quote:

Originally posted by jwp475:
Did you shorten the frame? If not, then yea it is big

It's not that big because the barrel is really short. Here it is between a 686 and a 629 Mountain Gun:

What's the muzzle blast like on that monster?

quote:

Originally posted by kjjm4:
What's the muzzle blast like on that monster?

Not too bad.

quote:

Originally posted by 56hawk:

quote:

Originally posted by jwp475:
Did you shorten the frame? If not, then yea it is big

It's not that big because the barrel is really short. Here it is between a 686 and a 629 Mountain Gun:

The frame length is what makes them bulky. The other 2 in the picture could have thier barrels shortened as well

I would carry my S&W Mt. Gun in 44 magnum!

I think that how I carry my walk abouts is almost as critical as the model that I select.

For me a slim jim crossdraw fits a 4.75" barrel the best.

I carry my Ruger Redhawk four inch. It's quite a bit heavier than the Mt. Gun but I works for me. I have had such good luck with Ruger, both single and double action. I can see where you guys like the 44 mag SBH with the short barrel. They are nice.

My wife and myself carry 4" 329's.
They are on us anytime we leave the house or the remote cabin where we spend most of our time. Even this time of year when all the bears are fast asleep. It becomes habit. The recoil is not near as bad with full loads as a scandium 357 is.

I will be carrying my new 629 3inc round butt loaded with 300 grn hard cast

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Pisano:
Add me to the Mt Gun list...4" SW 29 mt gun / 310gr wfngc at 1100fps.

This sure seems like a good choice for your needs.

Whenever I head out into the woods and am trying to choose what shooter to take it boils down to a question of what am I most likely to need to shoot? If I go in some areas of my country there are no bears with cougars and assholes being the main game. In these situations I will carry a Sig Polymer .40 with a paddle holster loaded with hot 180 grainers.

If I go into another part of the country I could find wolves, black bears, cougars and maybe a grizzly. For these areas I carry a Ruger Old Vaquero .44 mag in a 5.5' barrel in a slim jim crossdraw holster. It's loaded with hot 300 grain slugs. That shooter is extremely accurate and in that cross draw it's out of the way and doesn't seem to be as heavy as it is.

quote:

Originally posted by TEANCUM:

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Pisano:
Add me to the Mt Gun list...4" SW 29 mt gun / 310gr wfngc at 1100fps.

This sure seems like a good choice for your needs.

Whenever I head out into the woods and am trying to choose what shooter to take it boils down to a question of what am I most likely to need to shoot? If I go in some areas of my country there are no bears with cougars and assholes being the main game. In these situations I will carry a Sig Polymer .40 with a paddle holster loaded with hot 180 grainers.

If I go into another part of the country I could find wolves, black bears, cougars and maybe a grizzly. For these areas I carry a Ruger Old Vaquero .44 mag in a 5.5' barrel in a slim jim crossdraw holster. It's loaded with hot 300 grain slugs. That shooter is extremely accurate and in that cross draw it's out of the way and doesn't seem to be as heavy as it is.

You can't go wrong with that either.

If you like packable and Da,

http://www.gunbroker.com/Aucti....aspx?Item=277172729

Alan

Use hard cast bullets for your .357 from double tap ammo. They are pretty hot if your gun can handle them, and you can get by with them. A .44 mag. is a better choice. If you are using it as stated to hike a lot and shooting it little then weight becomes the main issue. Any of the 44's on the market will do the job. The lightest is S&W 329 for around $900 or Taures ultralight for $550 both around 28 oz.'s. Get the 4 inch with the shorter barrels you lose too much in ballistics. I hear a lot of people complaining about the wicked recoil of the titanium guns I can tell you from personal experience it is not an issue. I also have and love the Ruger SBH ss with 4 5/8 inch barrel but it is a pound heavier and takes more training to utilize compared to a double action. Try across the chest holster such as Diamond D leather from AK. you wear instead of carrying which is much more comfortable. All the 44's recommended by AR members are excellent and will do the job. The most important is bullet selection. I recently conducted another penetration test with the 44 mag. with the school of thought that a wide meplat hard cast with heavier grain bullet will out penetrate all others. I found the exception. Here is the short version of five factory bullets. First is the 260 grain Corbon hp it disinegrated with half the penetration of the others, it is definitly built for soft targets. Second and third Hornady 300 grain xtp and Garret defender 310 grain penetrated the same. Fourth and the exception is Federal 225 grain Barnes TSX it held up without any talons breaking even though I was shooting into a hard media of plywood and out penetrated all the previous bullets with less grain weight and recoil. The fifth is the Corbon 300 grain hard cast it out penetrated all with a slight margin. My personal choice is a S&W 329 4" with Federal 225 grain Barnes TSX you will smoke any bear that gets in your way including any other varmints two or four legged type and get on target for repeat shots quicker than the rest.

In my opinion, plywood is a poor medium to test penetration in. It is simply too hard and will not mimic flesh as well as wetpack. It doesn't surprise me that the monometal bullet stayed together well. I think you should try this again in wet newsprint, and I'll bet the 300 grain flat-nosed hardcasts run away from the others. JMHO.

Whitworth thank you for the insight. I will do that as soon as I have time, you have my curiousity up. My thought was to try to stop a large bear in self defense up close and personal you need ample penetration and plywood is hard and will mimick head shots compared to hunting and having softer boiler room shots. Has anyone tested the Federal 225 grain tsx on wet newsprint already and willing to share the results ?

Every time I look through this thread I get stuck on the SBH in 44 mag. Great looking gun and I'll bet it functions as well as it looks. I like my Ruger Redhawk 4 inch. I carry it in a homemade holster that goes on my belt at the corner of my hip. It threads holster, belt loop, holster so it can't shift around works great. It has a thumb break retention strap over the hammer and an open bottom. Its lined with a Chrome tanned goatskin that is slick as grease on glass. I have also used a crossdraw when I had a SBH with the 7 1/2 inch barrel. They work for everything including riding in the truck on the 4 wheeler or on a horse. To sum it up I would carry my Redhawk, a Bisely Blackhawk with the short barrel, The Mountain gun, it may be the equal or better than my Redhawk but I have never owned one to compare. All would be carried on the hip or crossdraw. All others mentioned would work, these would just be my choice. FWIW.

I have and carry a 4" SW 500 as well as the 2 3/4 SW 460. Both are very heavy and are best classified as "specialized guns". They would not normally be classified as everyday walking around guns. I find that I have really come to the point where I carry my S&W 329PD (scandium 4" .44) almost exclusively. It is so light for all day carry that it is truly unnoticed on my hip. My theory is that the 300gr Federal hardcasts at less than 10 yards will do whatever needs doing in the split second that I will hopefully have to get off a shot. Which brings up my personal decision to ONLY carry double actions for defense use. The ability to fire it with only one hand by simply pulling the trigger is a huge plus in an absolutely worst case scenario (insert here; your own worst nightmare of rolling around on the ground with some big and furry critter eating you alive .). Just my humble opinion.