The nonreflective, matte-black finish on the Stealth Hunter revolver is unobtrusive in the field.

Smith & Wesson pioneered the sport of handgun hunting way back in the 1930s when Douglas Wesson spent a year in the field with the then-new .357 Magnum taking a wide variety of big-game animals up to and including moose. Since then, the company has continued in the forefront of the sport with the introduction of other widely used revolver hunting cartridges such as the .44 Magnum, .41 Magnum and the recent .500 Magnum and .460 Magnum. Today, the Smith & Wesson Performance Center provides an extensive catalog of hunting-specific tools in a variety of chamberings, headlined by the introduction of the first in a series of Stealth Hunter revolvers.

The new S&W Model 629 .44 Magnum Stealth Hunter features a unique 7.5-inch heavy barrel with full-length contoured underlug and wide top rib equipped with three Weaver-type crosscuts for optics mounting. The sides of the barrel are dished down toward the muzzle, which is fully protected with a recessed crown. The ramp front sight blade is dovetailed to allow additional windage adjustment and has a highly visible full-width red/orange stripe on the sighting surface. The barrel is also MagnaPorted for recoil control.

Unlike factory-production S&W revolvers, the Stealth Hunter barrel does not have a spring-loaded locking point inside the ejector-rod cutout in the barrel but instead utilizes a ball-detent latching point inside the frame cut for the yoke. The rear cylinder unlocking latch is the same as on standard S&W revolvers. The cylinder itself is fluted with smoothly radiused front edges to minimize holster wear, and the chambers are not counterbored.

The entire all-stainless-steel gun is given a durable, self-lubricating satin Black Magic finish with a polymer coat. The cylinder has a matching satin-black vapor deposition finish. The hammer and trigger are case-hardened. The trigger features a hand-fitted overtravel stop in its rear surface. The hammer has a teardrop-shaped spur, which is fully checkered. The rear sight has a plain black blade, micro-click-adjustable for windage and elevation.

The Stealth Hunter's standard grips are Hogue's soft-rubber MonoGrip N-frame style with pebbled finish and fingergrooves. The Hogue grip does not fully enclose the backstrap, and on my own Stealth Hunter I have replaced it with Hogue's grip for S&W X-frame revolvers, which does enclose the backstrap and provides a thick recoil cushion for the web of the hand at the rear of the frame. The X-frame grip fits perfectly on the Stealth Hunter's N-frame construction and is fatter than the standard N-frame grip, which provides a very secure hunting grasp on the revolver, with an ideal trigger reach for cocked, single-action fire. With both Hogue grips you can replace the standard grip-attachment screw in the butt with a swivel stud to attach a loop sling for easy, ready-to-shoot field carry and use as a sling-brace for quick and steady offhand shooting.

The Stealth Hunter shoots well above the average when compared to other .44 Mag revolvers. I sighted mine with a new AimPoint electronic sight with two-minute red dot, first targeting it with Hornady's new 225-grain FTX load to print two inches high at fifty yards for a 100-yard zero. Trigger pull was a crisp, creep-free 2.5 pounds. At 100 yards, the first two shots hit within a half-inch of each other. The remaining four shots in the cylinder made for an overall 2.65-inch group. Hmm...a 2.65-inch 100-yard group with a revolver using a two-minute sighting dot. Credit the gun and the load.

Weaver-type crosscuts and holster wear reducing features make the Model 629 Stealth Hunter and Model 327 M&P R8 state of the art in hunting revolvers.