I would think that in the real world the ancient simple old .45 colt is every bit as good as any .44 mag. I have some of both, but my favorite caliber most guns (7) are four Smiths, two SAA colts and a Ruger flat top all in .44 special.
Yeah, many times I have heard the opinion to just get a .44 mag and you can shoot specials in it. There is a noticeable weight packing difference as the barrel is the thin pencil style instead of the straight heavy barrel plus the cylinder is shorter. Why they went to a full length ejector housing is beyond me. It all makes a difference, the heavy target grips as opposed to the magna, even the wider target hammer and trigger all add weight and bulk. I packed OTJ for 35 years a average of 65 hours a week and am here to tell you I could feel the difference. I carried as little as possible on the belt.
