The 696 has the thinnest forcing cone that I have seen on ANY revolver other than the 296. It is also fairly long. S&W was trying to shoehorn the .44 Special into a mid-frame revolver to make it more compact. They accomplished this but the thin forcing cone is the trade off. Every time a bullet is swaged through the forcing cone as it is fired the cone is hammered. The thin cone will be affected more by the pressure and gas more than a stouter one and it will crack sooner. Ask old shooters about their Model 19/66 experience with forcing cones compared to the Model 27/28 shooters. If you want to keep it around for a long, long time load it with swaged lead bullets (Speer, Hornady) and keep velocities at 800 fps or under. If you don't care about an abbreviated life span, load it up to what some are recommending here. If you want to shoot warm or hot .44s look at a Model 24/29 or a Ruger.

Best Regards,
ADP3