Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns S&W 329 .44 Mag.

I've wanted one of these for too long to remember. Most of what I've read about them makes them sound like some god-awful explosive device that could just tear off small appendages if you are not careful. Still, my LGS says they sell a bunch of them.
Picked mine up today Okay, this is not a gun for beginners. Yes, it bloodied my thumb and the web of my hand a little. It also shot nice 2" groups at 20 yards, and it does not kick as hard as my Freedom Arms .454 Casull. Coooool. That makes it shootable... with practice.

I've had the components on hand to load up nearly 1K rounds since I sold my last .44. I've dug into that box of goodies now and then for the past several years, telling myself it would be much more practical and less expensive to sell that stuff than buy to another gun and shoot it up. Components are just so hard to come by these days it just wouldn't be right not to shoot it up.
Thank heavens my good wife is completely disinterested in these hunting forums... or I might end up missing an appendage alright!

This post needs pics What kind of grips are you using?

I have the same gun in .41 Magnum... Get a set of the X-500 Hogue grips available only from S&W...well worth the money.

You might want to try some of the Speer 200 grain Gold Dot HP .44 Magnum Short Barrel loads.(if you can find any) A very deep bonded HP made to expand at .44 Special velocities loaded up to a manageable 1080 from a 4" barrel....and unlike the Speer .44 Special load these expand EVERY time.

The Speer #14 manual has loads using this bullet and it works real well in the Mountain Gun also....

Bob

I have had three of these over the past 15 years. LOVE 'em, but each time I get one all dialed in and broke in and well equipped, a crisis occurs in life and I have to sell it. My favorite do it all load for mine was always 10.0grs of Unique under a 250-260gr LBT style hard cast semi wadcutter. nice neat punch like holes in grouse or other small edible game and loads of penetration if needed as well as pretty good initial trauma to a hit animal with a wide meplat nose shape and plenty of weight.

+1 on the X-500 grips.

Also, make SURE that you put some loc tite on the screw that holds the cylinder release button onto the frame or after a few cylinders full of ammo that screw will come off and the cylinder release will be lost rendering the gun unuesable. I changed the sights on my last one to plain 'ol PaTridge style sights which I like much better for shooting game etc with a revolver.

I am told that S&W made these with a 6 inch bbl for a while and if I ever see one I will pull out all the stops to try to trade my way into it.

Congrats and enjoy!

And what model number is that because it will be my next smith (if I can find one)

The S&W 329 is my all-time favorite 44 Special.

Boococky....that would be PD357 for a .41 magnum (great little gun - can get bullets to jump crimp with factory loads).

PennDog

Right now the gun is all stock, right down to the wood grips. Yesterday I was shooting factory 240 gr magnum loads. This thing should be a pleasant shooter with .44 special equivalent loads.

...that is correct...the 357PD.... The snubbie version is the 357 Night Guard...not quite as rough shooting as the .44s but also depends on the load fed.

I have just used a Leadhead Bullet Co. 230 Keith with 8.0 grains of Unique. 975 from a 4" barrel...

Besides the grips the storage lock was removed as they have a bad reputation of self-locking on heavy recoiling guns......Bullseye Smith over on the S&W forums sells a very well made easy to install "Plug"....





DeSantis Speed Scabbard and TUFF Speed Strip and the carrier from Dillon.





Night sights installed on the PD..





NIB...





THE PLUG





Favored load...

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b77/RJM52/SMITH-WESSON/SW41s005.jpg[/img]

I bought both these Smiths new which is unheard of for me...I just knew the chances of finding a nice used one was going to be very low and really didn't want a gun that had been fired a bunch with factory loads as the blast shield has a "life span" and has to be replaced...being the original registered owner I have heard that there is no charge for the repair...

Bob

Yall are killing me.....it is my mission to find one

I am a .41 nut

Got myself on the lookout for one. figure it will make a great .44 Special. E

Took me two years to find a 357PD 4" that I liked and could get sent to CA. It will never leave others will go fist.

Got a 4" 357 PD. Sumbich kicks pretty good, shoots good too, carries great.