So I finally got a chance to shoot my two new Smith & Wesson 629 .44 mag Mountain Gun with .4" barrel and 686 .357 with 6" Power Port barrel at my house. I only shot for about 30 minutes which is why it's so nice to be able to shoot from home. Don't have to drive to a range and wait for other people on the line.
This is not a scientific test for sure. I did add the current new grips that come on the S&W Classics. It appears that they come from Altamont grip company but I'm not sure. They don't necessarily appear to reduce any recoil better than the original old grips but they cover the backstrap and feel more full in my opinion. I like them better than the originals. The 629's trigger guard seemed to bite my finger when I shot it with the original grips, this did not happen when I used the new grips. I believe that the new grips moved my hand up away from the bottom of the trigger guard. Note, I'm not the kind of guy that loves hard recoiling guns.
The .357 shot all of the .38 Special rounds with nearly no difference in felt recoil, so from now on I will shoot the cheapest lead nose .38 Special bullets out of these 4 brands that I can. Some say that lead bullets are more of a mess in appearance but easier to clean than copper from the barrel. Even the 158gr and 130gr did not appear to feel any different in recoil. What a pleasant gun and caliber to shoot. You could shoot it all day long. Recoil was less than a 9mm in my opinion.
The .44 Mag ammo was definitely stiffer in recoil than the .44 Special which isn't a surprise but it was a very noticeable difference in recoil. The .44 mag ammo wasn't brutal but it was definitely stiff. The .44 Special ammo felt very low in recoil and you could shoot that all day long even with the shorter barrel.
A lot of folks on here helped me pick ammo, so thank you.
This is not a scientific test for sure. I did add the current new grips that come on the S&W Classics. It appears that they come from Altamont grip company but I'm not sure. They don't necessarily appear to reduce any recoil better than the original old grips but they cover the backstrap and feel more full in my opinion. I like them better than the originals. The 629's trigger guard seemed to bite my finger when I shot it with the original grips, this did not happen when I used the new grips. I believe that the new grips moved my hand up away from the bottom of the trigger guard. Note, I'm not the kind of guy that loves hard recoiling guns.
The .357 shot all of the .38 Special rounds with nearly no difference in felt recoil, so from now on I will shoot the cheapest lead nose .38 Special bullets out of these 4 brands that I can. Some say that lead bullets are more of a mess in appearance but easier to clean than copper from the barrel. Even the 158gr and 130gr did not appear to feel any different in recoil. What a pleasant gun and caliber to shoot. You could shoot it all day long. Recoil was less than a 9mm in my opinion.
The .44 Mag ammo was definitely stiffer in recoil than the .44 Special which isn't a surprise but it was a very noticeable difference in recoil. The .44 mag ammo wasn't brutal but it was definitely stiff. The .44 Special ammo felt very low in recoil and you could shoot that all day long even with the shorter barrel.
A lot of folks on here helped me pick ammo, so thank you.
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. Start reloading and you won’t even know what a box of ammo cost because it will be irrelevant to you, plus you can load from mild to full power and everything in between, it is so much fun.
