Big guns

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BridgeWalker

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I admit, I'm fascinated. I shoot 9mm. and .22 because I'm cheap, but I love a big boom. I shot a friend's Blackhawk .357mag this past fall for an afternoon. Loved every minute of it.

I've discovered a range near my in-laws that rents guns. Now, it's pretty pricey to rent, but it sure sounds like a fun afternoon. Drop the kid off with grandma and grandpa, husband and I can head out and play with some guns we can't afford to shoot regularly.

So, what do I try? What's gonna be the maximum amount of fun with the minimum amount of risk of, say, breaking my hand?

Add to the mix that I shoot one-handed (yeah, I know a lot of people don't approve of this, but I like it, it works for me, and my shoulder is so messed it that shooting is no fun with two hands). I shoot Mosins, but that's obviously quite different. I've shot a friend's 45-70, but again with the long gun. The most powerful I've shot in a handgun is the .357mag.

So, what caliber(s) should I try out, if I'm going for a lot of boom but limited experience with anything too powerful? Big Boomer's recent thread has me a bit spooked about just renting the biggest caliber gun I can get my hands on...
 
i like the good old 1911

so try a .45ACP? if you use a 1911 you might want to buy one!

either that or a 10mm (its like a super .40 cal)

then i guess a .44 mag
 
762--I have a box of .45acp I got for my last trip to this range, but I got there too late to rent a gun. It's definitely on the agenda...

As for the Desert Eagle, it's definitely a possibility, except for that whole aura of video-gamish-bad-ass-ness that surrounds it.

I met the the bad-ass Hebrews, lived there for a while. Yeah, they tend to be all about the rifles...
 
Hey, you could go with this baby:
smith_163501.jpg

SMith and Wesson 500 - in what else? .500 SW Magnum!!
 
LOL! Yeah, good point. I hadn't read that thread, but I believe it. I'm a-scared to lay a hand on that thing. I don't have health insurance with my new company yet, and I'm having a hard time thinking up a situation where I could get worker's comp to cover a broken wrist. Well... maybe I was on lunch and... nevermind.
 
guitar, THAT IS A BIG GUN!!! how much does each round cost? i don't think the indoor range i frequent will allow that...

50cal ae desert eagle is pretty darn scary too. i'm 5' 7" weigh 150 fairly well build. and that thing made me take a step or two back first time through. if you ever shoot that maybe load only one round in it so you can't pull off another one off in shear excitement or maybe thats the idea :p
 
Plinker, I don't actually own one. I can't justify spending over 1K on a handgun that costs over $100 for more than 50 rounds. I don't care how big the boom is. Don't even get me started on .50 BMG rifles and such. If someone has the money, more power to them, but I can't drop 10 Gs on a gun.

Anywho, back On topic, I'd hate to shoot that thing. I think it would be even worse with the 4" barrel version. Yes, they actually make a FOUR INCH barrel on that sucker. :eek:
 
BTW, my hand STILL hurts :mad:

Another month or so and I'll be ready to shoot it again! It's 90% back to normal but still bruised if I push on it.

For recoil, 357's have a "shock" factor to the hand like hitting a tree with an aluminum baseball bat, you can stand it for a while but it stings. 44 Magnum is more of a snap and smack of the hand, more push. 454 is a violent recoil, lotsa muzzle flip, similar to the 357 but add torque. 460 is more of a shove like trying to shoot a big rifle with a pistol grip.

And then there is the 500 in the BFR totally in a league of it's own. I put this one in the idiot league. If you fire it more than once, your an idiot. I got the dunce cap to prove it :D
 
Try something relatively cheap and fun, a CZ52. They're loud, throw a lot fire at night and shoot a pretty hot 7.62X25 round. Mine are very accurate to boot.
Good side is you can still get them for about $130 and a case of ammo for a little over $100.
They might not let you shoot them at an indoor range though due to over-penetration.
As far as range goes, it is one of the flatest shooting autos you can get.
 
For the most "boom" with the least recoil

Go with the Desert Eagle, but not in .50! In .44 Mag the recoil is more like a hot .45 Auto, and in .357 Mag it is very light, even though the boom is still huge! Can't say much about the whole video game image though, as I was grown up and shooting Desert Eagles in the late 80s, years before they became a fad in video games.

The drawback to the Desert Eagle is the sheer size of the grip and the weight. 4 1/4 pounds empty! And the grip is huge, huge to the point that I, at 6' and 250lbs (;)) am not comfortable with it, especially one handed. I can hold it, and control it, but it is not comfortable.

Another option is the single action revolver. These guns are made to be shot one handed. Don't worry about holding it tight to control it for rapid followup shots (like you would with a duty pistol or revolver), just let it roll up in your hand, holding it only as tight as you need to to keep from dropping it. A little tension in your arm as the gun comes back will preven you getting hit in the head with it, (which is generally considered to bad thing) but other than that, it is no big deal.

