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Author Topic: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER  (Read 5175 times)

Offline Duckslayer89

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S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« on: July 25, 2016, 08:32:56 PM »
Shot my Alaska Backpacker model 44 mag today at the range and my hand is literally still twitching after 10 shots. Ultralight and 44 mag do NOT go well together. It serves it's purpose as a backpacking gun though. Especially in a place with brown/grizzly bears. Anyone else have a lightweight magnum?

Offline Caseknife

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Re: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2016, 08:39:12 PM »
I've got the 4" Taurus Tracker, and it is not too bad at all even with 300gr hardcast, but I think yours is a few ounces less and that can make all the difference.  I did replace the grips with Hogue and that seemed to help quite a bit.

Offline Fl0und3rz

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Re: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2016, 08:43:27 PM »
I have a Ruger Super Redhawks that's kind of light.  :chuckle:

Kidding aside, let me know next time you are heading out to TSC.  I have loaded up some .45 LC for my 5.5" Bisley Blackhawk, and I am itching to try it out.

Offline Duckslayer89

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Re: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2016, 09:10:07 PM »
I have a Ruger Super Redhawks that's kind of light.  :chuckle:

Kidding aside, let me know next time you are heading out to TSC.  I have loaded up some .45 LC for my 5.5" Bisley Blackhawk, and I am itching to try it out.

For sure man I will. I would like to run some cheaper rounds through my glock. The critical duty ammo is like $1 a shot. It's equally as painful as the .44 just a different wince  :chuckle:

Offline Bango skank

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Re: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2016, 09:15:07 PM »
Shot my Alaska Backpacker model 44 mag today at the range and my hand is literally still twitching after 10 shots. It serves it's purpose as a backpacking gun though.

Only serves its purpose if youre able to practice with it enough.   :twocents:
Maybe a 629 v-comp would be better?

Offline quadrafire

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Re: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2016, 09:16:33 PM »
Smith 329 PD. Not fun to target shoot with bear loads. But sweet to carry :tup:

Offline Duckslayer89

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Re: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2016, 09:19:57 PM »
Shot my Alaska Backpacker model 44 mag today at the range and my hand is literally still twitching after 10 shots. It serves it's purpose as a backpacking gun though.

Only serves its purpose if youre able to practice with it enough.   :twocents:
Maybe a 629 v-comp would be better?

Nah it's dialed for what I use it for. Surprisingly accurate for the short barrel. Just don't wanna shoot 50 rounds at a time. I'm open to buying another model though to add to the collection, but this one stays

Offline Duckslayer89

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Re: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2016, 09:20:42 PM »
Smith 329 PD. Not fun to target shoot with bear loads. But sweet to carry :tup:

I shot my bear loads then loaded up cheap UMC ammo and couldn't tell the difference at all I was surprised

Offline TheSkyBuster

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Re: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2016, 09:38:47 PM »

Kicker? Nah, The AK backpacker is 5oz heavier than the 329PD   :yike:

For Bear protection you can just give your gun to the Bear, Let him Shoot it at you and the Recoil will scare him off.    :chuckle:



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Re: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« Reply #9 on: July 25, 2016, 09:44:14 PM »

Kicker? Nah, The AK backpacker is 5oz heavier than the 329PD   :yike:

For Bear protection you can just give your gun to the Bear, Let him Shoot it at you and the Recoil will scare him off.    :chuckle:

 :chuckle: the muzzle blast is pretty intense. The PD is 5 ounces lighter but it looks like it has a 4 inch barrel the Backpacker is 2.5". I wanted the shorter barrel for saving space and I also wanted the stainless cylinder instead of the Titanium because I heard story's of them locking up and also they can get burned with lighter bullets. Less time for powder to burn, more flash, burn cylinder. Supposedly...

Offline TheSkyBuster

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Re: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« Reply #10 on: July 25, 2016, 10:17:12 PM »
I'm a Fan of S&W revolvers especially N-Frames... I own a few, One of which is a 329PD,  I would have preferred the AK Backpacker's Steel cylinder but I went with the 4" Barrel for legal hunting purposes.   I have owned it about 1 and 1/2 years and my round count is getting close to 1K.    A couple things I have learned in that time are:

1:  This thing Kicks like a mule. It is very snappy and I shot it poorly as a result at least at first.  It makes a good inertia bullet puller if you don't crimp your shells hard enough.   Nickle plated brass makes this worse.   To reduce recoil I changed my loads from a hot 240gr XTP to a mid range powered 210gr GDHP this helped but later I discovered I can shoot a max pressure 300GR almost as comfortably as the 210's  I think it has to do with recoil velocity,  but that is what I carry in it now, and practice with,  I'm a decent shot with this combo, but I have a lot more fun plinking with .44 Special loads.   

2: The Grips Suck.  Mine came with rubber, and Ahrends wood grips.  Now all my Smiths wear nice wood grips so that's what I started out with on this guy.   I was OK with them on the 329 as well until one day I went shooting in the rain.    :bdid: The gun would slip slightly out of my grip and the top of the backstrap would jam into the web of my palm. this was quite painful after 3 or 4 rounds.  I switched to the factory goodyears and found the felt recoil almost identical to the Ahrends only without the slip.  That night I ordered a set of Pachmeyer Diamond Pro grips.   They are a huge improvement over the factory rubbers because the Pach's cover the backstrap and add a bit of padding between the steel and the palm.  I highly recommend them.  $30 on Amazon.com

3: The rear sight,  I couldn't get used to the v-notch so I swapped it out for a standard white outline. I think a new one was $10 but pretty tricky to change.   

