Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Anybody have any experience with a Taurus 441 .44 Special?

I've been wanting a medium frame, double action .44 Special for several years now. At one point I had considered having one made on a Ruger GP100 frame, but it turned out to be cost prohibitive.

Earlier this summer I got an opportunity to shoot a pistol that fits my .44 Special desire quite well, a Taurus 441. It's a 4" stainless steel, 5-shot with adjustable sights. It shot very well for me. I was able to repeatedly ring the steel gong I was shooting at.

Fast forward to yesterday when I walked into the local gun/small engine shop where a nearly new 441 sat in the display case. Examination showed a few small scratches from handling but no holster wear. I was told it was a nightstand gun and was shot little. The lack of fouling in the nooks and crannies and the absence of any brassy coloration from the casehead on the breech face makes this pretty believable.

I have no plans to hot rod the gun should I buy it. Mostly book maximum or slightly lower than max loads. I'm wondering about the longevity one could expect from this medium frame gun.

Anybody have any knowledge or experience with this model?

Thanks in advance for any info.

I've had one for several years. It shoots great and appears to be one of Taurus' better products. I think it can be a crap shoot. I usually shoot mid-range .44spl loads in it. I can't remember where I read that you should only use the 200grn or thereabouts bullets in it, rather than heavy loads with 240's. Since I haven't I can't tell you why that advice was given and take it for what it's worth. I would think you could use any .44spl within industry specs in it, but like I said I've never used heavy loads in mine. But I do like to shoot it. BTW for holster purposes it's an L frame. Good luck with it and enjoy it. CH

Thanks for the feedback Chickasaw. If I pick it up it'd probably see snakeshot loads and moderate velocity cast bullet loads around 800 fps. Any jacketed bullet loads with max charges of powder (by the book) would be the exception.

Thanks again.

I looked at one a few months back and was impressed with the gun.
Would have bought it but I have a Smith 696 and I didn't see any real reason to do so.

I like the Taurus 441 4" with a adjustable sights. I don't currently have 1, but I do have a couple of the very similar Rossi 720s. I carry 1 of the 720s a lot with 2 or 3 snake-shot and 2 or 3 Winchester/Olin 200 grain Silvertip HPs. My favorite bullet in the Rossi is the old 215 grain Speer 1/2 jacket SWC.

Jeff

No personal knowledge, but here's a fun fact to know and share at your next cocktail party :

Gunwriter G. Sitton carried the fixed-sight, 3" barrel model (431) of that revolver for CCW. He had his slightly customized by reshaping the grip frame to a round butt shape, custom grips, action job, and bobbed the hammer. He spoke (er, wrote) well of it.

Sounds like some favorable reports, Thanks for the feedback guys.

Now I just have to scrape up the money before someone else buys it.

That 441 of Hoot's is a really neat gun isn't it?
If I come across one that is mechanically sound and a good price, I will probably buy it.

Hope you can round up the funds soon enough to grab it.

BTW, I keep forgetting to send your TSMS range towel. I'll try to get it in the mail this week.

Mark

I'm glad I got to shoot Hoot's 441, although it really got under my skin and I haven't been able to forget the idea of picking one up.
I was just thinking seriously about finding one last week and was even checking on gun auction sites, but had no luck. Pretty ironic that I just happen to step into the local sports shop last weekend and spot one in barely used condition. I haven't even been in that shop since June when I picked up that .35 Remington that I brought with me to the shoot.

Well, today I stopped by there and put the 441 on layaway and put a 10/22 on consignment to make up the money needed to the 441.

Don't stress over the towel, Mark. I was thinking that it would be a good excuse for me to stop by and pay you a visit sometime this winter.

Scott

Cool! Make sure you bring it next year to TSMS.

If you can arrange to go to the shoot in January, maybe we can share a ride.
I'm thinking I'll make it a long day speed run.

Mark

I have the Taurus 425 in .41 and love it. Put a set of Hogue mono-grips on mine and it really changed the attitude of the pistol when raised to eye level. Literally shoots ragged holes at 15 yards offhand with Rem 170 grains, cast 210's, or Hornady 200's.

Gonna take a dry doe or two with it this deer season.

Count on it, Mark.

Still not sure about the January event, but if I can make it truckpooling sounds good to me. I'll let you know when I find out if I can make it.

Scott

Sounds like a really nice shooter, crowrifle. I'm not familiar with that model. Is it a medium frame gun?

Well, I finally scrounged up the funds for the 441. I loaded up a few rounds of birdshot, some roundnosed flat points and some JHPs. I just posted these pics in the field guns thread but I decided to follow up on this old thread for the sake of completing the thread.

It has a few shallow scratches in the polished surface. The trigger is decent in double action and is pretty nice in single action. Now the quest for couple decent handloads begins.

Grats on a nice find. I've had a similar Taurus .44 for quite a while. Blue, fixed sights, 3", don't recall the model for sure, might be a 431. Anyway I'm pretty fond of it and tote it around when kicking around in the weeds.

Find some 200 gr Speer Gold Dots for yours, you'll like them.

Are you handloading for your 44? If so, would you mind telling what are you putting under those 200 gr Gold Dots?

I just put a bunch of 250 & 240 grn cast SWC's over 7.5 grn of Unique thru mine with good effect. Somewhere around here I asked for a clean buring .44 spl load and there was lots of good advice. I can tell you from experience that 2400 isn't one of them. Good luck and let us know what you come up with. CH

I've read the thread you are referring to about clean burning powders for the .44 special. I went back and read it just a day or 2 ago.

It seems like the data I'm finding is not only limited, but the max listed loads from one source to another are a little erratic. For example, Accurate powders lists a max load of AA7 under a 180 JHP at 10.5 grains of powder and a max load under a 240 cast bullet at 8.6 grains. Another reloading manual had a max load of over 11 grains of AA& for the 240 cast. I won't give exact loads or name the manual because I can't remember the exact charge weight they listed with AA7. I just mention it as an example of some of the erratic data I'm finding.

I suspect that those from Accurate seem to be fairly light loads even though listed as maximum. Loaded to the book maximum with AA7, the 180's clocked 850 fps and the 240 only reached 575 fps. This from a 4" barrel, at 10' from the muzzle. Recoil was very light and bullets struck the target well above point of aim at 15 yds.

I have plenty of Unique on hand and also some Universal from Hodgdon and I've read good things about both of them. They'll be my next powders to try.

Yes I handload the .44, but not the Gold Dots I keep for self defense - they are factory loads. If I were to load them I'd use Universal or Power Pistol which I have on hand. Actually I imagine anything in the Unique burn range would be good for more "energetic" loads I suspect. Titegroup is another favorite, but it will not generate as high velocities.

Search back through this forum, there are several good threads on the .44 Special in the last year or two. Ruger's introduction of the Flattop Blackhawks has generated a lot of interest.

Bruin, just read your latest post. I you have lots of Unique on hand by all means try it, I haven't burned any in decades but it is the classic mid-burnrate powder that all the others are compared to.