The Magnum (an intimidating term)

[Doug.38PR]

I purchased a S&W 629-4 8" barrel from a guy that had only shot 8 rounds through it. It is a beautiful gun but I was apprehensive about shooting it at first as I had never fired a .44 magnum before. I loaded only one round in the chambers and was surprised that it was not that much to handle although the 629 with an 8" barrel is a pretty big gun and relatively easy to control. I have let others shoot it as well and with the big guns I only load one round just to make sure they can handle it and not kill themselves.

I own a Ruger New Model Super Blackhawk in .44 Magnum with a 10 inch barrel. I've loaded from everything from light minimum handloads to super hot handloads. With that long barrel, I can shoot it with one hand with the wooden hogleg grips. It jumps, sure, but if you get used to it you learn to go with the recoil

[Doug.38PR]

Way back in the good old days (like 1987), I was issued a Model 65 S&W in .357 magnum for a duty weapon. I thought it was a very good weapon, almost as good as a 1911. I liked the semi's, but a revolver worked very well for patrol. I thought the Model 19 or 66 with a 4" barrel was the best patrol revolver, until the GP-100 came along.

Then the gangs started getting attention for carrying automatic weapons and the police were all of a sudden outgunned, according to the media. When Bill Gibson (then Chief of Police for San Antonio) was asked about why we stuck with revolvers, his answer was that we were not outgunned. We had training and skill and even had practiced our tactics and the gang members did not. This gave us advantages over the gangs that would not be able to beat.

A little after that, around 92, the federal Dept. of Justice came along and complained that SAPD had 4 million dollars in the asset seizure fund that had to be used for police equipment and we had not been spending it. They were going to take it back if we did not use it. All of a sudden, we really were outgunned and had to have a modern weapon. We ended up with Glock 22s in .40S&W. There were five different guns in the competition (Glock, a Sig, S&W, and I cannot remember the other two) but Glock had the winning bid (a separate story in itself). I still think the Glock 22 Gen 1 was a step down from the revolvers we had though the Gen 3 is a better weapon.

LOL! Wow. That's politics for ya.
If a street gang shooting at me with an automatic weapon (MP5, Uzi, AK), I don't want ANY kind of handgun, I want an AR-15 or a shotgun and about 10 more guys to back me up with Tommy Guns

[Doug.38PR]

Boy, that sure does bring back the memories. Thanks!

Back in the mid 60's, and I think it was the summer between my junior & senior year of high school, I had a Ruger Blackhawk in .41 magnum. I honestly don't remember how I came to acquire it, but knowing me I probably got it a pawn shop. IIRC, I paid like $80 or $90 for it. Since we had moved back to Ft.Worth after selling our ranch up in Clay County, I didn't have many places I could think of to shoot it. So I drove up to Denton where I was going to high school at the time. They had a 125 acres just west of Denton on hwy. 380. It was during the Christmas break and nobody was at the school. I drove up there with 2 things in mind. One to feed my horse(when we moved off the ranch, I wanted to bring it with me, and as as it happened, the school was more than glad to let me keep it there. I miss you Pancho).

Secondly was to try out my brand spanking new(used) Ruger Blackhawk in .41 magnum. Back then, Selwyn was REALLY out in the country. About 1 mi. west of I-35. I walked down into the pasture and after feeding my horse, drug out the Blackhawk. I wanted to shoot it for the first time, and as kids go, I needed a target. Welllllll.....the only target I could find was an old car bumper wayyyyy out at the back of the school property. I thought that that would make a nifty target, so I made my preparations. I loaded the thing, thought about the probability of ricochet, decided it was safe, and bore down on it. Now I knew that a glancing ricochet might not be too wise as it could go a far distance and possibly do some damage. So I tried to get a shot placement that was as close to dead on, with no angle(of deflection) as I could so the bullet would simply just bounce back. I wound up in a sitting position(as prescribed by the Army field manual for the 4 positions of firing a gun), leveled down on the bumper, minimized my angle of deflection, and fired off a round. Mind you that was my FIRST time I shot ANY kind of magnum center fire pistol cartridge.

Well! It kicked like a mule, so much so the single action slid back into my hand, and the only thing stopping it was the web of my hand! I then fired the second shot....same thing. It kicked back into the web of my hand. My 1911 didn't do that....why did this one? On the 3rd shot I figured out the taper of the grip was to much for me to get a firm grip. Remember I was only 17 years old. I wasn't strong enough. The 1911 I mastered, but not this hand cannon.

I quickly realized that I didn't like the gun AT ALL! But I gutted it out and managed to get through 12 rounds before giving up. I STILL didn't like it. I gave up. I brought it home and wound up selling it for like $95 a few months later.

