Yikes! When did shooting a couple of cylinders full of .44 Mag start to HURT so much?

[OMCHamlin]

Man, in preparing to go blow the dust bunnies out of my .44 Carbine, I decided to unlimber my 4" pre-lock 629 for some lively cylinders full of full patch Remington 180 SJHPs. Within three rounds, each subsequent round sent a stab down my trigger finger and back towards the base of my thumb. Granted, these are smooth Hogue Rosewood grips, harder'n woodpeckers lips, but I haven't run into outright pain while shooting a "normal" caliber in a long time. I quickly determined it was impact from the top right horn of the grip and the top of the frame itself in that area, but re-grip, tighten my grip, BEAR hug the damn thing, to no avail. Ouch! I need squishyer grips, and/or a glove, and that right soon.
N frame, round butt, what's your best grip for recoil mitigation? I KNOW there's S&W lovers in here, you don't have to out yourself, you can PM me...

 

[gnappi]

I feel your pain (literally) and even though they look like a sow in a nightgown I replaced all of my DA boomer grips with Pachmayr's AND now wear a leather fingerless motorcyclist's glove when shooting them.

Before my my dad passed away he told me that your skin gets thinner as you age and I poo-poohed that until my Anaconda beat the snot out of some connecting tissue at the base of my right thumb which has never gone back to its pre-Anaconda beating state.

Given a choice of preventing an injury which is easier to prevent than recover from, or stopping shooting my DA magnum revolvers, I'll go with the former instead of the latter.

 

[JohnL]

I put Pachmyar Deaccelerator grip on my 5.5 inch Redhawk for that reason. The original wood was too hard on my dainty hands with the hotter loads.

 

[gnappi]

PS, I only went to Pachmayr's on my 629, Ruger SRH .480 and Anaconda. The other N frame S&W's I tame with just the leather glove.

 

[OMCHamlin]

Well, looking through my grip drawer, I have none of those, close, but all old school open back strap style rubber finger-groove grips, but only the Rosewood or the factory rubber Hogue grips (with an open back strap as well). I see that both Hogue and Pachmayr now offer enclosed back strap, cushionized grips. I bet one of my local guys has some for sale. Maybe I can swap some to him.

I should haul out the chrono and see what those old Remington's are moving along at. There was zero illusion of "mid-range" in there at ALL... There is actually some pretty neat older 44 mag examples in my 2 and a half .50 cal cans full of 44 mag (the other 1/2 can is 44 Spl), including Metal Case, all lead, lead HP, 180s, 200s , 220s and of course, 240s. All a deal I made a decade or more ago, including bunches of Hornady, Remington & Winchester and even some Federal, for good measure. So we are GOING to solve this recoil problem, although my 2&3/4" Lew Horton 29 may no longer be viable. I don't know, we'll have to see about that, that's a really nice, but really useless gun anyway...

 

[gnappi]

Go closed back for sure. Try gun store and gun show junk boxes for classic Pachmayr's. I've read that recently they're made overseas and are not as pliable as the original models.

I've never been recoil sensitive and to illustrate it, when I got one of the first Redhawk .44's to come to Florida I loaded it HOT. So hot that the transfer bar actually deformed into a cup shape matching the concave depression in the hammer, and flattened primers were standard fare. None of my friends would shoot it again after they shot the first round

Nowadays, there's no way I'll shoot magnum loads in a DA without a grip with a rubber covered backstrap and leather gloves!

Anyway I ride a motorcycle for some long distance and found some gloves that have an extra padded area at the base of the thumb. On Ebay they're item # 225614547848

At $8 delivered they're a deal, I only wish I had worn them the "Day of the Anaconda" injury.

 

[OMCHamlin]

Go closed back for sure. Try gun store and gun show junk boxes for classic Pachmayr's. I've read that recently they're made overseas and are not as pliable as the original models.

I've never been recoil sensitive and to illustrate it, when I got one of the first Redhawk .44's to come to Florida I loaded it HOT. So hot that the transfer bar actually deformed into a cup shape matching the concave depression in the hammer, and flattened primers were standard fare. None of my friends would shoot it again after they shot the first round

Nowadays, there's no way I'll shoot magnum loads in a DA without a grip with a rubber covered backstrap and leather gloves!

Anyway I ride a motorcycle for some long distance and found some gloves that have an extra padded area at the base of the thumb. On Ebay they're item # 225614547848

At $8 delivered they're a deal, I only wish I had worn them the "Day of the Anaconda" injury.

How big's your hand and what size did you get from them? Fit okay?

 

[DGW1949]

I disliked the .44 Mag the first time I shot one, which was some 45-50 years ago....But me being a dummy, bought two of 'em during the years of my youth anyway. You know, thinking that I'd get used to the blast noise and recoil, and maybe even find a real use for the things. Never did though....And BTW, ya do know that a SAAMI-spec .44 Mag has about the same recoil energy as a 30-06 rifle cartridge eh?....there's not a grip made that's going to mitigate that....That's why most folks that has them, shoot downloaded ammo. But who needs a heavy, big-frame gun just to shoot .44 Special's in?

