I aquired a S&W model 29-3 several months back that was in excellent condition. The guy I bought it from told me it had not been shot very much, and the condition of the gun supported this. It is a 6" full underlug model, full round cylinder, front and rear adjustable sights, highly polished finish. a very nice looking gun.

I took it out and put 60-70 rounds through it, some pretty stiff loads and some 44sp-type target loads and it shot as well as I could. Unfortunately, towards the end of the session, the trigger started to show some creep and it tightended up a little. Finally the trigger locked up and I shut 'er down. The trigger was jammed back and the hammer was stuck.

After disassembly, I found the trigger stud had broken off at the base of the frame, and after looking through magnification showed signs of grain crystalization.

I called Smith and I asked the repair tech if this was a common problem as I have been actively shooting for years and never heard of this before. Plus I have owned several S&W revolvers as well as "lesser" brands, some have been rode hard and put-away wet with no problems.

Without hesitation the repair tech told me it would be $160.00 to repair and re-blue the gun as the trigger stud is pressed in and the gun is then polished and blued. I asked him if this was a common problem and he said it was fairly common. I thought as much by the quick answer.

Fairly common? Has anybody else had this problem? I have consulted several knowlegable people from around my area and only a couple have even heard of this. None had actually experienced this problem. My gun is a Model 29-3 44Mag.

Any help would be appreciated.

Flippy, I have been inside a bunch of S&W revolvers and the next one I see with the hammer pivot pin broken off will be the first. Sounds like a defect in materials to me. Jim

My feelings exactly...

...and the feelings of most of my gun gurus.

Just a couple of ideas for thought.
I had the exact same gun when they first came out. It was in the worst possible time in quality for S&W. I ordered one as soon as they became available, and when it arrived the rear of the barrel looked like it was cut with a chainsaw, and the gap was on the order of .015" on one side and .006 on the other. A call to S&W revealed that this was "within spec". Another call and some firm conversation revealed that they would indeed fix it. I sent it in, and it returned to me in the same shape it left with a nice note that all was within spec. I called again, got nasty, without being abusive, and was assured it would be fixed. I sent it in and when it came back it was perfect. One of the best shooting .44's I've ever shot.
The moral of the story...
If at first you don't succeed, keep on their butts. Don't take one person's word for it, get someone else on the phone and let them know you won't be ripped off. It is NOT NORMAL for a frame stud to break. I don't care what S&W's tech told you. Respectfully, he's full of bullshit, to put it politely.
I'd call back, and it may just be me, but I wouldn't quit 'til they fix it right. I do believe I read that S&W is under new management now that is really interested in making guns again, and serious about customer satisfaction.

mine seems to have overall very good quality control, fit and finish. I will keep pestering them.

Thanks

I had that happen on a m29 almost 20 years ago. It was only the second Smith I'd owned at the time, but I had shot it a lot.
I've owned and shot tons of rounds through many 29's and 629's since then without ever seeing or hearing of that problem again.
That was a lot of money at the time to get it fixed but it was worth it as everything else about that pistol was (is) terrific.
Overall I've had tremendous reliability and found great quality with the S&W revolvers.
Sometimes stuff just happens.

Kyler

I had the same thing on my 29-2.
Brownell sells or used to sell aftermarket studs.
The problem I had with it was the reblueing.
My gun was bone charcoal blued and I just not wanted to loose the blueing.
So I plunge milled a hole in the frame (were the old stud was) drilled and tapped I believe it was a #3 hole at the bott. making sure not to drill to deep.
Made new stud out of 4140 screwed it in and than soldered it in.


Did this maybe 2000 fullhouse load ago and it still hangs in there.

Regards Martin

Flippy, For what it's worth... back in the seventies I worked in a pistol shop on Long Island a "cop shop" basically and in dealing specifically with action jobs I saw this happen twice. Once was a model 27 which had hardly been fired and the second time was a beat Model 29. It is rare generally, but as you know it does happen.

The first Big Bore revolver I bought was a M-29. Within the first week I had it the trigger pin crystalized and broke with factory loads. I sent it back and they fixed it at no charge.

I would send it back and tell them to fix it at no charge as it is their design flaw. They are supposed to have some kind of lifetime repair policy.

I have never had a Ruger break anything with many thousands of rounds of hot loads. I did stress a cylinder on a 45colt when trying to push 405's just abit faster, but that was clearly my fault.

Thanks guys. I contacted them again and was told to send it in. If they determine it was a factory defect, they will fix it for free.

Of course, this was agreed to after I mentioned how many of their guns I own and have owned over the years and that trend could cease if they didn't fix this. The lockwork looks virtually unused.

Thanks again for the support and help.

Got it back today. Have not shot it yet, but they fixed it and COMPLETELY re-blued it. It looks great!

Smith & Wesson did a fantastic job and I think the bluing looks better than the original did.

Will let you know how it (still?) shoots. So much for all the worry...

Flippy, I used to work for Lone Star Guns in Plano Tx. They were S&W Warrenty. The old owner sold out about a year ago and retired to the Texas Hill Country. But he still does S&W warrenty work. You can reach him at www.lsgmfg.com . And by law you can ship it to him and he ship it back to you. Plus he is also Remington warrenty and he also builds custom guns. Outside of that. He is a dang good smith.
Derek

I will keep that in mind if I have any more problems. S&W did a fantastic job with the finish, everybody that looks at it really is impressed with the quality of the bluing.

I get to shoot it Wednesday and will see if it still shoots like it did. The action seems to be really smoooooth.

Oh, by the way, they fixed it for free.

So did they charge ya?

Nope. Absolutely no charge. It took less than 2 weeks for them to get it back to me.

Shot it a couple of times now. It shoots as least as well as it did before, the trigger seems to work BETTER than before.

Maybe they did more than just fix the broken stud, or the stud was crappy from the beginning. Either way, IT WORKS GREAT NOW!

I am very happy with S&W standing behind their products. I guess you just have to keep bothering them and they will fix it just to make you go away.

I talked to a friend yesterday who is alongtime dealer.He told me when the 29 was at it's Dirty Harry crazy best, he ordered 3 guns from Smith. An 8 3/8 came through with an undrilled cylinder. He said he was sellling 29s in those days for $700 but he got $2500 for this one from someone in Oklahoma.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr. Duc:
I talked to a friend yesterday who is alongtime dealer.He told me when the 29 was at it's Dirty Harry crazy best, he ordered 3 guns from Smith. An 8 3/8 came through with an undrilled cylinder. He said he was sellling 29s in those days for $700 but he got $2500 for this one from someone in Oklahoma.

The gunsmith that I use to deal with had a S&W 44mag marked 357mag he wasn't about to send it back for a replacement.

A guy on another thread ordered a 17HMR from S&W and it came with no rifling in the barrel.

Must have been for 17HMR snakeshot...