4: Holsters. I tried a couple but ended up liking the Galco Pheonix I already owned for my 4" model 29.   I might order a custom leather one in the future.  For strapping to my packpack I use the Bianchi UM84-R although it took a little modification to fit.


5: Trigger, A light Framed gun makes the trigger feel heavier than it actually is.   I sent mine to Smith and Wesson for a trigger job, and now it is just sweet. 

I have Load data I can P.M. you if your interested heavy loads, and light practice loads.  If you don't reload I recommend a set of Pachs, and a box of .44 Special It will be a blast to shoot.    :tup: 

Oh yeah!  This Thread is Useless with out Pictures



Offline Duckslayer89

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Re: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« Reply #11 on: July 25, 2016, 10:37:58 PM »
I'm a Fan of S&W revolvers especially N-Frames... I own a few, One of which is a 329PD,  I would have preferred the AK Backpacker's Steel cylinder but I went with the 4" Barrel for legal hunting purposes.   I have owned it about 1 and 1/2 years and my round count is getting close to 1K.    A couple things I have learned in that time are:

1:  This thing Kicks like a mule. It is very snappy and I shot it poorly as a result at least at first.  It makes a good inertia bullet puller if you don't crimp your shells hard enough.   Nickle plated brass makes this worse.   To reduce recoil I changed my loads from a hot 240gr XTP to a mid range powered 210gr GDHP this helped but later I discovered I can shoot a max pressure 300GR almost as comfortably as the 210's  I think it has to do with recoil velocity,  but that is what I carry in it now, and practice with,  I'm a decent shot with this combo, but I have a lot more fun plinking with .44 Special loads.   

2: The Grips Suck.  Mine came with rubber, and Ahrends wood grips.  Now all my Smiths wear nice wood grips so that's what I started out with on this guy.   I was OK with them on the 329 as well until one day I went shooting in the rain.    :bdid: The gun would slip slightly out of my grip and the top of the backstrap would jam into the web of my palm. this was quite painful after 3 or 4 rounds.  I switched to the factory goodyears and found the felt recoil almost identical to the Ahrends only without the slip.  That night I ordered a set of Pachmeyer Diamond Pro grips.   They are a huge improvement over the factory rubbers because the Pach's cover the backstrap and add a bit of padding between the steel and the palm.  I highly recommend them.  $30 on Amazon.com

3: The rear sight,  I couldn't get used to the v-notch so I swapped it out for a standard white outline. I think a new one was $10 but pretty tricky to change.   

4: Holsters. I tried a couple but ended up liking the Galco Pheonix I already owned for my 4" model 29.   I might order a custom leather one in the future.  For strapping to my packpack I use the Bianchi UM84-R although it took a little modification to fit.


5: Trigger, A light Framed gun makes the trigger feel heavier than it actually is.   I sent mine to Smith and Wesson for a trigger job, and now it is just sweet. 

I have Load data I can P.M. you if your interested heavy loads, and light practice loads.  If you don't reload I recommend a set of Pachs, and a box of .44 Special It will be a blast to shoot.    :tup: 

Oh yeah!  This Thread is Useless with out Pictures




That is one thing that scares me about big kick is having the bullets come out of the casing and then kind of slide out of the cylinder and lock the cylinder up as it try's to turn. I've never seen that before but pretty sure I've read about it. My gun has awesome grips as far as being comfortable and everything but the alloy strap is exposed on the back of the gun and it punches your hand but it's all good. I may try different grips if I start shooting it more. Is 4 inch a minimum to hunt with? I never thought about it when I bought it.

I really like that front sight is that stock? Good looking gun

Also are these the grips? Look like the grips on my 340 M&P... https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00I77PKL2  Not bad for 20 bucks if you like them
« Last Edit: July 26, 2016, 02:40:56 AM by Duckslayer89 »

Offline TheSkyBuster

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Re: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« Reply #12 on: July 26, 2016, 05:46:23 AM »
Yes those are the same grips. Hi-viz Front sight is factory on the PD, And a 4 inch barrel is the minimum for hunting with a handgun in Washington.     The best way to check if your bullet is coming unseated during firing is to measure the overall length of a cartridge,  load 6 in the cylinder, shoot 5 rounds,  then remove and measure the 6th (unfired) cartridge.  there may be some allowance for this but if your bullet is moving .050" or more like mine were you probably want to change ammo.  :twocents:

Offline syoungs

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Re: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« Reply #13 on: August 03, 2016, 10:17:27 AM »
I almost bought the titanium Taurus ultralight, but went with the tracker instead, between the little heavier gun, the porting, and a set of houge grips (stockers bruised my knuckle), its not a terrible gun to shoot. still wont catch me burning 50 rounds a day at the range though lol

Offline Duckslayer89

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Re: S&W 329pd Alaska Backpacked KICKER
« Reply #14 on: August 03, 2016, 10:51:30 AM »
I almost bought the titanium Taurus ultralight, but went with the tracker instead, between the little heavier gun, the porting, and a set of houge grips (stockers bruised my knuckle), its not a terrible gun to shoot. still wont catch me burning 50 rounds a day at the range though lol

Did you get the tracker 44? Looks pretty sweet I just went on their website

 


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