Smith and Wesson’s 629 Mountain Gun Returns!

By Joe W Gorman

Smith and Wesson’s new 629 Mountain Gun is a Lipsey’s exclusive and well worth the effort it takes to track one down!

The Gun

One extremely desirable gun that escaped me when it was originally being produced was Smith and Wesson’s 629 Mountain Gun. A late 80s creation that reached the Zenith of its popularity in the mid-90s, the Smith and Wesson Mountain Gun was eventually offered in .44 Magnum, .41 Magnum and .45 Colt.

The 629 Mountain Gun Comes with Tyler Gun Works bear hug walnut grips. They are beautiful and unobtrusive. Also pictured is the factory ammunition that was tested with.

The Smith and Wesson Mountain Gun can be described simply as a 4” Model 629, with a lightweight tapered barrel, a cylinder with a chamfered leading edge (originally used in black powder days) and a smooth/narrow trigger. I have a 4” Model 629-3, with a bull barrel that points much differently given the relatively small difference in weight.

These features were retained by Smith and Wesson when they reintroduced the 629 .44 Magnum Mountain Gun early in 2025. The 2025 629 Mountain Gun wears Tyler Gun Works bear hug walnut grips that are both attractive and offer good purchase in my hand. (And yes my long history of leaving a portion of my thumb-knuckle skin in the cylinder release, when firing full-power .44 Magnums in Smith revolvers, continues) Smith outfitted the new Mountain Gun with a brass-bead Patridge front sight that is highly visible to my old eyes and a black blade, fully adjustable rear sight. The Mountain Gun also has a round butt grip. Most importantly for many of us, this gun has no internal safety. Yaaaay.

On the left, the New Smith Mountain Gun. On the right, my old 629-3 4”. That lighter barrel makes the Mountain Gun point more naturally for me.

Upon initial inspection of the new Mountain Gun, I noticed fit and finish looked good, the lock-work seemed spot on and the trigger was excellent for a right-out-of the-box gun. It really is an attractive gun. I measured a crisp, 3.5-pound single-action pull. The double action pull weight was approximately10 pounds and the pull felt smooth. I would say for any purpose short of bullseye competition or top-tier practical pistol competition, the new Model 629 Mountain Gun is good to go from the box. I lightly lubricated the moving parts with Lucas Extreme and set out to begin testing.

Ammunition Used

I tested with ammunition from Hornady, Winchester and some Gorman home-brew. I was anxious to test out Hornady’s new Backcountry Defense 240gr with the Dangerous Game Handgun bullet in the Mountain Gun. I will make a long story short and say, this ammo is worth every cent. I admit to being intimidated by the claimed velocity of the .44 Magnum Back Country Defense ammunition (1620 fps). I saw more like 1500 fps from the 4” Smith Mountain Gun and yeah, that was plenty for my old paw. I even shot some of this ammo through my Marlin 1894 SBL lever-action rifle and saw the velocity jump to 1820 fps! Given that the DGB is designed to not expand, a .44 Magnum Backcountry Defense round, fired from a rifle, would almost certainly go clean through a large Iowa white-tail, even from an oblique angle, out to 150 yards at least!

Hornady’s new Backcountry Defense rounds were the most accurate of the lot and had the highest velocity of the rounds I tested with. It’s good to know that if I’m ever attacked by a Cape Buffalo while walking my dog, my Mountain Gun can protect me.

I also tested some tried and true loads that I’ve used to hunt deer with. I tested Hornady’s Custom 240gr and 300gr XTP ammunition with excellent results too. Winchester’s 210gr Silvertip and some old 240gr Dual Bond ammunition that shoots well in all my .44s. The Hornady Custom ammunition was also very accurate from the Mountain Gun and the 240gr variant left the muzzle at a respectable 1370 fps. The 300gr Hornady Custom left the muzzle at 1065fps. Winchester’s 210gr Silvertip left the muzzle at 1250fps and the Dual Bond 240gr ammunition was traveling at 1305 fps when it left the muzzle.

All of the ammunition did well in my 10-yard double action shooting test. All of the ammunition also did well in my 50-yard single action test. In fact all of the Hornady ammunition stayed inside of the outline of the head on a B-27 Qual target, with me behind the trigger: every group I shot!!! I think this both says a lot about the inherent accuracy of the revolver and great trigger it had out of the box.

Single action from 15 yards the Mountain Gun was plenty accurate. 240 gr cast Keith bullets over 10grs of Unique made a hard hitting and accurate round. It didn’t kick as hard as the full power .44 magnum loads but it kicked hard enough!

I even shot a couple boxes of my reloads made up from Missouri Bullet’s 240gr cast SWC Keith bullet with 10grs of Unique under it. These reloads get me just under 1100fps from the Smith Mountain Gun and, at 18 BRN hardness, the cast semi-wadcutter bullet with shove its flat nose through anything I’m going to encounter in the wilds of Iowa.

Testing by Fire

Running double-action combat drills from 10 yards was hard on my hand and wrist using the 240gr and 300gr factory magnum ammo, particularly after the round count got pretty high and I was into the “quick doubles” phase of testing. If I was in bear country or cape buffalo territory I’d not hesitate to set out with a cylinder full of Hornady’s Backcountry Defense ammunition. For rapid double tap drills, the 210gr Silvertips and my reloads permitted me to put .44 bullets on the target quickly.

