The Widow's Web

Yes, that network functions. Recently, the Chief RSO in my gun club died after a long battle with cancer. He was a USMC veteran, a no-nonsense kind of guy.

This past week, the word got out that in transitioning to a life without her husband, his widow had run into some financial difficulties.

The new Chief RSO then put out a call for the club to buy all the guns belonging to the late CRSO. They are mostly gone now, and the widow is well again. These guns were NOT given away, but a worthy cause is just that, and must be supported. My wife understood that, and my project THIS WEEK is to write her a list of everything in my safe and what she should sell it for.

My contribution to this was to purchase a LARGE CALIBER revolver. It is such a monster, I am still trying to get my mind around shooting it with full-house ammo, because it is a "guide" model with a short 4" barrel, and I expect it will BARK as well as BITE. I think I will start with .44 Specials (thx for the clue, EllTee).

Of course, in my world, weapons exist for battle, and handguns are NOT proper battle weapons, no matter the caliber. "A handgun is carried so you can shoot your way to your LONG gun and finish the gunfight on YOUR terms." One forgets THAT little ditty at one's peril.

Long-time readers will know that I like to pair a handgun and a carbine of the same caliber. I have 4 such pairings (.357, 9mm, .40S&W and .45ACP) and this will be the fifth in my collection.

How about a little help here, readers? If you had this short-nose hogleg, what carbine would YOU pair it with?

Comments

[og]

Marlin 44 mag levergun (1894).

I have a 336 I rebarreled from 30-30 wcf to 44 mag. I like it just fine. They don't make them anymore, though. The 94, on the other hand, is commonly available, and I can attest to the fine manufacture of the Marlin arms.

[Kirby D Brouillard]

Go here this is what you want.

http://www.marlinfirearms.com/Firearms/1894Centerfire/1894.aspx

Stay away from Winchester, it has top ejection which requires any scope to be mounted on the side of the receiver. That ruins any value when you drill holes for the mount. Also, Marlin has always been more durable, but Winchester had better marketing strategy. Marlin is already tapped on top of the receiver so you can mount something like a scope or better yet an aimpoint for rapid target acquisition under different lighting conditions. Also, get your reloading manual out and look up the 44 special loads. With the 4 inch barrel and 44 mag you will just have a lot of powder burning outside the barrel with a flash which doesn't do anything but blind you at night and give away your position, etc. Once you starting shooting some home grown 44 special loads the 4 inch may become your favorite. Years ago, a gentleman brought in a Smith Model 29 six inch barrel into the shop and wanted it sighted in. He had some handloads, normally we would not shoot someone's handloads, but Harold knew his qualifications and said go ahead. I had it on paper and centered with the second 3 rounds. I then was having so much fun, shot up the rest of the box, when I realized what I had done and felt pretty embarrassed. I told the guy I what happened, I found the round so much fun to shoot I couldn't help myself. I offered to buy him a box of shells. He laughed and said forget it and we ended up having a great talk about reloading. I have long ago lost the info on the load, but should I revert to 44 special (and will again) will start low and work up. Now another story on why the 44mag doesn't do it for me. I traded for a Smith Model 29 in stainless and 6 inch barrel, a lovely thing. I just happened to be working the range that week and also had a large quantity of full load 44 mag ammo on hand. I had the 44 mag ammo on hand for a couple of our fellow deputies who packed 44 mags at the time, but always showed up with 38 for qualification. I was going to make them shoot the 44 mag, since that was what they carried, which I did and they elected to start carrying model 66's with 38+P ammo. Back to my adventure into shooting the 44 mag. Since I was about to make other deputies shoot the course I figured I would shoot it first before the next wave arrived, so I would know what the score was. The 29 had standard wood grips, I hadn't had time to get some rubber grips. So with timer running started the 18 round portion at 25 yards. First six kneeling, right hand side barricade. Holy crap, then 6 over the barricade, immediately mind was saying this is not fun, 6 rounds weak hand left side barricade, mind saying this is stupid. Progressing to the running to next yard marker for six rounds rapid fire with six round reload rapid fire. Found it was necessary to use lots of muscle power to get back on target with each of the howitzer shots. Then the next two stages of 10 rounds rapid fire with even shorter time limits. Thinking, this is not the stupidest thing I have ever done, but crawling rapidly up towards first place. Now it was time to score the target, I usually shot 96 to 100, this 44 mag target looked like someone had been firing at it with a shotgun. Fired a qualifying score, barely. I noted my right hand was starting to get some feeling back into it and noticed the area from my thumb to forefinger was purple with blood under the skin, skin not broken but one ugly looking sight. A couple days later could hardly move my neck and shoulders, realized it was a reaction of having to fight the 44 mag on target after each shot to make the time limits. So go buy a 50 rounds of full load 44 mag and try shooting our old course with time limits. Then report to me in three days, I know you will just have to try it. Sort of like peeing on the electric fence. Ha.

"Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about."

EDITOR'S NOTE: The EllTee speaks, I listen, but I think I'll politely decline the idea of shooting the Tactical Revolver Course with the snort-nose 44 and tactical ammo. I have also declined other suicidal ideas in my time, such as mountain-biking across logs over gorges, etc.

Also, after I wrote that post, I did more research, and find I like the Puma Model 92, which comes in a stainless steel version, as well as a full rifle length version which will load 12 rounds of .44 Mag in it's tube magazine (or at least 13 44 Special). It is priced about the same as the Marlin, and about 95% as well made. There are several on Gunbroker.com, so when I assemble my finances, I know what to bid on.

[Gerry N.]

Big5 sports has the Marlin lever action in .30-30, .357 Magnum, and .44 magnum on sale this week. Call your local store and see what they've got.

[Homer]

Always been fond of the .44 mag, but rarely fire too much of it. Way back when, my 629 claimed a pair of Virginia whitetails in the thick Tidewater woods where 70 yards was a long shot. Lately I've been using a 329 for company on RSO days; we have a few pigs who roam the property from time to time, and the low weight of the 329 makes it easily bearable for 10 hours. I figure that should the dire need arise I won't have to touch off more than a couple, and I can tolerate that. The load, BTW, is a hard cast 250 grain Keith semi-wadcutter over enough 2400 to exit at 1K. Not as brutal as some loads, but in a 26 ounce revolver it's an attention-getter at both ends.

I'd vote for the Marlin 1894 as well, equipped with a set of Jim West's excellent ghost ring sights (http://www.wildwestguns.com/), and for extra mileage, get a tritium front sight. Tooltech (http://www.tooltechgunsight.com/) does custom tritium insert installs on front sight blades. As an FYI, given full power .44 mag loads, IIRC, my 1894's 5" dia. point blank range comes out to 190 yards with a 165 yard zero, which is pretty respectable range for a revolver cartridge. Reload speed is slow, but 11 rounds of well-placed .44 mag isn't to be trifled with. I was once asked if I'd prefer a 30-round AR or AK variant, and offered that 11 .429" holes administered at about 100-125 yards would probably be enough to deal with all but the largest of mobs, and that 1894s were cheap enough that I could buy 3 of 'em for the price of one tricked-out AR, with 33 rounds among them. It ain't how many you fire, it's how many you hit with, and generally the bystanders don't get as excited with a cowboy rifle slung on your shoulder as they would with an EBR.

One thing I've noticed, or, rather, lamented, is the dearth of decent .44 Special loads. A decent hard cast 240 grain semi-wadcutter at about 850 fps would make an excellent defense load, pretty close in energy to what Bill Jordan & Co. wanted to fill the gap between .357 and .44 mag (which resulted in the .41 magnum, but that's another story). Such a load would pick up about 250 fps in a rifle's longer barrel, making it about the equivalent of a full power .44 mag load from a revolver, and there's no reason why a good jacketed hollowpoint projectile couldn't be substituted for the SWC.

Seems no one is making any of that, so it's roll your own or do without. I'd suspect that most .44 Special loads are fired in .44 magnum guns anyway since there are so few .44 Specials being made anymore. The brass is even hard to come by, save for the online places.

Enjoy your new gun.

[Battlehound]

I read about a professional hunter using the .44 magnum on some fair sized critters in Africa (zebra and gemsbok, I think it was) with surprisingly good results that were unexpected. It seems that the .44 magnum, although not the ideal choice for African beasts, does well at ranges under 100 yards. One could also surmise that the shooter, being a professional hunter, placed the .44 slug exactly where it needed to be placed.