Great carry gun, lousy gun if you want to shoot it. And I don't mean a box or so. I enjoy shooting the 44 and when I shoot I usually burn through 200 to 300 rounds at a time. Shooting that much, even a Mountain Gun gets to be a handfull even with handloaded hot 44 Specials. Lots of argument on this one but you've answered part of your own question when you said you'd seen three of them. To me they're a lot like the lightweight pocket 38 Specials: carry them lots and shoot them little. Both the guns and your future (non)nerve damaged hands will be much happier. Add to that, these guns have trick blast shields(at least the ones I've seen) that need to be FACTORY replaced with much shooting and you have another reason to buy, at the least, a Mountain Gun and maybe take another step up to a standard 629 4."