396 "Mountain Lite"

J

JNewell

New member
Saw this on Saturday at a store in NH. I gather the L-frame alum/Ti 296 .44 Spec x5 Centennial-style crashed and burned (no one had a pocket big enough for it, I guess?). Now they're out with an alum/Ti version of the 696. A bizarre revolver -- weighs half what the 696 weighs.

I imagine this is a revolver that you would hope you never had to shoot. I have a 342 (pre-capitulation) and .38 Special loads really hammer the web of the hand. Would be much worse in .44, I'd think.

This had one of those new plastic front sights. These seem like an incredibly poor choice for anything but sitting in the safe. The plastic is about 1/2" long and supported/protected only at each end. One small ding and it cracks/breaks, and you've lost the front sight. Since the only thing I can think of doing with something like this is backup wilderness carry, it seems like just about the worst possible choice for a front sight.

All in all, seems more like something the engineers did just to see what they could do with the concept, rather than something that fills a real use niche? I like the 342 as a backup, but I'm not sure what practical use something twice or more its physical size is good for?
 
The colored bar forming the front site is embedded in solid clear plastic, don't know how easy it is to scratch the outside; but scratches on the outside are just cosmetic, it should be pretty hard to break.
The 296 weighs 19 oz., I think that with the exposed hammer frame a 396 would be several oz. lighter. 396 is also ported, which is supposed to work even better the lighter the gun. My problem with the new titaniums (S&W or Taurus) is that they just don't feel like real guns in my hand, they are just too light. Makes me think I am holding some kind of plastic toy.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The colored bar forming the front site is embedded in solid clear plastic, don't know how easy it is to scratch the outside; but scratches on the outside are just cosmetic, it should be pretty hard to break.[/quote]

On the one that I handled, the green plastic bar was just hangin' out in the breeze, protected only by the front and rear metal brackets holding it. Embedding it in solid plastic would make it much more durable. Maybe the one I saw was an early production model?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The 296 weighs 19 oz., I think that with the exposed hammer frame a 396 would be several oz. lighter. 396 is also ported, which is supposed to work even better the lighter the gun. My problem with the new titaniums (S&W or Taurus) is that they just don't feel like real guns in my hand, they are just too light. Makes me think I am holding some kind of plastic toy.[/quote]

The one I handled had a conventional unported barrel. I understand what you're saying about the lightweight revolvers. I don't reel that way about the J-frames, but it's really, really odd to have this large L-frame revolver that weighs less than most pocket guns.

I wonder if there's more than "gee whiz, look what we can do" to this one? What kind of market research they're doing? Maybe these days they're trying *not* to hear what the market thinks??? >:-|
 
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