Dang I had gotten the 41 mag out of my head....

Oh add a 357 Magnum to your list, more specifically a Smith and Wesson 686, although I've seen them bounce off of windshields of cars, not good in a city.....

Carried a 4 inch 29 off duty for quite a few years. The .44 Special Silvertip was the carry load. Accurate and controllable and quite adequate for 2 legged varmints. Carried full power Magnum loads if venturing into the woods. After I moved to the Yoop, I carried a .44 Magnum 4 inch Stainless Super Blackhawk for woods carry. Later switched to a G20. I just traded my Henry .44 lever for an AR.
Love the .44 and there are lots of various loadings out there and its a versatile caliber if you handload. I shed the .44 for one reason only: Ammo cost. I have been seriously considering the Taurus .44 revolvers but ammo cost has been keeping me from trying one.

I've got a friend who doesn't hunt, he's got 44 Mags, 460 S&W's, 50AE, 500 Linebaugh, shoots em for fun. (I do hunt and have or have had most of them and more, and I sure don't hunt anything that "needs" them. Need's got nothing to do with it.)

He's the same with rifles. Just bought a .338 Lapua Mag that he will never shoot past 200 yards. lol

Ah...the .44 Mystique...foregoing all the hoopla and hype, the .44 Magnum is a very useful caliber in rifle or handgun and I've had one around the house since the early 70's for deer, targets, and rarely for defense...done the first two, but thankfully, not the third.

The .44, in either Special or Magnum persuasion, is a reloading proposition unless you're blessed with family money or a job that pays half a million a year. Reloading, as I have for decades, allows me to cut the cost per shot to less than a dime using cast bullets of my own manufacture with powder and primers acquired prior to the current democrat inspired inflation/gun & ammo draught. As a reloading caliber, either the Special or the Magnum is easy to get good accurate loads worked up and the guns I've owned (more than a dozen over the years) have all been very accurate: handguns of Ruger and S&W make holding sub-2" groups at 25 yds, and three rifles that would all do about the same at 100 yds. Good bullets are available that'll work for any purpose: 180's & 200's for close in defense, and 240's on up for hunting.

Back to a .44 in a revolver. For carry, woods or the wild & wooly west side of Louisville, I've sometimes toted a M-69 Smith, a recent offering that weighs-in at 38 oz. unloaded with 4-1/4" bbl. Firing a revolver that light weight with full house 240 gr JHP magnums will definitely ring your chimes, but downloaded to .44 Special levels it's a fun gun for range or CC.

I think of the M-69 as an all day .44 Special (no need to apologize for the caliber), and a sometimes, in extremis, a 5-shot .44 Magnum. In that latter role, the gun with .44 Mag's loaded, is potent bear defense combined with a gun that's light enough to allow all day carry. Mine is a frequent companion, all day, as I attend to chores here on our farm, especially while the deer season is on. For carry to the city, it'll do nicely in an OWB holster, covered by a shirt tail etc., but down-loaded with Skelton's famous load: 240 gr LSWC-HP at 950 fps or Hornady's 200 XTP at 1000.

For deer hunting here 'bouts, a .44 Magnum carbine is almost perfect in our brushy wood lots & thickets of northern KY. I have a Marlin 336 in .44 Magnum, sighted with one of Skinner's excellent peep sights that's just the ticket out to 100 yds or a bit more. Light to carry with that slender lever action receiver, it's comfortable to shoot even with full house magnums. Mine will keep the first 3-4 shots from a cold bbl. inside 2-3" at 100 yds...a fine deer load is a 249 gr. JHP at 1700 fps that's given me success on more than one occasion. My #2 son often carries a Marlin 1894 in .44 Magnum, and killed a nice spike buck a week into the season this year. He's kept the factory iron sights on his in spite of my peep sight recommendations.

As an overall caliber, in a six-gun, for me at 76 years old, a .44's a bit much with magnum level 240's, but is still enjoyable with downloaded 1000 fps loads. While I shot a lot of the heavy & fast stuff in my salad days, I'm now paying the price with arthritis in both wrists and thumb joints. (Take note, youngsters!) The heavy loads are available most anywhere, but a higher cost lately, as are most things...but its an easy round to reload if you invest in the equipment.

HTH's with your understanding of the big magnum and its usefulness. Best regards and a Merry Christmas, Rod

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:


Oh add a 357 Magnum to your list, more specifically a Smith and Wesson 686, although I've seen them bounce off of windshields of cars, not good in a city.....

The bullets or the gun?

