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Campfire 'Bwana
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What is special about them? JWP, The reason for my statement is this: I own three Ruger RedHawks in 44 Magnum and two Smith & Wesson 44 Magnums, a 629 and a 29. I shoot all of those revolvers but not as much as I used to due to the fact that I’ve reached the age of 78. I’m really beginning to feel the effect of those years. I still like to ride out into the woods and look for varmints and other targets of opportunity. I like shooting the larger calibers and still cast my own bullets. On those trips I usually take along my 24, my 624, or my 5.5” Blackhawk (a 44 special) maybe even my GP 100 with a 3” barrel because they are lighter to carry, accurate for the distances I’m going to shoot, and they are fun to shoot. And I like them. That makes them special to me. I understand this but SAAMI loaded 44 Specials are loaded with a 246 grain lead bullet at about 750 FPS. Nothing Special about that 950 FPS and up changes the game
I got banned on another web site for a debate that happened on this site. That's a first
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900 fps isn't a toy, and easy to reach with a 250 grain bullet. Flying hammers.
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Campfire Tracker
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Clickbait? The .38 Special is not special...you must have a .357. The .32-20 will never do, you need a .32 H&R. .45 Colt is the pits, you need a .460....on and on...Oh well, I guess it sells advertising. 38 Special is under powered for sure in most factory loadings. There are a few that have decent power. The 44 special is Underwood and always has been. Nothing the 44 special v Can do that the 44 mag can't do and some things better The 38 special is underpowered for what? Shooting gel blocks? Chronographs? Ballistics geeks? That kind of talk is internet nonsense. The 38 has proven itself for a century.
Last edited by BuckHaggard; 08/05/22.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Clickbait? The .38 Special is not special...you must have a .357. The .32-20 will never do, you need a .32 H&R. .45 Colt is the pits, you need a .460....on and on...Oh well, I guess it sells advertising. 38 Special is under powered for sure in most factory loadings. There are a few that have decent power. The 44 special is Underwood and always has been. Nothing the 44 special v Can do that the 44 mag can't do and some things better Please. The 38 special is underpowered for what? Shooting gel blocks? Chronographs? Ballistics geeks? That kind of talk is internet nonsense. The 38 has proven itself for a century. If you think so fine, but the little 9mm is more powerfull and if the 38 Special was so great Thierry would have been a need for the 357 Magnum
I got banned on another web site for a debate that happened on this site. That's a first
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Campfire Ranger
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The .357 was developed primarily for hunting, not for defense. Doug Wesson was the the driving personality pushing the .357 magnum, and he was all about field performance on game. S&W and many LE agencies were very happy with the performance of the .38-44 High Speed, and the ballistics of 1150 fps for a 158 grain SWC would tend to make a guy think that's something that's going to get the job done. But the .38-44 is a good deal hotter than any current .38 Special +P. So from a self defense/LE standpoint, that cartridge was working well. And even though the .357 was available after 1935, the .38-44 High Speed was loaded by all the big makers on up into the early '60's. Now admittedly the .38-44 while externally is identical to the .38 Special cartridge, it really is a different cartridge, because it was very gun specific. If you didn't have an N Frame S&W, or a medium or large frame Colt, then that cartridge wasn't recommended. In fact, you won't find any real evidence of any law enforcement agency using the .38-44 High Speed in anything other than those guns. Maybe some adventurous individuals, but not agencies.
Now that said, the self defense capabilities of the magnum were not lost on anyone, least of all S&W. So it obsoleted the .38-44 for both hunting and self defense.
Last edited by GunGeek; 08/05/22.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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The 38-44 was very good. S&W asked Winchester to develop a 158 grain load at 1450 FPS, It took Winchester a year and they outdid themselves with a 158 at 1550 FPS. This was called I believe the registered Magnum. Today No SAAMI member load anything over about 1240 FPS or so.
I got banned on another web site for a debate that happened on this site. That's a first
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Campfire Ranger
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.38 Special standard pressure as originally loaded with a 158 grain lead round nose is just an obsolete cartridge, and dumb azz LE agencies just refused to recognize for decades how inappropriate that cartridge was. When developed the acid test for handgun performance was penetration through 3/4" or 1" pine boards. In that test the 158 grain LRN actually performed rather well, so everyone kept convincing themselves the .38 had the goods. And sadly it took about a generation for some LE agencies to wake up. NYPD used the round for something like 80 years!
Modern .38 Specail +P is a very different story. Heavy loads and good JHP's bring the .38 Special up to roughly 9mm-P performance when fired from similar barrel lengths. Which puts it into the adequate category, and that's about it. The .38 Special of today is finally adequate, nearly a century later!
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How many years old is that article?
I recall reading it when it came out in Handgunner years back, but it has been a while.
Yes, it is click bait stuff, when you don't have anything new or exciting to write about, you have to drum up strawman type things like this to attack and refute.
Not much for original material I guess. Bingo! Just tryin to stir up the readers, Taffin had a counterpoint article in the same issue as I recall. A revolver version of the popular 9mm vs. 45ACP discussions back in the day. It apparently didn't fly well as it petered out quickly.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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What is special about them? JWP, The reason for my statement is this: I own three Ruger RedHawks in 44 Magnum and two Smith & Wesson 44 Magnums, a 629 and a 29. I shoot all of those revolvers but not as much as I used to due to the fact that I’ve reached the age of 78. I’m really beginning to feel the effect of those years. I still like to ride out into the woods and look for varmints and other targets of opportunity. I like shooting the larger calibers and still cast my own bullets. On those trips I usually take along my 24, my 624, or my 5.5” Blackhawk (a 44 special) maybe even my GP 100 with a 3” barrel because they are lighter to carry, accurate for the distances I’m going to shoot, and they are fun to shoot. And I like them. That makes them special to me. I understand this but SAAMI loaded 44 Specials are loaded with a 246 grain lead bullet at about 750 FPS. Nothing Special about that 950 FPS and up changes the game Yep, GT Bullets 255gr Keith bullet at 1000 fps over 4227 in my little 44 makes it real Special. 
