The 629 In Competition

[EricW]

Anybody run a 629 in competition?

- Is it possible or even advisable to set one up with full moons? I'm assuming that once you set up a revo for moonclips, that you basically can't shoot the gun without them, correct?

- If moonclips aren't for me, what's the best speedloader system?

- Anybody run plated bullets in their revo? How much crimp do I really need with IPSC loads?

- Has S&W ever solved the cylinder notch peening issue? Is there a gunsmithing fix for it?

The reason I ask is that I just found a new 4" 629 today that actually looks like it's built properly. The cylinder gap is correct and it locks up tightly. I thought it might be a hoot to pick it up and shoot the same revo that I drag around the woods with me. Would that be "Practical" or what?

Edited June 22, 2006 by EricW

[robomanusa]

Maybe loaded with some 240gr Lead 44 Specials instead of magnums.....might not be too bad.

[sargenv]

I was under the impression that if your gun is the traditional revolver, with rimmed cases, you could shoot it with or without moons. If you have a revo that shoots rimless cases (9mm, 40/10, 45 acp) you had to use moons for positive extraction. I think a 629 firing either 44 spl or even the shorter 44 russian would be every bit as effective as a 625 and it would be somewhat unique. I don't absolutely know that you can get moons for a 44 though, I'd check with TK, Hearthco, or Ranch products to see about getting it clipped and the ensuing machine work to get it done.

Vince

[rwmagnus]

A shooter form Vegas on my squad at the IRC used a 629 he had cut for moon clips. Worked out pretty well for him. Not exactly sure of his load something along the lines of a Russian something load. Basically he said the gun fit him best over all others he tested so he had the cylinder modified.

As for shooting without moon clips it can be done but the brass won't extract.

[R112mercer]

I believe Michael Bane was contemplating the same thing. Here's what I know:

- If you are using a wheelgun that fires a rimmed cartridge (ala .44 Mag) and it is converted for moonclips you CAN shoot the gun without moons. When a revolver chambered in a rimmed cartridge is modified for moonclips they basically machine the inner part of the cylinder for a small, thin moonclip that fits into the thin cut in the case just above the rim. The outside part of the cylinder is not cut, leaving a rim or lip on the cylinder that the cartridge may headspace on using it's rim.

- Incidentally, that thin cut above the rim is made when the manufacturer uses a cutter to uniform the rim for even headspacing. Just to make sure they cut the whole rim they cut into the web a bit, making that cut.

- The moonclips for a .44 are expensive (relative to 625 clips), and somewhat fragile.

- Plated bullets are no problem, many of the top guys use them. I know a lot of guys like an aggresive crimp so there's no chance of the case mouth hanging up on a reload. For full house .44 Mag loads I wouldn't use them, though, they may throw their plating and start to keyhole.

- Cylinder notches get peened a bit, and then seem to stabilize. The cylinder stop will be that part that fails, which is a good thing, because it's a lot cheaper and easier to replace than a cylinder.

- Somebody beat me to the whole issue of using shorter brass in a .44 Mag. Revolvers are omnivorous.

If it's cheap, go for it. Any investment in gear for it (holster, moon clip carriers, and the like) will also work for a 625 (if you go that route later on). While you're at it, why not look for a nice 629 with a 6" tube? It has the barrel profile a lot of us 625 guys drool over, and you'd get a little extra sight radius and muzzle velocity.

29's and 629's are pretty easy to find cheap on the used market. Guys buy them, quote Dirty Harry to their friends for a while, shoot them once or twice, and then sell them. How about a 625 for hunting? A .45 in the fully supported chamber of a revolver can make some pretty impressive handloads... It ain't no .44, but I don't think the deer would notice...

[MBaneACP]

On the TWO WHOLE STAGES I was able to get in while we were filming the International Revovler Championships last weekend in California, I used a 629 Classic Randy Lee built for me.

The gun is fitted with a 329 titanium cylinder cut for moon clips. I used essentially cowboy reloads in .44 Special...206-gr flat point lead bullets over Trail Boss powder at something like 150 power factor, graciously loaded for me by Dave Wilson. THE GUN WAS LIKE RUNNING A STAPLER! I wasn't flying, but I had only one "B" hit out of the two stages.