Because it's FUN. Every time I go to the range after I am finished shooting my 9mm or .45 etc, I grab my 29-2 and shoot six rounds. Always puts a big smile on my face.

Love my Redhawk in 44 mag though actually prefer to shoot the 41 mag out of the Blackhawk.

With my arthritis and carpel tunnel, I would be scared to death to fire
a short barrel 44. A friend has the S & W 44 with the 10 and 5/8 barrel.
It shoots softer than my 4 inch GP100.

I have a gaggle of .44 carbines (4 Marlins, 3 Rugers, 1 Browning) and my biggest dilemma is choosing which one or two get taken afield each deer season. I want to add a Super Redhawk to the collection at some point so I have at least one revolver that shares the ammo. .44 mag is an excellent reloaders cartridge and from a rifle matches the venerable 30-30 out to 100 yards in every category except for how flat it shoots. Within 50 yards, it is devastatingly effective on whitetail.

The only .44 handgun that I ever thought I really, REALLY wanted was the Anaconda. Then I shot one, on the same day that I shot a Desert Eagle in .44MAG. While I can't say that I didn't have some fun shooting them, that day pretty much cured me of any desire to own either one. Shooting large caliber magnums was punishing and I'm not at all into masochism. Buying any gun that will likely wind up being neglected, rarely shot and be a permanent resident in the safe is bad enough, worse yet given the amount of cash it takes to pony up for any original Colt snake gun. I know I could just shoot .44SPL but not being a reloader factory ammo in that caliber is hard to come across even during the best of times.

I still sort of like the idea of having a Ruger 77 in .44 though the .357 version would be more logical for me, given that's the caliber of most of my revolvers AND I stockpiled plenty of factory ammo for that.

quote:

Originally posted by FishOn:
Because it's FUN. Every time I go to the range after I am finished shooting my 9mm or .45 etc, I grab my 29-2 and shoot six rounds. Always puts a big smile on my face.

See, I do that the other way around sometimes. If I shoot my .44 first, then my 9mm and whatever else is like popcorn.

If you are looking for a big bore revolver that is fun to shoot, and you don't really need the power of a .44 Mag, might I suggest a revolver in .45 ACP like the S&W M625 or a used
1917, 1937 Brazilian or M25. If single action is your thing, a Ruger with .45 Colt and .45 ACP cylinders would do the trick.

The double action revolvers would require moon clips but they are easy to work with if you get a good de-mooning tool.

Added benefit - .45 ACP is more readily available and more reasonably priced than .44 Mag or .44 Special if you don't reload.

I've got a few .45 ACP revolvers and they are loads of fun to shoot and are everybody's favorite at the range. Big fat bullets going down range without being pounded on by a magnum load and VERY accurate.

I've got a .44 Mag too, but it doesn't make it to the range near as much as my .45s.

10 years ago I noticed that there were a lot of .44's for sale at pawn shops. I mean a lot.

I got the feeling people were unloading them (no pun intended), and picking up Glocks and Berettas instead.

quote:

Originally posted by Mustang-PaPa:

I would recommend you borrow or rent one first to see if the itch remains after 50rds. Your hands may not agree with your want.

I've seen that advice in here before. Thanks for reminding me. I'm going to do that!

If I go back to .44, I will probably use the Underwood .44 Special 190gr all lead JHP. Velocity is 1150 FPS and ME is 558 pounds. Should be a good all-around performer.
The Underwood full on .44 Magnum loads all have specs just a notch below a tactical nuke. That would be rifle only for me!

My favorite .44 is the Smith & Wesson Performance Center Model 629 V-Comp. Very comfortable to shot with the compensator, and it can be removed if inconvenient for carry.

In NH, you can hunt in "shotgun only" areas with certain pistol cartridges, one being the .44mag. For that purpose, I have a T/C Contender with a .44mag barrel. I also reload for .44mag. For me, this is an excellent deer cartridge, whether in pistol or in rifle. Due to NH's laws, I have coaxed two co-workers into getting .44mag rifles.

The 44 Magnum I want to get next would be a Ranch Hand converted to an SBR. God Bless !!!

You can't beat the 44 and 41 mags for use when you need, want, or like the xtra oomph. I shot a 44 mag quite a lot quite a long time ago, cleaving bowling pins in half at 50 yds with 240 gr speer JHPs. It doesn't get much more fun than that. These cartridges are also inherently accurate, can't beat them with a stick.

having shot 357 mag for a number of years and having also shot a 44 I would go with the 44 mag... much easier to shoot.