300gr bullet in 44

[glockky]

I am not sure where i read it at but i think it was on here, that 300 gr bullets were hard on revolvers. I have a Smith 629 and was wanting to hunt with 300gr hardcast bullets, and wanted to make sure i wasnt gonna shorten the life of my revolver in the process.

 

[Dan-O]

I think I can hear my two Rugers laughing from the safe right now.

 

[glockky]

Is that a shot at the smith or just that you shoot alot of them

 

[788Ham]

What model of 629? I have a 629-1 and was told they will not hold up to the higher pressures of the 300 gr. bullets, cast or otherwise! The 240 gr. was what the 629-1 was made to shoot, the heaviest. The frame and the top strap is what I was told wouldn't hold up. S&W has since beefed these areas up, but if you're like me, I have to pull apart about 100 rds. of 300. gr Hornady's.

 

[glockky]

mine is a 629-6 but not sure if it would be any stronger.

 

[MachIVshooter]

I have a 629-1 and was told they will not hold up to the higher pressures of the 300 gr. bullets, cast or otherwise! The 240 gr. was what the 629-1 was made to shoot, the heaviest.

Hogwash.

The only reason the N-frames can't shoot the even heavier bullets is cylinder length, Has nothing to do with pressure, the Ruger's just have a little longer cylinder. Can't close a 29/629 cylinder with those BB 340's in it.

True for any revolver (save perhaps the severely over-built FA guns), a steady diet of maximum power ammo will shorten it's life. The reason the 29's got a bum rap back in the day is that silhouette guys were running thousands upon thousands of super-hot loads through them.

Shoot the 300's and rest easy, your 629 will be fine. Mine is.

FWIW, the only revolver I've ever cracked a forcing cone on wasn't a S&W K-frame; It was a Ruger Security-six.

 

[camar]

ruger also has thicker top strap.
that said, I own S&W Mdl. 29 and a Ruger Blackhawk .44 Mag. I use .300gr. in both of them. After several years boy are still tight. My favorite grain is the Keith 250gr.

 

[MachIVshooter]

ruger also has thicker top strap.

Ruger is cast, S&W (or Colt) is forged. The thicker material is necessary to compensate for it's metal being structurally weaker.

 

[glockky]

Thanks for the info looks like its gonna get some 300's

 

[DM~]

Personally, i think heavier bullets/loads shorten the life of any brand of handgun...

I've harvested big game with my 44 mags from moose on down, and in my opinion, "if" i can't get it done with 250 SWC bullets, i'm needing a bigger gun, as in a long gun!

DM

 

[CraigC]

Standard weight bullets are just fine for deer, hogs and elk. Particularly if you use cast bullets. I prefer cast bullets but Speer's 240gr and 270gr Gold Dots are excellent. The 270gr is a great penetrator. The heavyweights are popular but really have a limited application. I wouldn't use 300's unless I was hunting moose or larger African plains game. I wouldn't use anything in the 320gr - 355gr range unless I needed to stop a grizzly or other dangerous game.

 

[Dan-O]

It wasn't a shot at Smittys. I own a few.

 

[788Ham]

The length of the BB isn't what I was mentioning, the 300 gr. Hornady's is what were handloaded and shot in mine. I had plenty of clearance in the cylinder, it closed without any problems. When S&W people were contacted, it was mentioned by "them" that a magnum upgrade had been done to the revolvers since the 629-1 had been made, the crane and cylinder pin were beefed up. This is/was my only intent of mentioning this, YMMV.

 

[rcmodel]

IMO: If you can't kill it with a 240 grain hardcast SWC, you can't kill it with a slower 300 grain hardcast SWC either.

rc

 

[Dr.Rob]

Stay within saami specs and you won't have issues.

Exceed them and you will.

My favorite factory load is a 300 gr bullet.

 

[CraigC]

If you can't kill it with a 240 grain hardcast SWC, you can't kill it with a slower 300 grain hardcast SWC either.

I don't know about that. Thorough testing has concluded that passing much beyond 1200fps doesn't yield much improvement in performance and you can push 355's that fast. Bullets with sectional densities in the .250-.280 (355gr .44, 360gr .45, 430gr .475, etc.) range at 1200-1300fps have proven to penetrate best but as I said before, they really have a limited application. Because a 250gr Keith bullet will completely penetrate nearly any deer or hog (except the monsters) that walks.

 

[MachIVshooter]

The length of the BB isn't what I was mentioning, the 300 gr. Hornady's is what were handloaded and shot in mine. I had plenty of clearance in the cylinder, it closed without any problems.

I know, and the 300's are not problematic. That's why I said

Can't close a 29/629 cylinder with those BB 340's in it.

They're extremely long:

 

[jgiehl]

You should check out the Cast Performance 300 grain bullets. Just a good accurate bullet.

 

[2zulu1]

With 300grs you don't have to load them to max pressures in order for them to perform. I manipulate powders to get 1050fps to 1100fps from a 4" M29 Mountain, recoil is about the same as heavy G20 loads, feels less with the Hogue grips.



Plenty of cylinder left in this M29;



Bob

 

[LTR shooter]

My 629 Classic actually shoots 300 grain Sierras and my old 300 cast Bull-X loads very well.

 

[Drail]

I used to live next door to Bull-X and got to know those guys very well. I could pull up to their back door and buy bullets very cheap. I really miss those guys. They made the best hard cast bullets I have ever used. To the original question - a steady diet of heavy loads WILL shorten the life of a revolver. Unless you really need that kind of power you should avoid running a lot of 300 grainers. Think about getting a lever action rifle in .44 Mag. when you need that kind of power. I did and I love it. Ruger's investment cast frames are actually stronger than a forged S&W frame. Read Kuhnhausen's Ruger DA revolver manual for some interesting facts and photos of tests done to test the strength of Ruger's "casting". Ruger actually is one of the world's largest producers of investment cast assemblies for the aerospace industry. They know how to make parts that are strong enough to support heavy aircraft that are slammed repeatedly onto a runway.

 

[Snowbandit]

There's something wrong with this picture. They claim it was the light weight bullets that destroyed the K-frame revolvers and now heavy bullets wreck the N-frames. Can't both be right.

 

[CraigC]

Lightweight bullets and spherical powders will erode and eventually crack a K-frame's forcing cone. Long term use of high pressure loads shake a .44Mag N-frame's lockwork loose. Bullet weight has nothing to do with it.