If a .41 and an identical .44 were sitting side by side, I'd buy the .41. As far as what barrel length works best for you, balance-wise, it would be best to try both the 6 and 8 3/8" if possible before buying, if you can have only one. (Or any length inbetween.) But with all the various barrel profiles that have been done, you may find that nose heaviness isn't purely dependant on barrel length.
I tend to like the heavy profiles to dampen movement a bit. The kind you get trying to hold the revolver steady for 5 minutes unsupported while waiting for the deer to clear the tree that's blocking his chest cavity sort of movement!
With iron sights, the amount of light on either side of the front sight seems a little much with the 8 3/8" compared to a 6 or 6 1/2" barrel when using factory irons. But at twilight, it might be an advantage.
Usually, red dots are on the deer hunting revolvers. Or iron sights. Have finally decided that a conventional scope just isn't suitable for my style of hunting.
Favorite iron sight deer revolver:
But the deer gettin'est handgun in the collection is the heavy bastage on top:
It's gotten five deer in the past seven years.
The poor old 657 has yet to take any live game! It must have some sort of bad ju-ju. So maybe next year the "new" no-dash 57 will take up the slack.
ETA:
That's fairly typical performance with any handgun round from .357 to .44 Mag. Sometimes they go down right there, but most deer just don't know they're dead for a little while. Can remember only one deer failing to take another step after being hit with a revolver bullet and that was with the iron sighted .44.
I tend to like the heavy profiles to dampen movement a bit. The kind you get trying to hold the revolver steady for 5 minutes unsupported while waiting for the deer to clear the tree that's blocking his chest cavity sort of movement!
With iron sights, the amount of light on either side of the front sight seems a little much with the 8 3/8" compared to a 6 or 6 1/2" barrel when using factory irons. But at twilight, it might be an advantage.
Usually, red dots are on the deer hunting revolvers. Or iron sights. Have finally decided that a conventional scope just isn't suitable for my style of hunting.
Favorite iron sight deer revolver:
But the deer gettin'est handgun in the collection is the heavy bastage on top:
It's gotten five deer in the past seven years.
The poor old 657 has yet to take any live game! It must have some sort of bad ju-ju. So maybe next year the "new" no-dash 57 will take up the slack.
ETA:
That's fairly typical performance with any handgun round from .357 to .44 Mag. Sometimes they go down right there, but most deer just don't know they're dead for a little while. Can remember only one deer failing to take another step after being hit with a revolver bullet and that was with the iron sighted .44.
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