I done slugged my bore in one of my 629's and found it to be .430" does that mean I can go to .431 or .4315? I was going thru the Marshalls bullet selection and was curious what would be best for this particular Smith.

I've .431"/325 WLNGC from him sometime back that I shoot out of my 629-1 4"bbl. but is too much of a good thing for my wife to shoot. Thinking the 280 WFNGC would be ideal but.......

regards,

Usually one or two thousands will shoot well. Did you check the cylinder throats?

With a revolver, would try and match bullet diameter to the cylinder throat. Idea being that they're going to be that size by the time they get through the cylinder and into rifling no matter what size you start out with.

Agree. Match the cylinder throats. As a general rule, though, if the throats are tighter than the bore, accuracy will be mediocre to godawful. Best is about a thousandth swage-down from throat to bore, and next best is the same size in both.

If she's recoil sensitive, why not use one of the many great bullet designs in 240 grains? That's the classic bullet weight in that round, and there are hundreds of good loads that will develop 800 to 900 fps and superb accuracy. If even that strains her, drop to 700 fps for some very pleasant shooting.

I'm new to reloading and have a few questions. What do you mean by matching the cylinder and how do you determine this? Secondly, are you refering to cast bullets or jacketed? Thanks.

Good questions, Bob.

To match the cylinder, you measure the diameter of the throat end of each chamber (the end closest to the barrel). Ideally, a cast lead bullet will be almost a perfect fit. I actually take a sample bullet and simply drop it into the cylinder as if I were loading it. We are, of course, speaking of the BULLET or projectile only, not the whole loaded cartridge, which is often mistakenly called a "bullet." I like to see the lead bullet hesitate as it hits the throat, and slowly "ooze" its way through. That - to me - is perfectly sized to that gun.

Jacketed bullets are a whole different feline. Oddly enough, they can be under bore size and still shoot well, but an exact match or a thousandth above is equally as good. It is thought that the copper jacket simply "takes" the rifling and spins up better than comparatively soft and slippery lead.

Cast bullets should never have a smaller diameter than the cylinder throats, otherwise you'll get leading and poor accuracy. There's a number of ways you can measure the throats, inside micrometers, pin gauges, or slugging. Slugging is the process of forcing a soft lead slug though the throat and measuring it with an outside micrometer. The throats should be equal or .001"-.002" larger than bore diameter and all the same size. Some popular revolvers of fairly recent manufacture had undersized throats.

Bye
Jack

faucettb, yes on the throat diameter---less than .428". The Speer 270 grn. mics out at .428" and cannot go thru any of the cylinder throats. Tried .429" SWC too and they do not even with a steady push go thru.

The rotation of the knurled knob to take cylinder off this Smith is counterclockwise - correct?

regards,

The throats should be equal or .001"-.002" larger than bore diameter and all the same size. Some popular revolvers of fairly recent manufacture had undersized throats.

Bye
Jack

I can drop a .431"dia. thru each cylinder throats on my 629-1 a personal sidearm but not the other 2 newer Smiths-interesting.

. . . The rotation of the knurled knob to take cylinder off this Smith is counterclockwise - correct?

regards,
Believe the ejector rod has a reverse thread, the only one on the gun. Suggest you check with S&W about yours as with the passing of time, Smith makes changes. BTW, Smith also recommends you put three brass cases in the charge holes to help prevent the extractor star from moving while taking off the ejector rod. Anyone, please correct me if this is no longer true.

Just to be extra sure, brass bursh the cylinder and try that .428" bullet again.

Idea is that if the bullet is smaller than the throat, the pressure of a full load will kick it up to the cylinder throat diameter. Would be better to start at that diameter rahter than rely on pressure to bump it up in a less than uniform way. If they are over throat diamenter, proably won't be able to chamber them....if you did, they'd be swaged down to thoat diameter before getting to the barrel (which would raise pressure considerably).

.428" chambers and .430" barrel isn't a great combination for getting a wide variety of loads to work well. Can usually get at least some loads to shoot well, but the'll be the ones with enough pressure to still kick the bullet up a bit after it exits the cylinder.

Jacketed bullets aren't nearly so picky about a .002" miss-match. Cast bullets can work, but you may have to juggle the load and experiment a bit to find it.

(Personally, am betting the cylinder is closer to .429" once you scrub it out well.)

Double-check your groove measurements, but if the groove was 0.430" I would also ream the cylinder throats to 0.430" or perhaps 0.431."

It should not be terribly expensive and there is just no good reason for the throats to be smaller than the bore.