Shooting 44 Mag

How large or heavy should a 44 Magnum revolver be for a person to shoot actual Magnum loads thru it on a regular basis? I realize this depends on the individual ..... hoping to hear from persons of different size, age, physical restraints, etc. I regularly shoot 357 Magnum loads in my Security 6 and SP-101's and have no problems with handling the recoil. Comments Please.

I don't know , but I'm about to find out as I traded for a S/S SBH 5.5" barrel yesterday.
It came with Hogue grip . I reload and cast , and figure on putting it and me to the test.
I have 2 BH .357 and have been shooting 180 & 200 gr. hard cast bullets at close to max loads.
I'm 75 yesterday 5'9" tall and 200#.
Don't think I'm going to have a problem handling the .44 I have shot them before.

It also depends upon what loads you are shooting through the gun. A 180 gr JHP load will recoil a lot less than a Buffalo Bore 340 gr load. In times past I had a 629 Mountain Gun that supposedly weighed 39 oz per S&W. I had a Hogue wood grip on it (grips will also affect how one handles the recoil). I could run a 100 or so .44 mag 240 gr loads through it without a problem but then again I can run 100 or 200 .357 125 gr loads through a SP101. Another factor then to include besides grips and the particular load is the weight of the gun as heavier gives less felt recoil.

Jack,it does of course vary with the shooter but I'd say 48 oz empty,is a good starting point.Add about 5 oz for 6 rds of ammo.Well designed grips can help quite a bit as will more weight.

When I'm carrying on the trail and might not need to shoot,the S+W Mountain gun @ 39 oz,empty is more comfortable to carry and the difference in recoil is barely noticed with a couple shots at game.Banging a lot of rds off at the range,a little more weight can be welcomed.

Huge Redhawk fan here. 9.5, 7.5, 5.5, 4, and 2.75 inch barrels. I have not fired the shorty yet---just got my hands on it. I load my own and have shot lots of just about everything. The 340gr Buffalo Bores are definitely NOT something you will want to shoot on a regular basis. The may get the job done but they HURT :shock: out of any barrel---not to mention the cost. I like loading them about medium and really like the 7.5 inch best, but mostly because it has the best trigger. :wink: One of the huge advantages of loading your own beside the price---you can load exactly what you like and shoot lots and lots of them.

After posting the above, I went back and re-read your post. Early 50's, 5'10", 225lbs and been shooting and loading 44 magnum for 35 years. I used to like the "hurt" factor of the big bore, but guess I am getting old and soft. Now I prefer the medium loads, but still like the show of the "flame throwers". My son sure does like the hot loads though. He started with the long barrel at 12 years old. I bet he is still the only one in his class that can make that claim. Now at 18, I have about 30lbs on him and when my eyes work right I can still out shoot him.

I shoot full power loads out of a smith 69 which is basically a .357 made into a five shot .44 no problem.

I have been shooting .44 mag since 2004. Mostly through Rugers. I am average Ht/build. I reload also. I shot 20 rounds of old yellow box Remington 180 grs that gave me hand "palsy" for a month afterwards(2004). That RedHawk had wooden grips, and a 7.5 inch barrel. I changed to the Hogue grips- voila no more problems!
gramps

.44 mag has been said to be the most recoil the average shooter can learn to shoot well and I would agree. There's a big jump and learning curve from .357 to .44. That said work your way up slowly from specials to midrange magnums to the heavy stuff and you'll do fine. You'll find what works for you. It's a great round, I have more .44's than anything else.

Weight wise I'm happy from about 40oz on up (smith mountain gun and talo super Blackhawk) but I would like to try a Smith 69 which is a few oz lighter. I had a 329ng (29oz) for a while that was tolerable with Speer short barrel ammo (heavy special loads in magnum brass) but got entirely to unruly and punishing with standard or heavy rounds.

An aside though that I've found is that a 44 special with Skeeters load of a 250gr Keith moving at 1000fps will do 99% of what I could ask a sixgun to do, do it in a smaller platform, and be much more of a gentleman about going about its business.

In my opinion, the N frame Smith is a little light for comfortable shooting with full house .44 Mg. loads. The Redhawk in much better.

The grips selected are also a great contributor to comfort in either case, as is a goatskin glove. 8)

I use six and a half inch barrels on my 44 magnums. I have owned the others but only kept the six and a half inch ones.