As far as the bumper goes, the round sure did put a strong dent in it, but never penetrated it(I was curious about that as well). And my biggest disappointment was I never found a 'bounced back bullet'. IIRC I was shooting a flat nosed lead round that was jacketed in copper. Sorry but I don't know what you call it.

Apologies for being so long winded(& hijacking the thread), but I wanted to tell at least one story. I have so many like that.

HAHA! Wow. Same thing happened to me when I first fired a Buffalo Bore 180 gr .357 Magnum round in a 4 inch Ruger Security Six some years back. The gun had regular wood service grips, I fired, and the kick was so hard that the grips slid down my hands and the hammer cut into the webbing of my hand and drew blood. (if you've never tried Buffalo Bore ammo, you should get a box of whatever gun you shoot, just for the experience if nothing else. You get what you pay for)

The .41 Magnum never really had a round that easy on the hand for practice (like the .38 or .44 specials were to the other magnum guns) . Another thing is intermediary rounds (.41 Magnum, 10mm, 40 S&W, .357 Sig) never really seem to go anywhere in the long run. The .40 S&W has done quite well over the past 15 or 20 years, but even that has started to retract somewhat with a lot of LEOs going back to the 9mm given the improvements on the round over the last decade or so.

[The Annoyed Man]

I own two revolvers in .357 and one in .44 magnum. I love my .44 - a 5" Model 29 Classic with the full length underlug. For general personal defense, the .357s are better than the .44. But if I had to pick just one of the three, I'd keep the .44. It is big and rugged, and at 44.3 oz, it far outweighs either of my .357s....in fact it weighs more than both of my .357s together (36.3 oz combined).....and it will shoot .44 special which is a versatile cartridge. .44 special can be loaded down for a soft, easy to shoot target load having negligible recoil, or it can be easily loaded up to approximate .45 ACP ballistics. OR, it can shoot a broad array of .44 magnum offerings, making suitable for hunting fairly large game. There are more powerful handguns, but it's still an awesome gun. It's not the best choice for EDC, but its versatility makes it the all around better choice. And it's quite accurate too.

Here's a picture of it:

[Dadtodabone]

Magnum wasn't intimidating! Always smiling , cruising around in Ferrari, living in Hawaii, teaching folks how to swim. And he carried a 9mm.
http://www.nramuseum.com/the-museum/the ... -colt.aspx



Oh! Not Magnum P.I.? Never mind.

Where do you think they got the idea for his name?

Champagne bottle?

I don't think so.
Funny, but I was thinking of Champagne during my previous post.
I used to work in a winery that made California sparkling wine [we couldn't legally call it Champagne].
Have you ever heard of a Jeroboam?

Gallon bottle and the biblical king that inspired its name. We poured 12 jerys of Mumm rouge at my daughter's wedding.
Which vinter? Methode Champanoise/Traditionalle ? I have always been fascinated with sparkling wine production.

[puma guy]

Boy, that sure does bring back the memories. Thanks!

Back in the mid 60's, and I think it was the summer between my junior & senior year of high school, I had a Ruger Blackhawk in .41 magnum. I honestly don't remember how I came to acquire it, but knowing me I probably got it a pawn shop. IIRC, I paid like $80 or $90 for it. Since we had moved back to Ft.Worth after selling our ranch up in Clay County, I didn't have many places I could think of to shoot it. So I drove up to Denton where I was going to high school at the time. They had a 125 acres just west of Denton on hwy. 380. It was during the Christmas break and nobody was at the school. I drove up there with 2 things in mind. One to feed my horse(when we moved off the ranch, I wanted to bring it with me, and as as it happened, the school was more than glad to let me keep it there. I miss you Pancho).

Secondly was to try out my brand spanking new(used) Ruger Blackhawk in .41 magnum. Back then, Selwyn was REALLY out in the country. About 1 mi. west of I-35. I walked down into the pasture and after feeding my horse, drug out the Blackhawk. I wanted to shoot it for the first time, and as kids go, I needed a target. Welllllll.....the only target I could find was an old car bumper wayyyyy out at the back of the school property. I thought that that would make a nifty target, so I made my preparations. I loaded the thing, thought about the probability of ricochet, decided it was safe, and bore down on it. Now I knew that a glancing ricochet might not be too wise as it could go a far distance and possibly do some damage. So I tried to get a shot placement that was as close to dead on, with no angle(of deflection) as I could so the bullet would simply just bounce back. I wound up in a sitting position(as prescribed by the Army field manual for the 4 positions of firing a gun), leveled down on the bumper, minimized my angle of deflection, and fired off a round. Mind you that was my FIRST time I shot ANY kind of magnum center fire pistol cartridge.

Well! It kicked like a mule, so much so the single action slid back into my hand, and the only thing stopping it was the web of my hand! I then fired the second shot....same thing. It kicked back into the web of my hand. My 1911 didn't do that....why did this one? On the 3rd shot I figured out the taper of the grip was to much for me to get a firm grip. Remember I was only 17 years old. I wasn't strong enough. The 1911 I mastered, but not this hand cannon.

