Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Strength of early model S&W 29

My comment was due to reading an article where Doug Koenig was doing some testing for S&W with the 29. After several rounds fired the gun began to double tap a little too often. I don’t remember the fix. But, it did take some cipherin’ to figure it out. It had something to do with the timing if I’m not mistaken.

I will ask him and get back to you.

10-4.

Mackay, on your last post, the two pointed cast bullets, can you tell me a bit about them??.. When I was a young shooter, one of my older friends loaded a bullet that looked like that in his .44 Ruger... Never saw them since... I am not a caster, but that bullet caught my eye... I always wondered why it was made that way... I thought Elmer said the best killers in cast were those of his flat nose design.. Thanks!

OK a revolver will double tap??????? Any one have a POS S&W 44 Mag they don't need send a PM . LOL

Better believe it.

Looks that way

Well is that the revolver or the shooter? Trigger finger and follow through? I have a S&W Model 52 with a 2.5# trigger that I have to be careful of, it will double tap if I am sloppy.

WCH,


Those were a gift from RJM, who I believe (If I remember correctly) got them from a buddy of his many years ago. They are lightweights, and when pushed by 10 grains of Unique make great small game loads.

Double action revolvers with very heavy recoil can "double tap" because the shooter pulls the trigger a second time while the gun is recoiling. There are slow-motion videos online of this happening with 500 S&W's where you can see the shooter pulling the trigger involuntarily as they struggle to maintain control of the gun. That likely is what happened in the video posted above, as you can see the second round firing while the gun is in recoil from the first round. This possibility--and the severe safety risk it poses--is one reason I don't encourage novice shooters to shoot heavy loads in double action revolvers. A single action Ruger is the perfect platform for learning to control a heavy recoiling gun.

I have seen very worn Model 29's unlock under recoil causing the cylinder to rotate backward, typically from a very worn or battered bolt.

A "double tap" in a double action revolver isn't a gun issue, it is a shooter error issue.

Exactly.

Mackay, thanks..

Got it today 29-2. Looks like new

Dude...

That's a beaut'.

Congrats.

Thanks

GFY

This is the situation most are describing, glad it finally showed up!

I've seen them unlatch without being worn or battered in the bolt; its one of the reasons Smith incorporated a hand/pawl re-enforcement with the Endurance package, so when recoil and inertia sets the latch spring rearward (the direction it goes as bullet weight goes up), the cylinder cannot rotate.

The fact of the matter is the pre-Endurance package Smith N-frames are the same gun as a 27,28 and were pretty much unchanged from the N frames of the 1900's, so it stands to reason they might be prone to some wear and weird things when pressed. Smith evidently thought so, which is why they made several changes to the 29/629 series.

Damn! How much you pay for that? Those grips alone are worth a few hundred dollars.

Fotis, I used to like you.......

Damn nice pistol!

Congrats on going "full joo."