The following is my opinion and my opinion only. I have owned a number of .44 S&W Magnum revolvers. For carrying a lot and shooting occasionally, the Mountain Gun is fine. For shooting more than a little bit with full-power loads, I very much prefer the standard weight S&W 29/629. I never fired anything other than the 180 gr. and 240 gr. factory level loads, so possibly there are full-power .44 Magnum loads that recoil less. I only know that with the loads I fired, I rapidly came to the conclusion that the little bit of extra weight in the barrel made a noticeable difference in recoil. JMHO.

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