44 magnum wasn't as painful as I had expected.

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Pops1085

New member
Got a chance the other day to finally shoot a 44 magnum. A friend brought out a Redhawk with a 6" barrel and great big, fat Hogue grips on it. Not trying to be macho, but before I touched off that first round I wasn't sure if I was going to make it through an entire cylinder. I'm in love. I was honestly shocked by how pleasant it was. I mean holy hell the muzzle blast was out of this world but my hands felt fine. We were shooting some full house loads too, nothing crazy, but still 240 grains in that 1400-1600 fps range. I think the thing that helped was not locking out my arms and letting them absorb the recoil vs trying to muscle it down.

Honestly, my little J-Frame 38 special is way more unpleasant to shoot than that gun. Definitely bumped up to number one on my list of next firearm purchases.

Just thought I'd share my story. You always hear the stories about the guys who buy a 44 magnum for their first gun and then sell it with a box of 49 rounds.
 
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Uh-Oh Pops good luck it is an addiction. 44magnum for me is fun especially if you reload for it. You can go from mild to wild.

Sometime back I wrote an Article about the 44mag being the most versatile pistol cartridge, my opinion. My club knows I am a 44 fan and I was able to borrow 7 different 44 magnums to be included in the article. I had a few categories each would go into,

Hunter
Self Defense
All Around General Purpose
Plinking

I shot them all across the chronograph.

Good luck pops on finding your favorite.
If you want to read and see some great 44magnum revolvers here is the article I referenced.
http://www.dayattherange.com/?p=2925
 
Several years back, I had a Smith & Wesson Model 29-2, with a 4" barrel. After shooting it with some 44 Special type loads, she asked to try "the real stuff." So I loaded it with some factory 240 grain loads, I forget which now.

She went through a cylinder full then said, "I thought these things were supposed to kick?"

Not really surprising maybe, but my wife is handicapped and walks with either a cane or a walker.
 
I bought a Ruger Super RedHawk in .454 Casull and a box of Hornady's 300 gr. ammo for it. I was almost one of those guys who sell a magnum with the box of shells one light. But I discovered reloading and shooting .45 Colts through it to work my way up to Full-House .454 loads. I finally reduced that first box to once fired brass for reloading. In your case the 44 special loads are good for plinking.
 
44 magnum

i was the same way years ago friend pawned his to me with a hand full of hot reloads. finally own my own 8 inch barrel who needs a rifle;);)
 
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Glad you feel that way. A very small percentage of people can tolerate a large Magnum. If you can handle a 357 Magnum Snubnosed revolver, then you can definitely handle a 44 Magnum.

To me, the 454 Casull was not much different. I tried some hot loads, too. After than I got a Smith 500 6.5". However, I read that the 460 was the flattest shooting handgun out to 200 yards (and some change). So I bought it, too, to hunt deer.


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Glad you had fun trying a new caliber.
Just remember a lot of the fun was due to the extra weight of the Redhawk and the long 6" barrel and the big squishy rubber grips. If you go out and buy a shorter barrel gun with wood grips you may feel differently about the recoil.
Just wanted to throw that out there if you go looking for a new addition. I do enjoy the 44 from time to time but prefer a 45Colt, its more of a push in the hand than a snappy recoil for me.
 
I guess I won't be shooting much longer. Yesterday I had almost identical 6 1/2" NMBH Flat Tops at the firing line and wound up firing 41 mag from a 44 Mag. Accuracy was exceptional, but I had to use my squib rod and tack hammer to remove the stuck cases, all 6 of which were split from expanding into a larger chamber. After cleaning I found no obvious damage to the gun, but barrel leading was a challenge to clean, while I never did get it perfect.

The lesson is DO NOT HAVE MORE THAN ONE CARTRIDGE'S AMMO ON THE BENCH AT THE SAME TIME. I had more than one gun out, because I use a 4-gun stand. The ammo is then the control point. I will start keeping other guns put away until ready to shoot, one by one.

