What if?

[varminter22]

627 for me.  

 

The 929 was not available when I bought the 627 or I might have bought the 929.  

 

But now I'm glad.  Love the 627 and Short Colt.  

 

Oh, and WHY would S&W let a 929 9mm .357" or .358" barrel leave the factory?  Good grief.  

 

And Starline brass groove variation?  Yes, it does happen.  When I got my initial batch of Starline Short Colt brass, I send a few cases to Dave Hearth (Hearthco) to get proper moonclips.  Some years later, I decided I needed more brass and ordered more Starline; the new brass was QUITE significantly harder to get into the moon clips.  But still gotta love Starline!  

 

And that prompts a question:  Assuming they don't get stepped on, do Hearthco moon clips last virtually forever?  I've been using my initial batch for eight years and some seem to be not perfectly flat; they still work but maybe not quite as smooth.   Have you periodically had to replace moon clips just because of normal use?

 

 

[Fishbreath]

I've had to trash a few SpeedBeez moons in a year of hard practice, mainly from dropping them loaded with dummy rounds on a concrete floor. I also had to throw out a few blued steel moons that saw use during a rainy match.

[MWP]

52 minutes ago, varminter22 said:

627 for me.  

 

The 929 was not available when I bought the 627 or I might have bought the 929.  

 

But now I'm glad.  Love the 627 and Short Colt.  

 

Oh, and WHY would S&W let a 929 9mm .357" or .358" barrel leave the factory?  Good grief.  

 

And Starline brass groove variation?  Yes, it does happen.  When I got my initial batch of Starline Short Colt brass, I send a few cases to Dave Hearth (Hearthco) to get proper moonclips.  Some years later, I decided I needed more brass and ordered more Starline; the new brass was QUITE significantly harder to get into the moon clips.  But still gotta love Starline!  

 

And that prompts a question:  Assuming they don't get stepped on, do Hearthco moon clips last virtually forever?  I've been using my initial batch for eight years and some seem to be not perfectly flat; they still work but maybe not quite as smooth.   Have you periodically had to replace moon clips just because of normal use?

 

 

They’ll wear eventually. Only from the inside wearing out and becoming loose after loading and unloading so much. You can’t really hurt hearthco or TK unless they get stepped on, dropping only hurts the cheaper moons. 

[varminter22]

10 hours ago, MWP said:

They’ll wear eventually. Only from the inside wearing out and becoming loose after loading and unloading so much. You can’t really hurt hearthco or TK unless they get stepped on, dropping only hurts the cheaper moons. 

My Hearthco clips are eight years old and still work.  But some are not precisely flat like when new and I think they slightly retard cylinder rotation.  

 

Probably time to get a new batch of clips.

[pskys2]

11 hours ago, varminter22 said:

627 for me.  

 

The 929 was not available when I bought the 627 or I might have bought the 929.  

 

But now I'm glad.  Love the 627 and Short Colt.  

 

Oh, and WHY would S&W let a 929 9mm .357" or .358" barrel leave the factory?  Good grief.  

 

And Starline brass groove variation?  Yes, it does happen.  When I got my initial batch of Starline Short Colt brass, I send a few cases to Dave Hearth (Hearthco) to get proper moonclips.  Some years later, I decided I needed more brass and ordered more Starline; the new brass was QUITE significantly harder to get into the moon clips.  But still gotta love Starline!  

 

And that prompts a question:  Assuming they don't get stepped on, do Hearthco moon clips last virtually forever?  I've been using my initial batch for eight years and some seem to be not perfectly flat; they still work but maybe not quite as smooth.   Have you periodically had to replace moon clips just because of normal use?

 

 

I've found it's not a that the spec's are different it's them being new.  The first couple of times I load NEW short colts into the Hearthco Moon Clips they are so tight that I have to use pliers to finish seating some on each moon clip.  After the 2nd loading they lose that issue.  I've been using this combo from 2014 until now and have had at least 5 different batches of Starline Short Colts and each one has had the issue, and all cleared up.

[Mcfoto]

1 hour ago, pskys2 said:

I've found it's not a that the spec's are different it's them being new.  The first couple of times I load NEW short colts into the Hearthco Moon Clips they are so tight that I have to use pliers to finish seating some on each moon clip.  After the 2nd loading they lose that issue.  I've been using this combo from 2014 until now and have had at least 5 different batches of Starline Short Colts and each one has had the issue, and all cleared up.

I tried Heartco and couldn’t make it work. My order might have been the one where Dave discovered that Starline had changed the rim. Since then, I have found TK blues work best for me but I’m not as picky about tightness as MWP or you other Wheel Ninjas.

[ysrracer]

I've found for me, Starline .38 short colt with tk (expensive) moon clips work best. For .38 special I use Ranch products.

