Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns S&W Mountain Guns...

I carry mine all the time on the farm.

629 no dashes.

Bought it new in the late 70's or early 80's. Whenever they came out. Saw it in the gun magazines for almost a year before I saw one to buy. My local gun shop called me when it came in. I said I'll take it. Didn't even ask the price. No regrets!

...look close as it has to have a -.... The 629 came out in 1980 and was only out a year Pinned and Recesed before going to the -1. The first round butt 629 with a tapered barrel was a -2 what was called a Mountain Revolver in I believe 1989.
If it is a no- 629 4" then it would not be a MG.

Bob

Yea, I have a 8 3/8 no dash pinned and recessed presentation box.

The Mountain 629 no dash, 44 special barrel, radiused cylinder round butt and bead blasted. It is the real deal.

I really like my 657 version but did not and would not pay the Gunbroker prices listed.
Appearance-wise I think the slimmer barrel looks good on a 4inch N-Frame.

Does it have a pinned barrel and recessed chambers? And was wondering what the first three letters are in the serial number...



Bob

Mine in .44 has saved me from certainly bring bitten several times. The worst and most likely serious situation was on my mountain bike pulling my 4 year old son in a trailer on a long trail. A crazed white pit bull came boiling out of the reservation right at us.

Alone I might have turned the bike and blew him off, with the trailer I could not escape. At about 15 feet I shot him in the top of the head. Rolled the worthless pos off the side of the road and continued on my way. Can't imagine the kind of struggle that would have come about without the revolver with me.

I called the county sheriff, who said " nothing I can do on reservation property. Thanks for taking care of it for me"

That Sheriff gave me a chuckle. My kinda guy.

My 625 is the only gun that I've sold that I really regret. I still have no real use for it, but I wish that I still had it...:(

I have two S&W MGs, a 625 and a 629. I think that they are OK, but for a handgun that I'm going to carry a lot and only shoot a little, I like the 329PD better. I also have a 4" 624 and a 5" 629 parts gun, a 629 frame with a cut back 624 barrel, that are MGs in all but name.

I paid $550 for the 625 MG back in 2007, bought it here on 24HCF, and I'd say that it is my favorite 45 LC, but it is still heavier/bulkier than the 329PD for an everyday belt gun. I'm thinking about buying a S&W 69 to fill the MG role.

Jeff

Nobody here likes the Governor, but it's worth a shot if you want a light 45 Colt with 45 ACP capability. The 410 is an added benefit if you're not looking for it specifically.

I don't care for the Taurus Judge or S&W Governor. I have smaller .44s, a couple of Rossi 720s, that work quite well, even though many people are contemptuous of them.

The S&W 69 is a 4.25" stainless 5-shot L-frame, what the 696 always should have been.

Jeff

The single best additional feature on a MG is the rubber crimson trace grips.

It lets you make a big hole wherever you see the red spot. No aiming, just a great accurate hole maker.

I added trijicon night sights too, day or night it's a great well made hole maker. After Alexander Hamilton did the action work, the trigger is flawless, and the dark bead blasted finish makes the gun look like pewter now.

Gonna need pics of that blaster JJHACK

Here is a picture, not sure it helps? Looks mostly like other MG's

It's dull flat pewter finish is nicer to me then polished stainless, just my taste though.

The CT grips are not the best option for recoil control or comfort, but handy for their intended priority of shooting easily in low light, panic, and from awkward positions where aligning sights is not good, like crawling or lying under a canopy of thick blackberries.

JJ...did you have to send the gun to Trijicon to have the sights done? I had some Meprolight (I think) on mine but the front sight height was too low. Transferred them over to a 357PD and they were perfect. I think XS is also now doing night sights for MGs...

Bob

I've got the 41Mag Mountain Gun back before the lock was added to Smiths. Nice gun, but, as another here commented, I'm not sure it has much advantage over a regular 657. Officially, as I recall, Smith claimed about a 3 ounce difference.

Funny no one has mentioned the Mountain Gun in 357??

Yes I had to send them the whole gun. Kind of a PITA but worth it in the long run.

I guess, they cannot be custom fitted by any old Gunsmith because of the nuke hazards? They said they have to be licensed to work with that stuff where custom fitting is involved.

The sights they created, were an identical match to the originals, but these have the night sight inserts. It's actually kind of unique I suppose, at least it was 10-15 years ago when I had it done.

When I packed with goats into the remote cascade mountains, it was nice to be able to see the sights in a pitch black tent, when looking out into the moon lit forest where the goats were tied up. It made finding the gun in the dark easy as well. Those green night sights really show up well in the total black dark inside a tent.

However, not much beats the red spot on the thing you wanna perforate like the Crimson trace grips. The only thing better would be my Hogue wood grips with a laser built into them. Those grips made that gun so easy to shoot accurately and they removed all pain and recoil from the shot. I loved those big hogue grips, but the laser trumps them!

That looks to be supremely confidence inspiring - awesome !

I like the sights JJ....the front is now more of a Patridge than the original ramp that came on them. May have to give them a call one day and have one of the 657s done.

R Walter
Maybe the reason that no one has mentioned the 686 MG is that there were not a lot of them made. They are also very pricy when and if they come up for sale. There has been a second edition but it has the IL and I believe the two piece barrel...

As to the differences between Mountain Gun and a standard Magnum...for me it is balance. For whatever reason the combination of slim barrel and rounded butt just comes out of the holster faster for me than a standard Magnum with square butt.

A few years ago I took three guns and tested them on a shot timer...they were all equipped with the same Hogue grips...

657 4"
657 4" MG
357PD 4" AirLite

As said all had Hogue grips, all drawn from the same DeSantis Speed scabbard holster and shooting the same 210 grain Berry's plated bullet with 8.0 grains of Unique/950 fps load.

Five singles, five doubles and five triples were fired from 5 yards at 9" paper plates. A shot (or all shots) had to hit the plate to score the round.

After all the shooting was done, the MG came out just ahead of the others and was the most consistent round to round. Because of its light weight the 357PD would often come in first for the fastest first round fired but splits were slower due to its light weight.

The difference between the two all steel guns would not even be noticed by most shooters and the only way to tell what is best for you and your shooting style is to be able to fairly test them over a period of time.

Bob

I like the sound of that set of upgrades!!

My 625 Mountain Gun with S&W target grips on it:



I bought this revolver about 5 years ago and have carried it quite a bit as my sidearm while rifle hunting, but have shot it little. It's currently at Sandburr Gun Ranch in Indiana getting an action job and the internal lock disabled. I've considered Trijicons for it, and may do so... I'm a big believer in night sights.

I've tried Pachmayr's on this gun, as well as a beefy Miculak-type grip set, but nothing I've put on it so far is as good as the factory grips, and they're not perfect by any means. I'm going to order a pair of Hogue grips when it comes back from the 'smith, and see what that will do for me. Dunno that I could go with the CTC grips, though... I far prefer wood grips on my big revolvers, so I can shape them to fit my hand exactly right.