The original plan was to use Black Hills .44 Russian ammo, since it's almost as stubby as a .45 ACP. However, whatever powder they use burns dirty as heck...a couple of cylinders-full and it was enough to gum up the extractor star! The moons were cut by Dave Hearth at HEARTHCO and they absolutely worked like gangbusters with the .44 Special brass.

All in all, a great gun (with a spectacular trigger pull)...I mean, it's not going to eclipse the 625s and the race .357s & .38 Supers, but it is a world-class field gun that you can indeed race with. Had to pry it out of people's hands, since EVERYONE wanted to shoot the thing!

Michael B

PS: Will have a full story and pixs on the SHOOTING GALLERY site when Randy ships the gun back to me.

[Viggen]

A frind of mine up in the Northwest will occasionally shoot his 4" Model 29 in USPSA matches.

He runs 44 Special brass but I do not recall what sort of speedloader he used.

The 29/629 would be a very cool gun to run and a little unusual.

[hdgun]

Eric, there is a 5" 629 on Gun broker. there are a few good pictures of the cylinder cut for moons.

[Carmoney]

pskys2 is your source for info about using the 29/629 cut for moons in competition.

[EricW]

The store I was at had a 4" and it was priced slightly over six bills. Not cheap, but I also wouldn't need to send it off to have it retimed and re-gapped like most of the S&W's I've seen on the shelf lately. Way I figure it, even if I get one for $300, by the time I ship it off and fix it, I'd be as well off just coughing up for a new one.

I may shoot my Redhawk for a while and see how it goes - but I'm thinking that the ejector rod may not hold up to competition abuse.

I want to stick with the 44 mag because I do want to carry the same revo with me in the sticks. (We have moose here. I cross over fresh moose tracks all the time mountain biking. All 45 ACP will do is tickle them.) I just want to shoot the same gun in competition - because then I will MASTER it.

And it will be mucho fun.

[Dave Wilson]

The gun is fitted with a 329 titanium cylinder cut for moon clips. I used essentially cowboy reloads in .44 Special...206-gr flat point lead bullets over Trail Boss powder at something like 150 power factor, graciously loaded for me by Dave Wilson. THE GUN WAS LIKE RUNNING A STAPLER! I wasn't flying, but I had only one "B" hit out of the two stages.

The ammo was 133 power factor, 5.6 gr. Trail Boss powder, 205 gr rnfp Bear Creek moly bullets. I'm glad they worked out for you!

Dave Wilson

[spook]

A friend of mine shot his 629 in IPSC for a while. The problems he has was trying to find good Round Nosed bullets to reload faster (the end solution being hollowpoints with the cavity filled up with a BB

Clips are kind of a pain. They're expensive, fragile and you hope they will fit your brass. My friend had a whole bunch of brass that fit too loose in the clips, so he bought some .41 magnum clips and machined them to the dimentions of his own brass.

He now shoots my old 625 by the way

I would buy it and use the gun in the woods. For IPSC, I would just get the equal sized 625.

Just my 2ct.

Plated bullets are no problem. The crimp should be as little as possible without bullet set-back. Try to leave the plating unharmed.

Edited June 23, 2006 by spook

[michaels]

Anybody run a 629 in competition?

Eric, been there and tried that...

The 44 case is long, takes a longer milasecond to get it in the cylinder and out...Cylinder & Slide does do a nice job on the cutting for a moon, TK was making moons, Hearthco will probably make a run of them for you...having the longer brass tends to up your chances of a dirty cylinder hanging you up during a reload or extraction. Getting the TI cylinder would be the way to go.

I talked to the one 629 shooter at this years IRC and he said he had a hard time finding round nose bullets that would function cleanly on reloads. As I remember R/O'ing him on two stages and during the shootouts, his reloads had problems going in and he really had to smack it getting the cases out. The gun ran really well for him and he was very accurate with it. When I checked on the shorter brass for 44 cal, it was not cheap...

But it would be an interesting project....maybe a little grip tape on the grip?

mike sousa

[pskys2]

Anybody run a 629 in competition?

- Is it possible or even advisable to set one up with full moons? I'm assuming that once you set up a revo for moonclips, that you basically can't shoot the gun without them, correct?

- If moonclips aren't for me, what's the best speedloader system?