 

I'm my 929 I use tk .035 clips with Federal brass, and Ranch Products moon clips with Winchester brass.

[Fishbreath]

TK's Super GP moons are the best ones I've found so far in regards to fit.

 

SpeedBeez are cut too loose and aren't thick enough, so they wobble.

 

Moon Clip Depot is the right thickness (0.025"), but also cut too loose, so they're not any better than SpeedBeez from a rigidity perspective.

 

Ruger factory moons hold Starline brass rigid and can be loaded without tools, but they're made of 304 or 18-8, or some other non-magnetic stainless.

 

TK moons hold Starline brass rigid, but require a tool to load. The blued steel ones are also too magnetic—I need a really good grip on them to get them off of my rack. I'm hoping their stainless ones don't grab quite as hard, but haven't had the chance to buy a pack yet.

[MWP]

6 hours ago, varminter22 said:

My Hearthco clips are eight years old and still work.  But some are not precisely flat like when new and I think they slightly retard cylinder rotation.  

 

Probably time to get a new batch of clips.

Yeah that sounds about right. It’s really about how much they get used. If you have 10 clips and shoot 20k a year vs having 100 clips and only shooting 5k a year I think a set of clips can get worn quickly. Still fine for start moons, steel matches or practice though. 

Edited July 15, 2021 by MWP

[old558]

I will stick to my V comp, but I only shoot steel challenge. Would love to try a 929 but they seem to have to many problems.

[AzShooter]

45 minutes ago, old558 said:

I will stick to my V comp, but I only shoot steel challenge. Would love to try a 929 but they seem to have to many problems.

Once you get your 929 shooting correctly there are few problems you should have to endure.  Other than blowing up my first 929 ( double charge ) I had no problems with it.

[ysrracer]

14 hours ago, AzShooter said:

Once you get your 929 shooting correctly there are few problems you should have to endure.  Other than blowing up my first 929 ( double charge ) I had no problems with it.

 

Agreed, once I stopped using factory ammo, and found that my gun had a .357 barrel, and started using BBI 147 bullets with Federal brass and TC .035 moon clips, mine ran like a Swiss watch.

[MCGILLA]

On 5/14/2021 at 8:12 PM, MikeyScuba said:

We have a few worked over 929’s.

 

I have seen more than a few 627’s.  What exactly makes the 929 a better competition gun exactly?

Mikey, do you have a shop that works on Smith’s for competition? 

Thanks 

[ysrracer]

7 hours ago, MCGILLA said:

Mikey, do you have a shop that works on Smith’s for competition? 

Thanks 

 

Mojo, Pinnacle, TK.

[MikeyScuba]

7 hours ago, MCGILLA said:

Mikey, do you have a shop that works on Smith’s for competition? 

Thanks 

Dave Olhasso

.https://www.olhasso.com/services.html

[Guitarmageddon]

4 hours ago, MikeyScuba said:

Dave Olhasso

.https://www.olhasso.com/services.html

He's got some impressive competition credentials

[ysrracer]

5 hours ago, MikeyScuba said:

Dave Olhasso

.https://www.olhasso.com/services.html

 

His prices certainly aren't cheap. 

[PatJones]

9 hours ago, ysrracer said:

 

His prices certainly aren't cheap. 

He offers a lot of work in his competition packages. Time ain't cheap.

[MikeyScuba]

Cheap is what S&W did to the “Performance Center” moniker.  Given the only use of a 929 is competition use, it’s shameful it’s sold the way it is.  
 

Our 929’s Dave worked on are worth every penny.

[Fishbreath]

Wonder if he has a Ruger package in the works. It might be nice to go with professional gunsmithing rather than my amateur version.

 

Although the Super GP100 did run perfectly at Battle for the North Coast today, with the exception of one lockup caused by reusing a moon clip someone evidently stepped on without my noticing. (At least, I hope that's what it was.)

[MWP]

20 hours ago, ysrracer said:

 

His prices certainly aren't cheap. 

I think his prices are very fair. 

[ysrracer]

2 hours ago, MWP said:

I think his prices are very fair. 

 

Ok

[PatJones]

15 hours ago, MikeyScuba said:

Cheap is what S&W did to the “Performance Center” moniker.  Given the only use of a 929 is competition use, it’s shameful it’s sold the way it is.

If S&W sold revolvers pre-tuned for competition that only worked with Federal primers, there would be a small cottage industry of people making them work reliably with any primer the customer wanted. You realize that we're the weird ones here, right?

[MikeyScuba]

Lol

too true.

[pskys2]

9 hours ago, PatJones said:

If S&W sold revolvers pre-tuned for competition that only worked with Federal primers, there would be a small cottage industry of people making them work reliably with any primer the customer wanted. You realize that we're the weird ones here, right?

Now THAT is the Truth!