The 200 grain maximum bullet weight etching had slipped my mind. That was never on any all steel S&W. Early L frame .44 Specials made with aluminum frames and titanium cylinders were marked with that limit to avoid bullets creeping forward and blocking cylinder rotation. S&W worrying about old fashioned factory 246 grain RNL jumping their crimp says a lot about how badly the Models 396 and 296 recoil. No thank-you. Brian Pearce was testing a Model 396 which a couple of you wrote was a Mountain Lite. As far as I know all the Model 396 Mountain Lites were early 396s with titanium cylinders.

In my experience 245 grain bullets fired from a Model 696 at 750 to 800 fps go all the way through BOTH sides of target paper. Afterwards a beer by a fire in the lodge is more important than expansion.