686 and cut it for moonclips so that I can do Revolver and Enhanced Revolver Some one correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think you can use moonclips in SSR. How 'bout a 4" 625JM? Shoot it "as is" in ESR, and use .45AR ammo in SSR. I think at least HKS makes .45AR speedloaders. The JM is listed at 43 oz, but I'm betting a little Carmonizing could shave that extra ounce away. Edited February 25, 2010 by GrandBoule Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 (edited) A couple months ago, I set up a 4" 629 Mountain Gun for an IDPA shooter in FL. The owner supplied a Titanium cylinder cut for moonclips (I think Tom Kilhoffer at TK Custom did the machine work on the cylinder), and I installed the cylinder and did the rest of the action work. The lighter 329 cylinder shaved weight off the gun. It turned out great--in fact, I have a standing offer to buy the gun! Hugh's custom 629 also inspired a conversation with one of my local shooting buddies that led to a group of us getting together last weekend for an informal "Big Bore" wheelgun match--we set up three USPSA stages and shot them with the big wheels--629s, Redhawks, Blackhawks etc. Afterward, we ate chili and drank whiskey to warm up--it was a great day! Edited February 25, 2010 by Carmoney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmanP Posted February 25, 2010 Author Share Posted February 25, 2010 No 625 for me, I have no need for a revolver in 45 and no moonclips in SSR, only ESR. S&W lists thier 4" 629 as 41.5oz so it should make weight just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhgtyre Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 Bullet selection is a big deal. I don't know of any jacketed bullets for the .44 that are round. Laredo bullets in Phoenix makes a 240gr lrn though and it works fine in my 629. -ld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmanP Posted February 25, 2010 Author Share Posted February 25, 2010 MG also makes a 240gr JSP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhgtyre Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 MG also makes a 240gr JSP. Is it round? -ld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubber Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 I was going to get a 686 and cut it for moonclips so that I can do Revolver and Enhanced Revolver Some one correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think you can use moonclips in SSR. How 'bout a 4" 625JM? Shoot it "as is" in ESR, and use .45AR ammo in SSR. I think at least HKS makes .45AR speedloaders. The JM is listed at 43 oz, but I'm betting a little Carmonizing could shave that extra ounce away. You can cut the cylinders so that you can use moonclips or speedloaders. later rdd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhgtyre Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 I was going to get a 686 and cut it for moonclips so that I can do Revolver and Enhanced Revolver Some one correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think you can use moonclips in SSR. How 'bout a 4" 625JM? Shoot it "as is" in ESR, and use .45AR ammo in SSR. I think at least HKS makes .45AR speedloaders. The JM is listed at 43 oz, but I'm betting a little Carmonizing could shave that extra ounce away. You can cut the cylinders so that you can use moonclips or speedloaders. later rdd Yes. I did that and got moons from TK Custom. A nice setup all in all. -ld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom E Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 Just weighed my 4" 629-2. The old regular barrel profile. 42.3 oz with Herrett's wood grips. Two problems for SSR: decent speedloaders, the are no CompIII's or Jets for N frames and round nose bullets with no shoulder are hard to find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 It could be done. The overriding concern, of course, is going to be whether or not your hands are big enough for the trigger reach on the big N-frame. The classic .44 Special load is a 246-grain lead round nose bullet. So you've got the "round" part for speedloading, if you can live with the maintenance required by shooting lead. The only options for speedloaders of which I'm aware would be HKS, but you should still be able to make Master even with those. The time standards in ESR and SSR are considerably more lenient than in the auto pistol divisions - much more so than can be justified by the whopping four speedloads you have to perform during the classifier, in my opinion. In some ways I actually find a revolver easier to shoot than an auto pistol. After all the time and effort you've put into being able to track fast moving auto pistol sights, you're going to find tracking a front sight that just sits out there and barely moves to be almost like cheating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmanP Posted February 26, 2010 Author Share Posted February 26, 2010 Sounds like it's feesable. I won't be shooting it for long so I'm not worried about working with lead, shouldn't take more than 500 - 1000 rounds to get comfortable enough with running a revolver to hit the times. And the times are gratious enough to use the HKS loaders although it would be nice to have the Jets. I was just hoping that I could get away with useing a 629 instead of the 686 so that it would go with my lever gun. Don't want to have to have a new cartridge to load for. As for the MG it does have a flat point but that's only at the tip, still plenty of taper to find the holes I'm thinking. I don't know though, never ran a revolver before. I was just wondering if there were any technical issues with using such a large fram with shooting fast. I know the 625 have timing issues pretty quickly from all that weight spinning around. Really just need to worry about the weight issue. Thanks everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 The 625 timing issues have a lot to do with running a stainless steel gun that fast; the material tends to peen a lot faster than high carbon blued steel. The same would be true, of course, with your 629, but as you say it's not like you're going to be pouring the rounds through it that the revolver specialists do who run into that problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