DGW

 

[gnappi]

My hand is small for a man, and I got a medium and they fit right EXCEPT the back of the thumb hole which I had to trim shorter. The material was just a tad long and after cocking the hammer on my Blackhawks the excess leather could catch the hammer spur and not let it drop after pulling the trigger. Five seconds with a scissor to trim it fixed the issue. Look for this on ANY fingerless glove.

 

[41Dude]

I have had good luck with the Hogue monogrip in the nylon version. The softer rubber style does not really work for me.
Not sure why the nylon feels better to me under harder recoil.

But I rarely shoot loads above 1200fps in my S&W N frame.
If I feel like lighting up the night sky I use my Super Blackhawk

 

[redfernclan]

Bought my square back Super Blackhawk in .44 mag about 20 years ago. Fell in love with it but found with full factory loads, I had to re-adjust my grip after every shot. It has the original grips. I am not a big man, but I am a mechanic, and 10 years in diesel to boot. That means I've got pretty strong hands and still struggled to hang on to that animal. Put on a set of the Hogue fingertip grip and love it. REALLY helped me hang on to the Blackhawk and it became a very enjoyable weapon to shoot.

 

[contender]

Simple answer; Age & body changes.
Sadly as we age,, our bodies start changing & we lose all kinds of strengths & such we USED to have. And pain seems to become a bigger part of our lives.

Get grips that assist in reducing felt recoil, and keep on shooting!

 

[Johnnu2]

As the decades went by, I just started loading every caliber DOWN.
We can fight the inevitable if we want to, but age will always win, and maybe do some damage in the meantime if we insist on being tough. Eventually, even loading down is gonna hurt somewhere (for me, it's recoil vs. my neck).
Just as a reminder, I blasted 3 rounds of full house 44Mag thru my 44 OM FT a few months ago..... it was a good reminder

J.

 

[OMCHamlin]

I gripped a stout pair of pliers (not husky Filipino aviators.) in the garage this morning to cut a light piece of chain, yepper!, that spot on the trigger finger knuckle! Might BE more than a day to calm that down. I've ordered the cheap gloves and the Hogues that are extra cushioned, I'll start there. Nothing wrong with the Pachs, just Hogues always fit my hand better.

 

[Gaptjern]

Man, in preparing to go blow the dust bunnies out of my .44 Carbine, I decided to unlimber my 4" pre-lock 629 for some lively cylinders full of full patch Remington 180 SJHPs. Within three rounds, each subsequent round sent a stab down my trigger finger and back towards the base of my thumb. Granted, these are smooth Hogue Rosewood grips, harder'n woodpeckers lips, but I haven't run into outright pain while shooting a "normal" caliber in a long time. I quickly determined it was impact from the top right horn of the grip and the top of the frame itself in that area, but re-grip, tighten my grip, BEAR hug the damn thing, to no avail. Ouch! I need squishyer grips, and/or a glove, and that right soon.
N frame, round butt, what's your best grip for recoil mitigation? I KNOW there's S&W lovers in here, you don't have to out yourself, you can PM me...

Have you considered Magna-Porting? It really tamed the hit I used to take in the web of my hand between the index finger and thumb on my 4" M57 .41 mag.

 

[OMCHamlin]

Have you considered Magna-Porting? It really tamed the hit I used to take in the web of my hand between the index finger and thumb on my 4" M57 .41 mag.

I'd always thought a nice Magna-Porting, matte hard chrome and an action job would do real justice to this, but are they still in business?

Ha! You know what though? I have two great holsters for this, and porting, refinishing, an action tune, NONE of that would keep a N frame 44 in a holster on my non ass-having self anymore, anyway...

 

[blume357]

I have no experience with the 44 magnum even though I have shot someones once or twice and have also watched all the Dirty Harry movies... but 180gr to me sounds like a light weight bullet for 44 caliber, especially loaded as a magnum? Somebody ejumicate me?
The only reason I question this is I absolutely hated shooting 357 mag. in 125gr but 158gr is not so bad.

 

[peachhead]

I have come to love the rubber Hogues more than Pachmayer. Ugly but effective.

 

[redhawker]

Pachmayr's on my .44 do the job.

 

[41Dude]

I have no experience with the 44 magnum even though I have shot someones once or twice and have also watched all the Dirty Harry movies... but 180gr to me sounds like a light weight bullet for 44 caliber, especially loaded as a magnum? Somebody ejumicate me?
The only reason I question this is I absolutely hated shooting 357 mag. in 125gr but 158gr is not so bad.

I agree. I liked shooting .357 with the heavier bullets much more than the lighter bullets in full power loads. The lighter just had a lot more barrel snap to me than I liked. Hard to explain if you have not felt it. Different than just the foot pound measures.
Tried the 125gr when that was THE police load. High noon sunshine and you could still see the muzzle flash.