Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns .44 Magnum, 6" or 4" barrel

I'm thinking about picking up a .44 magnum to carry as a backup gun and maybe take a deer or two. I'm looking at double actions, and have narrowed it down to a 4" or a 6" barrel. I am leaning towards the 4". I have a .357 in 6" that I find I leave at home because it is a bit long. How much velocity would I be losing with a 4" barrel?

Thanks

While there will be some loss in velocity, the deer will not notice the difference. Check your local laws, some states require a six inch barrel for hunting. If there is no such law, I'd go with four inch. I've both and the six inch is a beautiful gun to behold (model 29), as is my 6 inch model 19 and my six inch model 17, but when I go to the field or go woods bumming, the 4 inch version of each of those guns is the one I take--they are just handier and I shoot them as well or better than their 6 inch counterparts.

Take care and have fun deciding

John

Myself I'm partial to the 51/2 in barrel. 4in will give alot more muzzle blast and jump than the longer tubes. How much veloctiy you lose will depend on how you load it. But you can probably figure 1200 fps with a 240 gr. bullet is about as good as it will get.

Bfeore you go out and buy a double action 44, if you are thinking about a Smith, you need to shoot one. The N frame back strap is pretty big and will take the hide off your web of your hand , if it doesn't fit right. I sold mine and changed to a Ruger , 4 5/8 barrel that I really like now. Another thing, is that your talking about carry around about 4 lbs on your hip al day. It gets to be a little much after awhile. I find myself carrying my .357 Ruger Security 6 , 4" barrel. more and more. If I'm realy getting tired, I carry my Smith 2" bar4el , .357 .
In Co, the law says you have to hunt with a 4" barrel or longer.

I generally prefer the shorter barrels - I have a Model 29, a 57, a first model Colt Trooper (all in 4-inch) and a 4 5/8-inch Blackhawk in .41 mag. Those have generally been more for fun and defense, combined with ease of carrying. For dedicated hunting use, I carry a 7 1/2-inch Ruger Bisley in .44 mag in a shoulder holster.

I'm not affiliated with the seller of this gun in any way. Just ran across it earlier today and said to myself, "Self, this here would make for one powerfully respectable packin' around gun".



the el-linko

I vote for the 4" N-Frame as about as good an all around revolver as one can have. Have had .44 Magnums in the past but back about 1980 went over to the .41 Magnum and never looked back. Currently have a 57, 657 and 657 Maountain Gun as awell as 2 of the Blackhawks with 4 5/8" barrels. One is stock and the other had the aluminum gripframe replaced with a Super Blackhawk steel one. Does life get any better????

Bob

I've owned both a 6.5 inch Smith 29, and the 4 inch version. I've shot the 8 3/8th's inch version enough to form an opinion.
The 6-8 inch guns are the choice for hunting. They don't come back nearly as fast as the 4 inch and allow for a longer sight radius, etc.
I sold my 6.5 inch years ago, but kept the 4 inch. Much easier to carry as a backup when bird hunting for instance. Shoots 3 into 1.5 inches at 25 yds.
I went through lots of grips. I've found the Pacmeyer rubber grips to be the most user friendly. To me, at that weight and level of power, this gun is all I want in a handgun. Or all I'll need. If I must carry the weight and size of a big single shot pistol, I'll pack a short, light rifle instead.
Good choice the Smith. However, if you are to knock the gun around much, I'd go for a 4-5 inch Ruger instead. Smiths tend not to function if drop on hard surfaces about 50% of the time. Rugers are not so delicate. While I do prefer the Smith because of the perfect 2.5 lb. trigger on mine, a Ruger might serve you better if your pistol might recieve a fair amount of knocking around.
Frankly, my solution to the "knock around gun" problem is a heavy auto like my Smith 1006 in 10mm. E

Muleshoe--that IS an interesting piece on the link. My only current .44 mag is an older Model 29 with 6 in barrel. I have had a Super Blackhawk (just too big for packing unless you're deer hunting with it) and a 4 inch model 29 (nickel plated--no easier to carry than the 6 in and it made me feel like a Mexican bandito). I haven't tried any of the little .44s like the mountain gun, but they look good for packing, although I wouldn't much like shooting them with more than hot .44 specials. My personal solution to a big-bore packer right now is a dolled up .45 Blackhawk in .45 LC with a 5 1/2 in barrel, but the 6 in model 29 isn't bad in a good holster and belt--just don't try wearing it on your pants belt all day.

4"

I have a Smith Mtn Gun in 44 mag. Nice to carry. In fact, I also carry in a gun fanny pack.

When I handgun hunt though, I use a Super Redhawk w/ 9.5bbl and 2x leupold. That gun though is not holstered.

For your purposes, the 4" is much handier

Only you can decide this one. Each option has a lot to recommend it. I could make a persuasive case for either one, but I'd rather have you choose the one that'll please you better, not me.

Base your choice on whether ease of carry is more important to you than effective performance or vice versa. I find the differences in weights and lengths greater in the imagination than in reality. Surprisingly, some four-inchers and their six-inch counterparts weigh the same (the ribs and underlugs are different enough to make the two barrels weigh the same).

Don't overlook the facts that (a) the six-inch barrel is half again the length of the four-inch, and (b) the barrel is where velocity (and therefore the effective performance) develops.

I recently went through the same preference comparison for myself -- four-inch or six-inch? Since this .45 Colt revolver is to be strictly a carry piece that I hope I'll never have to use, I eventually sloped away from my first choice -- the six-inch -- and chose the four-inch. If I'd had any notion of using it on game, the six-inch would've won the toss, hands-down. OTOH, I have a six-inch .357 that used to be a four-inch (new barrel).

The difference? The .45 Colt is a carry gun, the .357 Magnum a performance gun.

Well, I thought long and hard about it and I decided that performance was useless if I didn't want to carry the piece. I went to the store to check them out again. It had been a few months, and the 6" and 4" were gone. They did have an 8" but it was way too bulky. I walked by the Taurus display and saw they had a stainless Tracker in .41 Magnum, with a 4" barrel. After I handled it, it had to come home. This is what I had been looking for, light, easily packable (so it would not stay at home), and more powerful than the .357. 80% of the performance of the .44, with less recoil and bulk. It is pretty controllable, and shoots 2" groups at 25 yards with factory loads. My only gripe is that the triggerguard bangs the second joint of my second finger in recoil, but I'll add a strip of padding.

Thanks for all the help.