UPDATE!
As a limited-production item, these great
Model 625 .45 Colt Stainless Mountain Guns have been very hard
to get. As of March 5th, 2008, Lipsey's has received an
exclusive run of 300. If you want one of these, act quickly!
For a list of dealers where you can
buy this gun, go to: |
|
The Smith & Wesson .45 Colt Mountain
Gun is certainly nothing new. They have been around for a few
years, being an on-again off-again production gun. It seems that
they run off a batch of these Mountain Guns in .45 Colt every
few years. S&W has produced several calibers of the
Mountain Gun, including .357 Magnum, .41 Magnum, .44 Magnum, and
.45 ACP, but my favorite has always been the .45
Colt Mountain Gun. It is just the right combination of
bore size, power, weight, and bulk to make it one of the best
double-action holster guns available for either woods carry or
for social work.
While semi-auto pistols outsell revolvers by a
wide margin, there is a lot to be said in favor of the sixgun
for self defense. As a rule, they are very reliable, but in
fairness, good autos are also. The revolver is not picky about
bullet shape, and the use of good wide hollowpoints or heavy
blunt lead bullets do not hinder its function. Also, the
revolver does not leave empty cartridge cases lying around the
scene. That may or may not be important, depending upon the
location and situation.
For woods and field carry, I greatly prefer a
revolver. A .45 Colt or .44 Magnum loaded with heavy cast lead
bullets will penetrate very well on most any threat that one
might encounter, and is also very reliable at taking game. The
Mountain Gun is built for holster carry. The sample gun weighed
in at just 36 ounces. Carried in the Bob Mernickle PS6-DA
holster pictured, it rides high and tight, out of the way for
field carry. Also, the PS6-DA holster is perfect for carrying a
big revolver concealed under a shirt or light jacket. It offers
quick access and good concealability. Like all Mernickle
holsters, the quality of the leather and craftsmanship is
superb.
Quite often, I hear shooters gripe about the
internal locks that Smith & Wesson has installed on their
revolvers for the last few years. Here is the scoop on that:
they are here to stay! Not buying one of these fine sixguns
because of that lock means that you are cheating yourself.
S&W revolvers are built better today than they have been for
many years. The fit and finish is excellent. The front sight on
this Mountain Gun is, thankfully, made of blued steel, with no
red insert. The action is very smooth. The seam around the side
plate is almost invisible. The timing is dead on. The internal
lock is easily ignored, or available if you choose to use it. If
it really bothers you knowing that it is there, it can be easily
removed in about five minutes without altering anything in the
weapon, and re-installed later if desired. Just remove the side
plate and the hammer, and pluck it out. Personally, I do not use
the lock, but it bothers me not at all being there.
This 625 Mountain Gun came supplied with a good
set of Hogue rubber grips. They work very well, are
comfortable, and look good on the gun. However, for concealed
carry, I prefer the Secret Service grips available from Eagle
Grips. The Secret Service grips really change the feel of
the Mountain Gun, offering compact size and good control of the
weapon. They are much easier to conceal than the Hogue grips
supplied. The Secret Service grips shown here are made of
checkered ebony, and fit perfectly to the Mountain Gun. In my
opinion, they are the very best grips available for the big
N-framed Smith & Wesson revolvers, especially for concealed
carry.
The action on this Mountain Gun is one of the
best in the industry for an out-of-the-box double action
revolver. The double action pull is typical Smith & Wesson;
butter smooth and weighing just under seven and one-half pounds.
Perfect. The single action pull measured a crisp three and
three-quarters pounds. S&W does a very good job on the
triggers of their large-framed sixguns.
Shooting the Mountain Gun proved to be a real
pleasure, as expected. I did the initial testing of the gun back
in early July, and concluded the accuracy work using a new Ransom
Rest just recently. The sixgun proved capable of
fine accuracy from the bench, placing five shots of handloaded
target ammo under one inch at twenty-five yards, and fifteen
shots of plinking ammo into under three inches at the same
distance.
Reliability was perfect throughout the testing.
I really love these Mountain Guns from S&W,
and especially the .45 Colt. The fit and finish is
excellent, they are accurate, powerful, and reliable. Currently,
they are not in production. However, I just recently got this
one, and a few are still in the dealer supply pipeline. Get
ahold of one while you can. In my opinion, it is just
about the perfect big bore double-action packing gun.
Check out Smith & Wesson products online at:
www.smith-wesson.com.
To order the beautiful and highly functional
Secret Service grips, go to: www.eaglegrips.com.
To view the extensive line of quality Mernickle
holsters, go to: www.mernickleholsters.com.
Jeff Quinn
Ed. Note: Gunblast.com does not advocate
de-activating any safety device on any firearm, and neither the
author nor Gunblast.com assumes any responsibility for the
misuse of the information contained in this article.
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