.44spc revolver: why?

2

23Skidoo

New member
A friend of mine bought a Smith Model 24 (I think) 3" barrel in .44spc. This got me to wondering what the advantage of a gun like that was over .44magnum. There is virtually no difference between it and the Model 29, and the 29 of course can shoot both calibers.
People make the same points about .38/.357 but there I think there are some advantages to .38 only revolvers, weight, size, and expense. But I dont see that in the .44spc vs .44mag contest.
Any thoughts?
 
Rounds fired in oversize chambers lose velocity. A .38 Special fired from a Model 10 will have more velocity than one fired from a Model 19 with the same barrel length. If your friend is sure that he won't want to fire any Magnums then his choice makes sense. Also, rounds fired in longer chambers tend to foul them up more.
 
44 Special

For anyone not using the potential of the 44 Magnum for hunting or just the fun of punishing recoil, the 44 special makes perfect sense. Generally the handguns are well made, accurate and substantial enough to soak up recoil making them pleasant to shoot. The exception would be the small 5 shot revolvers like the "Bulldog Pug".
 
^^^ Agree with above poster. My Bulldog Pug was a pain to shoot, but I was shooting some hotter factory loads which took all the fun out of it.

Alot of people just don't *need* the .44 Magnum and a .44Spl is a good stopper without all the recoil in a decent size gun.
 
23Skidoo, you are right.

But pick up a S&W Model 24 with those lighter, tapered barrels and do some shooting with those old, slow, .44 cast bullets and you'll understand why people who have one will not trade it to you.
 
If we only owned guns that made sense, or ones that we really needed, or could justify buying on purely practical considerations most of us wouldn't own nearly as many guns as we do. Most of us own guns we want, not just what we need.

I have a .44 Magnum. I find the recoil a bit much for fun shooting. I keep it mostly because I feel like I should have a .44 Magnum and my 6.5" Model 29 is truly beautiful.

I also have four .44 Specials. They are much more fun to shoot. I have a pair of 1950 Target Models with 5" barrels. They are lighter and easier to carry akll day than the Magnum because the cylinders are shorter and they have tapered barrels whereas the Magnum has a heavy barrel. If I need raw power I want the Magnum. For 99% of my shooting the Special does just fine.

I can shoot Specials from my Magnums (44 & 357s) but I prefer not to do that because it requires more strenuous cleaning of the chambers. I also find that cartridge performance is optimal when .38s are fired from .38s and .44 Specials are fired from .44 Specials.

If you are on a budget then one gun makes sense. I am not on a budget. If you treat guns as tools rather than objects to be admired and collected then fewer guns to do the job is better. I have one "tool" gun and the rest were acquired for other reasons.
 
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