.44 Special revolvers

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Shawnee

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What say Y'All about the various .44 Special double-action revolvers ?

I suppose S&W are the "Primos" - what are your favorites and what do "used-good-condition" ones go for these days. Which brands would you put in "The Top Four" as carry guns (not necessarily "conceal" guns)???

I shoot a lot of .44 Specials from my Ruger SBH but that stretches bthe term "carry gun" just a wee bit. :D

Thanks Y'All !!!
:cool:
 
All I've been able to find in this caliber is taurus and Charter Arms el cheapos and a S+W as heavy as a 44 magnum.
I wish Ruger or S+W would make a would make a 5 round small to mid sized revolver in this caliber with a 4" barrel.
I've had a couple of the Charters....loved the cartridge and hated the revolvers.
 
I'm with trilateral about the K frame 5 shot 44 special. I have sweet dreams about that one. However, I have a N frame, model 21 that there is no way your get it outta my hands. 4" and really sweet. It's the classic model that I put Pachmyers on. I'm a 44 kinda guy but do like my M22 also.

Used are out there but hard to find. $500 up to start, I would imagine.

I have a charter arms that I carry. 3" Bulldog that is a solid performer. No problems after about 1000 rounds.

Never tried a Taurus.

That's about it
 
We have a S&W M21 and a Taurus 445... looking to get another 445.
I have looked at the Charter Bulldog and Rossi 720 also... I am sure the Charter works well enough but it feels pretty cheap.
I LOVE the .44 special, I reload for it and .45 acp.


Jim
 
I love my Taurus 441 s/s, 6". Its 5 shot, medium frame and extremely well built and as accurate as any handgun I shoot. I've never tried factory ammo, just my cast bullets with my recipe. Its the only S/S gun I own as I'm not fond of Stainless, I bought it used at a super price intending to make some money on it, but I screwed up and took it shooting. I even bought a brand new 4" barrel for it so I can change it out and make it a carry gun.
 
S&W has a couple of currently produced 44s but I confess to not being real familiar with them. I do like the 44 Special and appreciate some of the older guns that fired this caliber.

I acquired this pair of 1950 44 Special Target Models as a set about 4 years ago. I had longed for a 5" 1950 since reading Skeeter Skelton extol the virtues of such a gun back in the 1960s and 1970s. The guns were offered by a high end S&W dealer and I bit my lip (the prices were substantial) and bought one. When I related the story to my wife later that day, she asked me why I didn't buy both of them. I didn't have a really good answer to that question so I called the dealer back and bagged the second one.

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Another gun I wanted badly for many years was the Model of 1926 44 Special. I saw very few for sale and the prices were outrageous. Then a couple years ago a local guy offered me one at a price that was still higher than what I liked, but was less than what I'd seen, so I grabbed it. Not 2 weeks later I found a twin at a local gun show priced at 1/3 less than what I paid for the first one. Now I have a set of these, too.

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A Rossi 720 owner here. I do wish that I had picked up one of the first-gen K-frame sized Taurus revolvers when they were all over the magazine covers and in those Jan Libourel articles back in the day... maybe the 3" blued version... (431, maybe?). For a while, they even did a "carry pack" custom shop version: 3-inch, action job, weigand porting, finger groove stocks... mmmm, gooood....

At any rate, I recently found the DAO 720, and then some wooden Rossi stocks–the kind that fill in behind the trigger guard, not the skinny ones–and a small stock of various 200-grainer loads with big hollow points, so I'm not as far behind the curve here as I used to be!
 
Had a Taurus 431 in stainless, 4 inch barrel, for about fifteen years. Five shooter, took Charter Arms speedloaders and fit some holsters. Uncle Mike's two-piece rubber grips fit, but wobbled a little, so she usually wore walnut (NICE walnut).

Served long and pretty well, carried often. Had an issue with the trigger return spring falling loose somehow (fixed it myself). Timing was very, very, very slightly off, but that hardly ever came up. Not too accurate, but nicely hard-hitting. Ammo was expensive and somewhat hard to find. Finally became a snob and traded it away for a Colt Officer's Model last month. Had to have that 7 1/2 inch barrel and vintage patina, and the Taurus carried some old unpleasant memories with it.

No big complaints and some satisfaction -- but ... it WAS a Taurus. And I've decided to limit my revolver stable to Smith and Colt thoroughbreds.
 
GREAT STUFF, Guys !! And great pics too !!! :D Keep it comin'.

Am glad to see others like the Special as much as I do !


And for my money - they can take their high-cap 9s and 10s and 40s and .357s and stick 'em where the sun... well, in the shade. ;)

:cool::D
 
S&w 296

I owned a Smith 296 snub for a while. It was a bit large for pocket carry and the recoil was painful, so I sold it. It had beautiful rosewood grips that I just couldn't replace with anything more comfortable to shoot. I believe it weighed 18oz empty, so would be a good CC gun. They aren't made anymore but can be found if you look.

Lou
 
I have this ol' Lew Horton Model 24 .44 Special and use it as a carry gun fairly often. I just loves big revolvers...

44_LewHortonjpg.gif
 
The .44 Spl. is my favorite cartridge for a carry gun. It helps a lot if you are a handloader. If not one of the best factory offerings is the Speer 200 gr. Gold Dot load. It looks like the old "flying ahstray" .45 bullet from years ago. But as everyone has pointed out, there are not enough revolvers offered for this fine cartridge. But if you can find one in good condition and you think you can deal with the size and weight you will be very well protected. KRS, now that is my idea of a real carry piece. That is beautiful. .357s are for girls.
 
Oldie but goodie:

M29 with 4" bbl, smooth trigger, action job, hard chrome, Jerry M's stocks, target rear blade and FO front sight.

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Stretching it a bit too.....but I just purchased a Ruger Alaskan in .44 mag for just this purpose.
I looks big, but it weighs only 1.5oz. more than an all steel 1911.
I'm working on some handloads currently.
It's know that the Super Redhawk grip frame is like the gp100, ( actually been told it IS the Same Grip) so I would like to get a smaller grip fro CCW. ( the factory Hogue is LARGE) and when I shoot the snot knocker .44 mags, switch grips.
 
the CA bulldog is what it is a gun to be carried a lot and shot a little.mine is accurate and has a good trigger (DAO).
My Taurus 431 is a sweethart it's a K-frame size gun 5 shot.very,very accurate and fit and finish are very good.it will stack 200gr GDs on top each other at 15 yards with regularity.heres the 431
P4260105.gif
 
This one's been my fishing gun for the last few months.
A model 624 3" LH, with a set of Stag grips & Tyler adapter. The 3" .44 Spl. is about the perfect field gun for me as there are no critters around here too large for that caliber. It's really too big to be concealable but, I open carry when fly-fishing anyways.

Bruce

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Model 21 with fake ivory. I really wanted a model of 1926, but apparently they all belong to SaxonPig...

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Got this 624 from my brother...He has owned it since '85 and its never been fired! IM000545.gif
I carry this Taurus Titanium 44 mag loaded with CCI shotshells or Hornady 44 Special XTP...It lite,accurate and has a great trigger.
IM000498a.jpg
 
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