Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns The best 44 mag revolver ever? ??

Yes. Mine would have been an 80's Model.

As produced by the Great Western Arms Company? My research indicates that Great Western actually beat Smith & Wesson and Ruger to market with a .44 Mag. Granted, it wasn't by much, but bragging rights being what they are.

For me, the S&W 29/629.

I've had about 30 different ones over the years and the only one I have left is a...Mountain Gun. But it isn't something I would want to run full bore ammo in either.

To me the classiest .44 ever made was the 5" pre-29 that were produced for H. H. Harris Company of Chicago in the late 1950s...but those now bring over $3K when you can even find them....

Bob

Wrong

That's interesting. How did you find that out? John Lachuck made some claims in the 90's about the first 44 Mags...how they were developed, etc. It didn't all coincide with Keith's memories or campfire lore.

All of them are good, but for me and what I want to use one for, my Stainless SBH Bisley Hunter is about as good as it gets!

I have researched it thoroughly, have written and published my findings as well. There's still some debate whether Great Western or Smith actually shipped first, but it is intriguing. I actually believe Smith was first, but GW was nipping at their heals. Ruger made a rather heroic effort considering they had a lot less development time than Smith & Wesson and despite their efforts, shipped after Smith and GW. Industrial espionage was alive and well!

Considering that the .44 Mag was proprietary -- between S&W and Remington, there must have been some major leaks considering it turned into an arms race.

Hey guys, On a different note how strong is a Colt anaconda compared to a 629 or redhawk or dan wesson?

yes they are

Schitt...I like 'em all. Probably my 8 3/8 629 Classic DX is my favorite deer rifle...awfully tempted to say the best .44 magnum is one of my 657's....just sayin'...

Yea, I know it shoots a little low and to the right.

It was a Uberti prototype, serial number 62-17845, made in the summer of 1995. It was hand crafted by a carefully selected team of the finest and most experienced gunsmiths from FN Belgium, Beretta and a few other small custom shops in Italy. It had a super extra special match grade barrel and all dimensions were checked and rechecked to be within 1/100000" (one one hundred thousandth of an inch) of specifications.

It was The Best 44 Magnum Revolver ever made.

S&W's are great but their hamstrung due to S&W simply adapting an existing design to too much cartridge. I have S&W .44's and they are wonderful but they're unable to withstand the cartridge loaded to its potential. I treat them like slightly stronger .44Spl's. For that reason alone, I consider the Ruger single action "better".





That's a matter of opinion and highly debatable.

Best ever?

>>> http://f.tqn.com/y/hunting/1/S/n/V/dan-wesson-model-44-11w.jpg <<<

Dan Wesson is certainly one of.

You realize that you contradicted yourself here?

As to industrial espionage, if I remember the story right, supposedly Ruger scored some spent casings from the trash at either Remington or Smith and Wesson and crafted their first revolvers around them.

IMO, about the same if you're talking current 629's. You can throw the 629's without the endurance package out as being weaker. Endurance enhancements are found generally on -4 or newer guns. Some -3's...

Of double action .44 Mag's in the brands mentioned, the Super Redhawk would be strongest, followed by the others with insignificant differences in strength amongst current offerings.

And FWIW, when I made my first post I meant the Redhawk and not the Super Redhawk. The Super Redhawk is significantly stronger while not nearly as practical IMO. I would take the Redhawk any day over the Super Redhawk.

Pre-lock, Pre-MIM S&W M629

Yes I do. Just stirring the pot a bit. It was an interesting era with lots of intrigue. The legend goes that in the winter of 1955/56 with a Ruger employee giving William B. Ruger a number of once-fired, unmarked cases, claiming to have found them in the dumpster of a local scrap yard. Bill Ruger’s curiosity was aroused enough to delve into a little detective work. His investigation wound him up in the office of Remington’s Dewey Godfrey, where with a little prodding he learned of the super-secret new project they were conducting in conjunction with Smith & Wesson. Bill Ruger was obviously a persuasive fellow as he left Godfrey’s office with enough specifications and technical details to start Ruger’s ball rolling in the new realm of super revolvers.