seeking opinions on .44 special for self defense

[karder]

I am looking for a temporary bedside gun for my wife. She has learned how to shoot and has been going to the range with me for about 2 years. I was originally intending for her to use one of my pistols as her main home defense gun, but after 2 years, she still struggles with the mechanics of operating the guns. Her accuracy is quite good, and she is not terribly recoil sensitive, but she is just not as comfortable with the actual mechanics of working the slide, loading the magazines, decocking and so on as she should be. Her skill set is more toward the intellectual side than the mechanical side in general.

I had a serious conversation with her after some struggles at the range this weekend and she told me that she does not think she could competently handle her pistol under stress. Her words "I think I would forget everything". Now think I need to get her into a revolver. She shoots well, I just want to simplify operation. It is my plan to buy her a .357 in the very near future. I can load it with .38 if she does not like the recoil.

In the short term, I am replacing her bedside pistol with my S&W 629. She has only dry fired it, but we are going to the range tomorrow. I think that full power .44 magnum is going to be too much for her, so I plan to load .44 special. It is only for inside the house so over penetration is not a problem. Has anyone shot .44 special? Is it much easier to handle than .44 magnum? From some very limited research, it looks like I could get .44 special loads that will be close to .45 ACP in velocity with a bit of a heavier bullet. I have ordered some ammo, but I still need to shoot it. Am I barking up the wrong tree or should I just go get the .357 and stop fooling around?

I do have an LCR, but I gave it to my sister who is a single mom and lives in a kind of rough part of town, so that is out of the loop for now.

Thanks in advance.

[BobCat]

.44 Special is much tamer than .44 Magnum - noise, recoil, and flash - so I think you are distinctly on the right track. Similar bullet weight and velocity to .45 ACP - she will not be "under-gunned" with a .44 Special.

[WildBill]

.44 Special is much tamer than .44 Magnum - noise, recoil, and flash - so I think you are distinctly on the right track. Similar bullet weight and velocity to .45 ACP - she will not be "under-gunned" with a .44 Special.

Tame - That is exactly the word I was going to use. The S&W 629 is such a big and heavy gun, I don't think the recoil will be that bad. Obviously a lot less that with one of those alloy frame .357 MAGs.

[Chemist45]

IMHO .44 special is the most under rated cartridge ever. Lots of knock down power and mild recoil; what's not to love?
A good friend of mine carries a .44 special for his daily carry and does not feel undergunned at all.
I have shot .44 special out of a Redhawk and the recoil was quite mild.
Your S&W 629 is big enough to handle the magnum rounds and, to me, the specials feel like shooting a .22.

I think this is a great choice for your wife.

And good for you for listening to her when she told you she didn't think she could handle a semiauto in a stress situation.
She should know.

[ddurkof]

I had a S&W Model 29 with a 6.5 inch barrel back in the 1970s. I frequently shot .44 special special rounds. They were controllable and accurate. I won a number of bets shooting at targets at 100+ yards away. It was a wonderful gun and I still can't remember what psychiatric disease that caused me to sell that gun, or the Model 57, Browning HP, or Colt Series 70 or ......

[gigag04]

Autoloading 20ga IMO.

[MoJo]

What gigag said

.44 Special is an awesome cartridge especially in a large frame revolver. Federal, Winchester, Speer, Blazer, and CorBon all make hollow point ammo for 44 special.

[karder]

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate getting the opinions of you guys with experience with this caliber and your comments have made me comfortable trying the .44 special out for HD. As far as the 20 gauge suggestion, I already have a 12 gauge which she has tried and does not like. A 20 gauge is probably better choice and I also prefer shotguns for HD. I am hoping that I can find a weapons system that will work for her and make her comfortable enough to get her chl. Obviously my 629 with the 6.5 barrel is not it, but if the revolver platform works better for her, we can go from there. Many thanks!