44magnum showdown S&W29-5 VS. Colt Anaconda

I had both, Anaconda is really good, trigger awesome out of the box, but accuracy with what I had tried told me it prefer .44S&W special case load a la Elmer ?? S&W are well balanced gun, I owned 6 different ones, and the last one I had, a 629-6 had a heavy trigger out of the box. But after some practice session , the trigger keep getting better. Accuracy was what I expected.Excellent!

Since it is a 5 inchers, it is easy to carry on the belt with a good holsters. And best of it, part are plenty available.

But for the look, I can tell you that Anaconda attract people to your firing line.

Yves
 
I don't care for long barreled revolvers, but the 8" Dan Wesson .44 I owned was the most accurate revolver I've ever owned or shot, regardless of caliber or barrel length. They are big and heavy like the Ruger DA's, and if memory serves the action is better. They are not as eye appealing as a Smith, but to my eye nothing is, although I don't care for the full length under lug found on some models. I found that the hammer pin wanted to walk out of the frame of mine, but once I was aware of the problem I kept on top of it. The gun was too big to carry for an ATC gun so it didn't matter to me that much.
 
Just an aside to this topic, I have Jim Cirillo's book: "Guns, Bullets, and Gunfighters."
In chapter two, aptly named Hybrid Weapons, he advocates the mounting of Dan Wesson barrels and shrouds on S&W N frames.
Seems he liked the feel of S&W frames with the superior accuracy of the Wesson barrels.
His first hybrid was a four inch barrel & shroud mounted on a Model 29.
After his son joined the NYPD, he had made up a Model 57 with a Dan barrel & shroud as well.
Interesting reading.......my only 'beef' with this book is that I read it's 119 pages in one day. Much TOO short!
 
Having several older M29s felt I should also have an Anaconda to round out the Colt side of the safe.
I wish Colt had paid the same attention to quality and detail that they did on the Pythons. Make no mistake the Anaconda is a nice gun, but pales in comparison when quality and finish is compared to the Python or older S&Ws.
I can not say 1 shoots better than the other, but my go to 44 wheel gun is a 29

IMG_1570cropped.jpg
 
What's a good price for S&W 29-5? I know a guy selling a used one for $650. It's in "mint" condition. Is that a typical price? 6.5" barrel.
 
I have s&w 29 with a 10 5/8 barrel Shoots very well, a little front heavy but accurate to almost any reasonable distance. muzzle blast is impressive and it is a lot easier to shoot after I put hough grips on it. Picked it up locally from a fellow who said he didnt like the recoil. It was near mint condition, got it for $450 with 100 rounds, In my thought 650 is a bit much
 
I have 8 .44 magnum revolvers, Ruger, S&W and Colt Anaconda. For accuracy they are all good, I worked up loads for each one so they are about all on par as far as accuracy goes with the nod going to the Ruger Super Blackhawk 7.5" barrel. Ruger Redhawk is usually horrible as far as trigger goes out of the box and will usually need work to get it even close to a model 29/629. To be honest my Colt has sat in the safe for a while, it is nice but not my go to revolver when I just want to have some fun at the range. Guns and Ammo did a breakage test on various .44 Mag's and they basically increased the reloads until the revolver exploded and compared it to a lab that did the same thing in the early 80 and it matched perfectly. In order of strength it went like this:
1. Ruger Super Redhawk
2. Ruger Super Blackhawk
3. S&W 629-4
4. Colt Anaconda
5. S&W 29-2

Numbers 3 and 4 were so close that you couldn't really tell the difference, something like 2,000 psi.

They did not test the Taurus Raging Bull and I wouldn't even consider buying a Taurus anything because of the non-existent warranty or parts/service here in Canada.

As far as perceived recoil goes the easiest on the hand is my Super Blackhawk hands down, either my 7.5" barrel or my 4 5/8" barrel. I can comfortably shoot 22 grn of 2400 under the Keith style 240 grn bullet all day with slight discomfort at about the 4 box level. Then I would say my 629/ ruger redhawk would be a distant tie for second with my anaconda really close. Never tried heavy loads in my 29-2 and I never plan on it. I can handle about 2 box's of heavy loads in the 629/anaconda before I really start to notice flinching and pain in my wrist.

Just my observations.
 
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