For my final test phase of the Mountain Gun, I shot at bowling pins, just to watch them die. I discovered that full-power .44 Magnums, loaded with 240-300 grain bullets, will lift pins slightly when struck, and then violently slam them into the backstop on my range. This caused me no end of happiness. For this drill, my shooting hand’s thumb knuckle was bleeding through two band aids but I did not care as I did not have time to bleed. I carried on with my mission to clear a table of 5 pins as quickly as possible from 10 yards. The brass bead guided me well to the mark. I managed to get a couple of runs of sub 7-second times in clearing all five from the table. The Hornady Backcountry Defense rounds very authoritatively removed the pins from the table but the 300gr XTP Custom load would generally lift the pins more for whatever that’s worth. Also worth noting that when struck with the 240gr hard cast reloads the pins cleared the table without bouncing off the top, for the most part. This load allowed me to get back on target more quickly too. This testing convinced me that I need to try 9.0 grains of Unique for a while.

Deliberate double action shooting at 10 yards with Hornady’s 240gr XTP load produced good results. The Smith trigger is really pretty good out of the box!

The good idea fairy paid me a visit while I was testing and I tried the full power .44 Magnum ammunition from the 1894 SBL. Tee-hee. This was a lot of fun as when the pin was stuck off center, with any of the full-power factory loads through the rifle, the pin would spin like a top and hurl itself into the backstop. This entertained me way more than it should have. I shot it at 100 yards and was amazed to see a .69” three-shot group! HOLY COW!

I had to shoot the 240gr Hornady Backcountry defense ammunition out of my Marlin 1894 SBL, because science! That load went 1840fps over my chronograph and scored the tightest 100 yard group I’ve ever shot from a lever action. I’d say that load, fired from a lever gun, would kill any dangerous critters in North America and probably the world, given good shot placement.

The balance of the Model 629 Mountain Gun, enhanced by the thin barrel, made for quick pointing and comfortable carrying. I also came to be a huge fan of the Tyler Gun Works grips as an elegant grip solution for the mission of this gun.

With Hornady’s Back Country Defense ammunition, I could keep 6/6 shots in the head of a B27 target, standing at 50 yards with the Smith and Wesson 629 Mountain Gun

Carrying in Comfort

Galco’s Revenger holster, 2x2x2 ammo carrier and SB-28 belt. I am confident that if I am ever at a Christmas party at Nakatomi Plaza and it goes sideways, I could use this belt to get to a lower floor in an air shaft. Not that I’ve thought about that. Much.

My casual carry rig consists of a Galco SB-5 tan belt, a 2x2x2 ammo carrier and a Combat Master hip holster. The Mountain Gun in the Galco rig felt light (light for what I was packing) and never bothered me as I entered/exited my truck and walked my daily 4-mile timber hike. And then, just like that, I discovered that Galco is making their world-class “Masterbilt Revenger” for the 4” Model 629! Galco’s Revenger is a premium quality, hand-molded belt-holster that offers a metal reinforced belt channel as well as a molded sight rail for a smooth draw. The Revenger is

Galco’s excellent Revenger Masterbilt holster, is made from premium materials, hand-fitted and comfortable when you have a big iron on your hip. The Galco SB-28 belt is sturdy and attractive. It can be worn every day and doesn’t look out of place with slacks. Galco’s 2x2x2 ammo carrier is a low profile secure way to store extra ammunition on your belt for a 2x2x2 tactical reload.

designed with premium quality components to both keep your weapon close to your side, even with larger guns like this Mountain Gun and permit a fast draw to get your gun in the fight quicker. The Revenger is also lined to help keep the finish of your gun looking new. The Mountain Gun belongs in a great holster! I also updated to a Galco SB-28 Stamped Holster 1 1/2”.

Galco’s Revenger holtster is constructed with a soft full-grain leather lining to protect the weapon it is carrying. The metal belt channel on the back of the holster keeps the holster against your body. This may be the nicest holster made today!

Sights For Sore Eyes

LPA TXT 02F1 fiber optic sights. These rugged and super-visible sights are worth their weight in gold when the lighting is less than ideal. For hunting, self defense or practical shooting, I highly recommend LPA sights.

As my testing continuted, I installed an old favorite: the LPA TXT 02F1 fiber optic sights. The LPA sights are extremely tough and precisely crafted sights which incorporate highly visible adjustments, and solid clicks. The bright fiber rods in the rear light up to allow sight alignment and the clearly marked windage markings on top of the rear sight. I did not have the nerve to drill the new sight and so the front sight will be installed later. LPA also provides a sight adjustment tool that should be always kept handy.

LPA provides this cool little adjustment tool. It’s very handy. Keep in in your kit bag. You can thank me later.

My old man eyes can pick these sights out in a hurricane! When you have to make a quick shot, LPA sights will help. The LPA sights are tough and precise!

Conclusion

The new Smith 629 Mountain Gun is a seriously high-quality revolver that needs nothing out of the box except a holster, a belt and some good ammo. This gun will protect you from Yogi Bear and make a great carry gun during jacket season. All the cool kids carry these, just so you know.

.44 Magnum Ammunition Used to Test 629 Mountain Gun
Ammo	Avg Velocity at Muzzle	Capable of 2” groups at 15 yards
Hornady 240gr Backcountry	1410 fps	√
Hornady 300gr XTP	1060 fps	√
Hornady 240gr XTP	1350 fps	√
Winchester 240gr Dual Bond	1310 fps	√
Winchester 210gr Silvertip	1250 fps	√
Reload 240gr cast/10gr Unique	1050 fps	√