Posted on 07/03/2010 11:11:27 AM PDT by calex59
I believe the .44 Special is the best handgun cartridge ever made. It is accurate and has enough energy in factory loadings to drop the bad guy. It can be handloaded to near .44 mag velocities if the revolver is of good quality.
I know the fake reason the military went to 9mm. Plus if your friend shot himself and didn’t blow his arm off, I would call that a good thing, not a bad thing. The .44 special will stop a criminal if you hit them where they live, heart, head lungs, etc. Arm shots are usually recommended for self defense. What did you expect? Your friend’s arm to fall off? What a friend you are.
I'll restate that although the old .44 Special has it's fans, any quality guns available to shoot it are uncommon these days. I'm sure that the old S&W .44 you have is a nice old gun made with good old craftsmanship.
However, Charter Arms are low-grade guns. Taurus makes guns built like a tank though they have a reputation for highly spotty quality and reliability. Neither of these points are in question in the shooting community.
I really like the 44 special, but I don’t see it ever coming back. The 44 Mag offers the chance to shoot both, so why not?
I would prefer a 44 special to a 357 since I think it would give you just as much penetration without needing a JHP to expand much, and my home defense gun is a Ruger Alaskan (40 oz & 2.5” barrel) loaded with 44 special ammo - 250/260 grain bullets at 900-1000 fps.
But if you go down to Bulldog sized guns, it becomes a bit much for most to handle. I like shooting full power magnum rounds in my Alaskan and 357 rounds in my Model 60 (a 23 oz 5 shot for those not familiar with it) - but I’m fairly recoil tolerant.
Further, for shooting people in self defense, it just isn’t needed. 30 years ago I would have said something different, but the bullets and ammo available now are outstanding. I don’t feel undergunned if I load my M60 with .38+P firing a 158 grain bullet at 1000 fps. All of the ammo from 9mm/38 sp on up is available in loadings that will provide very good penetration and similar sized wounds. A 357 is already a bit more punch than really required.
Sorry. I think it is one of the best rounds out there, but marketing reality is that it has lost. A pity, but I don’t expect it to change.
BTW, I also have S&W, Ruger and Colt firearms, not to mention Winchester long guns. My so called "cheap gun" have held up as well as all of them.
I will continue to buy Charter Arms and Taurus as well as the other brand names I mentioned.
Oh, I expect you are correct, the .44 mag killed off the .44 special but I still love it and will continue to carry it as my concealed weapon as long as I can handload ammo for it. This post wasn’t to change anyone’s mind it was to smoke out possible .44 Special lovers. Thanks.
This should be fun and educational and of course everyone has their favorite cartridge based on the type of shooting they're doing but you get to set the factors to be judged... ;)
CC
I never said that. I said on two occasions that your S&W is probably a very nice gun.
Why don't you go back and read my post, you nearsighted combative old geriatric f'ing COOT with 'little tough guy syndrome'? You have a serious reading comprehension problem and are all onery to fight someone.
Now calm down before you blow a heart valve and die in the middle of this thread. I'm worried that California will consider that evidence enough to charge me with involuntary manslaughter, or something.
This thread is proof that choices in firearms are among the most intimately personal choices we make. Sometimes way too personal it would seem.
I wouldn’t put much stock in the chuck hawks listings. I believe it is largely based on the supposed studies of street shootings, which are...well, poorly done.
http://www.firearmstactical.com/streetstoppers.htm
http://www.firearmstactical.com/briefs4.htm
“Personally, if I have to shoot someone, I want a round that knocks them down and stomps all over them!”
Ahh...you want a RIFLE! Great choice, if available.
The truth is you can drill someone in the heart with a 44 Magnum, and the blood in the brain will still allow him to shoot back for 5-20 seconds - longer if the heart isn’t totally destroyed.
Rifles have 4 times the power or more of a handgun, and might provide some knockdown power. However, a lot of deer hunters have discovered you can shoot a deer in the chest with a perfect shot, and still have the sucker run 100+ yards.
Cast Performance makes a 265 grain hard cast gas check bullet for the .41; loaded with an appropriate dose of H 110, the recoil is stout. The cases drop free from my 657, though.
Sorry, the .22LR is the best handgun cartridge.
I don't think it's a fake reason. Maybe not so bright when you have lots of county boys who grew up with guns and depended on them for food and protection, but not so much so for those who learned to shoot after they enlisted.
A .22 will stop you if placed properly. I'm looking for something that will put you down even if I don't manage proper placement. I'm getting old and creaky, not to mention a bit cranky. I'm not getting in much range time, and I can no longer afford to have guns stashed all over the place.
I was thinking more of their wheelguns in this thread. Now there, Taurus has a reputation that isn't the best, and that's putting it kindly.
More power does not equal BEST! If it did then the BEST would be the biggest. There are huge powerful rounds like the S&W 500 Mag that no one in their right mind would use for most things.
The .44 Special is one of the greatest rounds, I agree. It’s a revolver round, though. Revolvers ruled in civilian and police hands until the 1980s For the last 30 years semi-autos have been more popular.
I like the low recoil of the .44 Spec when fired in a full-size gun. I rarely fire .44mags from any of my .44mag handguns, the Spc. is just more pleasant. It would be just as effective against anything except a big bear, too.
It’s true that the .44 Spc. can also be meade in smaller guns. I have a nice 4&5/8” Super Blackhawk, but it’s just a smidgen bigger than the new retro Blackhawks made on the old frame. The slightly smaller old-frame guns are dimensionaly identical to the Colt SAA. They come in .44 special and .41 mag, but not .44 Mag. I’ve been having a hard time deciding between the two calibers. May have to get both!
Of course in a SAA or other single action you have to consider the .44/40. It maybe just as good as the .44 special. It might not be a handgun bullet per se: it was originally chambered in the Winchester 1873. Th .44/40 is the ‘gun that won the west’, and a Colt Single Action Army and Winchester rifle chambered in the same caliber was a popular frontier combination.
The .44 is the all-American caliber, for sure.
Hmmm, probably not if you hunt or fish Alaska or Africa or Detroit. LOL
“I’m looking for something that will put you down even if I don’t manage proper placement.”
A lot of folks have been looking, but the only place I’ve seen it work is Star Trek...I like my 44 mag, but it won’t stop a bad guy immediately with a shot in the gut, arm or leg.
Even WITH proper placement, the bad guys don’t always drop immediately.
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