How to Shear Your Scandium .44 Mag Revolver in Half
There has been a trend to ever-lighter handgun frame construction, in an effort to make pistols lighter and more convenient to carry. Ruger just introduced the LCR 357, a .357 Magnum carry revolver with a frame made, in part, from plastic. Well, perhaps weight reduction efforts have gone too far, at least when it comes to magnum chamberings in handguns.
A Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum model 329 PD revolver recently broke in half while shooting Winchester factory ammo. The whole front end of the gun sheared off forward of the cylinder. Cause of the failure is unknown, but it does not appear that the barrel was obstructed, as there was no visible damage to the barrel assembly forward of the frame. We really don’t know why this revolver broke in half, though some observers speculated there may have been hairline fractures in the frame. That’s just a guess. It’s also possible that the factory ammo was over-charged. The pictures below were posted by the gun owner on Photobucket and first linked on AR15.com.
Scandium Alloy Frames
The model 329 PD has a “Scandium AirLite” frame, which is in fact an alloy of aluminum and scandium. When combined with aluminum, scandium (which costs ten times as much as gold by weight), forms an alloy that is lighter than titanium and as much as three times stronger than ordinary aluminum. Apparently however, there can be problems with scandium construction… as the photos reveal. Last year, Smith & Wesson recalled 270 limited-edition Performance Center m329 revolvers because barrel assembly may have caused frame damage. The model 329 PD shown in this article was NOT one of the recalled Performance Center guns.
Make My Magnum from Steel…
The Smith & Wesson model 329 PD weighs only 25.1 ounces total, unloaded. Why one would want to shoot “full-house”, high-pressure loads through such a light gun puzzles this Editor. For a carry gun, lower-pressure .44 Special loads seem more appropriate. Smith & Wesson makes a variety of heavier, all-steel handguns chambered in .44 Magnum. If I was to shoot a steady diet of full-power .44 Magnum loads through a revolver, give me a gun with a solid steel frame, such as the classic S&W model 29. After seeing these shocking kaboom photos, when shooting true Magnum loads through a Scandium-framed revolver I would nervously ask myself the question famously posed by Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry: “Do I feel lucky?”.
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Tags: .44 Magnum, Aluminum, Kaboom, Scandium, Smith Wesson
Can’t help but notice that the M329 let go right at the barrel/cylndar gap, and how thin the top of the frame is. I wonder if gas cutting didn’t errode the scandium alloy? S&W was concerned enought about that with the 460 S&W to put a piece of metal into the 460’s top of the frame to protect it from gas cutting. I’ll be curious to see how this plays out.
Contacted S&W about my 329pd to check on recall and was assured there was no recall on my serial number. When I asked about what I saw here, his reply was “we take these sites with a grain of salt” .
I told him that was good to know!
Hope this is not going to happen with my SsW PC627-5!!!
Thanks, it is all steel…
I have always scream that revolvers were the summum of simplicity and reliability…Was not right this time…
The 329pd is a specialized revolver that serves a specific purpose. If you don’t understand that, then it’s not for you. Many guys buy an all steel 44 mag only to discover that it is no fun to carry – so they leave it at home. The 329pd is a carry gun – if you don’t understand that then its not for you.
By the way, every revolver made has blown up, including the mighty Rugers. So your sample of one is pretty mindless.
Was there any indication of how many rounds had been fired thru the gun before failure?…how many rounds since cleaning? Had the weapon ever been cleaned? Revolvers can get cranky without a good cleaning now and then.
My son bought a 329 because of carry weight. It would actually double fire. After two times back to S & W it was still doing it. It also caused factory 240 grain bullets to move forward out of the case and jam the gun. Smith did take the gun back returned his money.
I have a Smith Titanium 357 3 inch model 360SC and a Taurus 41 mag Titanium and have had no problems withthem. I think the 44 is just too much for a super light gun. Has anyone got any info on the Taurus 44?
Have a look on the cylinder. There are marks near to the notches for the cylinder latch. If you inspect the frame, you will see a deep mark next to the cylinder latch.
Where does this come from?
My guess is, that the centerpin advances under recoil and releases the cylinder on it’s backside. Thus the crane bends downward and hits the frame. And guess what will happen if you bend the crane and its bearing in the frame on every shot? Yes, the frame will crack at this point.
Just to be positive, I also want to throw in how to cope with this:
– First get a center pin on the long side of the tolerances.
– Next choose your load so that you will not hear a “pling” in the shot. Heavy bullets with fast powders (thus little powder) tend to help.
S&W doesn’t respond to writen queries concerning this. On the phone technicans say that I am wrong. Up to you to inspect your gun and to handle it the way it has to be handled.
Ruger got it right in the first place:
The center pin in the LCR’s ejector rod and the front latch insert in the shroud are each made of titanium, to reduce their mass and inertia–thereby ensuring that the cylinder stays locked, even under recoil. Both these parts ate spring-loaded, and when the gun moves backward in recoil, those springs compress. High-speed photographic analysis of the LCR when it is fired revealed that a steel center pin and latch insert has sufficient mass/inertia at rest to unlock fully, allowing the cylinder assembly to be momentarily “unlatched” at the exact instant that the weapon is fired. Using lightweight titanium for those parts prevents that from happening. (Titanium’s low inertia is why it has long been used for firearms parts that do not need to resist moving in a hurry–such as firing pins on fast lock-time rifles.)
Why the FUD? The 329 is a good product.
The centerpin of the S&W is indeed an lightweight alloy. Weighs about half of the “normal” ones. So only the center pin spring and the fact that it is on the short sight can play a role.
Scandium Related frame fractures:
Like the S&W Scandium 357 fractures this failure probably started at the junction of the SS Barrel Liner and the Scandium frame where in a bullet impacted the forcing cone area obliquely such the an excess of concentrated energy needed to be dissipated in the frame area nearest the liner.
The SS Liner has much more elasticity that the barrel frame. While the Scandium is very strong it has lesser fracture resistance that the frame metal. Result a broken frame.
Actions needed: Read the S&W notice on finding and fitting Ammo to your gun. A tight fit is needed! Clean & Inspect the area between the crane and the barrel frequently: use Dye Penetrant (Zyglo)
if you think you might have a crack do not fire the weapon and call S&W immediately,
“It also caused factory 240 grain bullets to move forward out of the case and jam the gun.”
All revolvers “tug” on ammo. This is just a case of insufficient crimp, soft bullets, or both.
I have owned two of the 329 scandium frame .44 mags. I loved them! I carried this handgun while backpacking through bear country. The light weight was a huge benefit, the firepower gave me reassurance of my place in the food chain. For concealed carry I went with a full size 1911. The right tool for the job is what I live by.
I has a 44mag 329PD and blast from the gap between cylinder and barrel eats away at the scandium.
Past that the firearm has so much recoil that filling the cylinder with 6 rounds and firing 5, then loading back up using the 1 unfired round again and making aure it cycles last will result in seperating the 44mag bullet from the casing entirely. Each shot pushes the bullet a little further out of the casing.
Thing stung worse to shoot then those heavy ass 500 S&W.
https://sites.google.com/site/hobbyhintstricksideas/_/rsrc/1468884615115/Home/s-w-329pd-info/blast_shield.JPG
This is an image of the blast plate is eaten through and eventually cuts into the frame. Sometimes the cut starts at the edge of the blast plate instead of going through the plate.
Hello.
here is my 329pd which has the exact same problem.
how many others have broken this way?
https://servimg.com/view/15735510/4828