I might buy the .44 Mag for my 44th b-day

I love S&W, great gun and trigger. I went with Ruger Super Black Hawk, Super Red Hawk, and Thompson Center for my 44's. Robustness!

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?attachments/img_0458-jpg.237113/

Looking ahead, do you want a .45 Colt or a .45 ACP handgun for your 45th birthday? I like the way this concept is headed-makes getting older something to look forward to...

I previously owned a S&W 29 Classic Hunter and I was very happy with it. I currently own two 629's. A 5" Classic and a Stealth Hunter. They are good guns.

I have a S&W 29 (a gift back in the early 80s from my lovely bride), Ruger Super Blackhawk, and a Contender with the 14" bull barrel. The 44 magnum is a fun cartridge and the 44 special makes the guns very versatile. Great cartridges to handload. My opinion: if you want smooth and gorgeous, go with the Smith. If you want a stronger action and possibly a longer barrel, the Super Blackhawk. For serious long range shooting (and to use up your ammo slower) the Contender. Be warned, the regular 44 magnum Contenders are painful to shoot with full house loads. The longer bull barrel is much more comfortable.

I like the idea of a new gun to match your birthday. Too bad there aren't a lot of 65 caliber firearms out there.

Jeff

Can't speak to the S&W 29 other than that it's a good looking pistol. I'm a single action fan. Just purchased my first Ruger, a Bisley Blackhawk 5.5" in 45 Colt. Wow. This is a nice piece of beefy goodness. Even pumping out hot loads - 300 grs at 1200 fps, recoil is manageable. Would add it to your list, or get what I got next year ;-)

For finesse, S&W 4" or 6". If you want brute tough, the standard Ruger Redhawk with 5 1/2 " barrel. I'd take either at a coin toss.

I'll be 60 in October; maybe I should get my first .600 Nitro

The Smith 29 is a fine choice. I prefer stainless, so mine are all 629's, save one 329PD (absolutely brutal machine). I do tend to favor Ruger's over the Smith's, for their durability, especially favoring the Super Redhawk for the grip options.

Whether you buy a Ruger or a Smith, you'll have to pick your application to drive your choice for the right model. Are you looking for something to wear a scope or red dot and take deer at 150yrds? Or are you looking for a handy belt gun? Are you wanting something which might be concealed? The right revolver for each of these respective applications will look considerably different from the others. I really enjoy the 4.2" Redhawk and the 629 Mountain Gun as a belt gun, even adding a JPoint mount and Burris Fast Fire as a shorter range, big game hunting rig on the Ruger. The Redhawk Hunter or Super Redhawk are the better options for a scope - I forget the 629 model name with the optic rails on top and bottom. For something concealed, there are snubby 629's and of course, the Redhawk Kodiak backpacker and Super Redhawk Alaskan. The 329PD is another class of concealable revolver in itself - hyperlite, and hyper pain.

meatballs said:

my 30 30s will kick a .44 Mag rifles butt

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I've played that game before, firsthand, and I think if you tried it yourself, you'd change your opinion on this. I've always favored the 1894 over the 336, and have always abhored the toggle link Win action. I grew up with my dad's 1894 44mag, and really thought I was upgrading when I traded work on my uncle's ranch one summer for one of his Glenfield/Marlin 30A's in 30-30. I quickly found out I wasn't upgrading, and realized the 44mag uses less powder, anchors deer faster, and fits more rounds in the magazine of my 1894's than I can in the 30-30's, and I really don't gain any range with the 30-30. The 30-30's a little flatter shooting since it starts out about 600 fps or so faster, but nobody is hunting with either of these past 250yrds any way - and again, those 240+ grn slugs anchor deer like stomping out a fire. Not that it matters much at such short ranges, but the 44mag slugs tend to have greater ballistic coefficients than the round nosed or wide meplat bullets used in 30-30 as well. I have that old 30A still, and a couple 336's, but I have a gaggle of 1894's in 44mag.

