44 Magnum Recoil

[PistolNewbie]

I own a S&W 357 magnum and find the recoil manageable but I would love to try a 44 magnum. From what I have been told, I am afraid I would pull the trigger of the 44 and have it end up in the back 40. How does the 44 recoil compare to the 357 magnum?

 

[sansone]

OK I'm a whimp.. 44mag is too much for me in a medium frame revolver. I do like the large frame 6" ruger single action gun(blackhawk?) in 44mag. / once saw a 44mag derringer for sale cheap at a show, the dealer said it was slightly used, the original owner shot ONE round and returned the gun with his hand AND forehead bandaged

 

[carterbeauford]

.44 magnum recoil is sensationalized... it's not a .454 Casull. Weight and barrel length make a big difference. A 9.5" barrel Ruger Blackhawk in .44 magnum is more pleasant to shoot than a 4" barrel .357 magnum IMO. Just go with a 6" or longer barrel in a nice heavy stainless revolver. You can shoot .44 special too, less recoil there.

 

[Colt46]

Heavier, but won't bite you

Keep a firm grip on it and it won't be too bad. My buddy carries Smith's "Trailboss". Think of a ported snubnosed .44 N-Frame. A bit of a handful, but never has it gotten away from anybody.

 

[Onmilo]

I mainly use my five inch 629 Smith and Wesson for deer hunting and occasionally run 50 to 100 rounds of full power loads through it during range sessions.
The recoil does not bother me a bit but I have never been recoil sensitive.
I do replace the wooden Hogue grips with rubber Hogue grips when hunting mainly to avoid beating the wooden grips up but I will admit the rubber grips do make the recoil a bit more pleasant.

I have a buddy who has shot this revolver and he complains more about the muzzle blast giving him a headache than the felt recoil the gun delivers.

 

[Steve in PA]

I got more muzzle rise (aka "kick") out of my 6" 686 .357mag, than I do from my 9 1/2" scoped SRH .44mag.

The lack of kick is due to the weight of the SRH. If you shoot a 4-6" .44mag, the kick would be different.

 

[LiquidTension]

A 4" .357 has more recoil than my 5.5" .44 Redhawk. .44 Spl in that gun kicks less than .38 Spl out of the same .357. I've been shooting some Georgia Arms loads that are pretty mild. The gun is so heavy that recoil really isn't an issue.

 

[GCW5]

Recoil is pretty much what you make it to be.

I have a 629 with a 3" barrel, it's quite a hand full, my brother in law has a 629 with a 9" barrel and scope mounted on it, the same loads that make my little gun buck and snort, are like nothing happened in in his. I hear about folks that think a .357 kicks in a 4" barrel, but I guess I'm desencitised from the 44 mag. I think with enough practice, any of them are OK.

The gun that's hardest on my hand is my little P3AT, I can only shoot about 100 through it in 1 setting. This has as much to do with grips and how little there is to grip as anything. That's the 2nd thing, I think that grips that are comfortable make alot of difference. I have tryed several styles and brands, all my relovers wear rubber Hogue, as they seem to fit my hand the best.

Last thing is noise. I think noise is as hard to handle as the recoil, and makes it worse. I use earplugs myself, but I see most folks that use them don't instal them right. You have to reach over your head and lift your ear up with one hand to make the ear canal strate, then put the plug in flush with the ear. Now, I admit that on occasion, I've had to use a key to dig the plugs from my ear, but my hearing scores at work haven't change in 10 years. If you don't wear plugs right, I say go with muffs.

I hope this helps.

 

[Troutman]

Which ever way, you go with your grip choice. Start out with 44 specials and work yourself up to full loads.
I use my 44, just for range use. And just use specials. Unless their is a specific purpose to use magnum loads. It leads a deprived life.

 

[Rick O'Shea]

Gotta agree.

I don't care much for full-house .357 rounds in any of my guns, so I either shoot .38's or reload .357 cases with a moderate load of ".38 powder" (W231; I do kinda miss the 2-foot long flame that the W296 gave me, but that sharp "bark" is gone.).

In my ongoing love affair with S&W revolvers, I became curious about the legendary Model 29.
Before I got too excited, I thought I'd better rent a .44 at my local range to persuade myself that I really don't want one .

Guess what my next gun is going to be?

The gun in question was a 6 1/2" barrel 629 with Hogue rubber grips. Honestly, that big heavy thing just settled down on the target so steady - pull that sweet trigger, and "BOOM"!
A nice rise, and a hole right where the sights were.

Sooooo different from a .357.
A different animal from .45 auto altogether.

Did I mention what my next gun is going to be?

 

[foghornl]

There is a whole bunch more factory ammo than used to be, so you can find a round that suits you well if you don't 'roll your own'.

Load I used to make for my .44 Super Blackhawk.... a 200-Gr Speer "Jacketed Magnum Hollow Point" over 11 Grains of Unique. More punch that the standard .44Spl load of the time, but a lot easier for me to shoot...less noise/kick/muzzle flash that the 240-GR SJHP or SJSP offered by Win/Rem/Fed

Standard reloading disclaimers apply here....also remember this was from the 1979-1980 era of loading data. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

 

[Taurus 66]

The .44 magnum is more than twice the recoil of a .357. It's the only round known to break a man's wrist upon recoil. In some rare cases, people were transported to the hospital emergency room to get the hammer surgically removed from their foreheads. A person could brace himself firmly against a telephone pole and pull the trigger snapping the pole in two. It's not something to play with. If you haven't shot the .44 mag yet, do yourself a favor - give it up by not taking it up.

