The Smith & Wesson 396 Night Guard is a five-shot double-action .44 Special built for concealed carry and home defense, and it has an MSRP of $1,269. A scandium frame is how a .44 with a stainless cylinder and a 3.0-inch stainless barrel ends up at 23.4 oz.

The front sight is an XS unit with a tritium dot inside a yellow ring, and the rear is fully adjustable, so the gun works in a dark hallway and can still be set for one chosen load. S&W builds this one with no internal lock in the frame. The Hogue Bantam grip is overmolded rubber with finger grooves and a cobblestone texture, cut small to stay hidden, which leaves the hand less to hold when the gun fires. Width across the cylinder is 1.56 inches, and on a revolver that measurement decides what prints under a shirt.

If you're cross-shopping, the Charter Arms Bulldog Classic 3" has the same barrel length and the same five rounds at 20.0 oz, in carbon steel with fixed sights and nothing luminous up front. The Taurus 445 Ultra-Lite is lighter again at 22.0 oz on an aluminum frame, 1.5 inches across, also without an adjustable rear. Neither of those gives a tritium front sight or a rear sight that can be zeroed.