S&W 629-4 3 Inch

[AxeHandle]

Found where I bought it AND posted it here in December 2022!

[x101airborne]

I would like to trip over some of my missing guns. For now I am convincing myself they were mis-packed in the move to storage and not stolen. A stainless 3 inch 44 Mag would be a great one to find!

[AxeHandle]

10 Shots DAO at 75 feet. Head shots on the standard Q target. Gun completely stock at this point. Spring kit waiting.

[Fowler]

I could fully get behind that gun, my brother has a 3” version the is a delight to shoot.

I can say I’d run it as a 44sp all day long and have zero desire to stomp on it with stout 44mag loads. But you always could if needed.

I do love a good snubbie

[fv]

Very nice, thanks for sharing.

[x101airborne]

Haha! When I moved I was packing up my stuff and constantly going "Oh, I remember this!". Like an Easter Egg hunt you dont have to leave home for. That 3 inch should be a great packing piece!

[sharkbait]

That's a great one to find, especially in your own safe.

[bradshaw]

Recoil is one of two reasons favor an M-29 or M-629 over a Model 69. Given appropriate rubber grips on each, and the same ammunition, I feel less recoil from the N frame.

My other reason: I know the accuracy of proper 4-inch 29 and 629 with the 1-piece, broach rifled barrel. S&W's 2-piece barrel & sleeve arrangement may be just as accurate as the traditional 1-piece. My experience with the 2-piece 69 is minimal, wherein practical accuracy does not equal accuracy from the heavier N frame.

2-piece barrels
Shroud----Dan Wesson, barrel tension vis spanner nut. Owner adjustable & replaceable.
Sleeve----S&W, barrel tightened to frame via wrench which fits rifling grooves, Either muzzle end of barrel acts as a nut against sleeve, or a separate muzzle nut tightens sleeve. Not user adjustable or replaceable.

While shooting on the backyard silhouette range of an IHMSA competitor who lived on the fringe of 1980 Austin, Texas, he observed my M-29 4-inch and said, “I haven’t got the accuracy from the 4-inch I get from the 6-1/2 and 8-3/8 inch.” I didn’t ask for details. He may have mixed practical with intrinsic accuracy, but he didn’t talk that way, and he was serious man and silhouette shooter. So I figured his 4” 29 just didn’t make grade.

I’m not interested enough in the M-69 to pursue the accuracy question, and I won’t live long enough to act a toenail’s worth of shade on my experience with the N frame .44’s. Nevertheless, I’d like to see a marksmanship report on the sleeved vs 1-piece short barrel .44’s. One could spend a lot of time & lead exploring this area. Now as I swim, bike, and shoot my way to 80 years, were I to make a snub-specific ".44 mangle ‘em” (Chic Gaylord’s lingo), I’d conspire with Ronnie Wells on a Blackhawk/SBH frame with aluminum Bradshaw Bisley, or other recoil-mopping grip frame, or inflict the same grip concept on a Redhawk or Super Redahwk.
David Bradshaw