Preacherman
Member
Just to prove I've got as much of the masochist in me as anyone else, I tried out the new S&W 500 Magnum and the new 329PD Scandium .44 Magnum at a LE demonstration day.
The 500 Magnum was not too bad, considering - think of it as a .454 Casull on steroids. The very heavy revolver helped to absorb the recoil, but the detachable muzzle brake is REALLY needed on this gun. I fired one round without the muzzle brake, and immediately put it back on - darn gun nearly hit my head! The heavy loads - 440gr., IIRC - really do wallop your hand, though. I'm confirmed in my opinion that I really don't like firing anything heavier than a .44 Magnum. Ten rounds through this one was quite enough...
This has now been modified to read ".44 Magnum in a standard-weight gun"!!! That darn Scandium .44 Magnum is a pain and a half! I fired three rounds through it (Winchester Partition Gold JHP), and put the gun down with pain shooting through my wrist, as if it was trying to say to me "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome here - nice to be with you!" Man, oh man, that gun HURTS! There is no way that I can ever consider it a practical weapon, rather than a curiosity piece. I know some folks will argue that it's designed to be carried rather than shot, and that one won't notice the recoil when a bear is charging - but I'm afraid that it's so painful to shoot, and so hard (for me) to control in rapid fire, that I think it would be almost unusable in such a situation. Never again! (BTW, I've fired the 11oz. .357 Magnum snubby in Scandium, and that - brute for recoil though it is - is more comfortable than this Scandium .44!)
(Edited to emphasize that these were tried at a LE demonstration day - they were not regular-production items, AFAIK.)
The 500 Magnum was not too bad, considering - think of it as a .454 Casull on steroids. The very heavy revolver helped to absorb the recoil, but the detachable muzzle brake is REALLY needed on this gun. I fired one round without the muzzle brake, and immediately put it back on - darn gun nearly hit my head! The heavy loads - 440gr., IIRC - really do wallop your hand, though. I'm confirmed in my opinion that I really don't like firing anything heavier than a .44 Magnum. Ten rounds through this one was quite enough...
This has now been modified to read ".44 Magnum in a standard-weight gun"!!! That darn Scandium .44 Magnum is a pain and a half! I fired three rounds through it (Winchester Partition Gold JHP), and put the gun down with pain shooting through my wrist, as if it was trying to say to me "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome here - nice to be with you!" Man, oh man, that gun HURTS! There is no way that I can ever consider it a practical weapon, rather than a curiosity piece. I know some folks will argue that it's designed to be carried rather than shot, and that one won't notice the recoil when a bear is charging - but I'm afraid that it's so painful to shoot, and so hard (for me) to control in rapid fire, that I think it would be almost unusable in such a situation. Never again! (BTW, I've fired the 11oz. .357 Magnum snubby in Scandium, and that - brute for recoil though it is - is more comfortable than this Scandium .44!)
(Edited to emphasize that these were tried at a LE demonstration day - they were not regular-production items, AFAIK.)
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