Thank you - i have purchased a 44

you busted your finger open with a rounded trigger guard? bet that stung just a bit!

i have a standard super blackhawk with the dragoon style trigger guard and have never had a problem with it. my wife on the other hand.....not so much. she took one shot and it bit her good. she has decided she much prefered her auto-loaders after that.

Until I'm consistently shooting ragged hole groups (ruling out bad form), I'm not adjusting the sights

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that is a very good plan. glad you were able to get her out and do some shooting!

I sure hate that everyone else in the gun world has such bad luck with Taurus guns. I've owned at least ten Taurus revolves and autos, since 1991, and have never had a single problem with any of them.
That said, I love my Rugers, too.

nice steel, trent. bought one of those for my son when he graduated college. you will love it.

suggest you put your left thumb over the right one. and don't use either thumb to grip the weapon.

follow-through is very important with these single actions. a steady hold with no recoil anticipation is most important as the bullet spends a long time in that barrel. let the barrel point to the sky after the shot if that is what it wants to do. just don't help it, or hinder it.

again, nice gun.

murf

Hi Trent,

You'll be amazed how the scope will damp the recoil of your new .44 Mag! I think you'll have a lot of fun this weekend. Please keep us updated!

PS: Here's how to stop the flinch . . .

Load only 3-4 rounds. Close the gate and rotate the cylinder until you are absolutely clueless where the hot chambers or located.

IF you flinch it will look like you are spastic and are "milking" the gun (yanking the gun violently downward to anticipate the kick. No one can hit the broad side of a barn, from INSIDE the barn, if they are flinching.

BETTER YET, have a buddy load it for you before spinning the cylinder. Heck, I've even "loaded" one for a buddy before and not put a single hot round in any of the cylinders. At first the flinch became more noticable with each additional empty chamber "click."

Eventually, when you don't flinch, sight on a target and touch off a round, again after spinning the cylinder. Keep doing this with random amounts of ammo. If you continue not to flinch, you'll be rewarded eventually with a really tight group on that target!

Finally, if you are NOT seeing flame exiting in front of the leading edge of the cylinder and/or from the barrel, you are BLINKING . . . and this will also make you suck until the day when you've trained your eyes never to blink again when you shoot!

THEN . . . you'll develop your full potential as a handgunner, but not before! the flinch and blink have to go . . . and the .44 mag is tough to make this happen with for obvious reasons!

IN THE END? Eventually you will master the perfect hold for the firearm, and with a gun as big and heavy as yours, you'll eventually consider it a pussy cat to shoot. SERIOUSLY! Then it gets REAL FUN AND ACCURATE!

Enjoy . . . and again . . . do the anti-flinch (Russian Roulette) drill with a friends help! Double hearing protection can also help a lot to reduce milking the gun!

A little late to the dance, but...

I started my revolver life with a Ruger BH in .45 ACP/Colt - to shoot up my cache of .45 ACP ammo. I had to try the .45 Colt cylinder - instant love. A bevy of .45 Colt Rugers later, Bisleys, Vaquero's, BH's, etc, I wanted a DA-capable .45 Colt. Being an engineering type, I appreciated Ruger's work in their steel selection and use in their then new .454 SRH - so I bought a 7.5" one - and shot many .45 Colts from it. I added a scope (Weaver H2 2x28) and tried .454 rounds - wow - actually comfortable despite their having twice the KE of a .44M - it was the OEM SRH grip - great ergonomics. The die was cast - I liked just squeezing the trigger to go bang. A combination of things, a new 5.5" .45 Colt RH immediately going back to Ruger and a .32 H&RM SSM and SP101 tied for the absolute worst QC all followed my first (09/02) S&W - a 625 Mountain Gun in .45 Colt. I switched - bye bye Ruger, hello S&W.

Like you, I did buy a SBH - a 4 5/8" one - and a QPR Bird's Head Grip, which I carefully fitted to the SBH frame. Fun for my .44 Russian & Special homebrews - misery for real Magnums. I then had Ruger BHG's in .32 H&RM, .357M, .44M, & .45 Colt. It would be the last of my Rugers to leave. I just like DA shooting. I liked to think I 'outgrew' SA shooting - but I didn't - I just got more accustomed to it as I like it better for personal and home defense, as well as most of my plinking. Here is my answer to my perceptual need for a hunting .44 Magnum:



That's a current production 6" 629 with a Weigand SS scope rail (All modern S&W revolvers come pre-drilled & tapped for a scope rail - just remove the rear sight.) and Weaver H2 2x28 scope (From my .454 SRH!). Also - the Hogue/S&W .500 Magnum monogrips, made for the X-frames ($35 +s/h from S&W Accessories.), like the SRH's grip, pad the backstrap and afford a higher grip, putting most of the recoil down your arm rather than rotating your wrist - far more comfortable than OEM Hogues. Having had a bad experience with a .45 Colt RH, and my .454 SRH being the best, QC-wise, Ruger I've ever owned, I'd suggest a Ruger .44M SRH, if you like Rugers better than S&W, as your 'next' .44M... and there will likely be a 'next' .44M!

One final caveat re relative strengths. A current production S&W 29/329/629, like their predecessors, is designed for SAAMI spec'd commercial .44 Magnums. Why hotrod a round when there are hotter calibers, like .454, .460M. .475L, and .500M, readily available? Congratulations on your first .44M!

Stainz

PS My only BHG SBH picture:

Here's how I grip them.



On controlling the flinch, I would also suggest not shooting until you're fatigued. If your hands are shaking, you should stop. Stamina should be built slowly over time. With practice, you will be able to shoot longer.

