Smith & Wesson 4.25" Model 69 .44 Magnum

[JonInWA]

Earlier this week, I had a chance to spend some quality time with our nephew, who had picked one of these up as a back-up when he's bear hunting. I helped him zero and break it in, and here are my thoughts:

We easily zeroed it with 305 gr HSM bear loads, which featured a lead wide flat-nose, gas-checked bullet, providing 1075 ft lbs of baseline energy at 1260 fps; even with the rubber grips (albeit hard rubber), it just was not particularly pleasant to shoot with such heavy loads. Do-able, yes. Crippling, no. But pretty unpleasant. In an emergency, it would be a non-issue, but after zeroing, we pretty quickly switched to 240 gr cowboy loads, which were far more pleasant (and probably took thing down to about .357 magnum recoil).

The single-action trigger was quite nice, out of the box. The double action pull was pretty heavy, and a bit stagy. After our initial session, it went immediately to the gunsmith for an action job/tuning, which should be money very well spent. We encountered zero evidence of bullets being pulled out of their cartridge cases by recoil forces in the cylinder during firing, weather they were the 2nd or the 5th cartridges.

The standard S&W adjustable revolver sights were decent, with perceptible click detents, making it easy to zero and adjust. The rear sight blade sits pretty high in the sight body, making it a bit susceptible to damaged dropped and/or wacked about, but he's getting a protective holster; Tactical Tailor is custom-making him a tactical thigh holster which should work nicely and provide a good balance between accessibility and protectiveness (and will keep the revolver out of the way of his rucksack, straps, rifle, etc.).

The five round capacity should be adequate for the intended purposes, and nicely enables the incorporation of .44 magnum cartridges with a relatively smaller L-frame, providing a very carry-able package. It's a great choice for him, but I'm still balancing the .40 semi-automatic with Underwood Lehigh Xtreme Penetrator 140 gr as discussed and recommended by GJM versus full-house heavy .44 magnum revolver loadings. My thoughts are that for my area (the Pacific Northwest) the Underwood Lehigh Xtremes should be just fine for the treats I'm likely to encounter-black bear and mountain lions, but for grizzly bears and larger brown bears, I might carefully reassess things. I particularly like the ability to have a credible wilderness loading for with semi-automatic, given the potential for a lighter weight platform, greater capacity, and easier reloads. In my case, I previously carried a Glock G21 with Buffalo Bore cartridges; last year I switched to my Glock Gen4 G22 with the Underwood Lehigh cartridges (ad Federal HSTs). The Underwood Lehigh Xtreme Penetrator 140 gr .40 cartridges provide 448 ft lbs of energy at 1200 fps.

Regardless, I think the Model 69 fills a nice niche, and is easily carried and relatively weather resistant, in that it's bead-blasted stainless steel construction. If I wanted a reasonably light and carriable .44 Magnum revolver, it would be on my radar.

Best, Jon

[whomever]

Lightweight? It's almost 50% heavier than the 329PD!

(I jest ... it's also half a pound lighter than the 629, and slimmer. I have all three, and I think the 69 is my favorite except for the kind of backpacking where you cut half the handle off the toothbrush to save weight)

FWIW, the super-cushy grips S&W sells for the model 500 will fit the 69:

https://store.smith-wesson.com/model...nversion-grips

(I see they don't list the 69 as a model they fit, but they worked on mine)

[Johnny Walker]

Earlier this week, I had a chance to spend some quality time with our nephew, who had picked one of these up as a back-up when he's bear hunting. I helped him zero and break it in, and here are my thoughts:

We easily zeroed it with 305 gr HSM bear loads, which featured a lead wide flat-nose, gas-checked bullet, providing 1075 ft lbs of baseline energy at 1260 fps; even with the rubber grips (albeit hard rubber), it just was not particularly pleasant to shoot with such heavy loads. Do-able, yes. Crippling, no. But pretty unpleasant. In an emergency, it would be a non-issue, but after zeroing, we pretty quickly switched to 240 gr cowboy loads, which were far more pleasant (and probably took thing down to about .357 magnum recoil).

