Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns smith & wesson model 69

I have a smith & wesson model 69 on order. I ordered it at elk country arms in St. mary;s pa. 41/4 inch barrel, I can't wait to get it. They said they have nine coming in. I wonder how long a wait it will be.

Love mine. Been shooting them since they were first avail here (Q1, 2014). My current favorite is the 2 3/4" version which I'll be taking to the range in an hour or so.



Enjoy!

Paul

I'd be tempted by the snubby version. I'd think of it mainly as a five shot .44 Special. Naturally, I'd have the key lock deactivated.

But then I already have a revolver that fills that role, the Charter Arms Bulldog .44, and no key lock to deactivate.

That's the first thing S&W has introduced, in a very long time, that makes me want to run out and buy one.

I recently came by the short barrel model and haven't had a chance to get out and do any shooting with it. I expect it will mostly have 44 Special ammo run through it. It's a tough deal for me, because I've also got a 3" GP100 44 Special. I like 44 special a lot, but I couldn't by pass one that I could also run mags through it. Looking forward to it.

I have the 2.75” version. Bought it this year to be a sidearm in bear country. I carried it today in my shoulder rig. I like it a lot. I don’t find magnum loads to be so terrible with it and usually put 100 rounds through it each time I take it out. Haven’t felt the need to load down to specials. I did upgrade to some Hogue tamer grips like Paul, but I left them alone rather than grinding down some like Paul has. It’s a slick gun and it shoots great. I handload for it. Right now I’m shooting 240 grain SWC on top of 10 grains of W231/HP-38. A little smoky, but shoots good.

I'm curious about something: why would you want to "deactivate" the lock? As long as you do not insert the special key and lock the action, it does nothing to interfere with the operation of the weapon. It cannot accidentally lock itself, so why bother with it? Serious question. I don't understand. I have one and have never activated the lock and have no desire to do so. I don't know how many .44 Mag, .44 Spl, and .44 Russian rounds I have fired through it, but I would say that 3,500 - 4,000 or so would be about right with no issues whatsoever with the lock. I just ignore it. Do you know of any documented cases of them self-locking?

I agree Henryseale

Back when this was a common topic for discussion at gun forums, there were many documented cases going around about heavy kicking, lighter than average, guns with this feature locking up under recoil. Since most have seemed to agree, since that time, that the thing to do is deactivate the lock upon purchase, discussion of the topic has died down a great deal, and I'm not sure any longer where to find such documentation (its not having been a hot topic in quite a few years). But this was once considered, within the gun community, a resolved matter in favor of deactivation, particularly with lighter than standard guns firing heavy kicking rounds. I'm unaware of any fixes made by S&W to this issue, in-house.

I'd never own one with the lock that wasn't deactivated. One of the main reasons I carry a gun is that someday, I might really need that gun to go off. I saw it happen to a friend's 640. With the possibility of it happening combined with the ease of getting rid of the damned thing, it's a no-brainer.

Agreed. I had the lock on my 329 PD deactivated as soon as I bought it (shortly after its introduction). It's now being carried off duty by my cop nephew, as he bought it from me last year. He has no plans to reactivate the lock.

My nephew was shooting a model 22(?) one afternoon. The hammer went about halfway down and stopped.
My model 69 developed a rattle from the stupid “safety”
As did my 500 4”.
Unsafe dangerous crap added to a fine revolver by idiots that golf not shoot.
My model 69 4” is a wonderful companion

A more valid question might be, "does anyone actually use the lock"? Seems like that would be a "no". Which leads to the question - why wouldn't you deactivate it?

I agree with SargMO. The 69 is the only revolver S&W has that interests me now.

Some have been known to lock up when accidentally dropped as well.

My 4.2" 69 has less felt recoil than a Mt. Gun yet the 69 is 2ounces lighter. Win win.

A wonderful design & proof that S&W still has a pretty damn good engineering dept.

The lock may have saved the company by fending off politicians & lawsuits during a time when a lot of companies were on very thin ice in these respects. But, why S&W kept the thing after the smoke cleared is beyond me. OTOH, I've yet to have a lock give me a problem, even with my 329.

Isn't the 69 the same as the Taurus Tracker? 5 shot, 34oz DA revolver that has been around longer than the SW M69?

ahhem, no....

I won't buy a Smith with the lock. I have a M57 and a M29 both with 4 inch barrels. The M29 is especially fun to shoot with 44 Russians and I load a light 44 special for it as I do with the 41. Neither gun is horrible with full magnum loads but I don't spend a day at the range shooting 100 of them either.

Do you know the difference?

I put a Dawson Precision fiber optic front on mine and added X frame grips with the finger grooves sanded down to my 4.25” S&W 69.


My poor Redhawk doesn’t get shot much at all now.