S&W 329PD Revolver porting?

[The Heretic]

I have shot a number of handguns with various forms of porting:

A DW .44 Mag 6" full barrel with the stock magnaport type slot porting.

A Taurus .44 Mag with the three (4?) small round ports on either either side of the front sight.

A Taurus .357 Mag Titanium Tracker with four small round ports like the .44

A Glock with "Hybrid" Scheumann type porting

The most effective was the hybrid porting, but either Taurus, especially the Tracker was pleasant to shoot.

The 329PD OTOH is a beast. I like it, but it is a beast and my old hands can't take the beating - they are numb after a cylinder, even of just plain .44 Special, forget the special bear ammo I have (300 grain JSP Barnes hot loaded to 1300 fps) which caused the gun to recoil enough to split my thumbnail (OMG! I split a nail! ;-) ).

I want to tame it some. My SIL loves it, but maybe he is into pain, not sure.

I want to send it off for porting and an action reliability job.

Recommendations?

TIA

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[billdeserthills]

Magna-port

 

[jordanvraptor]

You might also try a set of grips from the X frame guns. I had a 329 and it could be painful at times. I had a Desert Eagle 50 Magnaported once and it really helped with muzzle flip and the torque on that pistol.

 

[Hook686]

I am not a fan of ported hand guns. I have a 6-1/2" S&W 629 Ported Classic. A .44 magnum handgun that I notice no real recoil reduction due to the port. I have an unported 329PD that I agree is a real bear with .44 magnum loads. I use Buffalo Bore Heavy .44 Special (and reloads with similar ballistics). While I would not enjoy shooting all day with this loading, 50-75 rounds in a hour shoot is not a strain, or pain for me. When I carry it the first 3 chambers have the Buffalo Bore Heavy .44 Special, the next 2 have Speer low recoil .44 magnum and the 6th has the 300 grain Hornady you speak of ... a real boat rocker.

You might try lighter loadings in lieu of porting. Speer CCI 200 grain .44 Special Gold Dots are about as light as you can get for .44 magnum handgun loads. Try them. They are really low recoil, even much lower recoil than than the low recoil .44 magnum loads.

 

[The Heretic]

You might also try a set of grips from the X frame guns. I had a 329 and it could be painful at times. I had a Desert Eagle 50 Magnaported once and it really helped with muzzle flip and the torque on that pistol.

It came with Hogue grips which I like, but the muzzle flip and recoil are still very abrupt.

 

[The Heretic]

I am not a fan of ported hand guns. I have a 6-1/2" S&W 629 Ported Classic. A .44 magnum handgun that I notice no real recoil reduction due to the port. I have an unported 329PD that I agree is a real bear with .44 magnum loads. I use Buffalo Bore Heavy .44 Special (and reloads with similar ballistics). While I would not enjoy shooting all day with this loading, 50-75 rounds in a hour shoot is not a strain, or pain for me. When I carry it the first 3 chambers have the Buffalo Bore Heavy .44 Special, the next 2 have Speer low recoil .44 magnum and the 6th has the 300 grain Hornady you speak of ... a real boat rocker.

You might try lighter loadings in lieu of porting. Speer CCI 200 grain .44 Special Gold Dots are about as light as you can get for .44 magnum handgun loads. Try them. They are really low recoil, even much lower recoil than than the low recoil .44 magnum loads.

I have some lighter 180 and (IIRC) 165 grain .44 mag self-defense loads. Haven't shot them yet. I believe these would be manageable and should work well against two legged attackers or feral dogs if necessary.

But when I retire I would like to try some feral hog hunting and I want to use the 329PD as a backup to a rifle. As such, I want a heavier projectile, at least 240 grain. I will be even older then and I don't think my hands will appreciate practicing with the heavier loads without porting.

I had pretty good luck with the hybrid porting on a full sized Glock - it was noticeably effective when shot back to back with the same model pistol without the porting. It was also noticeably louder.

