NEW 629 and 686 NO LOCK MOUNTAIN GUNS ANNOUNCED!

[cmj8591]

Being a southerner, I have always believed we southerners held a superior knowledge of the world around us than our northeast counterparts in places like Massachusetts, on a general population overview. It appears I am correct, the move to East Tennessee by S&W and the added of those mountain hoogers to the construction facilities have caused S&W to develop what is know in the south as "common sense" They have reintroduced the mountain gun series without the hillary hole lock. Wow, what a fantastic way to recapture the handgun maket. I wonder if this common knowledge that filtered into the management was by osmoses of just being around this group of very knowledge southerners or the management was taken over by a bunch of mountain hoogers. Long live the mountains guns with no locks.!! ( No smith and wesson stock was harmed in the making of these no lock mountain guns in 2025).

I have been playing with these S&W wheel guns since the mid 1970s, and own several in my collection. The most two accurate guns I own and the ones I actually carry to the field are my two mountain guns in 357 and 44. They will be the last two I keep if I every sell the others and that includes my 29-2. I think they have hit the home run for the company with the change in management style in 2025.

You do realize that those guns are manufactured in Massachusetts? As are all S&W revolvers. They kept revolver manufacturing in Springfield, along with their forging operations.

 

[NY-1]

If it was mine, I would keep the original Bear Hug stocks on it. It was such a long wait and super special occasion for these models to be release by S&W and coming from factory with these stocks was a first. They are the best for this gun in my opinion. Unless you want to save the originals, or if they don't feel that great in hand. It's your gun after all. Culinas also look great, of course (they are Culinas! how they could not look great)

Something else I wanted to add, thanks to the photos you and others posted here, I noticed something I haven't before: the hard chromed trigger and hammer instead of the usual heat-treated ones. Super cool.

Yup! The hammer and trigger are flash chromed, and that feature was specifically requested by Lipsey's and Jason Cloessner according to a few interviews I've watched. Stainless guns look nicer with stainless/silver parts IMO.

 

[Nick B]

The 629-9 Mountain Gun appeared on my neck of the woods as well. I snagged mine last night. No quality issues on mine. I’ll have to measure the forcing cone to cylinder gap later.

I spent the morning loading 100 rounds of my favorite 44 Magnum load and will take it out later to test its accuracy.

Please post the results of the cylinder gap measurement when you have the time .
Thanks

 

[Doug M.]

Darryl and the rest of the team specced the stocks for a set of reasons; you can watch their podcast for details. That said, stocks and hand fit are often very personal, so what matters is how well you shoot with them. To me, the cosmetic issues are somewhere between trivial and modest because of that and the fact that darned few people should see them.

 

[Yendor357]

Dear Smith and Wesson,

You have a revolver with which Colt cannot compete. A 9 ounce difference is insurmountable.
Would you Knuckleheads please see fit to index the barrels properly? Does anyone there do a final inspection? For pity sake, you do this for a living. Act like it.

Yours truly, Yendor.

 

[bobsguns]

Don't know if a 22 can qualify as a mountain gun but I would really like a 617 with a slim barrel. The full lug barrel on mine is needlessly heavy for a 22.

Not when you have to knock around a mad squirrel when the gun is empty!

 

[bobsguns]

You do realize that those guns are manufactured in Massachusetts? As are all S&W revolvers. They kept revolver manufacturing in Springfield, along with their forging operations.

But where are the decisions being made?

 

[bobsguns]

Is it really a 686 if there's no bbl lug? I'm having a hard time thinking it is.

 

[BoulderTroll]

Is it really a 686 if there's no bbl lug? I'm having a hard time thinking it is.

Whatever it's called, it's 1000x better. I think full-lug barrels are the most disgusting looking design ever to grace a firearm.

 

[cmj8591]

But where are the decisions being made?

I'm sure they had an epiphany about the lock as soon as they turned on the lights in the new building.

 

[BoulderTroll]

I'm sure they had an epiphany about the lock as soon as they turned on the lights in the new building.

I think we have Andrew Gore to thank for that. When he started at S&W two years ago the second sentence out of his mouth was "When are we getting rid of the locks", according to the interview I watched. Having the dude in charge of revolver design be a die-hard anti-locker is what it finally took for the change.

 

[Anton Chigurh]

The barrel doesn’t have the hourglass contour/taper that the originals did. It just comes out of the frame skinny. Not quite as refined as the original, but oh well.

 

[BoulderTroll]

The barrel doesn’t have the hourglass contour/taper that the originals did. It just comes out of the frame skinny. Not quite as refined as the original, but oh well.

Check out the photos on the S&W website. There is a very noticeable taper to the barrel as it leaves the frame. It's just tricky to show all the lines with lighting conditions on a stainless revolver. The taper is definitely there.

https://www.smith-wesson.com/product/model-629-mountain-gun

 

[bobsguns]

Whatever it's called, it's 1000x better. I think full-lug barrels are the most disgusting looking design ever to grace a firearm.

Well, we all have our likes & dislikes.