A current production S&W 29/329/629, like their predecessors, is designed for SAAMI spec'd commercial .44 Magnums. Why hotrod a round when there are hotter calibers, like .454, .460M. .475L, and .500M, readily available?

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It ain't necessarily hotrodding. There are longer, heavier bullets available that do not fit a S&W's cylinder. Pressure is the same. I see no reason to buy a .454, .460, .475 or .500 when a .44 will sling a 355gr at 1250fps. The N-frame simply does not allow the cartridge's full potential.

Hey Trent, you should get the Bearcat in .44.

Trent said:

Towards the end of that 48 round shoot yesterday, I noticed between each shot I'd have to bring the pistol back to low ready to relax my arms or my wobble would be all over the 6" bull. That's a damn heavy pistol!

Now that I've got a scope on it the problem will get a little worse.

When I was mounting it last night, my wife looked over at me laughing and said "holy crap hun, what's next, a bipod?"

(She's such a Sweetheart.)

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You've discovered what I did after a few times out with my Bisley Hunter, which is, the Hunter is a gun designed to be shot from a supported position. It's muzzle heavy to begin with, and then you hang a scope on the barrel? Yeah, gonna be hard to hold shooting offhand.

It's a hunting revolver, and while hunting you should always try for a supported shot wherever possible, unless there is just no other choice. Even if that means taking a knee and using your other knee to prop your elbow on.

Try to find a place to shoot it off a rest. Then the real potential of that revolver will present itself.

5 shots off the bench, 25 yards. First shot high before I adjusted the elevation down about 6 clicks.

Pick one you like. I have a Model-29 6" with BSquare rings and mounts and a Gilmore red dot. I had a Super Red Hawk a few years ago. It shot very well too.

Mr. Trent, if recoil is an issue on your new thumper may I suggest some Hogue grips? On that gun they would also give you a longer grip. My dad has them on his Blackhawk .357 and they are very nice.

You will certainly shoot more accurately from a supported position but I would in no way imply that the Hunter or Bisley Hunter was "designed" for shooting from supported positions. They're not 'that' heavy. My scoped SRH .480 (same as a .44 Bisley Hunter) weighs less than my Dragoon and I have no problem shooting either offhand.

I don't think Hogue makes a monogrip for that gun. They make one for a SBH with the squared back trigger guard, but not the standard SBH Hunter grip frame.

I don't think the grips are the issue, rather, it's his GRIP that needs work. Getting some wood grips that are wider at the top and have a flat bottom might help as well. Hogue makes wood/ivory/micarta panels that are thicker through the neck, and are very nice for non-custom grips.

The Hogue rubber grip for the regular SBH will fit the Hunter model. The only difference is the square vs. round back. That said, you don't need them and I'd rather have a sister in a whorehouse than rubber grips on a sixgun. The factory Ruger grips are terribly shaped, almost as if done by a sadist. What is most comfortable for me is a custom set that is slightly thicker at the top, slightly thinner at the bottom and for a grip frame this length, flat on the bottom. CLC does them just right!

http://www.clccustomgrips.com

I bought some of those Hogue SBH monogrips for my BFR, just to try them out (they were cheap, and people always seem to want them so I wasn't worried about being able to unload/trade them).

The Hogue finger groove style seems custom made for my hand in the double action revolver configuration, but these SBH grips were clearly made for someone who has paws the size of a mountain gorilla. They are huge, the finger grooves spread my fingers way out and put the pinky finger in front of the other fingers. I fired two shots out of my BFR 500 JRH and immediately took them off. I've never had a gun that literally made me put it down because it was so painful to shoot, but that grip on that gun did the trick. Having my open palm hit with a sledge hammer on an anvil would probably have felt better.

That soft rubber that folks falsely believe softens recoil actually catches and peels the hide off your palm.

Part of the fun (and frustration!) is finding what works best. I know I tried every configuration under the sun before I found what works for me. I believed the "thinner is better" crowd until I actually tried them. The highly respected gripmaker made me some fine $250 custom grips that fit the frame perfectly and look great but they just don't fit my hand properly. Same for his rendition of thicker grips. I now have $450 worth of custom grips that don't work, placed with $400 worth of grips that do. I try to save others from learning like I did, the hard (expensive!) way.

I'd suggest trying Hogue's cowboy grip panels before anything else. They're relatively cheap and if they're comfortable, you know you need thicker grips.

I have a similar problem as Trent in the wrist department, not that I am a limp wristed member of "Team Fabulous" but I certainly don't have the wrists of a mason or a carpenter.

To that end I have found that the tension in my grip is way more crucial than any particular amount of strength in my wrists. The gun only needs a bit of resistance to stop the recoil but needs very consistent grip tension to be accurate.

BTW your .44 will be a serious pussycat with that big hunk of glass perched on top of the barrel. Seriously, night and day.

That soft rubber that folks falsely believe softens recoil actually catches and peels the hide off your palm.

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I have these on my 629:

http://www.pachmayr.com/home/decelerator-grids.php

I love them, and they really help me control that gun, of course this is a completely different grip frame, and gun. I am just saying that I personally love my rubber grips.

Trent,
The pic of your grip position is exactly how I was taught (By an FBI instructor) to fire a sixgun. By adding downward pressure with you left thumb, it's easy to form a very stable grip. Try it out by dry firing and you'll get the feeling of how much pressure is needed. Just remember, don't shoot an autoloader this way. CraigC's position is what I use for non-magnums.