.44 Magnum Question

Y

YankeeIronSights

New member
Hi Everyone,

I was testing my Smith & Wesson 629 Talo Edition a week ago and had to stop shooting after about 15 rounds due to the brutal recoil. I know this is typical of .44 Magnum ammo but I never expected the experience to be so painful. My right hand thumb is still in pain after a week.

I love this revolver and plan to keep it in my collection. Nevertheless, I have been trying to buy .44 Special ammo for it, but my local stores only sell the Magnum rounds.

I was wondering if there is such thing as a milder .44 Magnum round within this category.

I have considered reloading, but have not taken that step yet.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Regards !!!
 
I don't care for the recoil of some full house loads. . .even the ones I load myself. To counter that, I often shoot 44 Special or I load down from full house loads. It is easier on my hands as well as the gun.
 
Most of the 44 mag ammo I shoot is either 240 lead or 200JHP @1000-1100 fps. About 6 full power loads is all my hands, elbows, and shoulders will handle.
 
There is a variation in factory mag loads too.Barnes bullet loads.and Swift A-frame are quite reasonable but Speer Deep Curl is significantly higher recoil.
But for a beginner or for casual shooting 44 special loads are a good idea. For serious loads 200-240, 900-1000 will do well I found Pachmyer rubber grips helped too. If I want to shoot without the gun moving in my hand , I bend the elbows a bit . Then when you shoot the elbows bend more acting like shock absorbers !! That really makes a difference !
 
In normal times I'd say that now is a great time to get into reloading.

Unfortunately, these aren't normal times as powders are very hard to find.

Try different grips, or try padded shooting gloves with the grips that you have.
 
1) Wear a padded shooting glove.
2) Change the stocks. The current stocks appear to expose metal; this is not optimal for recoil. Hogue Decelerators help, but a well fit set of stocks is better. The back of the stock needs to be wider to distribute the force.
3) Use good technique. This requires some training and practice.
4) Start with light loads and work your way up.
 
^^^ for sure.
Your grip technique might be causing the damage more than the ammo.
A cheap fix if it is.
Check out some of Jerry Miculek's videos for some ideas of what might work better.
 
I hate the look, feel and even smell of the rubber "Pachmayr" style grips but they do help a lot with recoil. I freely admit that the 44 Magnum with full loads kills my hand. Some guys aren't bothered but I sure am.

I have 2 S&W Model 29-2s, one in 6.5" and the other in 4" barrel length. I got the former because the 29 was a gun I felt I should own. I know, crazy. A friend offered me the latter at a price too good to pass.

I can usually shoot 18 rounds through the 6.5" gun before quitting. The 4" is lighter and just seems nastier. I shot 3 and quit the first time. Made 6 the second time. Made in 1976, the gun was unfired in the box when I bought it 18 months ago and now has had 9 rounds fired through it. May buy some Pachs and try again.
 
These are some photos of my range visit with this revolver. Needless to say, other shooters next to me were very intrigued to see what I was shooting.

I love this short barreled S&W 629 a lot !!! I can't wait to try the .44 Special rounds.
 

Attachments

  • ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1404058093.283867.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1404058093.283867.jpg
    122.9 KB · Views: 143
  • ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1404058156.549320.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1404058156.549320.jpg
    174.3 KB · Views: 117
  • ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1404058180.835602.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1404058180.835602.jpg
    125.5 KB · Views: 119
I've found wearing a padded bicycling half-glove helps a lot shooting 158gr 357 magnum rounds through my 340MP. But I still mostly shoot 38 specials...
 
It should not be recoiling into your thumb. I shoot a lot of .44 mag and never had any thumping on the thumb. Is your grip rotated too much such that your thumb is partly behind the grip? When shooting two handed din't rotate your right hand to make room fir your left. Get a good single hand grip first then apply support hand.
 
Back some time before 1985 I bought a 7 and a half inch Super Blackhawk. With the stock grips recoil would rotate the base of the hammer into the web of my shooting hand and draw blood. Seems I couldn't hold that slippery wood quite tight enough. Put some Pachmayrs on and no more bite. Shot a lot of 40 round IHMS matches with stout hand loads. After some adaption it was fairly manageable and not at all punishing. (I wore a glove on my shooting hand so I didn't get skid marks on bare skin though.)
 
Do not have a S&W 44 but a Ruger Super Black Hawk that I had no problem shooting factory rounds, grant it not many each time at the range. I started reloading a few months ago and tried some different powders. Load 10 rounds with 296, Blue Dot and Unique. After shooting maybe the first 10 rounds my hand never felt that much pain. I managed to shot 5 more of the other two powders. For 3 weeks my thumb or web between my thumb and trigger finger HURT!!!

I changed back to the factory grips and bought a couple of different gloves to try. Also reloaded some 44 special rounds. Interesting just the opposite from what Full case load did. I had Pachmayr grips on the gun.

Looking forward to seeing if any of these changes help. With all this said, I am looking for a 29 or 629.
 
The wood grips on the S&W 629 Talo Edition are very nice but not practical. The metal back strap is exposed and the upper back corners of the grip panels protrude just enough to hit the thumb base area during recoil. After shooting the 6th round, the wood broke skin ... I covered my thumb with masking tape and kept shooting for a while. I generally have a very firm, effective grip but the recoil was just brutal.

I invited two LEOs, that were practicing next to my lane, to shoot a round each and they were also shocked by the level of recoil.

If the padded gloves don't solve the problem, I will buy Hogue grips... I will also buy .44 Special ammo to compare recoil levels.

Stay tuned for the next range report. Thanks for all your recommendations and comments.
 
44 magnum question

I have owned numerous model 629 magnums. I have always shot mag loads up to 300 grain. I use noting but Hogue grips on all my modern magnum revolvers. They are very comfortable to grip and I have shot as many as 50 rounds at a time. It helps me to get a comfortable 2 handed grip on my gun.
 
Last edited:
One of the biggest mistakes people make when shooting heavy recoiling handguns is 'fighting the recoil'.

Let your hand and arm "go with the flow' when firing it.

Just don't let it hit you in the head though.;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top