455 Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 The 629 mountain revolver that Mike mentioned above works really well and he did a great job on the action. Unfortunately for him though, this gun already had "keeper status" before he made it even better. Just to add another twist to the saga, the cylinder, ejector rod and cylinder latch are at GPI in Jacksonville to be transformed to to a nice titanium blue color. Perhaps it will make the chili and whiskey bash next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmanP Posted March 2, 2010 Author Share Posted March 2, 2010 Where did you pick up the cylinder from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
455 Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Where did you pick up the cylinder from? I had it ordered from S&W. It is the cylinder for the the 329 PD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toolguy Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 I made some big tapered knobs for the Safariland comp 1 for my 629. It makes them a lot faster to grab out of the pouches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 The 625 timing issues have a lot to do with running a stainless steel gun that fast; the material tends to peen a lot faster than high carbon blued steel. I want to clarify something here, for those just tuning in: 625s are not prone to timing problems. In fact, it's rare to see a 625 that doesn't properly carry up on all six chambers, even after extensive use. What we have seen somewhat routinely on the stainless Smiths is mild peening of the cylinder stop notches, which for a small minority of shooters eventually develops into severe peening of the stop notches, including a built-up "rebound lip" at the bottom of the notch lead-in ramps. This can cause the cylinder stop to jump the notches, allowing the cylinder to intermittently free-wheel and skip chambers. This seems to happen primarily to those who dry-fire their guns relentlessly, and particularly to those who slam the cylinder shut with full force as they run through their practice regimen. The good news--this problem can usually fixed by removing the "lip" and the surfaces eventually seem to work-harden so the problem stops recurring. For most, anyway. The Ti cylinders do prevent this problem from happening in the first place. The Ti material is hard enough to resist the deformation I described above, although for most shooters it remains a mostly academic issue. Truth be told, most people who install a Ti cylinder do so because they think it's really trick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjts Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 (edited) I have a 629 Mountain Gun I'm currently using for IDPA ESR. I had the original SS cylinder cut for moon clips; the TK Custom clips work great. I did have the cylinder stop peening problem that was mentioned above; I suspect that it was caused by exactly the situation described (lots of dry firing and slamming the cylinder shut on reload practice). I've since replaced the SS cylinder with the titanium 329PD cylinder. I'm currently using 240 gr FP copper plated bullets from Xtreme Bullets. On a moon clip I haven't had any problems with them hanging up on the reload. The copper jacketed bullets seem to slide into the cylinder better than the factory lead flat points that I had previously used. HKS does make a speedloader for the 629. With the titanium cylinder the 629 Mountain Gun I wonder if it might make it under the 42 oz. requirement. I'll have to weight it at the next match. SSP would be interesting; given the weight of the bullets (240 gr or 200 gr) I suspect recoil would be pretty tame. Mike Edited March 5, 2010 by mjts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmanP Posted March 5, 2010 Author Share Posted March 5, 2010 Alright! Looks like others have already done it. The plan is set! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SauconValley Shooter Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Good Afternoon, I have two 629s that I was using in SSR. One was a custom gun I found on Gun Broker. It looked like someone took the PC heavy barrel version and cut it back to 3.5 inches. The name on the gun is Custom Thoroughbred. I had to make quite a few lightening holes in the internal parts to make weight. I drilled "cooling" holes in the trigger, hammer and hand. It was fun to shoot but if there was a scale at a match, I wanted to have the gun weighed before the match while it was clean. The second 629, was a four inch half lug barrel. I also had to put cooling holes in that one to get it under weight. As I said, both were fun. I won SSR MM at S&W a few years ago with the 3.5 inch and I won SSR SS at Blackwater with the four inch. I used Comp I loaders and kept them in my vest pocket as there were no speed loader holders I could find. I shoot a 686 now to be competitive, but I may take out one of 629s for a local match or two this year. I still have a lot of ammo loaded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revomodel10 Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 Safariland still offers comp I speed loaders for Model 29's. I have a few & they work pretty good. http://www.holsters.com/concealment/accessories/comp-i.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now