It is just a fact that brain farts are becoming more and more frequent.
 
Pops, I think you have made an astute observation. The blast from magnums is usually the worst part, and it can be a real detriment in itself. But if you are capable of shooting an average full power .357, a .44 Mag shouldn't be much of a shock at all.

People vary, loads vary and individual guns differ. It is easy to say "If I can handle it, anyone can handle it". That is fallacious. Most people, however, who want to shoot magnums (at least up to .44) can do so with little or no discomfort. Those who don't want to...well there's gonna be no pleasing them. ;)

Hogue finger groove grips are some of the best IMO and a good addition to any .44 you might choose.
 
absolutely love my SRH in 44. I can easily shoot 100 rounds per session, I recently swapped out the Hogue rubber grips to Hogue wood grips with no effect on me. and this was with my hunting loads of 240 grain xtp over 21 grains of 2400... I will say that my lcr in 38+p with 158 grain bullets over 4 grains unique will make my hand tingle after 100 rounds and that's with the Hogue tamer grip..
 
Years ago (before it burned in a fire), I had a .44 Magnum Ruger 3-screw Blackhawk (not Super Blackhawk), with a five and one-half inch barrel. Those early, pre-Super Blackhawks with their small grip frames were brutal to shoot. One had to keep a lot of pressure on the grip with the pinky and next fingers to keep the gun from rolling back and slamming the 90 degree angles of the frame above the grip, into the web of the hand.
 
From Smee78: Just remember a lot of the fun was due to the extra weight of the Redhawk and the long 6" barrel and the big squishy rubber grips. If you go out and buy a shorter barrel gun with wood grips you may feel differently about the recoil.
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This ^^ is good advice OP. You fired one of the biggest/heaviest .44's on the market that was wearing a pair of the biggest rubber grips you can get.
I have a 5.5" Super Blackhawk and as much as I hated to do it, I had to replace the beautiful plow handle grips with ugly, Pachmyer rubber grips. The wood grips just didn't allow me enough purchase on the grip due to my freakishly large hands, this caused me severe knuckle slap that caused a bit to much bleeding for my taste.
Anyway, I rambled, like Smee eluded to, the firearm you are using makes a difference.
 
The Ruger single actions, apart from their Bisley, were not well suited to the .44 and probably contributed a lot to the "fearsome" reputation of the cartridge. I didn't care at all for the original wood Redhawk grip for that matter. Mine got Pachmyers and eventually Hogues.

The Bisley grip turns their single actions into pussycats.
 
I agree with this statement

The Ruger single actions, apart from their Bisley, were not well suited to the .44 and probably contributed a lot to the "fearsome" reputation of the cartridge. I didn't care at all for the original wood Redhawk grip for that matter. Mine got Pachmyers and eventually Hogues.

The Bisley grip turns their single actions into pussycats.
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But those wood grips on the Redhawk are beautiful if you ask me but dang do they hurt
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Not to hijack the thread but does anyone know where you could get an appealing yet functional set of wood grips for a redhawk?
 
Honestly, my little J-Frame 38 special is way more unpleasant to shoot than that gun.
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My long ago sold off Walther PPK/s hurt me worse than my 4" barreled S&W M29, so, I don't doubt you for a second!
 
I can't shoot my Vaquero all day, but even with the stock grips, the gun isn't bad tomshoot. The key with the stock grips is allowing the gun to roll upwards.

Anyway, the 44 is a great cartridge and as someone said above, if you want to be able to shoot a 44, you can. The big part is getting over the mental hurdle.
 
44mag ? -- Pachmyer ,yes , also bend your elbows a bit , then when you shoot the elbows act as shock absorbers as they bend more .You don't want to have the gun move in your hands.
I've never fired a Bisley but handling them makes it obvious that they would also help !
Deer with iron sights ? out to 60 yards it works well. Don't worry about expansion .Exit holes are better and you don't need 1600 fps !
 
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