S&W M-69 (2.75") in an El Paso Saddlery floral-carved holster is my current BBQ gun (and woods-running/hunting choice). Had it tonight when we took Mrs. John1's office ladies out to dinner.
It"s tied with the S&W 1917 for favorite revolver.

I collect short barreled 44 mag revolvers. I think I have every version of the 629 up to the -6 and a model 29-3 Lew Horton. My suggestion is to get it. They're a lot of fun to shoot.

quote:

Originally posted by Pizza Bob:
Fall out of love, or ego involvement, with the term "Magnum". Find a nice S&W Model 24-3 or 24-6 (has the lock, but that's another story), or a model 624 (stainless version). These all have the tapered barrels and are chambered in .44 S&W Special. You can thank me later...



Here's the 3" version with Culina Bubble Maple stocks (A Lew Horton Distributor Special). The 4" guns are rarer, but may be less expensive.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

Good lord. I had forgotten how attractive and beautifully balanced tapered barrel revolvers are. Reminds me of a gorgeous 2.75 inch Ruger Security-Six revovler I saw in a used guns case at a LGS. I passed by the case a couple (or more) times, trying to keep myself from droooling. Gawd that smith is beautiful. I will avoid the analogy of a well kept middle aged woman, being PC converted and all these days.

Pizza Bob is right about magnumitus disease. It passes with age into finer things. Nothing wrong with magnums, just sayin, other things being equal. I don't need a Rem 41 Mag but have always wanted one, and I wouldn't camp in coastal alaska without some variant of a magnum or big gun.

I love my 44s. Never tried special loads. These big ones soak up the recoil very well. The rifle is really fun, before I bought it I read a few reviews saying it kicks like a 30-30, not even close.

Here's mine.I had to change the grips to a Hogue to make it fun to shoot.

I carry it hunting because: bears.

I had a 629 Classic 5 inch barrel, very accurate. What I found it was giving me a flinch that was hurting my overall shooting. Now a .357 Magnum is a pleasure for me to shoot.

I can’t add a lot to what has been said. I don’t shoot the .44 as much as
I used to , but it was my second centerfire handgun almost 50 years ago.
A few observations:

The round has a good reputation for long range accuracy.

For ballistics and comfort, a 5 inch or longer barrel is best. The comfort part
is not so much the kick but the blast.

Single actions are more comfortable because the “ plow handle “ grip
rolls in your hand and deflects some of the sting.

The round is very versatile, especially if you handload.

I had a Taurus model 44 with a 6" barrel a long time ago. The gun wasn't great...had timing issues and would sometimes skip a chamber. This was also back before I got into handloading, and with ammo $1/round, I couldn't justify keeping it. I divested myself of it to a buddy who wanted it, and knew full well about it's issues. He has since unloaded it for something else, but does have a nice S&W 629 Hunter in .44 mag, and a Marlin 1894 to go along with it. That 629 is a nice shooter, and with well-designed porting it feels softer to me than that old Taurus ever did.

I personally never went back to .44. I started handloading, and ended up moving into .45 Colt because it shares some projectile commonality with .45 ACP. I've also dabbled some in .45 Schofield. I have a Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Colt/45 ACP and a Marlin 1894 in .45 Colt to go along with it. If I want to I can load .45 Colt to levels comparable to .44 mag for my Ruger, but I rarely do. Softer loads are easier on me, easier on the gun, and just as effective for shooting paper or clearing a plate rack.