Ruger Black Hawk 44 mag vs. S&W 629

Johnnyuho

I've been a S&W lover for years and was ready to purchase a 629 44 mag 4" but started reading some reviews that say the Ruger Black Hawk is a superior pistol for heavy loads. Can an expert on the matter share his opinion?

Thanks,

dfletcher

The Redhawk is a stronger and more robust than the 629. I have both and don't think it's much of a contest. But there's more to the guns than which one can handle the most heavy heavy loads. The 29 has a better SA & DA trigger pull and is from my experience more accurate than the Redhawk.

And the ability to handle a steady diet of heavy 44 Magnum loads of either gun is usually better than the shooter's ability (or wallet)to handle a steady diet of heavy 44 Magnums loads.

I wouldn't at all shy away from buying a 29 on the basis of heavy loads wearing out the gun.

Edit - Oops, I read Redhawk instead of Blackhawk. But what the heck, I think everything about the comparison - other than the DA pul - still applies. [:)]

dandak1

The 629 is a double action, the Blackhawk is single action...did you mean the Redhawk or the Blackhawk??

cussedemgun

Johnny,

Both S&W & Ruger are well made guns designed to shoot anything up to & including the max. pressure loads (industry max. 43,500 CUP)

The Ruger Blackhawk is single action & therefore a solid frame gun as opposed to the double action swing cylinder of the S&W. If you are talking abuse as in overloads, neither gun is immune to overloading. The Ruger will probably take more abuse & still function due to the single action design having fewer moving parts. Remember when you push the design limits of either, you increase the likelyhood of failure when you least expect it.

My thoughts on the matter, if you are going to worry about the top 2% of performance due to "HOT" loads, why not buy the super redhawk in 454 Casull or the S&W 500 for that matter. It's always safer to go big & load down.

Jim

allechalley

Both are fine weapons, as staed above. However, it's apples and oranges. The Black Hawk is a single action and made to "roll up"
on recoil, whereas the Smith is a more straight on recoil. They are almost completely different in the the way they handle. Nothing plus or minus on either one, but some do not like the way the single action rolls and never get used to it. Ditto's on the Smith trigger pull.

RCrosby

+1 allechalley,
I've owned several 29/629's and .44 Blackhawks and Superblackhawks.
For me the Ruger is definately more comfortable to shoot and for that reason they've seen something like 10X the use of my Smiths.
I no longer live in big bear country and have decided there's nothing I need to do that a good hard cast 240 grain slug at 1000 fps won't do; including large eastern whitetail at iron sight handgun ranges. (For me about 50 yards.) I won't live long enough to wear either of them out with those loads. Shoot both with the power level you'll be using and decide which one turns on your headlights.

tsr1965

I do have both the Super Blackhawk, and an early 629 with a 4" barrel. The Ruger can handle a steady diet of heavy loads, where the 29/629 can not. I have had to send the 629 back to get tightened up a couple times. I love it though, and it is my carry gun when I am in the woods working or fishing in the spring and summer as my cabin is in a black bear infested area. If you are going to be using medium loads, and light loads with a few heavy loads the S&W will work for you. If you want the controlability and double action like the S&W, but want to use heavier loads most of the time, then the Ruger Redhawk is for you.

Best

Bert H.

I have first hand experience in comparing the two revolvers you mention, and as others have pointed out, it is an apples & oranges comparison. Still, the Ruger is the stronger pistol, and will digest any load you want to shoot in it, whereas the Smith will not.

