Posted on 11/09/2014 12:33:59 PM PST by lbryce
Garretts heavy .44 Magnum load proved exceptionally effective, going through-and-through breaking both shoulders of the pronghorn.
Sometimes what we hunt with is almost as important (and often more interesting) than what we hunt. You wont see a trophy buck antelope in the unit, Sam. Thats what Tracy told me. As a full-time professional government hunter he should know. After all, he lives day by day in the region. But undying optimism had me looking for that big boy anyway. I wont say how many bucks I ended up studying under 12X magnification. Might sound a bit unbelievable. But of course Tracy was right. I saw not one special buck. No rain. No new food. No horns. Since I live where a short walk from my front door puts me in antelope country, Ive taken the prince of the plains with bow & arrow, muzzleloader, the iron-sighted .30-30 clan, right up to my custom McGowen (Montana) sizzling .240 Gibbs with an 80-gr. bullet pushing four grand. But never a handgun.
It was time to change that. Know thyself has always been good advice, whether from Shakespeare or a pundit preaching around the back-room gun store cracker barrel. And I know me. I have some fine six-guns and semi-autos. But I end up packing only the least weighty when on foot in the game field. For pronghorns, I would employ a handful of potency in a light package. The Smith &Wesson Model 329 PD .44 Magnum Scandium. Easy on the hip at 25.5 ounces unloaded, the Scandium is heavy on smack-down.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanhandgunner.com ...
“What are the advantages, if any, of a .44 rifle over, say a 30/30? Ive never been able to figure that out.”
If you have a .44 handgun, interchangable cartridges.
If you are using a tubular magazine, a .44 will generally hold more cartridges.
The .30-30 is flatter shooting, though, by quite a bit.
Have no idea if they shoot, but it could be a fun rifle.
Why not just get a long barrel Desert Eagle? They come in .44 Mag...
Because it's been done before?
I’ve heard it has hellish recoil.
I’ve got a fancy Pedersoli Sharps... very comfy to shoot with lighter loads.
‘bout had a coronary when I bought good sights (Montana Vintage Arms) sights for it... cost half what the gun did.
329PD ping
Same could be said about many of the finer things in life. I'm all for innovation and new ideas, but reinventing the wheel isn't innovation.
Love my 460’s for chipmunk and squirrel work! But it tends to take the tree as well! ;-)
I bet it could. Increasingly I ask myself, "why?". Still, I like the idea of the .45-70.
For just bigbore plinking, the Winchester Cowboy load is very soft. 405 grain flat nose lead at 1200 fps.
I like the idea because if you size the thing up, it “looks” like it could be a 3 shot hunting rig along the lines of the Contender. The Contender in turn reminds one of the black powder Howdah pistols.
In my minds eye, these are true hunting pistols, that Eagle ain’t. My opinion, YMMV.
Love mine as well.
My favorite Pistol.
When I purchased my 329PD my first call was to a SW Tech rep named Whitehouse . He told me to stay below a 240gr commercial load pressure. I have since learned that garrets defenders are big and slooooooow......yet heavy 310gr hardcasts drive deep in the critter.
Hammerheads in my 45-70 and defenders in my 329PD.
Garrett of TEXAS !!!.....:o)
That sounds like a great round.
Scares the crap out me to trust the lightweight 329 to such but seems to emulate 45 colt hard casts from my 625 SW Hunter...... ballistically.
About 200 rounds of this load thus far thru the 329PD an took it to the NDE guys at work.....no cracks or stress detected. Im a fan of the 329PD for carry where yogi and hello kitty dwell....like your back 40....:o)
I think a 210 grain JHP over about 8.5 grains of Bullseye would be a pretty good man stopper if one were inclined to carry a 329. I load that for Mrs. L for her 629. Shoots well out of that gun, very controllable, and not bad muzzle energy numbers. Don’t have the manual right in front of me, though. But IIRC it pushes that pill right around 1100 fps or so.
Forgot to ask. What’s the velocity on that one?
There was a traffic jam on 217 near Juan Tomas today... cars stopped in both directions to let about 15 turkeys take their time crossing the road.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.