OP here.
So I went out to the gun shop and really liked the Ruger Alaskan and decided to buy it. While there I also really liked the S&W 629 with a 5” barrel and bought one of those also!
Range day was today. I shot some heavy magnum loads out of both and some 44special also.
The 44 special is a pussycat out of both. Both are accurate. The single action on both are good enough that I can’t really tell the difference. The double action on the Smith is sooooo much better than on the Ruger.
The big difference for me was the felt recoil was much greater on the Smith. It was not comfortable at all to shoot. That exposed steel back strap is a terrible design. The web of my hand felt like I caught a big league fastball barehanded. Ok maybe that’s a tad dramatic but it was significant recoil. The Ruger however ate up a ton of recoil and it was no more fearsome than my gp100 shooting hot 357.
Are there better grips to be had that will tame the 629? Most of the rubber grips I see online don’t cover the exposed metal back strap which I think is the issue.
