Ammo considerations for S&W 696?

SnubbyMan

New member
I recently purchased a S&W 696-0 and have yet to take it to the range. The problem is finding ammo for it in my neck of the woods. I don't have the option of buying over the Internet or via mail-order due to local ordinances. Of course, the obvious answer is to load my own, but I'm not quite there yet in terms of buying reloading equipment, nor do I currently have the space.

That said, the only ammo I've come across that was relatively cheap is from American Ammunition (http://www.a-merc.com/). They have a 240 gr. LRN load that goes 800 fps out of an unspecified barrel length. Would this be something safe to shoot out of my 696? It seems like it is rather mild and would be okay just to take the gun out for a spin.

As far as defense ammo, I was hoping for the 200 gr. Gold Dots, but I haven't found anywhere near me that carries it. What other decent options are there?
 
Please do NOT use American Ammunition (not to be confused with Federal's American Eagle). It is notoriously bad stuff. Check TFL's archives for horror stories.
 
I just bought a couple of boxes of Black Hills for my SW629. I haven't used it yet, and my usual brand is mostly Winchester...I don't have a clue if it's good stuff or not...
 
Winchester makes a .44 special cowboy load. It's what I practice with. Very light, etc. About 18 bucks a box of 50 in my neck of the woods.

FWIW, I carry the Gold Dots when I CC this weapon. They're turning into more and more of a collector's item now, though, so it's becoming a safe queen for me.
 
Thanks for the advice guys!

RWK, sorry to hear the American Ammunition stuff is bad stuff. I bought 5 boxes of it. Sigh. I was just excited to see any .44 Special around. Should have checked with the TFLers first!
 
Can you find CCI blazers in your area? They use the same 200 gr Golddots at pretty much the same speed as the Speer loads. They're my carry loads for the 696, while I make my own paper punching stuff.
 
SnubbyMan - Congratulations on your find; to me, the 696 No-Dash is the holy grail of the .44 Special. For practice I use the PMC 180 Gr, JHP - and for home defense I use Hornady 180 Gr. JHP/XTP.
 
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