- Anybody run plated bullets in their revo? How much crimp do I really need with IPSC loads?

- Has S&W ever solved the cylinder notch peening issue? Is there a gunsmithing fix for it?

The reason I ask is that I just found a new 4" 629 today that actually looks like it's built properly. The cylinder gap is correct and it locks up tightly. I thought it might be a hoot to pick it up and shoot the same revo that I drag around the woods with me. Would that be "Practical" or what?

OOOOH another kindred soul.

Short answer is YES!

I ran a 4" M29 for 2 years, it worked great I nearly made Master with it (it took another year to get that last 3% points after I switched to a 625).

Here's what I found:

It doesn't hurt a thing to convert it to Moon Clips. The cost was $75 and you only had to send the Cylinder in, Clark did mine and you can check the site for TK Custom. Tom Kilhoffer is a classy guy who makes quite a few Revo stuff including the Moon Clips and designs for their installation.

You can still shoot without them fine. Even Factory, or hotter, reloads work fine with or without moon clips. No case swelling, no misfires, no problems.

If you use Speed Loaders you will want to use .44 Special cases. HK even makes some that have spring power, but not the competition extension.

If you use Moon Clips use .44 RUSSIAN cases (4.3 Titegroup or 3.8 Clays with a 240 LRN gives 172 PF).

If you get an Action Job ALWAYS use Federal Primers.

Now the bad news:

The Moon Clips for the .44 are more expensive than for a .45. They are also a little thinner and hold the cartridges a bit looser than a .45. Plus they're more prone to damage by stepping on them.

I am just as fast with a Reload with the M29, using Moon Clips, as the 625, but the M29 will have a few more bobbles.

The M29 with Moon Clips is more accurate than my 625, I think due to the case headspacing on the rim not the Moon Clip.

I tried using different front sights for different loads, thinking the same as you (cool traipsing the woods with a M29). But it never panned out due to the increased torque of the Magnum loads shifting POI laterally. But I was also looking for 100 yd. shots at coyotes. Here in Kansas we don't usually see Moose, but I've had Buffalo and even a Grizzly in the back 40 once. Really, it escaped it's cage and wondered around for a week before the owner got it back again.

The only RN bullets I've found are the 240 LRN from National, they work great. I haven't tried any of the Full Profile Bullets from Montana Gold, they might work good. Nobody else makes anything, plated or jacketed, but Flat Points or Hollow Points. I haven't found any light bullets with a RN for it either.

I'm planning on finishing out the year with my M29, just cause I like it and have a bunch of bullets on hand.

Dave

Edited June 23, 2006 by pskys2

[hdgun]

pardon my ignorance, what does a 44 russian look like?

[pskys2]

Just a shorter Dirty Harry, oops, I mean .44 Special.

The .44 Russian is .970" long and all other dimensions the same, or virtually so, as the .44 Special/Magnum.

With the 240 LRN National Bullet I loaded it to an overall length of 1.280". That bullet has a deep groove so a good heavy crimp can be used.

Starline makes them and sells them in bulk. They are more expensive, bout the same as .45acp+p brass, or nickle brass. They last as long as most other brass and I never had any issues loading them. Nor shooting them in a .44 Magnum chamber.

Though stay away from the Moly-Coated bullets. They did seem to leave a leading that was real tough to get clean.

Edited June 23, 2006 by pskys2

[Rover]

?? re speedloaders. Someone mentioned using HKS. Has anyone any comments on the Safariland, pro or con? Did they ever make the Jet Loader in .44 mag?

[pskys2]

There is only one company that makes a spring loaded Reloader for a M29 and it's in Australia.

Here's the link:

http://www.sportingguns.com.au/UsedGuns/speedLoader.html

Let me know if you try any.

[Rover]

There is only one company that makes a spring loaded Reloader for a M29 and it's in Australia.

http://www.sportingguns.com.au/UsedGuns/speedLoader.html

Let me know if you try any.

Thanks for the link. Interesting they have them for the .45 Colt and 7 shot L frames, too. There was a discussion over on another forum I recall. I think the loader, itself, is made in Germany but forget the name of the company. In looking at what Hermann is carrying there appears to be a lot of German items along with some French (Manurhin). For a while Dillon carried the speedloaders and they were not cheap but a lot of people seemed to like them.