Does anyone shoot a titanium S&W revolver in .45 Colt or .44 Mag?

Brant Buster · #1 09-04-2006, 05:03 AM

If so, how do you like your piece? I'm looking at purchasing a light-weight grizzly / black bear gun in .45 Colt or .44 Rem Mag, and the lightweight qualities of these Smith & Wessons (M325 or M329) are mighty appealing for carry purposes.

I realize the M325 is made in .45 ACP, but a competent pistol smith ought to be able to replace the cylinder with a CM or stainless steel one in .45 Colt.

Please respond if you might shoot the M625 or M629 Mountain Guns in these chamberings.

Corbon offers some very impressive loads for both cartridges.

Thanks in advance.

Catfish · #2 09-04-2006, 08:30 AM

Brant,
I personally have never shot one, but one of the guys in our local club is a buyer for for one of the bigger firearm supply houses in the country so he tries everything new that comes out. He had an M329 at the range one day and several felows shot it. Most only 1 shot. All said it was a handfull and these guy shoot .454`s and .500`s. All said it was far stiffer recoil that any .500 round they had fired. I seen a used one in a gun shop that look unfired, but I guess the guy that got it new took it to the range 1 time. You really have to love recoil to own one of these, I WANT ONE.

Brant Buster · #3 09-04-2006, 12:44 PM

What I didn't include until before is that I plan to shoot only .44 Special-type loads or normal .45 Colt loads (14,000 psi) 99% of the time, unless I need to pack a sidearm if in bear country (Idaho and Montana). Then it would be there for any "emergency." Many hunters when packing out meat from the kill site often leave their rifles in camp in favor of carrying a lighter weight handgun.

I like the versatility of the .45 Colt and that lower pressure loads are pleasant yet still substantial, same with the .44 Spl I've seen.

I'm not a big fan of having big guns nor their big recoil for the sake of having something "big," but after reading a couple articles about how wolves have attacked dogs in the company of their people, a .357 seems a little small. A full grown griZZ starts at 500# and a large male can be double that. Of course wolves and lions are smaller.

And BTW Catfish, on another thread I noticed you have a Bullberry .357 Maximum barrel. May I ask what its length is?

On some NEF Handi-Rifle treads I visit, many shooters who own .357 Mag barrels rechamber to the Maximum. Those barrels start out at 22 inches, unless shortened.

Thanks!

gumpokc · #4 09-04-2006, 01:04 PM

I've fired one like that on one occasion.
I don't remember the model number as it was a friend on mines pistol, that i've lost touch with since.

I do remember it was a S&W featherweight mountain pistol, .44mag

With light loads it was ok, with fullbore .44mag load it actually hurt to fire it.

The felt recoil was worse than the .500 S&W becuase of the light weight. The loads were top of the chart though too.