N-frames with 3" barrels

[RichardH]

Awesome collection!

I do hand load my .41 mag; 210 gr Hornady JHP over ... I forgot how much 2400. That's embarrassing. I tried the powder/load that was rated tops in the Sierra manual, but results were not the same, either from increased recoil or because the gun just didn't like that load as much. My model 657 with 6" barrel is a fantastic shooter, but that size gun with loads pushing a 210 gr bullet in the 1150-2000 fps range is about as much juice as I care to handle. I'm on the smaller side, but it makes me wonder what kind of lunatic wants stuff like the .460 Ruger and .500 S&W.

My attraction to the .44 special was the idea that I could toss a heavier bullet at slower speeds off the same platform (with a much shorter barrel, of course), and that it could be something to keep at home and that the wife might also be able to shoot. I would definitely be hand loading. But since .44 mags are so common and you can shoot both, I will probably wind up with one of those when the day comes. As it stands now, I'll have to sell something in order to get something else, and I'm not real keen on unloading anything that I have currently.

 

[toroflow1]

Did someone say 3" N frames???

 

[ladder13]

Did someone say 3" N frames???

Ken, you're making me dizzy

 

[RichardH]

That is an amazing collection...and I thought I was nuts.

 

[KSCowboy]

I really love the 44 Special and in the 3 inch 24-3 it is a great match up.

Carry mine a lot in town for ccw, carry the 4 inch out among the cows. As a short guy I don't handle anything over a 4 inch well on a belt so I've gotten rid of most of the longer ones.

I load everything from shot loads for rats in the barns, to light plinkin' loads with 180 grain on up bullets to the old Keith bullet for deer and coyotes.

The other day I was looking and couldn't believe how many thousands of 44 caliber cast bullets I have laying around (and wondered why am I always casting more?). I better get busy and shoot faster or there'll be a bunch for somebody else after I'm in the ground and that just wouldn't be right.

 

[rollin_hot]

3" N frames

 

[H Richard]

24-3 44 Spec. by Lew Horton shipped in 1984. It came with the same RB combat grips most of the other show, but I didn't like the feel so modified some RB to SB grips.

 

[bigshot500]

Its got to be photoshop...right???? pardon me while I wipe my drool off of the keyboard.

Ken, you're making me dizzy

 

[northslope]

I'm a fan of 3" N-frames - here's a 24-3 I was lucky to spot at a gun show this year in San Francisco:

...with Eagle 'Heritage' grips:

..my fav is, of course, the 629-6 "Trail Boss" with unfluted cylinder:

--Neill

PS - I will say that 3" K-frames are quite handsome/handy as well...

 

[stmry]

3

Did someone say 3" N frames???

Now that is truly the "Wheel of (good)Fortune."

 

[Hole Punch]

Big "3"

People like to say "you only get six shots". So what?! They're six really big shots.

 

[JohnZ]

I bought a Lew Horton Model 25-2 in '84. The barrel is 2 3/4 inch, not 3", and came with round butt Pachmayr stocks and a fitted thumb-break holster. The front sight had been mounted a bit cattywampus so I milled it off and replaced it with a heavy duty blade. I also chamfered the cylinder, black parkerized it and did a trigger job on it. Sometimes I shot .45 auto rim but usually preferred .45 APC with full moon clips, especially when I was shooting IPSC matches. Quit shooting matches decades ago but I still carry it using full moon clips. Superb piece.

 

[DR505]

Zombie thread!

John...welcome to the forum...but start a new thread and post photographs!

 

[Frank46]

Just love this series of posts. Forget the 3" 44mag and go for the same in 44 special. You are gonna love it. Accurate and doesn't beat you up with recoil and muzzle blast,plus they are fun to shoot. Frank