12 comments

    1. Bond Arms briefly made a barrel in .44 mag for their very good derringer. I’m not even sure it went into regular production, but there are a few around for sale. .45LC/410 is a handful for me, so no thankee.

      1. I shot a 357 out of one of those once (only). Totally unpleasant experience and I am not especially recoil shy.

  3. Back at my old club I watched a guy shooting a .45-70 Contender. First, I walked thru the door to the line without my headset on just as he set one off, only time I ever made THAT mistake. Second, he was hitting a big gong at 50 yards (I want to say it was 24″, but it was a long time ago). My 357 magnum firing 158 grn JHP would barely make the thing wiggle, he had it swinging almost horizontal and he’d have to wait for it to stop before he could hit it again. Third, he had to position himself so it would recoil over his shoulder rather than whacking him in the forehead, because it WAS going to go that far.

    I’m not especially recoil shy (my first high-power rifle experience was with an 8mm Yugo Mauser that a buddy and I put a couple hundred rounds each thru in an afternoon), but no thanks on the buffalo pistol.

  4. Without exaggeration, I’ve literally lost count of the number of “gunwriters” in the dead-tree magazine industry, whom, since the 1970s till today, have had to pretty much quit shooting anything stouter than a .22LR handgun. Punishment from such guns/cartridges WILL, in time, result in carpal-tunnel or similar damage, over time.

    So, would I somehow limit or prohibit such things? Never. Hell, I’d CARRY a .45-70 BFR if I were a frequenting Grizzly territory. I’d even shoot it (barely) enough to zero and be conditioned to it’s abuse.

    But burn up a box of 50 at the practice range? Oh, hell no. One or two cylinders, and I’m calling it a day. I abuse my limbs enough just using TOOLS around the house. No need to hasten the Arthur Write Us by means of self-inflicted recoil hammering.

    I mean, if I want to get hammered, that’s what the Bourbon is there for, right?

    Jim
    Sunk New Dawn
    Galveston, TX

  5. Some years back, I read an article in one of the gun mags. I guy wanted a relatively light / low bulk carry piece for fishing in Alaska. If I remember correctly, he ended up with a 5-shot 454 Casull on a Ruger Redhawk frame with a 4″ barrel and round snubby-style grip. He said he fired it 5 times – all 5 went off and were roughly where he aimed. He put it away and never planned on firing again unless something was trying to eat him. Something like, “…being hit on the hand with a crowbar on a very cold day by someone who really didn’t like me…”

    I had a S&W 29 44 Mag for a few years then realized I was only shooting 44 Special out it. Traded for something I would actually use to its potential.

  6. When I was 16 I was 6ft tall and weighed 117 lb. (Yes, I was a hint spare.)

    A friend at the range let me shoot his .44 mag.

    I loaded the customary 5 rounds in it and took my stance at the firing line. Back then, summer of 1960, the accepted stance was holding the gun in your strong hand, weak hand braced in your pocket, and shoulders aligned with a line from you to the target.

    I fired.

    It didn’t quite put my on my fanny, but my “strong” arm was bent such that the gun was pointing over my other shoulder at the parking lot.

    I carefully put that monster down and let someone else have the remaining four rounds.

    Yeah, I’m a wimp.

  7. I shot a .44 magnum Ruger Blackhawk that a friend loaned me a few times, the last time I shot that .44 mag was about 50 years ago, we had been out hiking and came back close to dusk walking though a creek with a lot of leafy overhang and I saw a squirrel sitting real still on a log. I thought how cool wold it be to shoot a squirrel with a .44 magnum so I did. In that semi-closed in area, of course no ear protection, I was both blind and deaf for a bit and never did find the squirrel and then I decided if Dirty Harry shot a .44 magnum inside a small store it would have been the next day before he could hear an answer to, “Do you feel lucky today?”

    Good for all you all who like to shoot those big bore pistols but I like big stuff in rifles.

  8. When the S&W 500 came out, took one to the range and fired 5 rds: All two handed, all sgl-action, all on paper. Can’t say I looked forward to doing it again.

  9. I once owned a 10″ 30-30 Win Contender barrel. 130gr factory ammo hurt, 150gr hurt a lot. I was wandering up and down my club’s firing line looking for volunteers to shoot the 150s so I could use the brass. No one ever seemed to want a second shot. I made some reasonable loads with 110gr M1 Carbine bullets, and then finally had the ‘why am I bothering with this’ moment and sold it with no regrets.

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