The single-action trigger was quite nice, out of the box. The double action pull was pretty heavy, and a bit stagy. After our initial session, it went immediately to the gunsmith for an action job/tuning, which should be money very well spent. We encountered zero evidence of bullets being pulled out of their cartridge cases by recoil forces in the cylinder during firing, weather they were the 2nd or the 5th cartridges.

The standard S&W adjustable revolver sights were decent, with perceptible click detents, making it easy to zero and adjust. The rear sight blade sits pretty high in the sight body, making it a bit susceptible to damaged dropped and/or wacked about, but he's getting a protective holster; Tactical Tailor is custom-making him a tactical thigh holster which should work nicely and provide a good balance between accessibility and protectiveness (and will keep the revolver out of the way of his rucksack, straps, rifle, etc.).

The five round capacity should be adequate for the intended purposes, and nicely enables the incorporation of .44 magnum cartridges with a relatively smaller L-frame, providing a very carry-able package. It's a great choice for him, but I'm still balancing the .40 semi-automatic with Underwood Lehigh Xtreme Penetrator 140 gr as discussed and recommended by GJM versus full-house heavy .44 magnum revolver loadings. My thoughts are that for my area (the Pacific Northwest) the Underwood Lehigh Xtremes should be just fine for the treats I'm likely to encounter-black bear and mountain lions, but for grizzly bears and larger brown bears, I might carefully reassess things. I particularly like the ability to have a credible wilderness loading for with semi-automatic, given the potential for a lighter weight platform, greater capacity, and easier reloads. In my case, I previously carried a Glock G21 with Buffalo Bore cartridges; last year I switched to my Glock Gen4 G22 with the Underwood Lehigh cartridges (ad Federal HSTs). The Underwood Lehigh Xtreme Penetrator 140 gr .40 cartridges provide 448 ft lbs of energy at 1200 fps.

Regardless, I think the Model 69 fills a nice niche, and is easily carried and relatively weather resistant, in that it's bead-blasted stainless steel construction. If I wanted a reasonably light and carriable .44 Magnum revolver, it would be on my radar.

Best, Jon

Interesting.. I will need to find GJM's comments regarding the Lehigh Xtreme in 40 S&W for woods duty... I have carried my G35 with KKM Barrel in the woods using the 200 gr hard cast from Underwood.... I will look into the Lehigh 140 gr penetrators... Thanks Jon.

[okie john]

After our initial session, it went immediately to the gunsmith for an action job/tuning, which should be money very well spent.

Who are you using? This neck of the woods is a gunsmith desert.


Okie John

[03RN]

I know it's only one round but I have a serious aversion to 5 round guns.

I've heard nothing but positive reviews to these.

[Lester Polfus]

I know it's only one round but I have a serious aversion to 5 round guns.

I've heard nothing but positive reviews to these.

What I find interesting is that Smith sees fit to chamber their L-frame gun in .44 Mag, but Ruger will only put 5 shots of .44 Special in the GP100.

[CTX44]

Love mine. Carry it everywhere. As mentioned above, the grips for the model 500 are the hot ticket for the M69. 300gr loads are definitely a lot out of it, though. For me they kick hard enough that I get a lot of vertical stringing if I don't manage my grip well. So in the M69 I tend to stick to 240gr. But...I am getting soft.

[mmc45414]

I am glad I have mine, but agree about the recoil. My other 44 is a SBH, and I have had several M29s, and never really cared about recoil, but the M69 is kinda sporty

[awp_101]

I keep thinking I want a pre-lock 4" M29 (because awesome) even though the Specials to Magnums ratio would be 100-1 (or maybe even 100-0) because all I'm doing is punching paper and ringing steel. A 5 shooter would make the math in a box of ammo easier for me and might be enough to offset the lock (blech ptooey).

What I find interesting is that Smith sees fit to chamber their L-frame gun in .44 Mag, but Ruger will only put 5 shots of .44 Special in the GP100.

I haven't handled them side by side, but my understanding from those who have is the M69 has a beefier forcing cone. Some GP owners are reporting cracked forcing cones when using the Skeeter load as their go-to.

[JonInWA]

Who are you using? This neck of the woods is a gunsmith desert.


Okie John

In this case, Millard of Summit Arms Services (he works out of The Marksman gunshop in Puyallup), but there's also C.a.R in Kent, and Carlos Bregante in Edmunds.

Best, Jon