.44 day at the range

[Vulcan Bob]

Decided that todays range outing would be all .44's. Was reminded how much of a bear the four inch M-29 can be with full house loads. Had gotten in the habit of shooting specials out of it. The six inch M-629 was much more polite with the same loads, amazeing what two more inchs of barrel can do for civility! Stepping down to the .44 special with a M-21 and a 6 inch M-24 .44 special was nice. Reminded me why I like the special. I figure that a 240 LSWC at 900 FPS will do just about anything I need done without the recoil. I can manage heavy recoil much better with a single action type revolver and will do most of my heavy Mag shooting with them. Next outing will be .41 Mag day, got a couple of M-57's and a Ruger to play with!

 

[Vulcan Bob]

Decided that todays range outing would be all .44's. Was reminded how much of a bear the four inch M-29 can be with full house loads. Had gotten in the habit of shooting specials out of it. The six inch M-629 was much more polite with the same loads, amazeing what two more inchs of barrel can do for civility! Stepping down to the .44 special with a M-21 and a 6 inch M-24 .44 special was nice. Reminded me why I like the special. I figure that a 240 LSWC at 900 FPS will do just about anything I need done without the recoil. I can manage heavy recoil much better with a single action type revolver and will do most of my heavy Mag shooting with them. Next outing will be .41 Mag day, got a couple of M-57's and a Ruger to play with!

 

[29aholic]

25 years ago I thought recoil was cool...now not so much so. I keep my 44's in the med-heavy spl range and call it good.
I got my dream single action awhile back a Freedom Arms 83 454 casull. Couldnt stand to shoot it enough to get enough brass to load it down (I know I could have bought brass...but I had over 100 rds of ammo) so I traded it off

 

[S/W - Lifer]

This is a bit like time travel. Years ago (30 to 50) people wanted nothing to do with a 4" .44 Magnum revolver. The 6 1/2 inch was much more tolerable and desirable. The 8 3/8 barrel was a shooter's piece of cake compared to the little gun. Short barrel .44s sat in shops for long periods of time before they were sold.

Now the .44 Magnum is seen as a revolver for a 119 pound guy in a pink shirt with a size 13 collar. The craze is for bigger, bigger and biggest and folks say they can handle the recoil of full loads without a problem.

The other side of this coin is the Scandium revolvers in .357 Magnum and larger calibers. Weighing about as much as pocket full of feathers, shooters say they can handle them and they don't really kick all that bad.

OK. To each his own. Someone is going to come up with an over/under derringer in .375 HH and claim that while it is loud, the recoil isn't that bad. It's just not for me.

Put me in for a pink shirt and .44's running 900 fps from a 4" tube. It is all I want. I'll be a happy shooter with a lousy wardrobe.

 

[Gatofeo]

I have a Model 29-2, nickel plated, with 6-1/2" barrel.
With full loads, it's all the recoil I want from a handgun.
A couple of years ago, a friend said his stepfather was all hep to get a .500 S&W.
"Have you or he ever fired a .44 Magnum?" I asked.
Turns out, he hadn't. He didn't know about his stepfather.
So, I let my friend shoot my .44 Magnum at the local gravel pit. First, I loaded it with medium loads: 240 gr. lead SWC at about 1,000 fps.
"Heck, this Magnum isn't so bad!" he said.
So I reloaded it with my hot loads: 250 gr. lead SWC at 1,400 fps, courtesy of a healthy dose of 2400.
At his first shot, he started exclaiming and cussing.
He shot all 6 rounds, but didn't want any more.
Then I told him, "Now, imagine what the .500 would be like!"
He went back and told his stepfather, "You don't want the .500. Believe me. You don't want it."
His stepfather never did buy one; probably out of financial shortcomings more than anything else. Neither of them mention it anymore.

Every once in a while, someone shows up at the local gravel pit with the latest powerful, Zip-Wham handgun or rifle.
Never saw one yet that could shoot it worth a hoot. They all whoop and holler and grin at the noise, blast and recoil -- then offer excuses for their tablecloth-sized groups.

Too many people forget: Only hits count.

A .44 Magnum with full loads is, I believe, about the maximum that 90 percent of the shooters out there can hope to hit accurately with.

 

[44forever]

And since bad guys sometimes come in groups, recovery time can be important. Unless I'm hunting, I dont carry anything hotter than Silvertips.