Favorite 44 mag for mountains and trail

[sisu]

From what we're reading you can hear everyone carries what they personally like the feel of and how it handles during shooting.

It's like my wife told me once, "Hey are you buying this or me?" Salesman looked her square in the eye and kept quite just like me. After she told him to get rid of the redwood grips & install the Pacmyers only then did he speak. "I love a woman that knows her guns." I'll never forget that. I was taught an important lesson by my wife, again!

[Gutpile]

I have a Ruger Redhawk with a 7 1/2" barrel which is too heavy for harder hunts. If you really get after it the weight becomes uncomfortable. If you don't really sinche up the belt it wants to fall so it's actually best to wear suspenders which I don't care for. There is such thing as too much weight only because of where that weight is located. For a normal or short hunt it's no biggy but for an all day hunt with a lot of miles I don't like it so I usually pach the .45. I've been considering a smith but will probably get a 5 1/2" blackhawk. Not too much weight difference but a little, plus with the shorter barrel it'll be a bit more compact. I love shooting the thing and it is accurate but I'm not sure I'd call it a trail gun.

[gasman]

I do know of a guy on another forum who is selling a Super Blackhawk fr $450.
Just an FYI if any one is interested 

[Huntbear]

Mike Walking, sorry to hear you could not get good groups out of your Redhawk.  Mine at 75 yds. will keep them all in a 4 in. circle off a log, rock, bench, whatever.  And I love the fact that the Ruger is just built to handle anything, including those whomper loads, that are oh so fun to shoot.

[ADAMS]

Unless there is a chance of meeting up with brown bears, I think a Ruger GP 100 with 4" barrel is quite sufficient.

If I might be meeting up with brown bears, I would go with the S&W Mountain Gun.  It's really nice.

[MikeWalking]

Mike Walking, sorry to hear you could not get good groups out of your Redhawk.  Mine at 75 yds. will keep them all in a 4 in. circle off a log, rock, bench, whatever.  And I love the fact that the Ruger is just built to handle anything, including those whomper loads, that are oh so fun to shoot.

  The GP 100 was horrible, single action from a good rest, all over the place. Friends had the same trouble with it.  Not to brag but I shot expert with a 1911 old enough to have shot Pirates, after growing up a shooter. So I don't think it was me, The RedHawk was a little better, it has been awhile. (my sp101 was great) But I wasn't to concerned about the RedHawk I bought it as a "Pillow Gun" for my Alaska trips, loaded with Buffalo Bore's 300gr cast loads it didn't need to shoot far. No doubt the Ruger is just about bombproof.

[Huntbear]

Unless there is a chance of meeting up with brown bears, I think a Ruger GP 100 with 4" barrel is quite sufficient.

If I might be meeting up with brown bears, I would go with the S&W Mountain Gun.  It's really nice.

I agree if all it was for was a trail gun.  However, I carry my Redhawk year around in the woods.  Scouting, shed hunting, camping, and hunting.  I like the familiarity of having the same gun on my hip all the time when I am in the woods.  You get used to shooting it, and know what it will do, and it will take a deer or elk or blackbear down legally & quickly if I am in close quarters, such as sneaking thru the reprod.

[ADAMS]

Huntbear, I was responding to the original poster.  If the Redhawk works for you, great.  Fine gun.  I have one but for me, with a 7-1/2" barrel, it's awful big and heavy to lug around as anything other than a primary hunting arm.

[mazama]

Having 2 44mags also 41 mag and a charterarms 44special that is what i pack for the trail,i would pick for a pack gun a Tarus Titanum 41mag that is magnuported.

[MikeWalking]

I bought a Taurus 608 8 shot .357 years back. It had a ported 4in bbl.

It will be the last $%#^$&!! ported handgun I will ever own!! The only exception would be a gun for Range shooting only! Ya'know where you wear 2 layers of hearing protection.

I bought it as a trail gun. The first time I took it out was way back when you could shoot in that gravel pit past Kens Truck Town in North Bend. I figured since I bought it as a trail gun I would not get the chance to put in ear plugs before shooting. Soooo I fired 2 quick shots....plunging an Ice Pick in both ears might have hurt less. I reached up to my ears half expecting to feel fluid flowing out....after settling down a bit I fired the next 6. Put in ear plugs and shot up a box and jumped back on the bike and peddled back into town. I couldn't hear traffic passing and my ears were still ringing a bit an hour later.

[Mike Bravo]

Unless there is a chance of meeting up with brown bears, I think a Ruger GP 100 with 4" barrel is quite sufficient.

If I might be meeting up with brown bears, I would go with the S&W Mountain Gun.  It's really nice.

Maybe I was thinking too big.  Most everything I have read when you mention black bear is that, a 357 mag not enough, and you need at a 44 mag.  I guess this changes the post:  If a 4 " 357 is enough to stop a black bear, I would carry the smaller round.

Is a 4" 357 mag enough to put down a black bear ?

[ADAMS]

"Is a 4" 357 mag enough to put down a black bear?"

Yes and remember that Blacks have a different disposition than Browns in terms of territorial aggressiveness.  I'd be far more concerned about two legged predators than Blacks if I were you.

Double Tap chrono's their loads out of actual firearms as opposed to vented test barrels.  

125 grain load out of a 4" GP100 @ 1,600fps

180 grain load out of a 4" GP 100 @ 1,300fps

200 grain load out of a 4" GP100 @ 1,200fps

The latter two are harcdast loads with very high sectional density and penetration.

Buffalo Bore has impressive loads as well including a 158 grain load out of a 4" S&W @ 1,485fps.

[.Forty_One]

I settled on a .41 Taurus Tracker, 4", stainless model for my trail gun. The reasons, without being able to try many others' pistols in this class revolved around grip design and size.
I'd have bought a Ruger or S&W first, but both companies only offer .41 or .44 in large framed guns with archaic grip designs with the steel frame against your palm. Among the few high powered revolvers I'd fired before buying mine were Ruger and Dan Wesson .44's. Even being larger the grips hurt my hand, and in one case a rubber grip had an extension covering the back of the trigger guard that ripped skin off my index finger.
The Taurus shoots as well for me as either of those, the grip works awesome, and the gun is smaller and lighter. In fact, I wish I'd bought a .44. As for the porting creating noise, with ear protection I haven't noticed. Have never shot the pistol without protection.
I'd consider the difference in price between a Taurus and an American made model just enough to make up for the possibility of needing to correct something wrong with the gun. Mine, irritatingly, needed to have its cylinder removed and lubricated to prevent binding when new, and developed a burr in its firing pin hole that was causing fail to fire problems after extensive dry firing. So don't dry fire Taurus revolvers...

[high country]

the main reason I will not allow porting on a defense gun is the flash. you look at the front sight, the ports vent the flash twards the front sight.......bad deal on follow up shotsin low light.

my pard just aquired a 44mag ti taraus. it is a tad heavier then the 329, surely has more mass. the grips are 10x more comfy to shoot then those that come with the 329. accuracy was good. I am not a fan of needing two hands to bust open the cyl. overall I could recomend it for a lightweight highpower trail gun.

[MikeWalking]

Yes and remember that Blacks have a different disposition than Browns in terms of territorial aggressiveness.  I'd be far more concerned about two legged predators than Blacks if I were you.

Good point.  Still out of 14 up close meetings with a near equal mix of the two the only charge came from a Black bear. But he split PFQ when he finally saw me.

All this has me itching to go gun shopping Damn Gun Genie ain't working worth spit