Next revolver, .44 Mag or .45 LC?

I load and shoot both cartridges, and have a few examples of each.

Tough to pick a favorite. Both cartridges , if you reload (in the right gun) can go from mild to wild. They are similar in a lot of ways IMO.

If I HAD to pick one, I might favor the 44 Mag, only because there seems to be a little more variety in bullets, and due to the slightly smaller case, can run the same velocities for a given bullet weight with a bit less powder.

Also the 44 guns on the market seem to have a bit more standardized cylinder throat and bore sizes, where the 45 Colts can be all over the place.

Keep in mind that you have to pay close attention with the 45 Colt, as to which level loads are o.k. for the gun you're shooting. A Tier 3 45 Colt load will fit in an old SAA, Uberti clone or New Vaquero. This isn't an issue with the 44 Mag.. Just something to think about. Got to be careful and keep the 45 Colts separated by power level.

I love both cartridges though. Glad I don't have to pick!!
 
I have 45 Colt in New Vaquero and Redhawk and Henry rifle. I have 44 Magnum in S&W 629. Based on that experience, if I were you, I would look at 44 magnum because you won't have to worry about the right ammo for which gun, and the off the shelf ammo is more likely to please. The 45 Colt market is so focused on mild lead loads for cowboy shooting, that it would be dificult or at least expensive to find anything else. This argument goes away if you reload, but the central idea is to share ammo between side arm and rifle.

Perhaps the strongest argument against a cowboy gun, given your range fun objective, is that the type of sights are not the precise type one would want for target shooting. Neither are the grips. That said,, my Vaquero is a lot of fun, and I'm keeping it. But I'm ahead of you in already having "both".
 
Had today free and went around to some different gun stores in the area. I'll be darned if a Super Blackhawk .44 Mag didn't follow me home. :)

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.44 mag for hunting, .45Colt mountain gun for defense in the woods, Colt Python because it's in the picture.
I think the mountain gun is the perfect packing pistol. Shorter, lighter, less recoil and a big old bullet capable of handling anything in the USA.:D

 
Think about some shooting gloves. I didn't find any with significantly padded palms except some of the mountain bike gloves, all with cut off fingers, of course, yet knuckles covered.
 
Some of the biking gloves have gel inserts. Those would help appreciably with recoil.

I used a pair of batting gloves when shooting my extremely heavy 15" scoped Encore pistols one handed (Creedmoor style). It reduced the sting on the palm as well as the frame battering the trigger finger.
 
45 Colt

A mid weight slug at 900 fps will do just about anything I need it to.
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There's nothing stopping you from loading 44 Mags to that same level.

A 240gr 44 doing 900 ish fps is a very pleasant load to shoot.
 
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A 240 grain slug at 900 fps?

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I think you just invented the .44 special
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yup, and there's no reason you can't load to that level in 44 Mag or 44 Special brass.

People seem to think you have to load 44 Magnum brass to full throttle for some unknown reason.

Point being, you can easily get 45 Colt performance in 44 Mag brass.
 
I'm a .45 colt guy. I decided to simplify on .45 colt / .454 / .460 "ecosystem" if you will, rather than .44 spl / .44 mag / .445 super mag, for bullet purchase simplicity. Although I don't have and don't want a .460. I do want another .454 at some point maybe.

Hey Brutus, will you sell me your Mountain gun please? Lol, I'm sure you won't. Pre-hillary hole Mountain guns can fetch over $1K these days, IINM.
 
Get the standard catalog blue Blackhawk large frame in dual caliber/cylinder, 45LC and 45ACP. Both types of ammo are meant to shoot through the same barrel size (unlike the 357/9mm convertibles) so accuracy rocks with both. Whatever barrel length you want...and get one with the "Lawyer's Warning Billboard" text UNDER the barrel instead of on the side - not only looks better, that marks an improvement in how the cylinders are made.
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This is news to me. I've noticed my last view BHs had the relocated warning, never heard about the manufacturing changes. Can you elaborate?
 
Not a fan of the .44 but,

Keith did a lot of fine work with a 250 grain, .44 cast bullet at 1100-1200 fps. About as sweet a spot as you could ask for in a handgun.
 
Can you elaborate?
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I'll jump in one of the big changes was to drill and ream each chamber sequentially with one bit instead of using 6 different bits and drilling them all at once. This lead to far more consistant throats from cylinder to cylinder.
 
I own 2 .45Colts and one .44 Magnum. I love them both but I must say the .45 Colts are shot a lot more often. My local range does not allow magnum rounds to be fired. So unless I want to drive 30 minutes and pay a range fee the .44 magnum stays in the safe.
 
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