I have never heard of anyone actually breaking their hand or wrist, but I do know people who have suffered nerve damage from expensive (thousands of rounds) of hard recoiling calibers in DA revolvers, where the grip design has little "give" and transmits all the force sharply. The simple answer is that if you shoot something that hurts, stop shooting it! Not everybody can handle the big magnums in reality, but their egos seldom let them admit it.

One thing, you mention the "boom". Be aware that there is a difference between the "boom" and the blast of a magnum handgun. A round like the .45 Colt has a very deep and satisfying "boom" without the sharp blast, the "crack" of the magnum, and without the sharp recoil. You might be happy going that route, as you learn. Don't jump off the deep end at first, it can hurt, and take the fun out of it. In fact, you ought to try a .45 Colt in a single action revolver, start with the "cowboy" loads (light loads for playing games), and work up to the full loads. Then next time you will have a good basis for comparison.

Any way you decide, have fun with it, and good luck. Remember if it hurts, you either aren't doing something right, or you are operating outside your experience base, which is the same thing, really.

Enjoy.
 
Thanks for the detailed advice. Yes, I was thinking mostly of Blackhawks and the like, since that is where my little experience lies. I meant "boom" only as a loud noise. I honestly don't remember the sound of the .357 mag, other than pretty loud. It was a couple months back. I do remember being a bit surprised at how underwhelming it was though. I was kind of expecting it be harder to control, louder, harder kicking than it was.

I kind of do want to push this to the edge of my ability. It just seems like a fun and intense mini-project, y'know?

I might try the .454 after playing around with some .45acp.

Each caliber is gonna cost me forty or fifty bucks between rental fee and ammo, plus range fees, so no point beating around the bush. I think I can probably handle that one.

A little concerned about the size of my hands and bigger guns. I've got larg-ish hands for a woman, but small side of average compared to men. Pretty strong hand, but not big. Well, they might let me *hold* the thing before handing over twenty bucks to rent it.
 
Yeah, well, I'm still sitting on my C&R app until I find the time to track down an old address from 4 yrs, 10 months ago...might just wait it's five years ago, and then won't need to list it :eek:

In any case, I'm holding off of C&R stuff until I don't have to deal with FFL's. Don't have a local FFL I like dealing with yet.

And I'm not really looking for something I can shoot easily. I'm more looking to max out what I can handle, just for the fun of it.

Thanks for putting one *more* thing on my shopping list though....:D
 
I see

the .500s come through shops on consignment all the time, only a couple rounds fired through them and most will include a partial box of ammo....


Must be a reason...
 
Since you enjoyed extended shooting of .357 magnum here are a couple of ideas for astep up in boom without getting into the "might hurt my hand" zone:

- A .357 with a shorter barrel, like 2.5", and 125 gr. loads (not CCI, but Remington, Federal, etc.).

- Or, a .44 with a 4" barrel.

A .45ACP will be less of a boom than a .357 so that won't get you up the boom ladder. A .454 is a BIG jump up the boom ladder. A .44 magnum is a significant step up but still lots of fun.

The shorter the barrel the more blast there will be as the gases are still burning after they exit the muzzle. When I was shooting a 4" barrel .44 with .240 gr. Remington loads there would be about a 2'-3' flame coming out the muzzle, and the sound is much louder and sharper with a shorter barrel. same reason as why a .22lr handgun sounds much loader than a .22LR rifle.

Also, a heavier handgun will have less felt recoil and less snap to the recoil than a lighter one, but this has bearing on the BOOM part. So a 4" heavy like the Redhawk will have more boom and hurt your hand less than a some lighter weight 6" model.
 
As someone else said, .45acp is fun, but wont really feel bigger than the .357.

Some other options are the .41magnum or .44magnum. I would try one of those before venturing up to .454 or bigger.
 
Some ammo, too has more flash/bang than others. Without getting into the super barn burners like Buffalo Bore, Cor-Bon, etc the most flame from my short barrel (3-1/2") Vaquero was from the 158-Gr Aluminum Case "Blazer"...that stuff really lived up to its name.
 
I loved the Desert Ego .50 I tried, but the BIGGEST handgun I own is a .36 caliber Colt 1861 Navy. Over fourteen inches stem to stern, and it weighs enough so that you can pistol-whip a bison with it and be assured of a knockout.

It also makes nice big clouds. :D
 
There's a fairly logical progression amongst the big boomers. .357 Mag, .41 Mag, .44 Mag, .45 Long Ruger (aka, .45 LC handloaded to "ruger only," pressures) .454 Casull, and finally the big bad Smiths. .460 and 500.

The type of handgun has considerable bearing on the shooting experience, as well. Shorter barrels mean less power down range, but faster recoil impulse, and more muzzle flash. Hard grips sting the hand more than rubber ones do. Heavy guns dampen the force of the recoil more than lighter ones do. Porting helps control some of the muzzle flip.

Things like the 4" S&W 329 PD, which is a smallish .44 Mag, on a scandium frame, with wood grips are for masochists. Makes a big .500, built on the X-frame, with rubber grips, porting, and a lot of weight seem almost tame.

~~~
 
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