Trump Won!
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The .38 Special of today is finally adequate, nearly a century later! Funny.... I say the same thing about 9mm. 9mm absolutely sucked for a century before finally there were (supposedly) effective bullets for the cartridge. .38 did not have to wait nearly as long.
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Campfire Ranger
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Inside every 44 Magnum is a 44 Special. Load it the way you want and call it an uploaded 44 Special or a downloaded 44 Mag. 😊
NRA Life,Endowment,Patron or Benefactor since '72.
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Inside every 44 Magnum is a 44 Special. Load it the way you want and call it an uploaded 44 Special or a downloaded 44 Mag. 😊 ^^^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^^ Pretty difficult to argue with that! memb
You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel
“I’d like to be a good rifleman…..but, I prefer to be a good hunter”! memtb 2024
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Clickbait? The .38 Special is not special...you must have a .357. The .32-20 will never do, you need a .32 H&R. .45 Colt is the pits, you need a .460....on and on...Oh well, I guess it sells advertising. 38 Special is under powered for sure in most factory loadings. There are a few that have decent power. The 44 special is Underwood and always has been. Nothing the 44 special v Can do that the 44 mag can't do and some things better Please. The 38 special is underpowered for what? Shooting gel blocks? Chronographs? Ballistics geeks? That kind of talk is internet nonsense. The 38 has proven itself for a century. If you think so fine, but the little 9mm is more powerfull and if the 38 Special was so great Thierry would have been a need for the 357 Magnum The 9mm has the capacity and length of the 38 S&W; the 38 Special even more. Sierras newest manual spells out the 9mm vs. the 38 Special quite well; even though the 38 is still loaded to much lower pressures, it has more capacity all day long. Its like the 45 Colt/44 Mag comparison. Like that comparison, the 38 kicks the 9mm as bullets get heavier. Both would have had a better track record with flatnoses. A lot of departments and LEO's carried straight wadcutters, even though loaded very light, for a reason. The 38/44 was essentially the 38 Super and vice versa, for the time period. Everyone recognized the 38 Super as a step up from the 9mm and thus the 38/44 was as well, even when housed in that puny 38 Special case... Having owned numerous 357's and a nice pair of Outdoorsmans, there's not one thing a 357 would do that an Outdoorsman wouldn't that I've seen. The Outdoorsman also handles the iconic 358429; probably why Elmer preferred 38's out of his 357's.
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All my hero’s are falling😒
Last edited by boatboy; 08/06/22.
Thank You Lord for another day,Help my Brother along the way
When you mature,you realize hospitals and schools are businesses,and the Beatles were geniuses
Live Like A Champion Today
NRA EndowmentLife Member,My Daughter is also a Life Member
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And, if the trashing of the .44 Unspecial were not sufficient to put me in the bottom 1% on the socio-economic-evolutionary-dick measuring scale there remains the fact that I am also fond of my .44 Russian...which is even shorter, gasp, and most historians agree is the sole reason Russia lost the Russo-Japanese war. One can only wonder where the course of history would have taken us 150 years later if it wasn't for Dirty Harry, Hollywood and the .44 Mag....
Well this is a fine pickle we're in, should'a listened to Joe McCarthy and George Orwell I guess.
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Campfire Regular
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Its all about choices, Chevy vs Ford....Chocolate vs Vanilla, pick your poison. We all have favorites & the 44 special is one of mine, easy on the back end & deadly on the front end.
Dick
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Campfire Sage
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The 9mm has the capacity and length of the 38 S&W; the 38 Special even more.
Sierras newest manual spells out the 9mm vs. the 38 Special quite well; even though the 38 is still loaded to much lower pressures, it has more capacity all day long.
Its like the 45 Colt/44 Mag comparison. Like that comparison, the 38 kicks the 9mm as bullets get heavier.
Both would have had a better track record with flatnoses. A lot of departments and LEO's carried straight wadcutters, even though loaded very light, for a reason.
The 38/44 was essentially the 38 Super and vice versa, for the time period. Everyone recognized the 38 Super as a step up from the 9mm and thus the 38/44 was as well, even when housed in that puny 38 Special case...
Having owned numerous 357's and a nice pair of Outdoorsmans, there's not one thing a 357 would do that an Outdoorsman wouldn't that I've seen. The Outdoorsman also handles the iconic 358429; probably why Elmer preferred 38's out of his 357's. I agree with all of this.
Trump being classless,tasteless and clueless as usual. Sorry, trump is a no tax payin pile of shiit. My young wife decided to play the field and had moved several dudes into my house
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When .38/44 first appeared with the S&W Outdoorsman and Heavy Duty, Colt engineers tested the Colt Official Police and determined it was safe to fire it all day long. The Official Police was overbuilt for .38 Special by a significant margin.
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Campfire Outfitter
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Charter Arms 44 Special revolver sure are popular for some reason
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Campfire Ranger
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Funny how easily triggered folks can be.
I agree with the OP statement.
44sp isn't Special.
Maybe we could do what all the young parents do.
44 Spesaal? Now, it can be special?
The article makes all the points.
Not a whole lot that you can find to call it special.
However, the easily triggered "Can't handle the truth".
Not being special is not the same as calling it junk.
There are some nice guns so chambered, the round is certainly
capable. If I ever find someone selling a 329 way too cheap,
It will become "My Special 44 Special".
Last edited by Dillonbuck; 08/08/22.
Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!
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