Depends on if your set on a DA. My first .44 mag was a Ruger Super Blackhawk. Still own it and after lots of rounds through it, its still tight and one of my favorites. DA, the 29/629 is truly hard to beat. Redhawk would be my 3rd choice. Super Redhawk wouldn't even make my list of .44 mags id want to own. Taurus either.

meatballs said:

Let's just say I bought a classic .38 on my 38th. You know where this is going.

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Hmmm. Please check in with pics on your 50th!!!

If you make it to 95 yrs old, I have a suggestion...

BullRunBear said:

I like the idea of a new gun to match your birthday. Too bad there aren't a lot of 65 caliber firearms out there.

Jeff

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To the contrary...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/6.5mm_Grendel

Uh, you're kinda wrong ... 6.5 mm isn't close to .65 of an inch.

Back on topic, a 4" S&W 629 is (in my opinion) a vital part of any revolver collection. Compact enough to carry concealed under fall/winter clothing, big enough to take care of any two or four-legged creatures one might encounter in the wild ...

Old Dog said:

Uh, you're kinda wrong ... 6.5 mm isn't close to .65 of an inch.

Back on topic, a 4" S&W 629 is (in my opinion) a vital part of any revolver collection. Compact enough to carry concealed under fall/winter clothing, big enough to take care of any two or four-legged creatures one might encounter in the wild ...

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I know that 6.5mm is not 0.65 inches. I just was being a little less literal to help someone find a fun 65th birthday present for themselves.

meatballs

For me (though I'm well past 44!), I would get another Super Blackhawk. Have had a couple, along with a S&W Model 629, and just liked the single action of the Super Blackhawk a little bit more. Let us know what you decide to get and if you want something slightly off the beaten path, there's always the .44 Special and the .44 Russian to consider.

Mitlov said:

I know that 6.5mm is not 0.65 inches. I just was being a little less literal to help someone find a fun 65th birthday present for themselves.

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Mitlov, Thanks for the laugh. Although my ever lovely bride encourages our target shooting, I did promise no new calibers for a long time. Instead of caliber, I might load up 65 BP cartridges for the 45-70.

I'm another fan of the Super Blackhawk for the 44 mag. I was surprised how many responses preferred the single action. Love S&W K-frames and N-frames but single actions, including cap and ball, are the bees knees.

Jeff

Bisley blackhawk with 5.5" barrel

Be 65 soon. Any ideas about what I should get?

I'm 37 now and I've been planning the birthday gun thing for a while. Next year I think it'll be a .38 Super 1911 plus maybe something interesting in .38 Special.

Anyway, the two .44 revolvers that interest me most are the Redhawk (probably the 4.2-inch version) and the 629. In that one I'm leaning toward the 5-inch barrel. Been keeping an eye out for a gently used pre-lock example at a reasonable price - no luck yet, but I'm in no hurry.

Jack B. said:

Be 65 soon. Any ideas about what I should get?

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Everybody should own a Swede.

Sounds good as long as it's a pre-lock and if it was a 29 it would be a 6.5 ' barrel .

I kind of did the same thing this year. I'll be 44 in a few weeks and just bought a Ruger Super Redhawk.

I liked the trigger on the 29 and the Performance Center hunter. The trigger isn't as smooth, but I can hardly notice the difference (but I'm sure there's a huge difference for those that are more trigger savvy than I am.)

I just liked the way the way SRH fit my hands better.

meatballs said:

Im thinking about buying a nice .44 magnum for my 44th B-day. ...

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I think that now that you have tumbled to such a concept, you may be Tempting Fate if you fail to follow through.

I checked my Firearms Index. I bought my 629 26 days after my 37th birthday ... so I was almost 7 years ahead of schedule.

If you are a reloader, you can easily download rounds closer to the .44spl neighborhood so that you are not always beating yourself up with the fullpower magnum loads.

Enjoy!

SwampWolf said:

Looking ahead, do you want a .45 Colt or a .45 ACP handgun for your 45th birthday? I like the way this concept is headed-makes getting older something to look forward to...

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I got my first .30-06 in 2006, my first 1911 in 2011, my first .45 Colt for my 45th birthday...

I'm kinda in between now... maybe .460 S&W? 1917 Enfield? .470 Nitro? .480 Ruger? 1918 Browning?