new self defense revolver

[rjohns94]

Just arrived in my hands yesterday. I have it in my milt sparks holster i got off the levergun safari auction. Loaded with Winchester 200 grain silvertips 44 specials for personal defense, and will be loaded with Randy Garret 44mag hammerhead loads, reduced, for bear woods. This one came out of the Performace Center of S&W, is buffed stainless, fixed sights with porting ahead of the front sight, high vis orange front sight, and custom grips, action job. It carries a three inch barrel. It's a big step up from the j-frame in .357 but it carries well in the holster. I have two speed loaders in my jacket pocket.




Range report to follow

[Old Ironsights]

44?

[Bear 45/70]

I say 357 Mag.

[rjohns94]

Sorry, Yep its a .44mag 629

[alnitak]

Sweet! How's the trigger on that? Are those the custom Smith grips? And how's it compare in size to the Model 60 (in .357)? I know, I've read the specs, but need a comparison picture to really tell.

You carry OWB at 4:00?

[L_Kilkenny]

Couldn't find a Ruger?

Very nice BTW.

LK

[2ndovc]

Very Nice Mike!!


jb

[Bear 45/70]

Rather than carry 44 Mags in it, try 44 Specials. Just as big of bullets, but no overpenetration that the Magnum is noted for.

[Hobie]

Sweet! How's the trigger on that? Are those the custom Smith grips? And how's it compare in size to the Model 60 (in .357)? I know, I've read the specs, but need a comparison picture to really tell.

You carry OWB at 4:00?

This photo shows a J-frame directly below my 629 4" to give you a side-by-side comparison.

[MrMurphy]

I knew a guy (now deceased) who packed a 4" 629 on occasion....takes dedication.

I would suggest you look into Cabo holsters (Carry a Big One), they primarily make IWB/OWB rigs for large wheelguns. Not sure if they're still in business, they were a couple years ago.

If anyone can make a .44 disappear, it would be them.

[Nath]

Drool drool

Nath.

[alnitak]

The eminent guitar blues teacher, Stefan Grossman, talks about how playing the blues requires "commitment" ... i.e., you can't be shy about it (attacking the strings, putting feeling into the song, etc.). I think that hunk of steel, as Hobie shows, requires its own brand of commitment too (or dedication as MrMurphy says)! Still, what a beautiful wheel gun!

[BlueStateSaint]

Mike, while I seriously envy the great metal I see here, I also try to congratulate the owners of said metal. That .44 Mag is expletive-deleted beautiful.

[rjohns94]

"Rather than carry 44 Mags in it, try 44 Specials. Just as big of bullets, but no overpenetration that the Magnum is noted for."


Bear 45/70 - I agree, thats why I said: Loaded with Winchester 200 grain silvertips 44 specials for personal defense, and will be loaded with Randy Garret 44mag hammerhead loads, reduced, for bear woods.


Carrying .44specials most of the time, moving to .44mag hammerhead when I think I am concerned about bears in the woods.



thanks for the compliments, I really love smith double actions. I have three: A performance center J-Frame 3" pro, A 3" performance center N-frame .44mag, and a k-frame model 17 with 6" target barrel in .22.

[kimwcook]

Nice 629, Mike. Love those Smiths. I bet that baby's gonna be a handfull with Garrett's loads. Take some pic's for us at dark with one those will ya? Blaster! I had a FA in 454, had it cut down to 4.75" and with FA full house loads it had some serious recoil....and blast.

[rjohns94]

here is my J-frame performance center .357 under the new performance center .44mag

[Sixgun]

Mike,
She's a beauty! I like the grips and appear to be better handling than the ones on mine. (I thought I had the only fixed sight 629 )

I have to warn you that full power loads will make the gun to want to jump out of your hands. I mean really nasty and uncontrolable. For me, I have a heck of a time regaining control after the first shot using 250 cast at full power. For normal use, I use a Hensley & Gibbs 200 gr. hard cast bullet with 10 gr. of Unique for close to 1100 out of the 2" barrel. These I can control. Good luck and yep, I'll be smiling when you report on shooting those hammerheads.

I cut the hammer spur off mine-------------------------Sixgun

[TedH]

Nice.

[Grizz]

Mike, that 357 looks a lot like my k frames, and bigger than the j frames we have... but that's just my eyesight I guess?

Love the 629. You have great taste in wheel guns. I have the 200g jhp in my redhawk for inside jobs. Good plan.

Grizz

[Ysabel Kid]

Sweet! Congrats Mike!!!

