Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns How strong are S&W revolvers

Craftsmanship has its fans. I'm one of them. In fact, you could probably call me a groupie.

They were all superbly accurate, that can't be said for all dash 3's

Pre-3 29s also had a slightly better polish and blue job, on average.

I used to think nickel was a weak finish, until I got this 29-2.

Never understood the desire to shoot above book max loads in a 29, I acquired my first 29 at the height of the Dirty Harry days. Sure I shot some heavy loads thru it, but after a while my go to load was the Skeeter Skelton load of 7.5gr. of Unique. I used a 200gr. RNFP bullet for most of my shooting over the last 40 + years occasionally increasing the charge to 9.0 grains.

I think it depends on what you mean by "strong". Strong enough to take a few heavy loads and not have a structural failure that could hurt the shooter? Or robustness to handle numerous rounds and not exhibit accelerated wear?

I believe John Linebaugh has written that the S&W N-frame cylinder, in .44 Magnum, is plenty strong enough to handle some serious overloads. But, the rest of the revolver may exhibit accelerated wear. Brian Pearce has a good article on the 29/629 that covers the various endurance packages, dash numbers, and appropriate loads for each. You can probably find the Linebaugh and Pearce articles online.

I had a 629-6 that started to get "loose" with 300gr XTP at 1200+ FPS. Obviously strong enough to handle the load in terms of containing pressure, but maybe not the best for high round counts at that level.

They are strong enough.there will allways be guys trying to flog them for another 50 feet a second. Just like 4 th point then wonder why their revolver is loose or needs repair after 600 rds. Mb

4th points M 629-6 wasn't in need of repair because of pressure but bolt thrust of the 300 grain bullet. Smith's don't hold up well with 300 grain bullets.

Old 'Smith back in the day told me my M-29 44 was plenty strong enough for those plated 300gr Speer Uni-Cors at 1100 fps, said do your damn part putting them where they go and keep your skinner sharp and dont worry about the Bullshlt!

No bone to pick with anyone. 4 th point stated his 29-6 was getting loose at 600 rds of 300 gr full throttle 1200+ fps loads. The 10 th ed'n of Hornady reloading manuals shows 2 loads that will hit 1200 fps in a 7.5 " Redhawk ( h110 & ww 296) with 300 gr bullets. That 's fine in a redhawk but overloaded in the 29 which lacks the Ruger's mass and chamber thickness. As gunner said if you can't do it with the same weight bullet at 1100 fps at lower pressure no extra will help. There is a point of pushing your luck on all things mechanical . You push it your the one who will lose. Mb

My recollection of the load was wrong, after looking at my notes. It was 1133 FPS with the 300gr XTP, and not 1200+ FPS. From a 4" 629-6 using 19.0gr of H110 and CCI 350. That is the max charge weight listed by Hodgdon. Hornday lists 20.1gr of H110 as max.

It was much less than 600 rounds I don't think that I stated a round count. And it was a 629-6.

300 GR. HDY XTP
GRS. VEL.(FT/S) PRESS.
18.0 1,266 35,100 CUP
MAXIMUM LOADS
GRS. VEL.(FT/S) PRESS.
19.0 1325 38,800 CUP

Mistakes made by both of us your wrong , I'm wrong and shooting repeated hot loads in a 44 N frame plain not good for it and out of Hornady's manual 10th ed'n they used a 7.5" Redhawk to get 1200 fps. Jwp what gun gave you those results? Mb

That is load data from the Hogdon online load data.

I don't think I will need 300 grain bullets for my hunting needs.
I also won't be shooting a regular diet of my hunting loads.
I think all will be fine. Thanks guys. Carry on if you like but my question has been answered.

Same in their 2021 manual in the pistol sec. Same loads different velocities in the rifle section. 18.0 at 1393fps and 19.0 at 1473fps in a 20 " barrel. Still seems to hot for an N frame 44 for me.

Within SAAMI pressure specs. Pressure isn't what gets a S&W 45 mag it is the battering especially with 300 & heavier bullets.
I run 240's to near 1400 FPS out of my M29-2's with no ill effects. But I don't shoot thousands of rounds yearly ether.

Jack Huntington told me years ago to avoid 300 gainers in M29's and 629's

S&W's are realitively soft and that allows stretching

Also S&W's have a side plate which is weaker than a solid frame and the top strap isn't as thick as Rugers.

Good info on the 300 gr bullets, jwp475. Thanks.