Hello there and greetings from Finland.
I'm writing this to get more input on what a suitable course of action would be to get my revolver in a shootable condition with regards to lead bullets. I bought this S&W 629-5 last year and I have shot it little because it leads and I get tired of cleaning all the time. I got the revolver with the intent of casting my own bullets so this is not a favorable situation.
I've found it has too small throats, they are smaller than the bore which was slugged to .429" so this seems to be the most obvious problem and I have contacted a smith to ream it to .430" as I intend to calibrate my bullets to the same.
The smith though says I ought to ream to .4305" or a little less, because the bullets should be slightly smaller than the throat. I have heard much talk on this on internet boards, and there seems to be two distinct schools of thought. Most seem to favor a bullet that is sized the same as the throat or slightly over. What are your feelings in this matter? I plan to shoot targets with this revolver and don't intend to be running much magnum level rounds through it.
I also have some photos of some irregularities in my barrel, I was wondering if you think these could contribute to leading or accuracy issues? A swedish shooter told me they ought not to, and shooting enough jacketed might wear them away.