michaelnel
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- Dec 29, 2013
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I picked up my new Smith & Wesson Stealth Hunter .44 magnum on Monday, and immediately headed up to the mountains to shoot it for the first time with my long time shooting buddy Mike. We are able to shoot at a police range, and we generally have it to ourselves. We brought 300 rounds of factory ammo (180gr PMC, 240gr PMC, and 240gr Underwood XTP).
I also have a Ransom Rest and had bought the grip adapters for the N-frame. We also took along a bunch of plastic bottles filled with water, and paper targets.
Although Mike and I shoot hundreds of rounds of .45 ACP in our 1911s weekly, neither of us had experience with the .44 mag. I fired one round out of one about 30 years ago (the gun was a Ruger Super Blackhawk with a long barrel), and I didn't like it when I shot it back then. Mike did not remember having ever fired one.
While my Stealth Hunter was in jail for California's 10 day waiting period I did lots of reading about the .44 mag. There are sure lots of dire warnings out there about how nasty the cartridge is. I figured that no matter how hot it was, the 3 1/2lb. weight, rubber grips and 7.5" heavy lugged barrel of the Stealth Hunter would calm things down a bit. Still, I really didn't know what it was going to be like to light off the first round.
I loaded it up with a cylinder full of 240gr PMC JHPs, figuring that was pretty much the middle of the road load for this thing, and touched off the first round at a target. It was way less drama than I had envisioned. Sure, it kicks, and yep, it's really loud and the concussion punches you in the chest, but it wasn't painful or even remotely uncontrollable. I was actually a little disappointed and how easy it was to control.
I'm getting old, and that SH is pretty heavy, so I had to lower it to low ready between shots (I will do some exercises to build my arm strength). Still, that first 6 rounds went into about a 6" circle. Not good by any stretch of the imagination, but I didn't think it was too bad given my lack of experience with the .44 mag and with revolvers in general (the last revolver I owned was a Dan Wesson .357 mag back in the 80s). Then Mike (who is a much better shooter than I) stepped up and shot a cylinder full into about a 2" group.
It looked like the gun definitely had potential no matter what our mediocre performances were. After shooting off-hand a few cylinders of the three types of ammo, we set up the Ransom Rest. We'd done a lot of work with the RR, so we have a pretty consistent method down. We set up a target (just a blank sheet of paper) to shoot groups with the RR. We shot several six round groups with all three loads, and the best group was about 7/8" at 25 yards. Pretty good, considering it was factory ammo. I will be relaading for this gun and developing what I hope are loads tailored to this specific revolver, and I expect there will be some improvement.
Over the course of the day, Mike and I sent a full 300 rounds of full power loads downrange, and the only negative effect it really had on either of us was that my right wrist was sore that evening (even though it never hurt at all during the day of shooting). That pain has gone away today.
I also got an Aimpoint Micro H1 (2 MOA) red dot sight for it, and man, is that a cool thing! Mike and I set up my Magnum Rifle Gong and an MGM popper and a big detergent bottle full of water and foam, and we went out to the 100 yard bench. With the Aimpoint and this same factory ammo (from a rest) we were able to drill the 10" gong, the 6" popper, and the laundry bottle very consistently. We even got a few hits shooting offhand with the iron sights. Mike managed to put two bullets through the 2" diameter cap that had blown off the detergent bottle with the first hit.
The gun is plenty accurate for my needs, and as I said I think it will get better with tailored loads and a lot more practice. The trigger pull was measured at around 3 1/2 pounds in SA mode, around 11 in DA mode, both are very smooth and the SA break is almost without any detectable movement. You just gradually increase pressure, you don't feel any thing move, and then BANG! Very nice. I know that will improve too with lots of dry firing (I have a set of six snap caps) and more rounds down the bore.
http://michaelnel.smugmug.com/Firea...nter/i-BgggCMs/0/O/stealth-hunter-holster.jpg
http://michaelnel.smugmug.com/Firea...ter/i-7ZfM4P8/0/XL/stealth-hunter-1024-XL.jpg
I also have a Ransom Rest and had bought the grip adapters for the N-frame. We also took along a bunch of plastic bottles filled with water, and paper targets.
Although Mike and I shoot hundreds of rounds of .45 ACP in our 1911s weekly, neither of us had experience with the .44 mag. I fired one round out of one about 30 years ago (the gun was a Ruger Super Blackhawk with a long barrel), and I didn't like it when I shot it back then. Mike did not remember having ever fired one.
While my Stealth Hunter was in jail for California's 10 day waiting period I did lots of reading about the .44 mag. There are sure lots of dire warnings out there about how nasty the cartridge is. I figured that no matter how hot it was, the 3 1/2lb. weight, rubber grips and 7.5" heavy lugged barrel of the Stealth Hunter would calm things down a bit. Still, I really didn't know what it was going to be like to light off the first round.
I loaded it up with a cylinder full of 240gr PMC JHPs, figuring that was pretty much the middle of the road load for this thing, and touched off the first round at a target. It was way less drama than I had envisioned. Sure, it kicks, and yep, it's really loud and the concussion punches you in the chest, but it wasn't painful or even remotely uncontrollable. I was actually a little disappointed and how easy it was to control.
I'm getting old, and that SH is pretty heavy, so I had to lower it to low ready between shots (I will do some exercises to build my arm strength). Still, that first 6 rounds went into about a 6" circle. Not good by any stretch of the imagination, but I didn't think it was too bad given my lack of experience with the .44 mag and with revolvers in general (the last revolver I owned was a Dan Wesson .357 mag back in the 80s). Then Mike (who is a much better shooter than I) stepped up and shot a cylinder full into about a 2" group.
It looked like the gun definitely had potential no matter what our mediocre performances were. After shooting off-hand a few cylinders of the three types of ammo, we set up the Ransom Rest. We'd done a lot of work with the RR, so we have a pretty consistent method down. We set up a target (just a blank sheet of paper) to shoot groups with the RR. We shot several six round groups with all three loads, and the best group was about 7/8" at 25 yards. Pretty good, considering it was factory ammo. I will be relaading for this gun and developing what I hope are loads tailored to this specific revolver, and I expect there will be some improvement.
Over the course of the day, Mike and I sent a full 300 rounds of full power loads downrange, and the only negative effect it really had on either of us was that my right wrist was sore that evening (even though it never hurt at all during the day of shooting). That pain has gone away today.
I also got an Aimpoint Micro H1 (2 MOA) red dot sight for it, and man, is that a cool thing! Mike and I set up my Magnum Rifle Gong and an MGM popper and a big detergent bottle full of water and foam, and we went out to the 100 yard bench. With the Aimpoint and this same factory ammo (from a rest) we were able to drill the 10" gong, the 6" popper, and the laundry bottle very consistently. We even got a few hits shooting offhand with the iron sights. Mike managed to put two bullets through the 2" diameter cap that had blown off the detergent bottle with the first hit.
The gun is plenty accurate for my needs, and as I said I think it will get better with tailored loads and a lot more practice. The trigger pull was measured at around 3 1/2 pounds in SA mode, around 11 in DA mode, both are very smooth and the SA break is almost without any detectable movement. You just gradually increase pressure, you don't feel any thing move, and then BANG! Very nice. I know that will improve too with lots of dry firing (I have a set of six snap caps) and more rounds down the bore.
http://michaelnel.smugmug.com/Firea...nter/i-BgggCMs/0/O/stealth-hunter-holster.jpg
http://michaelnel.smugmug.com/Firea...ter/i-7ZfM4P8/0/XL/stealth-hunter-1024-XL.jpg
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