Progress so far...
Bought a stone from brownells and watched a few vids on youtube, then took my brand new N frame apart and went to work. Added a low power wolff hammer spring and a very low power rebound spring.
Bought an old forged skinny trigger off the internet for 25 bucks I think, then stoned it, and contoured the trigger face, and swapped out the original wide face trigger.
Whittled down an old nasty beat up pair of S&W K frame square butt target stocks to fit the new round butt N frame. They are not a perfect match. The hump behind the hammer on an N frame is bigger than on a K frame so there is a small area where the crotch of your hand meets the gun that the stocks don’t line up right. But they are good enough for now.
Installed side plate shims.
Removed the lawyer lock
Removed a little slide thingy that my older smiths don’t have. It appears to be redundant to the hammer block on the rear of the hammer that prevents you from cocking the hammer when the cylinder is swung out. Except the slide thingy blocks the trigger instead of the hammer when the cylinder is swung out.
Hosed it all down probably 2 dozen times with CLP and dry fired it maybe 2000 times without the cylinder in place(to save wear and tear on the hand, ejector star, and cylinder bolt). Action is getting incredibly smooth.
Hammer spring is a little too light since I’m getting missfires every now and then. Spring tensioning screw is all the way in so I’m going to add an extended firing pin and a shim on the hammer spring.
I can’t find any moon clips for 44special/44mag. I don’t know if they are made. Haven’t bobbed the hammer yet. Thinking about barrel porting.
Thinking about reshaping the trigger by bending it a little. I want it closer to the rear of the trigger guard when the trigger us all the way rearward.
AFAIK, the S&W 329 NG requires machining of the cylinders for moon clips. You can get the clips from the company doing the machining. Here is a link, but I have no experience with them. I’m sure there are other places to do this.
http://www.moonclips.com/cart/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=31&cat=.44+Magnum
You’ve been quite busy. Are you planning on posting photos when you’re finished?
http://www.moonclips.com/cart/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=31&cat=.44+Magnum
Don’t know if this would help.
I like.
You can cut down on the time spent dry firing to slick it up by putting a small dab of toothpaste on your bearing surfaces. A little goes a long way, so be careful. Some surfaces can handle more than others.
For moon clips I believe you would have to turn the face of the cylinder or they cylinder wouldn't close.