Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns .44 Special

I think that the S&W 329PD is the best .44 Special that has yet to be made. The recoil is certainly not comfortable with full power .44 Magnum loads, but it is, at least to me, a pleasure to shoot when loaded to .44 Special levels and a pleasure to carry. But, as you say, to each his own.

I shoot alot of 44S loads....have a snub Taurus SS alloy frame

carry gun...yept even factory ported....5 shooter...been a good

revolver now for 20+ years..also run 44S loads outta my Marlin

lever 44M rifles....mainly Cowboy fart loads..6/Trailboss or

Universal...great little cartridge...

I've owned quite a few 44 Spec.'s including of all things, an Uberti Winchester '73 replica.

i was kind of snickering a week or so ago, i have been loading 38wcf, 41mag, 10mm, 44special, 45colt all to about the same velocity, some difference in bullet weight.
but that old colt my dad had from circa 1900 in 38wcf still works pretty good today,, and most of the time you just don't need the blast etc.

i think you could send that holster down this way if you wanted to, to another disatvantaged left handed person.

I have a Colt New Service in 38-40 and think that it, along with the 44-40, a very under-rated, under-appreciated, handgun cartridge.

I own a 3 1/2" M624 and a couple of Ruger's. I like HS-6 in mine. My favorite.

Definitely.

38 WCF...



44-40...

I like all you guys, but Ron buddy, that just ain't going to happen. My wife would kill me. She had Mike Barranti build that for me and I expect my body would never be found if she thought I got rid of that holster.

That would not bother Ron.

Have carried this around when the mood strikes me. Fun little revolver.

Usually stoked with 200 gr Gold Dots at ~ 880.

Kind of heavy DA but the SA pull is surprisingly good.

Perhaps the ol' .44 SPL ain't so special anymore (read: popular), but it seems like revolvers in this size are tailor-made for the .44...

Concealable yet easy and comfortable to shoot.

It's not a .44 special but...I intend to stoke it full of .44 special +p's.

S&W 69 L-Frame .44 Mag. 5-shot, 37 oz. I don't see blasting full house 300gr. magnums at 1250...but a 300 at 950-1000 is a beautiful sweet spot.

The L frame 69 has me wanting one as well, a 4 inch 69 would be a great gun to have. I shoot my new-used 629 with 240 grain LSWC's and am enjoying the gun shooting only 9 grains of unique. I have enjoyed shooting this recently purchased revolver much more than the soulless black pistols I have for CCW.

I do intend to try and shoot a deer with it.

In 1977 I had a blue steel charter bulldog, thing felt like a firecracker when you fired it, and key holed some lead round nose bullets I shot in it, forget which ones...not that good of a gun in the day. I guess the new ones must be better...

Charter went through some ownership changes and the Bulldog is one of those guns that vary from era to era.

The 69 is a good enough gun but I liked my Mountain Gun better.

I recently came into possession of an old (1966) Herter's .44 mag. Although it is a well made gun and should have no trouble with full power .44's, I mostly shoot even my Ruger .44 "mags" with heavy hard cast at 1000 fps or less. The Herter's had serious carbon rings in all the chambers from having a lot of .44 Specials shot through it, so my intention is to shoot mostly some 290 gr cast bullets that I have a bunch of in .44 mag brass at 800 - 900 fps, for a woods walking and fun gun. So far, it is pretty accurate with those loads, and it is heavy enough to just about eliminate recoil at that power level.

Also have a Ruger flattop in .44 Special with a 4/58" barrel that is one of my very favorite revolvers!

That 300 grain load should whack the schitt out of something too.

I have fooled with the 310grain lee cast bullet, running it at around 1000fps. this was in a 44mag casing.
went throught 7 gallon water jugs and bounced off the plywood behind them. I recovered it, and probably could use it again. I had some more milk jugs, I was going to use 15of them, but sun rotted them so have to start again.
as to scott's remarks, my comment as to the wife would be any wife that gives a gift like that to husband would be in high demand. Does she have a boat, as the saying goes?
I have had 44mags for years but never much really cared for them, preferring the special loads.
I think that is going to carry over in 41magnum, since I started making 41special loads. all comes to the same thing, heavy bullet at moderate velocities, less flash, less bang, less nasty, but still will punch through just about anything.
I have a 696, the only thing is five shot. I recently bought a rugerredhawk in 41mag to get that 2.75barrel. intending running it with 250's at about 1000fps.

Ron,

Wives such as her are awesome. I got blessed with a far better woman than I deserve. Sorry, she doesn't have a boat but she does have a husband with one.

I have to agree with you on the heavy bullets at moderate velocities. I haven't played much with the 300 grain bullets yet in my 44 Special yet but will after hunting season. It is amazing just how effective a heavy cast bullet going 1000-1200 fps can be.

Mart

Agree. Two of the three 38-40's I own. The other is a Ruger convertible 38-40 and 10mm.

i have a first or second year production colt in 44.40 that also has a 44special cylinder. I bought some black power rounds years ago, but havenn't had the nads to fire anything in it yet.
as to the 38wcf. I know of two of them that were used effectively in putting some men's lights out.
I fired one of them last fall, probably been 50 years since it was last fired. 180grain lead bullet, about 900fps. minute of pop can out to about 25yards. same thing as the 40s&w really.