An 8 3/8� model 48 is a very specialized pistol. The .22 mag really suffers greatly in a handgun and it�s really not a very effective cartridge for anything larger than say a fox inside of 50 yards. By stretching the barrel to 8 3/8� now you have both the sight radius and the ballistic authority to truly anchor a fox or smaller animal out to 50 yards. The 8 3/8� barrel makes the model 48 a 75 yard or possibly 100 yard prairie dog handgun. As for smaller game like squirrels and bunnies, it simply allows the shooter to do what they would do with a .22lr handgun, but 50% farther.
So that�s how I see it. If you wanted to get into the rimfire silhouette game, your model 48 would probably be the gun to beat at longer distance. Other than that, it�s really not a very practical pistol. If the barrel was cut down, the performance is only slightly better than the .22lr. Now one thing though, .22 magnum factory snake shot loads is about as good as factory snake shot gets. You�ll find that the .22 magnum snake shots perform every bit as well as a factory .44 special, or .45 Colt. This is because when you get out of the rimfire class, CCI switches from #12 shot, which is absolutely PERFECT, to a #9 shot, which puts too few pellets on target. So the .22 magnum is THE snake shot round if you�re going to use factory snake loads. Using .22 magnum one round will stop a snake cold if hit in the head (and head shots are not tough at all with shot cartridges). A second shot will usually completely stop all squirming with the exception of some tail movement that will happen even if you completely sever the head. With #9 shot in the factory centerfire loads, it generally takes about 3 shots to bring things to a complete stop.
PS�For some reason, CCI uses #12 in their 9mm shot cartridges, making the 9mm the best factory snake shot offering available. Unfortunately, unless it�s a 9mm revolver, the snake loads rarely will cycle a semi-auto pistol.
