Did S&W ever make a "scaled up J frame" i.e. 44 Special or Magnum, 5 shot snubbie.

I've shot a Lew Horton, ported, N frame snubbie. Did they ever make a smaller five shot?

Yeah G/C,
First the L frame 696 (3"), now the L frame Sc 396.
Most (me included) found the weight of the 696 didn't justify it's 5 shot capacity for carry. I can't remember the curb weight on the new Night Guard 396 (2 1/2" barrel), but I'll bet it's only 2/3's of what the 696 weighs. I still use the 696 quite often as a driving gun, where my lazy a** will be behind the wheel for 8-10 hours, rather than on my feet dragging it around the same amount of time. Wonderful caliber! But it, very much like the .41 Magnum, are somewhat the red headed step children of the revolver world? And that's too bad. You'd use up a lot of trigger time finding anything better.

They made the 296, at 18.9ozs, which was about as small, light, and ugly of a .44 as you could want.
-R

They announced a new one in February at the SHOT show. Your local dealer can order one for you.



If you use the Forum's search function, you should find the original thread in February plus a couple of reports from the folks that have bought them.

I like the looks of the 396 Night Guard. That should make 44 Special fans who want a light snubbie happy.

I like how they did away with the titanium cylinder in favor of steel for the Night Guards. I don't like the looks of the titanium on mine, nor the feel of it. It's also difficult to clean compared to steel.
-R

Although it is not a S&W, have you considered a new Charter Arms Bulldog? I have read nothing but positive reviews of the gun. The current production ones have some improvements over the older ones. I am going to get one pretty soon.

I recently found a second Rossi 720 and bought it. That's my favorite handgun to shoot.
They did make it with and without adjustable sights, bobbed hammer and fluted cylinder, and I've seen wood and rubber grips. It's one of the "good Rossi's".
Taurus made the 445, I had one and sold it, probably about like the Charter.
Be careful with any of these 'lower tier' makers. They had good times and bad times. The current Charter 2000 turned me right off, is why I bought the used Rossi. Glad I did, but other models of Rossi won't be of the same quality.
S&W never made this gun, a K-frame sized .44 Special.

I just finished reading a really strong review of the new Bulldog in Gun Tests. Here are two more

http://www.gunblast.com/Bulldog_Pug.htm

http://www.gunsandammomag.com/ga_handguns/ga_charterarms_0801/

Everything I've seen so far says the new ones are the best yet.

Hey Charlie;

That Model 296 ain't half bad. I tried one out that was for sale just a couple of months ago. I passed on purchasing it. Later found out that the fellow let it go for $500 at a gun show. I was too dumb to make such an offer to buy.