Henry Rifle Forums

Earlier this month I acquired a Model 29 Smith 4", ported, from a friend. It was a nice little gun, and I was excited to shoot it. When it came in, it had pretty wooden factory grips. Pretty, but they didn't fit the hand, and I also got Hogue rubber factory grips. I swapped them before trying the gun. Pretty is nice, but this was a 44 mag... I'm seasoned, I have shot a lot, and 44 mag means Hogue wins over pretty.

On the 20th, I took the 29 down to the range, and set up a target at 15 yards. All I had on hand was full house 44 mag loads, no cowboy loads, no 44 special, but it was PORTED, and I wanted to see if the gun could become our Truck Gun for trips. I loaded up five rounds and gave 'er a go. OMG... it was brutal. Four inch 44, even with the porting, was NOT fun. The backstrap in this model is exposed, even with the Hogue grips. It smacked my palm like an NFL Place Kicker, and the back of the trigger guard was mean to the front of my knuckles. Every shot of the five.

I had two other boxes of 44 in the range box, and pulled two rounds from the first. Ah... nope.
Last box... two more rounds. Nope... I wasn't giving up, even through the pain, it turned in a nice group, and the gun had a nice trigger.


Old and arthritis are not a combo where you want to volunteer to be beaten like a child who stole cookies.


So I started doing some research. Perhaps some full coverage oversized Hogue grips. Wait, they do make some that cover the backstrap for the N frame Smith! Sweet... but wait. Round Butt models only. Nope, MINE is a square butt. Someone suggested a shooting glove. Nice for target shooting, but I wasn't going to be Michael Jackson and run around the rest of my life with a glove on one hand.

I ordered a couple boxes of 44 special ammo. See how that will do. It came in a couple days ago, but it was Raining. We needed the rain, so I wasn't whining. I had to wait two days for the rain to let up and I got down this morning. I fired five rounds single action and got a nice tight group, and the recoil was there, but easily manageable. I fired another ten rounds double action and still had a decent group. Moved up to the head and fired ten more rounds double action. At a dollar a shot, 25 rounds was enough for the day... a bit more practice and this could be the new truck gun for trips.

Wow Marine! I can feel it from here. Glad you found a way to tame that monster.
I started with good Hogue grips on my 4" 357 Ruger. Shot full power loads for years. Just now loading lighter loads. After the heavy stuff, the lighter loads are easy.
I appreciate your input on how to handle the big bang guns.

Beautiful 29, there, Marine.

Try Pachmayr grips if you can find them. They cover the back strap. It helps.

As for ammo, cowboy loads are pretty worthless. Crummy accuracy and very dirty. I much prefer 44 Special. Much more accurate and you can load them to different power levels. If you can find them, I've shot 180 grain 44 mag loads or 200 grain 44 mag loads and they do shoot nicer.

I don't load for 44... Sadly. The cost these days to set up my dillon for a new caliber would buy several cases of ammo. Lol. I'll look into pachmyers.

I have looked into additional tool head setups for a couple calibers, and after buying the setups, and bullets, it would take a lot of loading and shooting to recoup the cost of just buying bulk cases of ammo from somewhere like Ammunition Depot. Right now they have free shipping on orders over $149.00. I have ordered from them several times in the past and it makes sense.

I was going to Add 45 long colt and 44 mag, but ...
Case lots...

Nice looking wheelgun, and I kind of like the silver/black of the Hogue grips, aside from how much more manageable they make it.
I have a DW .44 mag, and loaded some for it back in the day. Still have some of that ammo too, it's 5.0 grains of 700x under a 240 LSWC. Very accurate and mild recoil in my DW, but with the full underlug, mine is a very heavy revolver.

I hear you on shooting the big magnum handguns. I no longer own any 41 or 44’s. I do enjoy shooting my plated med velocity 357’s out of my 6” 686. Hardly any recoil but powerful enough to knock a bowling pin over.

Glad you found the happy place for your 29, hate to have a gun in the safe that’s not fun to shoot.

Hatchdog wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 31, 2025 9:37 am

I hear you on shooting the big magnum handguns. I no longer own any 41 or 44’s. I do enjoy shooting my plated med velocity 357’s out of my 6” 686. Hardly any recoil but powerful enough to knock a bowling pin over.

Glad you found the happy place for your 29, hate to have a gun in the safe that’s not fun to shoot.

I agree, I hate to own a gun I can't/won't shoot. It's one reason I shy away from special editions or collectables. I know if I buy them, I'll shoot them, unless they were VERY special.

Now if I was presented with one of John Wayne's guns, a true original Colt SAA, or something with historical value... Of course it could live rent free in the safe.

I do have a European double barrel coach gun from the late 1800s I acquired in trade for work I did years ago. It's sound, I could shoot it, I choose not to. I just take it out and admire the quality now and then. Back in the safe she goes.

Although I haven't been able to get out to the range, given my recent role as care giver for my husband, I haven't given up on my 44 mag shooting with the Ruger Super Blackhawk. I simply have too much history of 44 mag shooting with the Ruger to ever call it quits.

My 1982 New Model.


My 1982, above, is my shooter. This one is a safe queen. It's a new in the box Liberty (made in 1976) NM SBH. No warning stamp, either.


From long experience shooting 44 mg revolvers, though, I do know you have to shoot them on at least a somewhat regular basis to maintain peak accuracy with them. That recoil is always a challenge for good follow through, not to mention maintaining the mental discipline not to develop a flinch.

Yeah, dropping down to a 357 solves some of the issues and a 357 will do anything I need with a revolver, but a 357 is still not a big bore. To me, it's always been kind of an honorable mention big bore or maybe a little league bog bore.

I shoot the Anaconda and the Blackhawk... No problem. They have the weight to dampen the recoil. I shot the Blackhawk 357 Maximum, the Bigga Boom shocked Tina and she was fifteen yards away filming.

That smaller, lighter model 29... Just not enough weight for hot loads.