 

[Medic!]

At 25.1oz my 329 dose kick a bit [Think .44 mag Glock]. And its a great bullet puller. So check all ammo before serious use.
As to porting? Well I carry my 329 hunting. And I don't wear hearing protection.
Ever shoot next to a guy at the range with a ported rifle? Even with ear muffs it's loud! So I don't have any ported guns. Except a few I don't hunt with.
Just get a gun you can live with! Not hard to divorce a gun!
Or port it and go hunting. Just bring a little cotton to stuff in your ears to stop the bleeding. Dear and Elk won't wait for you to dawn ear plugs.

 

[Hook686]

One of the more severe loads I fired with my S&W 329PD was Remington 180 grain. I found it not pleasant. As I suggested, .44 Special is a better choice with the 329PD if you are concerned with recoil.

If you are bent on porting it, good luck. Please be sure to keep us updated with the results ... costs, differences in shooting various cartridges.

 

[Norwestr55]

It came with Hogue grips which I like, but the muzzle flip and recoil are still very abrupt.

The X-Frame grips are quite an improvement over the Hogue grips. I have both and the Hogues will probably only leave the drawer again if and when I sell the gun.

 

[The Heretic]

The X-Frame grips are quite an improvement over the Hogue grips. I have both and the Hogues will probably only leave the drawer again if and when I sell the gun.

The Model 500 grips?

<broken link removed>

These are the only ones I can find for the X Frame on the S&W site.

 

[Norwestr55]

Yep,those are the ones! I see S&W is still refusing to admit that they fit the N frame even though probably 100s of us told them that when the 329 came out.

 

[The Heretic]

Thanks.

Yes, I noticed they didn't list the 329 as compatible.

I will get a set, but I am going to send the handgun to Gemini Customs and have them do a hybrid port on it, among other things (action work).

As I said, I have a Glock with hybrid porting (Arotek) and it made a noticeable difference.

Grips do too of course.

I have a Taurus Titanium Tracker in .357 with the ribbed grips and those are very nice. The barrel is ported too. Most pleasant .357 Mag I have ever shot - but I can't recommend Taurus revolvers due to their poor quality control. I like the Tracker, but it came to me with a cylinder/barrel gap of less than 0.001" which is way too tight.

Taurus has some neat designs, but their execution leaves something to be desired. Fortunately I didn't buy the Taurus for self-protection, it is a "field gun" like the 329 is; something to carry around in the field, use for a coup de grace, maybe use as a backup (the S&W not the Taurus) when hunting feral pigs.

After my experience with the Taurus I decided to get the S&W instead when I wanted something ultralight but with more power for pigs or bear - the S&W being more dependable.

 

[The Heretic]

So I took the grips off my 329 PD (I had tried Pachmayrs and those turned into real femal dog to get back off) and put the grips from my 460V (X Frame) on it. They are softer in the web, but shooting it with simple 240 gr defense loads still stung my hand somewhat and afterwards my wrist ached for a while.

Probably going to get it ported still - if this self-employment works out for me.

 

[billdeserthills]

Magna-port

Magna-Port did a good job on my Desert Eagle years ago--actually they did a little too good, now I hafta put a 300gr round in the bottom of my magazines or the chamber won't lock open.

Not that I'm complaining, it's well worth having the ability to accurately discharge an extended mag as fast as I can pull the trigger-- pretty impressive handling for a 44 mag

 

[John Gault]

Following.....
I'd love to be able to shoot something other than the .44 special in my 329PD without flinching and pain..

 

[The Heretic]

BTW - if there is any example of how slow I am to get things done (that I want to do), it is this thread (if you look at the date I started it).

 

[The Heretic]

 

[CountryGent]

I have only used Magn-a-port's Pro-Port service on shotguns. The times that work was done, I have been pleased with the cost, service, and results. I cannot say about their service on handguns, but the aforementioned was positive.