But the lug adds weight to keep the muzzle flip as low as possible. It also adds stiffness to the bbl, also altering the harmonics to a more positive side of the ledger.

But with 50 years being with or around guns, your opinion on the lug is the first time I've heard that. I don't intend that as a slam of any sort, just stating a fact on my part. We all like what we like, IMO.

 

[SLT223]

I think we have Andrew Gore to thank for that. When he started at S&W two years ago the second sentence out of his mouth was "When are we getting rid of the locks", according to the interview I watched. Having the dude in charge of revolver design be a die-hard anti-locker is what it finally took for the change.

Probably that and something to do with the pay off of capital for the lock project. I’m not discounting his contribution, but if he spoke up 20 years ago, I doubt it would have been economically feasible to reverse the process. Nonetheless, they have done the right thing in more ways than one. No lock is least of it to me. This is the first time since forever they put real quality wood grips on a revolver and the brass bead patridge is simply awesome! They even mounted it with a solid stainless pin. I’m honestly impressed at the msrp with these features. Made it a no-brainer for me. Just look at the higher priced models that don’t have these goodies. I like the direction in which they are moving. Again, I’m not discounting Mr. Gores contribution.

 

[Engine49guy]

A few observations,
First, looking at the .44 with grips removed is that circular cut inside the gripframe sonething new ?
Also while I didn't notice it until another pointed it out but the barrel does appear to be less of a bell shape near the frame.
On a positive note at least they notched the frame edges to mate to the narrow rib better, IIRC they stopped doing that with the 629-3 Mountain gun.
While I love the seven shot 686-5 Mountain gun can't help think that an 8 shot N frame .357 Mountain gun would be awesome, give it a real checkered top strap and a sb gripframe and mark them in the yoke cut REG MAG+.

Lastly on the subject of the grips, while they are better than the rubber Pachmayers that came on the 629-2 and current Altamont offerings which are too long, thin and square in the heel they'd look alot better with a set of SW medallions, better yet deep SS escutcheons, GA or some other interesting wood would also be nice, the walnut looks a bit utilitarian IMO but the reality is I'm swapping rubber onto it for field use and Culinas for showing it off to my friends and trading those ones provided or filing them in the spare grips drawer.
In a perfect world theyd give the buyer a choice of several different styles, if someone offered a set that mimicked the old 44 Magnum Cokes theyd sell like hotcakes, closest I've seen so far are the Eagles.

Closing thought, I suppose when they changed to the rounded rear sight leaf they ceased milling straight through the topstrap, that channel gave a very good reference point for aligning the barrel rib to the frame, this makes me wonder if this might be part of the problem with all the misaligned barrels that it's harder to notice at a quick glance.

 

[Anton Chigurh]

I have a 1989 Mountain Revolver, 29-2. And, lighting considered, it still looks to have much more of a bell taper. As did the 28, and 27, etc.
Not being a snob or suggesting the current ones should be held at arm’s length with two fingers and dropped in the garbage. Just couldn’t help but notice.

 

[Engine49guy]

In reference to post #175 above by Pappy John,
"my LGS agreed to return it due to a canted barrel. Canted enough to be obvious looking down the sights and when the cylinder was opened you could see a gap where the underlug did not meet the frame".

Not saying your examples barrel wasn't off center but be advised I just opened the cylinders on a 629-2 MG, 629-3 MG, 27-2 and 28-2, all have a visible gap where the ejector rod shroud meets the frame, if the yoke arm is open they look off center from the muzzle, with the yoke arm closed its actually wider on the guns left side by eye .
Just wanted to point this out as a frame of reference.

 

[stansdds]

Here’s a few closer photos of the Bear Hug stocks and the main spring, which is not the ribbed one. I may change that later.

The stocks Bear Hug stocks are nice! Miles better than the thin Altamont stocks S&W typically uses. Being Walnut I can feel they’ll be prone to scratching.

I took them out for now to try a set of Culina Cocobolo stocks I have laying around.

Here are the first shots of the new 629 Mountain Gun rocking Culinas. What do you guys think? Keep these or revert to the original stocks?

Use whichever stocks are the most comfortable for you when shooting.

 

[cmj8591]

I think we have Andrew Gore to thank for that. When he started at S&W two years ago the second sentence out of his mouth was "When are we getting rid of the locks", according to the interview I watched. Having the dude in charge of revolver design be a die-hard anti-locker is what it finally took for the change.

My point is that I don't think that the lock decision has anything to do with the move to Tennessee. Revolver production, and I'm going to bet revolver design also, remain in Massachusetts. The forging operation also remains. They forge many things there from golf clubs to auto parts. If you've ever seen it, you would know that moving it anywhere would be a gargantuan undertaking. There were a lot of reasons for the move out of Springfield but THE biggest was it has become difficult and expensive to do any kind of business here. S&W needed to do a lot of modernizing to their infrastructure and it made more sense to do it in a place more business friendly than Springfield. They were just following the rest of the manufacturers that moved south.