[rjohns94]

The J-frame has extended grips so it looks bigger than it really is. It is my favorite revolver by far and in my opinion, the perfect all round carry revolver, EXCEPT, in bear country and even then I would rather have it than most autoloaders I've owned. The exception is exactly what drove me to purchace the 629. I traded my Gary Reeder SBH to my brother which I had for that purpose back when I was down sizing calibers. I have always loved the .44mag and .44 special so I thought I would get another. When I saw this one, I just "fell in love" (again!!!).

[stretch]

That's nice! Really nice.

I'm a fan of the 44 Special.
Plenty for self-defense. Even withuot
hollow-points, you're makin' a big hole there.......

[Streetstar]

very nice --- i would love to feel the trigger on that baby

[Grizz]

Mike,

I tried my 185g hardcast load in a 2" j-frame. Minute of deer accurate on gongs at 25 yards, not uncontrollable, Blaine shot it and was hitting gongs and no bad recoil report. That load does 1700+ from the 16" Winchester and is equivilant to 30-30.

So the same principle applies, heavy penetrators when in low population densities, and hollow points in high pop densities.

Have you tried a finger groove grip on your 44s? Yours looks great but I wonder how it feels to shoot it.

[Birdman]

I sure like those 44's. I have a 3 inch Gary Reeder Redhawk and man that is sweet. I usually shoot 200 gr LRN at about 1200 FPS. That ain't too bad but you don't want to shoot it all day. If you really want to rock and roll put some hot 250's through it. I can just imagine what some of those 300 grain Garrett's would be like.

[JohndeFresno]

Now THAT is a beauty - sweet lines and great looking grips.

Awaiting your range report!

[O.S.O.K.]

Congrats on another nice purchase!

Its like a big version of my 696 44 Special.



Those grips shown really made a world of difference to shooting comfort too - the round butt variety really hurt my hand - and I shoot very stout 44 mag loads no problem - they just centered all the recoil in one little spot and it would smart after a cylinder full. These new grips are as comfortable as can be.

I just bought an RCBS 250 swc Kieth mold to make up some bullets for this and also for my 44 mags. I plan on loading them to around 900 fps out of this and on up to the top with my Ruger BH's.

[madman4570]

If "sexy handgun" is a proper word to be used in describing a handgun,then those 44 mag S&Ws are just the ticket.
Of all my guns, which I have bigger and badder ones,just something
about those Smiths. That there my friend is one cool/custom you got there rjohns94.
I bet every time you pull that nice smooth trigger you smile.
Another "sexy handgun" which there was one I let slip through my fingers for $600 5 years ago was a 3" nickel plated Colt Python.Now look at what they go for???
Anyway I would love to have that Performance Center 44.

[bsaride]

Something about 3 inch 44's, nice gun too.
Stupid CA has a 4 inch rule on handguns for hunting
so I started my 44s with a 4 inch 44 Special.

[rjohns94]

The trigger on this is smooth and crisp. I would only estimate single action at 2+ pounds, certainly under three. Double action feels like oil on glass. I don't have trigger scale but I am very pleased. .44specials are a very pleasant and being fixed, I was glad to see it group to point of aim at 15-20 yards with winchester silvertips. The reloads given to me by my brother again shot very well. The reduced loads from Garrett, along with the grips, and the porting ahead of the front sight shot a bit high at 25 yards, grouping about 2 inches and were very tolerable. In fact, I shot about 100 rounds of full power 240 gr, 310 gr today and I was pleased that the orange sights were not affected by residue and that my hand was not affected at all. The fixed sights will work just fine for my selected loads and I have cleaned it up and put it back in its holster for more carry. I had it on my trail walk tonight of about 5 miles. I didn't mind it all. This one is a keeper for sure.

[JohndeFresno]

RJohns94,
O.S.O.K. -

Both of you report acceptable handling with full power Mag loads with the grips that you are using. What are they - make and model, please?

[rjohns94]

mine are badger grips. Generally, round butt grips focus pressure in one area of the hand. The ones I am using are a bit fuller, fill my hands and distribute the forces more completely to my hand. The finger grooves fit my hand and do not pinch. I can't tell you the model # as they came with the revolver but I got them from Jim Akers, out of Mississippi. He sells on Gunbroker. his seller ID is pawpaw4jr. I will send him a note on gunbroker and ask for a model number.

[madman4570]

rjohns94,
I would like to put a set on mine also! They look like REALLY
nice grips.Again boy thats a GREAT looking gun.