.40 Revolver
"To me, the whole direction of producing revolvers that shoot auto ammo seems kinda weird."
Different people have different needs and this is nothing new, it has been going on for almost 100 years that I know of...
"I love my .44 Special Charter Bulldog... I don't perceive enough difference between a good solid .44 Special loading and either .45 ACP..."
EXACTLY, the .44 Special is far under-rated by most people. A 230g .451" bullet at 850 fps or a 246g .429" bullet at 800 fps is going to have virtually the same "stopping power"... The .44 Special loaded the same as the .45 ACP, .45 Colt, etc. are going to work the same.
"...OR .40..."
Yes, except for the slightly larger bullet diameter, a 200g .401" at 850 fps is going to work virtually the same as .44 or .45 bullets of the same weight and loaded to the same velocity.
"...to make me want to buy a revolver that shoots them instead of .44 Special."
Again, different people have different needs, what is useful to you may be useless to most people.
For MY NEEDS, a SMALL revolver in 10mm and .45 ACP might be quite useful. I already have and load 10mm, .44 Magnum and .45 ACP.
Although I enjoy reloading, SHOOTING is my hobby. With a "fixed" amount of free time, the less time spent reloading the more time I have to shoot. Adding another cartridge whether .40 S&W or .44 Special adds time to all phases of reloading, more space is needed, etc.
To shoot more and reload less I have been trying to go in the other direction and reduce the number of different cartridges I reload.
"As for 10mm... Why not just buy a .44 Magnum (that also shoots .44 Special)?"
Why not just buy a .480" Better yet, why not just buy a .500 S&W? Because once again, different people have different needs. I already have a S&W 629 Mountain Gun in .44 Magnum. It is far too big and heavy for concealed carry. It is also far too powerful such a small and light gun as the CA Pitbull.
Shooting .44 Specials in a .44 Magnum? Because that does exactly what I do NOT want to do, add another cartridge to reload...
"They already come as light as the S&W 329PD at around 26 oz. unloaded."
My problem with concealed carry is with the size/bulk of the "N" frames... Regardless of the weight which is still almost 1/2 pound more than the Charters, they are much larger.
For the size/bulk of a 329PD shooting .44 Specials, I'd be better off just carrying my usual Colt 10mm or .45 ACP...
"That makes me think of the S&W 610 Night Guard. Right?"
Wrong, no such thing as a "610" Night Guard...
Also, it kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it? In addition to all the mentioned disadvantages of the 329/629, why go with the same sized gun that weights more with an even smaller cartridge?
There is a "310" Night Guard, same disadvantage as the 329...
" Taurus also now has a 40 S&W 5 shot revolver."
Personally I would avoid all Taurus' until they fix their quality control issues.
Currently it seems like you only have a 50-50 chance of buying a Taurus that works and a ZERO % chance of ever getting it fixed!!!
T.