Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 44 Magnum pic and discussion thread.

Thanks,

They are Herrett's Ropers.

I ordered a El Paso tanker rig, to fit a 5" full lug N frame. Take a few weeks to get here but should be just about perfect for my 5" 629

Jealous here, tex. I passed on a 629-1 a couple months back at a very good price. Kicking myself now.

Could have easily made money on it. But, knowing myself, I probably would have kept it just to have a .44 Mag in the stable.

Several .45 Colts, but no .44 at present.

I have that exact model made for my 5" M29 Classic. It fits a number of other handguns as well, and is a pretty practical field rig.

S&W 645?

Good info, Mac. Thanks.

Yep,

It is a very nice example too.

I took it on trade, not intending to keep it, but the more I handled it, the more I really liked it. A real sleeper.

Lots of good reloading information for you .44 guys...

https://sites.google.com/site/hobbyhintstricksideas/Home/s-w-329pd-info#TOC-Overview

Time to resurrect this thread!
Picked up a 629-4 Mountain Gun to go with my 625-6 Mountain Gun.

It rides well in the El Paso Saddlery holster that I also use for my 629-0 4".
Looking forward to shooting this one!

Some 629 no-dash pics.

Chronograph results from this morning, that some may find useful.






Instead of running my favorite 5" N Frames, I chose to run a 4" Model 29 and a 7.5" Magnaported Redhawk. I figured this would allow others to get a better idea what these loads may run in their .44s of varying barrel lengths.







The loads tested were as follows:

185 grain full profile wadcutters, pushed by 10 grains Unique.

240 grain RNL (Round Nose Lead), with 8.5 grains Unique.

240 grain SWC (lead Semi Wadcutter) with 10 grains Unique.










For reference, I am at roughly 4,000 FT elevation, and it was around 50 degrees this morning during the test.



Each load was fired 12 times in both the 4" S&W and 7.5" Ruger.



4" Model 29:


240 grain RNL/8.5 grns Unique avg: 967 FPS

240 grain SWC/10 grns Unique avg: 1164 FPS

185 grain wadcutter/10 grns Unique avg: 1282 FPS




7.5" Redhawk:


240 grain RNL/8.5 grns Unique avg: 1093 FPS That is 126 FPS difference between the 4" and 7.5"

240 grain SWC/10 grns Unique avg: 1236 FPS That is 72 FPS difference between the 4" and 7.5"

185 grain wadcutter/10 grns Unique avg: 1372 FPS That is 90 FPS difference between the 4" and 7.5"


I was quite surprised at the wadcutter load speeds. I honestly did not think it was traveling that fast, as it has a rather mild recoil.

Darn nice looking old 629 there!

Switching to IMGUR.

It is a shame that we have lost so may wonderful pics on this thread, thanks to PB doing what they did, but it is a chance for guys to re-submit pics of their favorite in what has been one of the most epic .44 Magnum threads to ever be on the Internet!

I was thinking about this thread when PB pulled the plug.

29-2






Ruger Vaquero

Yes, PB certainly took the fun out of these old threads.

Great Guns Steelhead!

Look at it this way Idaho Shooter, we get to re-post all our favorite blasters again, which is not all bad.

The hell with photobucket. We'll just keep on keepin' on.

Got my new El Paso Tanker coming for my 6" 25-5 .45 Colt N-frame. It'll also fit 2 other N-frame guns, a 4" 625 Mountain Gun in .45 Colt and a 5" 17-2 .357.

Shipped out yesterday, latest this morning. Woohoo!

Hopefully be here by end of week. If not, it'll certainly be here before Wyoming trip.

Posted some of this in an earlier thread. But maybe bears repeating.

2 ¾” S&W M69 (5 shot L Frame .44 Magnum).

The little gun is an absolute delight to shoot with both .44 special equivalent and full mag loads. The lighter loads are obviously more fun for extended shooting sessions.

I have both 4 ¼” and the new 2.75” M69s. My impression is that the 2.75” gun shoots “softer” recoil wise than the 4 ¼” version. I’ve chronographed both with the same loads and the short barrel runs about 100 fps slower than it’s longer brother (except for the big 325gr) – this moderates recoil. Of course, you get a bit of muzzle flash with H110 loads. Both of mine are equipped with the S&W 500 X Frame Hogue grips.

Here are some chronograph results:

Chronoed these from the 2.75” M69. Three rounds at 5 Long paces from muzzle and 68 deg F. Larger sample could change the results a bit. Largest ES was 42 fps.

260 WFNGC w/23.0gr H110 avg 1,125 fps
240 Zero JSP with 23.5gr H110 avg 1,126 fps
240gr Fed Factory avg 1,125 fps
265gr CSWCGC (Lyman Thompson) with 17.5gr A2400 (Deep Seat) 1,119 fps avg
325gr WLNGC (BTB) with 22.0gr H110 avg 1,104 fps

For comparison purposes these were shot a while back from my 4 ¼” M69: Same temp, distance from the muzzle.

260 WFNGC w/23.0gr H110 avg 1,224 fps
240 Zero JSP with 23.5gr H110 avg 1,230 fps
240gr Fed Factory avg 1,220 fps
265gr CSWCGC (Lyman Thompson) with 17.5gr A2400 (deep seat) 1,140 fps avg
325gr WLNGC (BTB) with 22.0gr H110 avg 1,182


Little out of focus cell phone pic of the 2 ¾” with two holster (fit the M69 perfectly) that I bought sometime back for my 396. A Haugen, OWB, dual position thumb snap, and a Milt Sparks, IWB, Versa Max II.



50 yard target shot over my range bag – 2 ¾” M69, 260gr WFNGC, 23.0gr H110.




Neat little gun.

Paul

This is from my Photobucket account. I can see it when I post it. Are you all able to see it, too?



PS That lock has been deactivated, even though the hole remains.