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WOW!

You are one special packette! What a totally right decision. I was having trouble resigning myself to your being one more .357-armed dreamer out in the muttly-devouring woods, thinking she was effectively armed because it go boom, and has "Magnum" printed on it.

Now, up until the .44Mag, it WAS the most powerful handgun around...but...no longer a first choice, especially when things bite and claw...and eat.

Squantos has been "testing" (trying to blow up) his beloved 329PD, and if he "can't" do it, neither will you. In a LIFE-threatening situation, you will have all the strength you need to force that muzzle down again and will that bullet right where you want it to go. Try to practice outside as much as possible, and not near any reflecting walls, cars, etc., so the deep sound doesn't come back at you. It will not in the field, and you won't care then anyway. People have fired magnum rifles until empty -- under stress -- and reported that they didn't even hear it go off. I use ear plugs AND muffs, so practice is easy for me. It's like hearing through a pillow. Shoot all day. I always crank a few without hearing protection, even glasses, just to stay in touch with the reality, for later. Don't want to go thinking one NEEDS protection from the horrible cannon.

When you see how well it performs, close up, and at VERY long range, and how versatile in loading it can be....it's love. It really is. This thing is a trriumph of design and manufacture...and all fitted to the human operator...ergonomic....and allows you to perform literally super-human work. In earlier times, one of these would have ruled the world....with enough ammo! Consider a truly survival scenario. Folks with 9mms will have to get mighty close to their opponents in order to do them much supressive harm. The individual with a good .44 magnum could punch a hole in their car at 500 yards...5 football fields. Cozy. Muttly like.

A 4" barrel holds things down well too, and pushes the activity farther away from you. A 6" is a joy. Laser-grips are available, and a lot of useful practice fun...and just great in the dark of night, when Yogi likes to visit, and have his own way.

CCI makes SHOT cartridges, which you will want to load in there first, perhaps second too. They trample rattlesnakes extremely well, and are a lot of fun to shoot. I shot a quail with a 2".38 with CCIs. It was injured so I had to...and it worked. The .44 and .45Colt versions could actually hunt small game for the camp, if one had to, in order to eat. It is great for rodent control too, as there are no bullets flying around. A friend used one from his 6" SAA a couple of months ago in his cabin, when a bat flew into the side of his head while he was reading late at night. He felt sorry and stupid afterward, but it frightened him half to death, and he didn't hesitate to unleash the tiny birdshot in the direction of his walls, and vehicles outside. A Speedloader can be used for rather sudden reloading. I'll try to find the link to Jerry Michulek's record-breaking use of a S&W revolver for you. Once you see it, you will "know." Like a machinegun, reload, do it again. Amazing.

You will find, as I do, that the .44 Specials around today have quite ample power for everything up to the biggest and toughest, and a real pleasure to use. A very weak version of it was the actual cartridge which "won the west," the .44 Russian. Buffalo Bill used one. The list goes on. The .44 Henry lever action rifle had a 200gr. bullet @1000 fps. Your Specials do that easily, and even with jacketed bullets. It is a famous "manstopper," so you are properly covered for personal defense against criminal attack, and not just carrying "too much gun." It is exactly the RIGHT gun...just load it intelligently, and you can rely on it more than virtually anything else. It is a hand-rifle too...no problem hitting hard at 300 yards. Quite amazing.

Elmer Kieth, its inventor, shot an elk freehand at over 500 yards with a 4" 29. He dropped it, too, with a witness.

Now, you will get nothing like a broken arm. It rises up, not really back much. You'll get used to it. By the time it rises, the bullet is well clear of the gun, and on its way to where you sent it. If the gun does prove too light though...Muttly SOP is to hang a flashlight under the barrel...something Muttlys always want to do with everything, anyway. Night is the worst, and I would rather see my target well before the first shot than by the flash of the first shot, if there is a choice. Do NOT (regardless of what the salesman says) get a "Ported muzzle." It DOES keep the barrel down, but does so by sending flames, hot gasses, perhaps lead, burning granules of powder, and lots of noise up at you...where your face lives, if you find yourself shooting from the hip, as one may under mortal pressure. You will learn the Bill Jordan "speed rock" method of waist-level defensive fire. It is great. Anyway, you will never want to give up your 329. It's a real triumph.

Me feel better now.

Well yer gonna hate me for this Dr Muttly..... I had the 329PD magnaported after I saw a recent gun rag article that said it took the bite out of the critter....

Well it did indeed. With 240gr factory Hornaday fodder it shoots like a 357 magnum and is very easy to plink with and you'll grin and wet yer diaper when ya shoot 44 specials in it....almost light 38 special wadcutter like in recoil using the 200 gr GDHP's from CCI Blazer. I have found my perfect carry rig I think for woods and wheeling and the day the old 1911A1 gets too heavy for urban excusrions to the gedunk'n go trips at Oh dark thirty.....

The dual magnaport vents work so well that I had to look at the ammo again to make sure I hadn't loaded it with light 44 special target loads...... Awesome modification for a 44 mag.

And it isn't like a brake that is LOUD...ER it is just a recoil reducer and blast / noise remains normal for a 44 mag.....

I am gonna have to play with it at night to ensure I don;t get the flashbulb blinding that some ported handguns and ammo has. I may have to work up a load that has zero flash and that is a perfectly possible thing as I have done it for my 357SIG calibers of my comped glock and it works well, allowing one to maintain their nightvision during a dark event......