Comments on: How to Shear Your Scandium .44 Mag Revolver in Half

By: Marcofromfrance

Marcofromfrance — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 05:58:00 +0000

Hello.
here is my 329pd which has the exact same problem.
how many others have broken this way?

By: Rolla J Stout

Rolla J Stout — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 14:08:32 +0000

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.

By: Rolla J Stout

Rolla J Stout — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 14:01:27 +0000

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.

By: Richard Anderson

Richard Anderson — Mon, 19 Dec 2016 15:32:07 +0000

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.

By: Arne Boberg

Arne Boberg — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 22:42:20 +0000

“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.

By: Gordon Smith

Gordon Smith — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 10:12:00 +0000

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,

By: Fritz

Fritz — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:34:46 +0000

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.

By: danglybits

danglybits — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 06:38:09 +0000

Why the FUD? The 329 is a good product.

By: Fritz

Fritz — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 05:05:05 +0000

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.)

By: Fritz

Fritz — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 07:46:42 +0000

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.