My experience comes from years of competitive IHMSA shooting. Back in the late 1970s to early 1980s, the guys competing in the Revolver Class quickly figured out that the Smith M29 (629) would not hold up to the constant pounding of the loads required to knockdown a Ram at 200 meters, and almost to the man, the pistol of choice was a Super Blackhawk. By the mid 1980s, the IHMSA Revolver Class shooters were shooting a Super Blackhawk, or a Dan Wesson 44 Mag. By the late 1980s, several of us were using a Super Redhawk instead of a Super Blackhawk. During the early years of experimenting with the Smith M29, I broke two firing pins, and after having the gun work itself completely loose several times, I gave up on it and bought a Super Blackhawk. In case you are wondering what loads I was using, it was 26.5 grains of WW-296 under a Sierra 220 grain FMJ-SIL bullet in a Remington-Peters case, and yes, that is a comparatively hot load. I shot more than 20,000 rounds of the same load through my Super Blackhawk with zero problems. In late 1987, I bought a brand new Super Redhawk, and I fed it the same load for many years... again, no problems what-so-ever, and I have more than 30,000 rounds through it. Simply put, a Smith M29 is not nearly the pistol that a Super Redhawk is. If your intention is to shoot stout loads on a regular basis, buy the Ruger (either a Super Blackhawk or a Super Redhawk). For those who claim the Smith has the better trigger, it only takes a small amount of stoning & polishing along with a Bullseye spring kit to make the Ruger much smoother and lighter than the Smith. The single-action pull on my SRH is 28-ounces.

Johnnyuho

thank you all for your informative comments.

Robin

I bought a Super Red Hawk a few years ago and was lucky enough to have an older gentlemen volunteer to work up some hand loads for the revolver and go over the trigger. Several S&W lovers have since had an opportunity to use the SRH and all were pleasantly surprised. Yes, the S&W is a fine revolver and generally have a great trigger but a lot can be done with the Ruger big bores.

I have taken several deer with my SRH including one large Wisconsin white tail.

beantownshootah

quote:Originally posted by Johnnyuho
I've been a S&W lover for years and was ready to purchase a 629 44 mag 4" but started reading some reviews that say the Ruger Black Hawk is a superior pistol for heavy loads. Can an expert on the matter share his opinion?

Thanks,


The question has been well-answered already, but I'll try to add something that hasn't already been said.

Supposedly Smith did beef up the locking system in 629s as a response to problems that were reported from lots of high pressure loads. So the guns today should be a little stouter than the ones from 20-30 years ago.

Still, that said, not only are the Rugers capable of standing up to more high-power shots than the Smiths, I think the Rugers can handle longer rounds that simply can't be fired AT ALL through a Smith, because of the shorter cylinder length on the Smith. If you look at reloading data for the .44 magnum, there are loads that are specified for Rugers (or similar guns) ONLY, ie excluding Smiths. If you look at the highest power commercial loads (eg Buffalo Bore and the like), the rounds specify on the box for Ruger (or similar) guns only.

Edit: for example, http://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=54

quote:List Price: $42.55
Our Price: $38.68

Overview

Heavy .44 Magnum +P+ Ammo - 340 gr. L.F.N. - G.C. (1,478 fps/M.E. 1,649 ft. lbs.) - 20 Round Box

NEW HEAVY 44 MAGNUM +P+

This new load is designed for only certain revolvers that have the cylinder length to handle it. They are as follows. Ruger Red Hawk, Ruger Super Red Hawk, Ruger Super Blackhawk or Vaquero, Freedom Arms Model 83, Taurus Raging Bull and Dan Wesson Revolvers. Suitable rifles include T/C Encore, "modified" Marlin 1894, Winchester 1894, any rifle with a falling block action and the Handi Rifle.

If you look at the ballistic data, note that these are absolutely MONSTER loads. If you want to fire the most powerful loads possible in the caliber, then you can't use the Smith gun.

Repeating what was said before, this strength issue only matters if you are likely to fire thousands of full-power magnum rounds through your gun. While there are many competitive, and a few recreational shooters who will do this, the vast majority of shooters never do, and in fact, I'd venture that most owners of .44magnum revolvers probably shoot them pretty infrequently. Its not just the recoil that hurts, its the cost of the rounds (eg see above)! If you want to shoot a lot of these, you pretty much have to reload.

In terms of other differences, the two really are totally different guns. The Blackhawk is basically a large single-action cowboy gun, while the Smith is essentially the "Dirty Harry" gun.

If you need the gun for defense, you'd want a double-action (ie either the Smith or the Ruger REDhawk). For pretty much any other purpose a single action should work fine.

If your defense is specifically against BROWN (ie Grizzly) bears, then bigger is better, and maybe the Ruger has an edge there since it can take more powerful loads.