I'm going to offer up my opinion. What I've seen in watching other shooters over the years is the vast majority can't handle magnum recoil. Every one wants to act macho and declare they can, but the evidence seems to point the other way. Its OK to lie to your buddies and fellow shooters, but its really stupid to lie to yourself.
Way back in the 1930s, they developed the .357 Magnum and at that time the shooting press went wild over how powerful it was. Then in the 1970s we had Dirty Harry who declared it would blow a bad guys head clean off.
I've got a couple of the 329s. Basically hand grenades with handles. They can be fired, but not well by most shooters. In fact, I've seen a few on sale that appear to have only been fired a few times. Guess why.
I even pulled a stunt a while back with one of mine when it was still brand new. I loaded it with 3 rounds of garden grade 240 grain loads, and then 3 of the 300 grain bear stoppers. Still having a little common sense, I indexed the lighter loads first. Then after firing them, I announced it was too much for me. It was all it took, I had a sucker. One of my group had to show how manly he was. He fired the 3 of the worst recoiling rounds. He wasn't nearly as cheerful, and sat in a chair with a cold beer in his hand from then on. Even more interesting was he held the beer in his right hand, but switched to his left to drink it. The cold was probably easing his pain.
At some point in the power/recoil equation it gets to be too much. More than anyone with any sense would use, anyhow. It all made me realize the 329 is one of the best 44 Specials ever produced. It does every thing well, and with a lighter load than a hand crusher. Steel frame guns become even more pleasant to shoot with Specials. One of the tests you can do for yourself is go out shooting. Doesn't need to be at an organized range, just a place to shoot. Fire a few gun loads with a range of ammo. You can determine for yourself what the best loads are for you. The next guy may come to a completely different conclusion, and it could be right for them.
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Dick Burg
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