 

[SDC]

Seriously, now; the difference between a standard factory 44 Mag and a standard factory 357 Mag is just a little bit more than the difference between a standard factory 38 Spl and a standard factory 357 Mag. I've taken newbies out shooting (starting out with 22s, then moving to 38s, then 357s, then 44s), who couldn't get ENOUGH of the 44s once they realized that it doesn't knock the planet out of orbit.

 

[Jim K]

I hadn't heard about telephone poles snapping off, but I am sure it happens. I don't care for the .44 Magnum because the front sights are always getting damaged. I live fairly close to an airport and every time I fire the gun, it jumps so high that a 747 on final hits the front sight. Dratted nuisance!

Seriously, I have fired guns that kicked a lot more than a .44 Magnum, but for me it is over the borderline between guns I shoot for fun and guns I can shoot if necessary. The other stuff, like .454 and .500 S&W are even further over that line.

Jim

 

[garrett1955]

I like my Ruger Redhawk. Of course it's not like shooting a .357 but the recoil isn't wrist breaking. I can shoot 50 rounds through it and feel fine.

 

[Sniper X]

I guess it's just me in my group of freinds (hunting freinds) but one guy has a Ruger Super Black Hawk, a real nice one! Ayway, we were out on a hunt and he takes it out and smiling says anyone want to shoot the .44 magnum? Everyone says no, then he shoots it and with very much drama lets it fly way up in the sky! I go over and grab it, I shoot .45acp all the time, and have had many .44mags, and shoot the rest of the cylender full in about 5 seconds with one hand and they all freak out like I am some kind of gun god!


There is not much recoil difference to me between a hot .357 and a .44mag to me other than they "feel" different in the type of recoil. A hot .357 being uh...sharper....the .44 being more pushy.

 

[ATW525]

I find my 6.5" Model 29 isn't bad at all, unless I try to one hand it, which leaves my wrist sore. The only problem I have is that one of the faux ivory magna-style panels is a tad bit oversized and hangs over the frame just enough to dig into my palm during recoil. However I'm too stubborn to change the grips out.

 

[Rick O'Shea]

There is not much recoil difference to me between a hot .357 and a .44mag to me other than they "feel" different in the type of recoil. A hot .357 being uh...sharper....the .44 being more pushy.

Exactly.

I'm finding that *perceived* recoil is highly dependent on weapon type and design, and a number of subjective factors, rather than being a simple linear progression with caliber.

Personal taste plays a large role, also (recoil junkies, you know who you are... ).

 

[PaladinX13]

My friend's 6" 629 is a real pleasure shoot outdoors. The recoil is substantial but not at all terrifying. It's more the noise and shock-wave (especially indoors) that bothers me. You really start to feel it in your skull after awhile. I want one, but I can't justify the cost for just punching paper.

Now the .500 S&W on the other hand. That shouldn't go flying out of your hands either, but it really was a pain to shoot.

 

[Mainsail]

I put 100 rounds through my Alaskan, and while the recoil is certainly stout, it didn’t impale itself in my forehead or anything. I’m 5’8” and 165# if that helps. It’s all in the grips. Thems some beautiful grips on the 44 in the pic above, but they would hurt.

 

[Sharps Shooter]

Back when we were competing, my 5"2" 105lb. wife was one of the top metallic silhouette shooters in the State. Her favorite handgun was a 10 1/2" Ruger Super Silhouette .44 Magnum loaded with 220-grain Sierra FMJs over 22 grains of 2400. Even back then (in the 1980's) we heard stories from blow-hard wannabes how they "knew somebody" whose brother or cousin got their "wrist broke" when they shot a .44 Magnum. What a bunch of crap!
After we quit the metallic silhouette game, my wife took one of her 10 1/2" Super Silhouettes and had the barrel cut to 6" to make it more packable. Her .44 Magnums are still her favorite handguns. Yeah, they kick. But they're not .454 Casulls or .500 Smith and Wessons. All you need to do is keep a firm grip and let them kick - it's sort of like "rolling with the punches." If my tiny little wife can do so well them, and you don't have some kind of physical infirmity, you can handle a .44 Magnum's recoil. Providing of course you want to.
Now comes the disclaimer - I have tendonitis in my right elbow. Six full-house rounds from a .44 Magnum handgun will make my elbow talk to me for a week. And I'm a pretty big guy. I much prefer my .41 Magnums with mid-range loads.

 

[cmidkiff]

My 100lb 13 year old daughter shoots my 6" 29-2... yeah, it kicks, but it is not unpleasant. Heck, my P3AT is much less fun to shoot than my 29!

Compared to my 4" M620 with factory .357's, it's a 'different' recoil. A little more push, a little less snap. Not worse, just different.

Nothing to be afraid of, for sure.

 

[Bear41mag]

My wife frequently shots my 4" Smith 29-2, and enjoys it.

Recoil is a something one becomes accustomed to with time and proper technique.

 

[DMZ]

Like GCW5 I have a 3" S&W .44 mag, but mines a model 29 (Lew Horton special). I have never found this to be a difficult revolver to fire even with 240 gr, full house .44 mags.

I have always favored M29's as the grip frame angle seems to work well for me and the Ahrends grips are well designed to facilitate a firm grip, which others have stated, is key comfortably shooting heavy recoiling handguns.

I do not like neoprene grips on 44 mags, as they tend to pinch my skin if I do not wear gloves, so I avoid them.

 

[bakert]

It's not that hard for most but not all people, to get accustumed to .44 mag recoil in a gun with the right grips, unless in a lightweight or very short barrel gun but it is much heavier kick than the .357. Maybe some here can't tell much difference between the recoil of a .357 and a .44 mag but I for one damned sure can