I think it all began with the PR.

Before Elmer Keith there were shooters who recognized its abilities as an accurate big-bore cartridge. Along came Elmer Keith, and others, who realized it could be loaded to higher velocities over the factory load and therefore a more powerful handgun load, which was still accurate.

It's .429 diameter made for a safer "hot" load over the Long Colt's .454 diameter as well.

Then Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton (along with a few other gun writers) glorified the cartridge with their writings and the legend was sealed.

It is still today about the best large-bore handgun caliber for the average shooter. It can be loaded down to less recoil and loaded powerful enough to kill any North American game animal. It might be a tad light for Brown bear but with well placed shots it might do the job.

It can be found in lighter weight handguns than the .44 Magnum (in most cases) and in a lot of cases most .44 Magnums are loaded down to .44 Special powers.

I carry three different Ruger Vaqueros in .44 Magnum but they are loaded with 240 FMJ bullets to only 1,000 fps. Plenty of power while horseback but not too heavy on recoil. Essentially .44 Specials.

And as much as I like the .41 Magnum the .44 Special has more components available for shooting.

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Have guns...will shoot'em.