Buy a 4" Smith .4 Magnum and be done with it. It's accurate out of the box, will do for anything on the lower 48. Allows a 2nd shot quickly without the practice a Single Action would take, and you can buy ammunition anywhere. For practice you can load or buy .44 spl velocity fodder, leaving the full house loads for business.
And no it won't wear out...Smiths are strong as they are unless you pound 100 rnd a day forever shooting long rang steel. I've owned 'em since 1970, shot literally thousands through them and have yet to have a maintenance problem.
They weigh a lot, as much as any Ruger in actual lug it around terms so for me that's not a consideration. Where bears or cats are a problem, the full house stuff is the choice. If a 2nd or 3rd shot is necessary, you're giving up some speed though. If you're worried about two legged varmints, 1000 fps is all you need and it will allow that 2nd or 3rd attempt at "scaring" them off.
JMHO, Rodfac
And no it won't wear out...Smiths are strong as they are unless you pound 100 rnd a day forever shooting long rang steel. I've owned 'em since 1970, shot literally thousands through them and have yet to have a maintenance problem.
They weigh a lot, as much as any Ruger in actual lug it around terms so for me that's not a consideration. Where bears or cats are a problem, the full house stuff is the choice. If a 2nd or 3rd shot is necessary, you're giving up some speed though. If you're worried about two legged varmints, 1000 fps is all you need and it will allow that 2nd or 3rd attempt at "scaring" them off.
JMHO, Rodfac