.44 Magnum might not be the "most powerful handgun in the world" anymore, but it's still one of the cartridges we get the most questions about. So we're gonna answer some of them. There's also a thing about the history of .44 Magnum at the beginning, so maybe watch that. Also, stick around until the end for a quick visit from Uncle Manny.
VIDEO HERE (19:29 minutes)
My favorite caliber! I have a 2 inch 629 and a 3 inch 629 that are my carry guns. (not at the same time). Over the years, I've probably have 15 different ones. When Dan Wesson came out with theirs, I had 3 of them. all of them got recalled and I sent them back UPS. I come home from work one day and there they are sitting on my front porch. No signature, no nothing, just UPS dropped them off.
ReplyDeleteAn excellent hunting round if you're using a handgun.
ReplyDeleteI inherited my grandfather's Sauer and Sohn Chief Marshall. It did not take much to get good with this pistol. I have a cross draw cowboy holster that works well. I can only shoot one 6-shot cylinder of top end 44 mag before my elbow screams for me to stop. Most of what I shoot with it is soft 44 Spl loads but I only shoot it once or twice a year.
ReplyDeleteI had a 9” Smith with a scope the was accurate to 100 yds.on a sand bag producing 1” groups but the blast was difficult after 10-15 rounds of fun.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid of 10 years old, I enjoyed shooting a.44 mag carbine by Marlin, still ny favorite gun of all time.
ReplyDeleteSaved my pennies bought a Ruger .44 carbine in Jr High, (my grand dad had to buy it, being i was under 18), i'm 66 now, only thing i have deer hunted with, can say thru experience, using no other load but 180 grain hollow points, every deer died on the spot, but hunting in northern NH, rarely have a shot more than 100 yards. The 180 hollow points pretty much explode in soft tissue, they take the deer and bears i shot, down with total authority, the Ruger has been an outstanding rifle, its as small and quick handling as the 10-22, which was modeled after the .44 carbine, with a red dot which i put on it first in 1984, really made this carbine shine, had to replace the first dot just about when the Trijicon pistol dots came out, so mounted a 1moa dot RMR, had to machine a mount, but that was simple, my wife jokes she is gonna bury me with the Ruger like some old Viking. But she uses it too, being 85lbs it suits her very well. Put a ton, no joke, of meat in the freezer with it, all one shot one kill. Pretty decent little carbine, paid itself back few times over. Free hand standing, if I am careful, can shoot a 4 inch group, it prefers the 180 grain loads, the heavier loads tend to open up a lot, no idea why, but its how thus rifle shoots. Its almost like cheating, this combo of Ruger and .44 mag. Hopefully my grandson will use it when he gets old enough to shoot a rifle, that would be sweet.
ReplyDeleteI fired a cylinder of hot loads out of a friend's Model 29 back around 2008. The first time I ever fired a .44 Mag, and definitely the last. It was not fun.
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't for Elmer Keith, there wouldn't be a 44 mag.
ReplyDeleteMany moons ago, my brother was trying to teach me not to have an anticipatory flinch when firing big bore handguns. He had a really nice stainless model 83 Single Action Freedom Arms .44mag. that he was randomly blind loading with the lighter .44specials. He was training me by having me drop the hammer on unknown empty and/or live chambers. All was going fine until he substituted a really heavy handloaded .44mag in one of the chambers. The damn gun almost came out of my hand. Thanks to him, I have a permanent tendency to flinch.
ReplyDeleteJust last week I was looking at my guns with the idea of selling the ones I wont ever shoot again. Top of the list was my Dan Wesson 44B with 8" and 4" barrels.
ReplyDeleteSally
DeleteI picked up a Taurus in .44 as backup when I hunted Montana. Carried it for deer when we had a pistol only deer season.
ReplyDeleteMy main deer gun now is a Henry in .44, which is legal for the pistol season. The big scope kinda spoils the lines of the gun and makes an already heavy but well balanced carbine pretty porky. I’m using Hornady 225 grain flex tips, and the recoil is very tolerable. As noted above, anything hit goes down fast.
Coelacanth
Had a Marlin back in the late 70s that jammed every other shot right out of the box. Sent it off more than once and it wound up being someone else’s problem. None since
ReplyDelete