I quickly realized that I didn't like the gun AT ALL! But I gutted it out and managed to get through 12 rounds before giving up. I STILL didn't like it. I gave up. I brought it home and wound up selling it for like $95 a few months later.

As far as the bumper goes, the round sure did put a strong dent in it, but never penetrated it(I was curious about that as well). And my biggest disappointment was I never found a 'bounced back bullet'. IIRC I was shooting a flat nosed lead round that was jacketed in copper. Sorry but I don't know what you call it.

Apologies for being so long winded(& hijacking the thread), but I wanted to tell at least one story. I have so many like that.

Good story Joe, it reminded me of all the Model 29 Smith and Wessons that you'd see in pawn shops along with a box of ammo with just a few rounds missing! Until Dirty Harry came out and all of a sudden the noise and recoil became tolerable and cool to own one , or at least you'd think so by how they were being purchased. I do see quite a few Model 29's in good shape which tells me they didn't get much range time. BTW I had a Ruger Super Blackhawk and my brother had a .41 Mag Blackhawk 4-5/8" around the same time as you. His was stolen but I still have mine. We reloaded both so we could tame them down a bit. I didn't like shooting .44 Spcl because it was only available in lead bullets.

[srothstein]

Steve, wasn't San Antonio PD the only agency to adopt the .41 Magnum as the "official" sidearm? I think it was either a Smith Model 57 or 58 back in the early 70's.

Chas.

I don't know if they were the only agency, but they did have the .41 as their official caliber back then. A lot of the older officers thought dropping to the .357 was a bad move, and some claimed it was so women could handle the weapon. Their claim was that the L frames were too large for the average female hands. The actual move was before my time, but their stories were repeated when the debate over the new pistol came up. Only time I had ever heard the .357 called a "woman's gun".

[Doug.38PR]

Steve, wasn't San Antonio PD the only agency to adopt the .41 Magnum as the "official" sidearm? I think it was either a Smith Model 57 or 58 back in the early 70's.

Chas.

I don't know if they were the only agency, but they did have the .41 as their official caliber back then. A lot of the older officers thought dropping to the .357 was a bad move, and some claimed it was so women could handle the weapon. Their claim was that the L frames were too large for the average female hands. The actual move was before my time, but their stories were repeated when the debate over the new pistol came up. Only time I had ever heard the .357 called a "woman's gun".

Ha! I'm not 100% certain, but I've heard that the LAPD back in the 50s and 60s issued .32 long colt revolvers to their police women due to lighter recoil and the policemen carried .38 special snubs and service guns

[WTR]

I was given an old Police Positive in .32 S&W long. I was told by the elderly range officer that it had been a Detective's piece.

[stroo]

A bunch of guys from our church go out shooting each fall with a shotgun range, 22 range and pistol range. We always have a bowling pin competition where you shoot off against another guy. You each have five bowling pins to knock down with one reload although you can only have as many bullets as the guy with the smallest magazine. I usually use my Model 29. I have often ended up second beating a number of guys with automatics. That is mainly because it isn't really about how fast you can shoot, but how fast you can shoot accurately plus how well you gun knocks the pins down. The 44 magnum always knocks down the pins it hits; 9 mms and even 45s not as much!

Often I get beat by another guy with a revolver btw. Seems like if you get used to shooting fewer rounds, you also get used to making sure each round counts.

[Doug.38PR]

Often I get beat by another guy with a revolver btw. Seems like if you get used to shooting fewer rounds, you also get used to making sure each round counts.

Novel idea! Guess some folks need to watch less Die Hard and matrix and more learning how to shoot

[JustSomeOldGuy]

Magnum wasn't intimidating! Always smiling , cruising around in Ferrari, living in Hawaii, teaching folks how to swim. And he carried a 9mm.

{off-topic & necroposter alert!}

Didn't sound like a 9mm. Looked and sounded like a GI .45acp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWLjzosQk8M

However, my memory has been known to err on details from two decades ago.....

[bulletslap]

I believe the Amarillo Texas PD also used the .41 S&W Magnum.

[The Annoyed Man]

I believe the Amarillo Texas PD also used the .41 S&W Magnum.

Am I nuts, or am I remembering correctly that when Elmer Keith first developed the .41 magnum with Bill Jordan, they had it in mind for the Border Patrol to use?

I do love my Model 29, but if I carried it for self defense, I'd probably load it with hot .44 Specials, and save the magnum loads for hunting.......or for firing an arty mission into a called in grid square.......

[bulletslap]

That I do not recall.

A 4 inch model 29 with standard 44 mag ammo was about as much as I could handle shooting DA.

My old 5 1/2 Redhawks is not too bad.