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929 vs R8 - First 8 shot


Alaskan454

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It took almost a year but I ended up going with the 929 and finally have it in hand.  First impressions are better than expected based upon my prior experience with modern S&Ws.  A .355" bullet will fit snugly in the cylinder throats, I need to slug the barrel later to see if that's a good thing.  The action is better than I expected but will need some TLC later tonight, the trigger stop appears to be pretty well fit though.  The barrel is properly clocked so the front sight is where it should be and I haven't noticed any glaring issues so far.  Tonight I'll strip it down for a full cleaning, do the bare minimum on action work to get it up and running, then put together the first loads to go down range.  I am really hoping this goes well, if it does I will be campaigning the 929 in Open at the IRC.  If it's not ready I'll bring the 625 and shoot Limited 6.  I've got a local USPSA match in two weeks so that will be a good trial run for the 929.  Dave Hearth is sending me some .042 clips in the mail this week so once I get the brass selection finished it should be ready to go.  I've got some el cheapo stamped clips to work with until then.

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Some new observations.  The 929 came with a hollow firing pin which I haven't seen on a Smith before, it was also a few thousandths shorter than my Apex unit so I figured I would start with the Apex part and see how that goes.  It's work well in my 625.  I went to swap out the factory mainspring but it appeared to be a Wolff reduced power version, after grabbing a fresh Wolff Type 2 they both registered the same DA pull.  Has anyone else noticed this?  The gun is definitely brand new as it was bone dry with no wear marks of any kind.  With an 11 lb rebound spring it came in right at 9 lbs in DA, looks like we need to do some polishing and see how much the rebound can be trimmed down.  I expect this gun should run at around 6 lbs with some polishing and a lighter hammer.

I had to mow the lawn before dark so I forgot to slug the barrel but I did carve up the hammer which now weighs 340 grains without the sear and stirrup.  And one last thing, this gun has overtravel stops both on the trigger itself and inside the rebound slide.  I wasn't aware they had internals stops but was pleasantly surprised to find it's actually the right length!  Here's what I did with the hammer, I might cut off some of the back but this looks very nice when flush with the frame.  This design has helped to keep rain, dirt, and spray paint out of my 625 action but it's no oil port like you get with a Carmonized version.  With any luck I'll get to shoot this thing before too long.  

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