5of7 said:

In my opinion, the N frame Smith is a little light for comfortable shooting with full house .44 Mg. loads. The Redhawk in much better.

The grips selected are also a great contributor to comfort in either case, as is a goatskin glove. 8)

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I once spent all of a great summer shooting two .44 mags side by side, two or three times a week. Couple thousand rounds total, mostly stiff armed from a benchrest which maximizes felt recoil. One was a 10" Flattop and the other an 8 3/8" M29-2. Both fairly heavy due to barrel length but I never weighed them. In my opionion, percieved recoil with full tilt loads was noticibly more with the S&W which I attribute to the shape of the gripframe. However, the Flattop tended to bite my middle finger so I swapped it's GF with my OM Single Six. I could then, with a firm grip, shoot the Flattop all day without discomfort. The 29-2 not so much...

Have never fired a Redhawk .44 so can't comment...

Two centavos worth...


PS: The old Flattop was more accurate at long range too...(150 yds)

My 7-1/2" Bisley Super is much more enjoyable to shoot with large quantities of full power loads than my 4-5/8" plowhandle Super is. Both guns are all steel; the grip angles make a difference, as do the size and shape of the plowhandle grips. Both sport wooden grips; IMHO rubber grips have no place on single action revolvers. Others may disagree, and that's okay too - for them.

I have small hands and I can shoot both a 44 Bisley 7.5" and a 44 Redhawk 7.5" without too much trouble but I have no desire to shoot anything more powerful. If handloading, slower powders will reduce the shock of a magnum load.

Jimbo357mag said:

If handloading, slower powders will reduce the shock of a magnum load.

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X velocity = X recoil...period.

Anyone who thinks they can detect a millisecond of burn rate in their hand is hallucinating IMO... :roll:

Muzzleblast perhaps. Actual recoil no.

I shoot Original Size VAQUEROS with BISLEY, DRAGOON or HUNTER grip frames and 5.5 inch barrels several times a week, 48 to 72 rounds a session. I'm 6 feet and unfortunately 230 pounds...the girl friend is too good a cook! and will be 67 in the fall.

I really like the loads around 1000 feet per second with 240 grain+ boolits. My favorites are Uncle Elmer's 429421, a 250 grain FULL wadcutter(LYMAN 429352 clone) and a couple variations of the RANCH DOG 432-265 design.

Faster powders like TITEGROUP, HP38/231, etc give you more reloads per pound. I'll beg to disagree with a previous poster and say that TO ME the slower powders seem to give a slower recoil...for whatever reason. PROMO, RED DOT clone, is $115 for an 8 pound keg versus $150 for others...and it is available.

Maximum loads of any type on a regular basis will help you down the road to carpal tunnel syndrome. John Taffin has explained this in detail in either AMERICAN HANDGUNNER or GUNS magazines. Uncle Elmer Keith shot 600 rounds of factory 44 magnum in the first YEAR that he had the gun.

Weight, barrel length, and grip frame type. These, to me, are the factors that effect felt recoil. All this is assuming a standard factory 240gr load. Of course things change with lighter or heavier loads. But for now just a factory standard load is considered.

I have shot many different configurations of revolvers chambered in 44 mag in the last 40 years. I am not particularily recoil sensitive except for a time when I had issues with my thumbs. That being said, the 2 most comfortable SA and DA revolvers I have ever fired in 44 mag are a 7 1/2" barreled Virginian Dragoon and a 7 1/2" barreled Redhawk.

I can tolerate shooting a lot of rounds with a 4" Redhawk or 6" S&W 629 Classic. Those are my minimums for sustained shooting sessions.

As far as SA's go, nothing short of a standard 7 1/2" Super is comfortable. Maybe it's the SA grip angle. Regardless make mine a DA. JMO.

Dave

It depends on the individual. My deceased wife carried a SW 629 with a 2 1/2 barrel for her CCW. I watched her many times clear the X and ten rings at 50 yds shooting off hand with factory 240 gr soft points. BTW she died from cancer.

It really does depend on the gun and person. You kinda get used to it after a while. Three guns I can't get used to in 44 Magnum are, the Bond derringer, S&W 329 NG, and 329PD.