A----and I don't even know what the mistake is!
On the other hand, I learned my .44 Magnum lesson a loooooooong time ago----mid 1950's, and have no need to learn it again!!
I'll tell it again! Most will laugh---a few will cry.
My shooting buddy and I are out in the "Gumbo Flats" (Missouri River bottoms---FLAT countryside northwest of St.Louis)----and all built up now-----and where you go if you want to buy a Ferrari---or a Lamborghini----or similar toy.
We have our .44 Magnums, his a S&W, mine a sort of shiny new Ruger---with smooooooth Ivory grips. It's August---as in hotter than dammit. Now he could well be named Mr. Magnum, because the walls of his room are covered with pretty much every Weatherby Magnum rifle made at the time---and he knows about .44 Magnums---and I don't!
We have the target set up 100 yards out. My sights are set by SWAG, and he's on the spotting scope to call the shots.
My back's up against a scrub tree, knees drawn up, two hand hold resting on my knees. I have six rounds in the gun, forty-four more in the box. Did I mention it's hotter than dammit----and the smooth Ivory grips?
KABLAM!!!!
That was the most shattering experience of my entire life---and he's laughing, fit to be tied---and pointing at me. I look down and see a red stain on my tee-shirt. It turns out it's from the blood dripping off the end of my nose---the blood's coming from the top of my head where the front sight smacked me---and he thinks this is hilarious!!
Now I was holding on pretty tight, but not tight enough considering the heat, the smooth Ivory grips, my sweaty hands, and his inclination to let me learn these things by myself. I, on the other hand, was not amused!!
I vowed, right then and there, to go home and get to work developing a civilized load for .44 Magnums ---never mind civilized never entered the minds of the folks who dreamed it up in the first place. That load turned out to be 18.5 grains of 2400 behind a 205 grain SWC, gas checked bullet----which I later was told was a hot load for a .44 Special---but nowhere near a Magnum. I didn't care----it's was civilized-----and ACCURATE!! I could put 6 rounds into 4 inches at 100 yards from that same tree from either my Ruger or his S&W---and he could too!!
The Boss Lady was quite taken aback by the blood on the shirt, but I told her it was all part of a learning process. She just scowled at me!
Oh, and that one round of factory ammo was the first and only I ever fired. I'd gone home, got out my trusty bullet puller, and ended up with 49 primed cases, and one once fired case.
Ralph Tremaine
