Downside to whatever merits the .44 Special has is that there aren’t a whole lot of quality sidearms available for it — unless you buy a .44 Magnum sidearm to fire that round, in which case, what’s the point?
Charter arms still makes a .44 special, their guns are reliable and accurate and easy to carry concealed. I happen to have an old S&W with 2.5 inch barrel, a 3 inch Taurus, which is great BTW and a 3 inch .45 long colt which sucks for accuracy.
If more people purchased the .44 special then more firearms would be made for it. The .44 mag ruined the .44 special market and it shouldn't have.
You can load your m29 soft, as in featherweight recoil like a 45acp, or full house stuff for longer ranges. It’s a good thing.
Ruger’s “Lipsey’s (sp?) Special” gets my vote - Blackhawk w/4-5/8” barrel. Our Elmer Keith Memorial Pistol Shoot committee obtained 2; Hamilton and friends did a masterful job of converting it to the Keith No. 5 format for our raffle gun.
I purchased its sister (unmodified) to provide some seed money for next year’s event. A sweet shooter indeed...A candidate for John Taffin’s “perfect packin’ gun”, once I put some smooth-textured grips on it. The stouter loads tend to chew up the paws with the textured grips.
My only problem: Not enough time to shoot it, nor to reload for it.
I always used 44 specials in my 44 mag.
Asked why he carried such a heavy sidearm as the .44, the old cowboy answered, “Because they don’t make a .45.”