Looking to get permission to carry and wondering what gun you would carry if you could in the bush for animal defence? What 44 magnums are there to look at, restricted only. S&W and ruger seem to be all I can find. Would love something with as short a barel as possible.
44 mag opinions?
- Thread starter bigbore14
- Start date
Or a 4 5/8 inch Superblackhawk. - dan
Good revolvers but a single action would not be my choice and I have owned a Superblackhawk, now I own S&W and Dan Wesson 44 Mags.
I own all of those, and a few others besides, and I still would not feel undergunned with the Blackhawk. FWIW - dan
I agree. Have read some articles on this, and you can get good performance by handloading the old 45colt cartridge and pumping it up. As you say, factory ammo is loaded light for safe firing in old SAA revolvers.
However all loading manuals warn that you can only use heavy loads in the T/C Contender and single action revolvers like the Blackhawk.
The old Ruger single action Blackhawk/Superblackhawk design may take a bad rap by some, but if you want a good solid frame for handling spicy handloads safely then this the revolver of choice. And if in the USA it is an excellent choice for hunting.
Just my 2 cents.
CD
My first question and I mean absolutely no disrespect by asking it, is have you shot a .44 Mag before? And if you have, can you shoot it well, well enough to
pass the proficiency requirements? The nice thing about shooting it well, is that it can come with practice. Some people find the recoil of the full loads in
the .44 mag to be too much and start to develop a flinch. I include myself in this group. I was fortunate in that I had someone to instruct me as to what I
should do. He said I should file the front sight off the barrel, that way it wouldn't hurt so much when the bear shoved it up my as*. I have since rid myself of the .44 and purchased a .357 mag.
And also a Marlin 1895m - now that's a comforting rifle.
Last edited:
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
I carry a .44 Vaquero. I like the fixed sights that will not move out of adjustment if the gun is dropped. I also like the fact that the SA doesn't have a crane that can get sprung. The alignment of the chamber to the barrel is dependent only on a true base pin. I firmly believe if you are forced to shoot to save your life, if you haven't solved the problem with a cylinder full of .44s, you won't be around to reload anyway.
If you end up with a gun with adjustable sights, check out the Rough Country rear sight that is sold and easily obtained from Bowen Classic Arms. Instead of using a spring and screw adjustment for the windage, this sight uses opposing screws, so you back off one and advance the other. This makes the sight pretty tough, but it is even tougher when you screw the elevation right down to the bottom, lock-tite it in place, and regulate the height of the front sight to your load.
If your gun has wood grips, consider swapping them for rubber or micarta.
If you end up with a gun with adjustable sights, check out the Rough Country rear sight that is sold and easily obtained from Bowen Classic Arms. Instead of using a spring and screw adjustment for the windage, this sight uses opposing screws, so you back off one and advance the other. This makes the sight pretty tough, but it is even tougher when you screw the elevation right down to the bottom, lock-tite it in place, and regulate the height of the front sight to your load.
If your gun has wood grips, consider swapping them for rubber or micarta.
My first question and I mean absolutely no disrespect by asking it, is have you shot a .44 Mag before? And if you have, can you shoot it well, well enough to
pass the proficiency requirements? The nice thing about shooting it well, is that it can come with practice. Some people find the recoil of the full loads in
the .44 mag to be too much and start to develop a flinch. I include myself in this group. I was fortunate in that I had someone to instruct me as to what I
should do. He said I should file the front sight off the barrel, that way it wouldn't hurt so much when the bear shoved it up my as*. I have since rid myself of the .44 and purchased a .357 mag.
And also a Marlin 1895m - now that's a comforting rifle.
that's the reason that most of us use 44 special loads for practise- i don't have a SINGLE 38/357 in my battery, and won't have- you can download the 44 to be just about as mild as the 38 , realitve to the SIZE of the gun- as for your friend, he has the saying BACKWARDS- it's the 357 the bear is gonna shove, not the 44- there's folks on this board that CARRY A 454 CASULL OR BIGGER- these are VERY EXPERINCED people who have dealt with bears for years-and gave atc's - those of us who don't carry 12 guage or 45-70
- Location
- Niagara Region, Ontario. For now
Practising with different ammo then what you intend to use is not smart. You need to practise getting multiplt shots on target with the magnum loads. It is alot harder than with the special loads. I understand if you are just getting used to the aiming and drawing of the gun but once you are past that it is about being able to dump a full cylinder into a pie plate as fast as possible in double action. too many people go to the range shooting .44 specials in single action and think that they are ready for a bear/bad guy encounter.
A 45 colt is too weak to conciser for an ATC. 45 Colt has a balistic of 930 fps with 480 ft·lbf pushing a 250gr. Same bullet in a 44 Mag is 1,500 fps and 1,250 ft·lbf. A 44 mag is almost 3 times as powerful.
A 357 Mag has more punch that a 45 Colt and it isn't enough to stop a grizzly.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
A .45 Colt handloaded in a strong gun is another matter entirely, pushing a 325 gr bullet at 1200. While not my first choice, there are several well documented cases where a .357 has successfully killed a grizzly under very dangerous circumstances. My back up ATC gun is a .357.
If you're talking factory loads yes, reloads not by a long shot!
How about a 300gr. .45 at around 1250fps and approx. 1000ft/lbs (4 5/8" barrel), that's almost double what any .357 mags will do with greater frontal area. And you can go heavier still!
I'm sure there are and a .22 will "do the job" if placed in the right spot but were talking about your life and I wouldn't want to gamble with it trying to decide on a 45 colt or a 357 Mag. There also has been a grizzly shot not to long ago by a hunter. After skinning he found that it had been shot 6 times with a .357 (Mag I presume) and still live after that!!! It was one of the biggest recorded in that area but those animals are out there. These are just my opinion but the lowest I would go is 44 Mag. Better suited would be 454 Casull. I will gamble with my money but not my life.
I am talking about factory loads as I know very little about loading up the 45 colt. To me it's dated technology and there are better performers out there, like the 44 Mag.
S&w 629....
If I was going to get a .44 Mag revolver again it would be a S&W Model 629, the stainless, with 6" barrel. Prefer patridge type sites though over the red ramp set-up you usually see on 'em.
NAA.
If I was going to get a .44 Mag revolver again it would be a S&W Model 629, the stainless, with 6" barrel. Prefer patridge type sites though over the red ramp set-up you usually see on 'em.
NAA.
