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What's yall fellers thoughts on the s&w 629 extreme hunter or hunter pistols with 7"-8" barrels? How's it compare to the ruger?

You answered your own question. If you are or were thinking of a .41 Mag, get one with a 4" to 6" barrel and you'll do just fine. Less recoil than a .44 Mag, shoots a tad flatter, kills just as well, with just as much or more penetration. You'll shoot through deer every time with a good cast bullet.

Scope or dot is great, or practice more and use iron sights. All good for 100 yards and a bit more.

Or go with a .44 Mag or .45 Colt. Of those two, the .45 Colt will do what the .44 Mag can do just as easily. No need for rip snortin' he-man loads from either. 1,200-1,300 fps will do with 240-250 gr. bullets.

Main thing is, shoot enough to learn how to shoot whatever it is you decide to go with.

S&W Performance Center Guns are very accurate. Ruger Redhawks work too. Center pronghorn pic above was with a 44 Mag Redhawk

Nice collection there Keith.

The S&W performance center revolvers are nice and generally very accurate. They are also expense and usually heavy, most of the ones I've shot were heavier than a Redhawk which is not light. Weight does aid in recoil absorption and steady holding, just makes them more of a chore to pack.

I would look for a standard 629 or 29 with no more than a 6" barrel. Or if you want to save a few nickels look for a used SuperBlackhawk. I'm not a fan of scopes on revolvers but that is up to you, FWIW all new S&Ws come drilled for scope mounts the holes are hidden under the rear sight. Aside from the Hunter models a Ruger will need to be D&T but I've seen super smoking deals on used Ruger SAs over the years, might save enough with a little shopping to get it D&Ted and still save money.

I think if you find something that you think you like and start shooting the heck out of it you'll end up liking the handiness of an iron sighted, medium weight big bore. Might become something you just like to pack around in a good holster when out hiking and goofing off that does double duty as a deer gun. I've packed my Bisleys countless hours fishing and hiking and have taken a bit of small game with them as incidental camp food over the years.

If you can't kill a deer with the 44 mag handgun then bigger isn't going to help you . The 44 mag with a 240 to 300 gr bullet will down any deer out to a 100 yards if you hit them where they live. My favorite hunting pistols is my 4 inch 629 and 4 &5/8 Ruger Blackhawk , both loaded with Keith 250 gr SWC, 20 gr of 2400 and the CC1 300 Primer. I have a bunch of longer barrel handgun but prefer the 4 inch in the deer woods. If you can't hit with the 4 inch i seriously dough 2 more inch's of barrel will help you. What you need is more practice not barrel length ,

You guys a wealth of Info and everyone addin in there thoughts and it's all different. I really appreciate it fellas. A lot of good Info here and really appreciate it. Glad you spoke about the 41 too. I have shot 1 of them several times and it was enjoyable

If you've got access to a .41 Magnum right now, and want to hunt with a revolver this season, I'd recommend borrowing the .41 and putting your money into ammunition. Practice will serve you better than a new gun, if you want to hunt this upcoming season.

There's not a dime's worth of difference between the .41 and 44 Magnum when it comes to whitetail deer.

Anybody wanna trade fr a brownin shotgun😜

The only reason i don't use the 41 for deer is because they make the 44 .

What kind of Browning to you have?

You jus get te bigger caliber cuz you can ehhh? See your in va too. I'm
Not to awful from Montgomery county!

Browning silver nwtf 3.5" mag 12ga topped with a Burris fastfire speed bead.

Ahh, I didn't see you have some other handguns.

If I were setting out to hunt deer with a handgun, I would take my 629 classic with 6.5" barrel and have no problem taking a standing shot out to 75 yards or a bit farther. Any kind of bracing of my shooting position and I would go farther (100 or so) but I would prefer 50 and under. Shave maybe 10-15 yards off those for a 4" gun of a 1911/Glock.

I put out a 9" paper plate, and the farthest distance i can keep nearly all your shots on that plate is your max range. I would say *all* your shots, but everyone misses on occasion. Say 14/15 shots. If that is 80 yards, great. If that is 30 yards, so be it.

I shoot maybe 800-1,000 rounds a month, mostly through handguns so I get quite a bit of practice. I guess I am trying to say that range limitations are a personal thing, just like they are with a rifle.

How do you get so many rounds? You hand load? Cuz I don't think I've seen any 4ags here around home in a long time

No, not that many through centerfire (sorry if I made that impression). I run a ton of .22 through my 617, single six, and MK II. I have a rimfire understudy for most of my CF handguns. No need to get beat up and spend more money on components than needed. I'll head to the range and burn a brick of rimfire and maybe 50 or so of centerfire each week. I try to go once a week, sometimes twice, sometimes not at all.

Also, I should add I only do that when in a 'handgun mood', which I have been lately. If I am working on rifle stuff, my handgun round count goes down quite a bit.

Ohhhh ok I was like dang he's a tank shooter lol

I've just talked to my uncle and cousin who are big time Into guns. Both told me to go with 629 smiths classic 6" in 41 or 44 but the 44 is easier to find components for reloading.

SO if any of y'all have that gun and interested in trading with
Me on a browning holler. Maybe we could work something out

The Smith is a good choice, although I prefer Rugers. My SS Bisley Hunter in .44 mag is maybe my very favorite handgun - and easily the most accurate. Great trigger when I got it, and I got it used. I have a 2X Weaver on it, but also like the Ruger rings and mount system that allow the scope to be removed and returned without having to re-sight it.

.44 mag is my favorite cartridge, but I reload with heavy hard cast at 1000 fps or less. My handgun hunting is for hogs, mostly. For deer I'd use a JSP or JHP of 240grs or so and a little more velocity.

Always get a chuckle out of the 41 vs 44 one is better than the other.. 0.411" vs 0.429" = 0.018" difference

Been times I wish I had about that much more😜

I would recommend meeting up with someone and trying a few different handguns out if you can. From what I've seen unless you practice quite a bit a .357 Magnum is about most people's limit. 41's and 44's are more than a lot of guys can handle unless they shoot a lot.


I really like the 44 Magnum, I have a 5.5" Redhawk, a 7.5" SBH scoped and a 6.5" 29-2. The Rugers see most of the work just because I'm a Ruger fan.

Yea I did tell my uncle yesterday after I finished working our corn ground to plant corn next week that I wanted to come over and have a lil fun with all his revolvers to see what I liked. He said well way you shot that smith 41 I think that's what you need is a smith. He said I shot it good open sighted and handled the 41 fine so he didn't see why a 44 would be any different.

Finally got pic posted of my browning in the classys after trying to figure it out for 2 dang weeks