629 For Daily Carry

[The Shooters Apprentice]

My primary carry gun for the last 7 years or so has been a Ruger light weight commander 45. I’ve carried other guns here and there for shorter periods of time, like a but always kind of came back to carrying the Ruger. 

I swapped out the grips on it 3 years ago to some very nice elk stag grips, and when I did I had to change out the grip screw bushings and the aluminum frame stopped out when I tried to remove the factory ones. Long story short I’ve managed to ge them to hold for the last few years, but last time I tore it down to clean it one of them stripped out all the way. I need to get some over sized bushings for it and retap the holes, but in the mean time I was carrying a gen3 Glock 19. Running truck up and down the haul road and going into wolf and polar bear country, I felt a bit under gunned and decided it was time for a hard hitting concealed carry gun. I’ve had and carried a couple of 10mms in the past, and like the cartridge, but thought a revolver might be more practical and dependable where it can get down to 60-70 below out there. 

Anyway. I settled on and bought a Smith & Wesson model 629 deluxe with the 3” barrel. The factory grips on this revolver (round butt) were a terrible design for the heavy recoil of the 44 mag, so I swapped them out for a set of pachmyer diamond pro grips, which greatly tame down the 44 magnum recoil without being overly bulky and compromising the compactness of the revolver. 

I’m packing this in a Simply Rugged pancake holster with one of his 2x2x2 pouches on my belt for a reload. It packs very well in this set up, and covers well with even just a long t shirt. 

Decided to do some shooting this evening with this revolver running my carry load which is currently the HSM cowboy load with 240gn SWC bullet at 1150 fps. I feel like this load falls in a decent spots of having decent muzzle energy, while still being light enough for quick follow up shots. 

This target is the result of around 30 rounds fired starting at 10 yards, and taking a few steps back every shot until I had a shot off of the black. That final shot was fired and I hit the range finder at 154 yards, which puts the final hit on the black at around 150 yards.

Not too shabby for a 3” barrel and shooting off hand.

I carried 9mm hard cast buffalo bore ammo in a G19 knowing I could dump a lot of little deep penetration pills rather quickly in bear country & also had a 3” 357 with hard cast I’d carry when the wife carried the G19

But the 12ga with slugs was more comforting when a bear wandered into camp about 10-15 feet from the tent 🤣🤣

I know people who swear by bear spray, saying it’s better than a firearm

Check out High Desert Cartridge company it’s a small outfit in Washington state that loads excellent ammunition and has developed some 357 Magnum ammo specially for 3” barrels revolvers and they just came out with 45 Colt and 44 mag ammo

They will tell you it’s cheaper to send a check than use a CC and don’t do on line orders either

https://highdesertcartridge.com/

Been planning a road trip across Canada up to Alaska & the Canada’s anti gun campaign have been thinking a 12ga and a lever action 44 mag would be logical

[The Shooters Apprentice]

Getting ammo shipped up here can be a bit of a hassle. It was impossible for a long time, but there is a forwarding company now that will do hazmat.

I’ve got a couple 12ga and have never put much faith in the slugs since they don’t penetrate very deep, and prefer a lever gun. 45/70 is my go to, but 44 magnum is also fantastic. The older marlins would not stabilize 300 grain bullets, but the newer Ruger ones have a much faster 1/20” twist, as do the Rossi and other 92s out there.

My current pet levergun is a new production rossi 454 casull. The 454 was designed to equal original 45/70 trapdoor loads from a revolver. You put that in a lightweight handy lever gun that holds 10 rounds in the tube and it is a force to be reckoned with.

Getting ammo shipped up here can be a bit of a hassle. It was impossible for a long time, but there is a forwarding company now that will do hazmat.

I’ve got a couple 12ga and have never put much faith in the slugs since they don’t penetrate very deep, and prefer a lever gun. 45/70 is my go to, but 44 magnum is also fantastic. The older marlins would not stabilize 300 grain bullets, but the newer Ruger ones have a much faster 1/20” twist, as do the Rossi and other 92s out there.

My current pet levergun is a new production rossi 454 casull. The 454 was designed to equal original 45/70 trapdoor loads from a revolver. You put that in a lightweight handy lever gun that holds 10 rounds in the tube and it is a force to be reckoned with.

I'm surprised to hear the 12 gauge slug doesn't penetrate that well. Maybe that's because factory slugs are soft?

[The Shooters Apprentice]

Getting ammo shipped up here can be a bit of a hassle. It was impossible for a long time, but there is a forwarding company now that will do hazmat.

I’ve got a couple 12ga and have never put much faith in the slugs since they don’t penetrate very deep, and prefer a lever gun. 45/70 is my go to, but 44 magnum is also fantastic. The older marlins would not stabilize 300 grain bullets, but the newer Ruger ones have a much faster 1/20” twist, as do the Rossi and other 92s out there.

My current pet levergun is a new production rossi 454 casull. The 454 was designed to equal original 45/70 trapdoor loads from a revolver. You put that in a lightweight handy lever gun that holds 10 rounds in the tube and it is a force to be reckoned with.

I'm surprised to hear the 12 gauge slug doesn't penetrate that well. Maybe that's because factory slugs are soft?

It has more to do with sectional density. Think about how large diameter the slug is, vs the velocity compared to something like an original 45/70 load. Roughly the same weight and velocity, but the 45/70 with penetrate 5x or more deeper than the 12ga will. Most heavy hitting handguns, like 44 mag will out penetrate a 12 guage slug. They have a high energy transfer, but are not great at breaking heavy bones.

Getting ammo shipped up here can be a bit of a hassle. It was impossible for a long time, but there is a forwarding company now that will do hazmat.

I’ve got a couple 12ga and have never put much faith in the slugs since they don’t penetrate very deep, and prefer a lever gun. 45/70 is my go to, but 44 magnum is also fantastic. The older marlins would not stabilize 300 grain bullets, but the newer Ruger ones have a much faster 1/20” twist, as do the Rossi and other 92s out there.

My current pet levergun is a new production rossi 454 casull. The 454 was designed to equal original 45/70 trapdoor loads from a revolver. You put that in a lightweight handy lever gun that holds 10 rounds in the tube and it is a force to be reckoned with.

I'm surprised to hear the 12 gauge slug doesn't penetrate that well. Maybe that's because factory slugs are soft?

It has more to do with sectional density. Think about how large diameter the slug is, vs the velocity compared to something like an original 45/70 load. Roughly the same weight and velocity, but the 45/70 with penetrate 5x or more deeper than the 12ga will. Most heavy hitting handguns, like 44 mag will out penetrate a 12 guage slug. They have a high energy transfer, but are not great at breaking heavy bones.

That makes sense. For some reason I wasn't doing the grains/oz arithmetic.

[The Shooters Apprentice]

The sabot slugs do better (think brenekee black magic) but not all of them will run in a smooth bore.

Accuracy with a lever gun in usually better, and just as fast as a pump shotgun.

That was a brain fart on my part. An ounce sounds impressive, but while I didn't look it up I know that's only about 435 grains.

The sabot slugs do better (think brenekee black magic) but not all of them will run in a smooth bore.

Accuracy with a lever gun in usually better, and just as fast as a pump shotgun.

Berretta 1301 can really dump 7tds of 12 ga faster than any lever gun and the new Berretta patrol 12ga is just a tad slower 
00 buckshot is also a contender up close 
I’m a fan of deep penetration with low recoil and fast follow up shots, but that’s on black, brown and the occasional griz 
Had a friend who swore a co worker of his took down a polar bear in Alaska with a M16 when he was stationed on Shemya Island