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Old December 10, 2012, 07:50 PM   #1
Mystro
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 26, 2004
Location: Central Pa.
Posts: 1,528
My short ownership of a S&W 329PD....Thoughts and Observations.....

Found a nice clean used 329PD at my local dealership. I have had total titanium 357mag before so I was very interested in the 44mag. After all the 44mag is my pet caliber. Struck up a good deal and home I came. The trigger was clean but not as crisp as my SS 44mag. Build quality looked good and the Hogue grips gave good balance and the sights were outstanding. I used the same Hornady 240XTP load I use for hunting. These are not hot loads and are a tack driving load in my 629. I have loaded and shot a 454Casull for a few years without any issue at all with recoil. The 329PD with a med velocity load absolutely sucked. I mean brutal hard and abusive. I love hard kicking handguns but this gun's recoil was a sharp fast smack instead of a push. After shooting 3 rounds, the other three bullets in the cylinder had their bullets jumping past the crimp. It honestly kicked harder than any 454Casull I have ever shot and makes my 629 with 300grain hot solids feel more like a 38spl. I am a experienced handguner and could shoot the 329PD pretty acurate at 25 yards but didn't enjoy it at all. There was a extractor/cylinder defect (long story)with this gun so it went back to the my shop a hour later for a refund. I probably could have learned to tolerate the gun for what it was but I would never love it like my much more practical 629. It may have even created bad habits with my 629 and then it would get kicked to the curb. I graciously took the "out clause".
So here is the problem with the 329PD...... It's a great gun to carry but miserable to shoot (Unreasonably so).
The catch 22 is,... you should never carry a gun you don't practice a lot with. I will gladly carry my SS 629 6" anywhere and put up with the aditional weight than carry a 329PD that I will never shoot half as good or enjoy practicing with it. I know some might use this as a "bear defence" gun but still, I would rather carry a 629 6" that I can shoot precisely at a long distance than carry a gun that is so difficult to shoot under the best circumstance.
My advise on the 329PD:
The 329PD stands for 329 Palm Destruction. I would pass on this gun and stick with a Stainless Steel model.
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Last edited by Mystro; December 10, 2012 at 09:38 PM.
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