S&W Night Guard 329 or 396

[ellis4538]

Nice looking Mountain Gun!  How much of a premium was it for the commeritive?

Richard

[Kid Shelleen]

Sweet Mountain Gun TW.

[Combat Diver]

Go the 329 route in my opion.  It gives you another caliber for more performance.  I'm lookiing at the 357 Night Guard in .41 Mag as that's my favorite cartridge when I return to the states.

[twyacht]

from Combat Diver:
I'm lookiing at the 357 Night Guard in .41 Mag as that's my favorite cartridge when I return to the states.

Good to see the rumblings of the .41 getting louder. It's a top shelf SD caliber.



S&W still makes one of the best...IMHO.

[MAUSERMAN]

I like 41mag better than 44mag, plus the recoil is tammer which makes practice a breeze.

[Sponsor]

[fightingquaker13]

I like 41mag better than 44mag, plus the recoil is tammer which makes practice a breeze.

If it were not for the ammo price it would be my house gun/woods gun choice. Its kind of like the 16 gauge. The perfect gun, but just not popular enough.
FQ13

[tombogan03884]

If it were not for the ammo price it would be my house gun/woods gun choice. Its kind of like the 16 gauge. The perfect gun, but just not popular enough.
FQ13

It never was. 41 Mag is like 10mm, there has always been enough interest to keep it alive, but never enough for it to become "mainstream".

[Michael Bane]

Finally, a question in my area of expertise! The answer is, "I don't know..."

I've fiddled around with this subject a long time. I even once had Hamilton Bowen build a .44 Special "Mountain Gun" to fill this niche, so I love .44 Specials. I nearly passed out with joy when I saw the Nightguard 396...except that I didn't rush out and buy one. I now have a 629 3-inch .44 Magnum from Jim Stroh at Alpha Precision that was purpose-built for the function you guys are talking about, the ultimate woods gun. My rationale for .44 Magnum over my beloved .44 Special was ammo versatility — especially factory ammo versatility — and ammo availability. The 629 replaced my 296 ultralightium .44 Special (which I still carry on occasions because of the cool chest holster from Survival Sheath Systems.

When it's grumpy bear season, I typically carry penetrators in my woods gun...Keith loads with heavy hard-cast bullets designed to punch deep into big, dangerous game. Most of the year I default to 200-grain .44 Special personal protection ammo, either Winchester SilverTips or Cor-Bon DPX.

If the .454 Alaskan weighed a tad less, I'd go with it for the same reason — ammo availability and ammo versatility. Cowboy-level .45 Colt is abundant and easy to shoot in the big gun, and, conversely, Cor-Bon .454 hunting ammo would stop a velociraptor in its tracks. If that didn't work, you could hand the dino the gun and suggest that it shoot you, since the recoil would then knock it stone cold dead.

I had high hopes for the S&W ultralight 329, but mine has proven to be a huge disappointment. The Rube Goldberg internal locking system repeatedly jams the gun up under DA fire, even with 240-grain JHP Magnums. One of these days I'll take it apart and toss the whole worthless lock system, then we'll see what the gun will do.

Because my present competition of choice is cowboy action shooting, I find myself leaning toward single actions, usually Rugers,  as woods guns. On USFS land, where open carry is allowed, I've been carrying "Thumper," an ancient Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum I overhauled years ago. The barrel's been shortened, fitted a Belt Mountain basepin for Magnum loads, changed out the steel "Dragoon" gripframe for a lighter and smaller aluminum gripframe, cool Colorado elk grips, etc. I carry it in a plain old boring Tom Threeperson's holster.

Michael B

[ericire12]

Michael-

For someone who claims "I dont know", that was a pretty long and informative post.