44 special revolvers

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Antihero

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What's available for 44 special not full size revolvers these days? Years back I wanted a taurus 445 but it looks like they are gone. I'm not too high on Charter Arms stuff since you are apparently not supposed to fire heavy 44 special loads in them and I'd like the option to have a heavy woods load.

Rossi 720s? I've read some bad stuff about Rossi recently.

The GP100 is far too big for my usage.

Anything else?
 
The Rossi 720 is excellent. It's one of my favorite handguns. They only made them for 2-3 years in the early 1990's. If you find one in good shape for a reasonable price, I would certainly recommend them. They are 3" stainless and kind of heavy, maybe a little smaller than a K-frame. There are fixed sight versions and adjustable sight versions, as well as SA/DA and DAO.

I had the newer Taurus. I think it was called 445. It was okay. Never gave me trouble, but the trigger was mediocre or slightly worse, and I liked my other 44 specials better. Taurus made a couple of older models, I think in the 1990's. They were called Model 431 and 441, IIRC. They have a good reputation.

The Charter Arms Bulldog was introduced in 1973. You can buy new ones to this day. I like mine. It's maybe in between the J-frame and K-frame in size. Mine is pretty light, but the recoil doesn't bother me and I shoot it about as well as any other snubby. I think you can get them DA/SA or DAO, or that's been the case in the past, anyway. I don't know if they still offer the shrouded hammer model. I like mine and carry it sometimes.

Please forgive the poor-quality pictures.

View media item 1900
View media item 1991
 
GRIZ22 said:
If you want to fire hot loads get a bigger gun. Not only easier on the gun it's also easier on you and more controllable.

JMO
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You are not wrong, but my usage would be if I was carrying it or as a truck gun and my job took me to the woods. I would want to just have the option of firing a bear worthy round . More than likely it would get a few cylinders to test it and that's it.

I have bigger magnums to shoot if I want to, it wouldn't get much hot loads
 
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I have shot a lot of 44 special, and I don't think of it as a high-recoil round. The Bulldog is as small and light a revolver as you will find for it, and it doesn't bother me at all (YMMV). In the heavier 720 it's a pussycat. I would much rather shoot 44 special from a small revolver than 357 magnum.
 
Tallball said:
The Rossi 720 is excellent. It's one of my favorite handguns. They only made them for 2-3 years in the early 1990's. If you find one in good shape for a reasonable price, I would certainly recommend them. They are 3" stainless and kind of heavy, maybe a little smaller than a K-frame. There are fixed sight versions and adjustable sight versions, as well as SA/DA and DAO.

I had the newer Taurus. I think it was called 445. It was okay. Never gave me trouble, but the trigger was mediocre or slightly worse, and I liked my other 44 specials better. Taurus made a couple of older models, I think in the 1990's. They were called Model 431 and 441, IIRC. They have a good reputation.

The Charter Arms Bulldog was introduced in 1973. You can buy new ones to this day. I like mine. It's maybe in between the J-frame and K-frame in size. Mine is pretty light, but the recoil doesn't bother me and I shoot it about as well as any other snubby. I think you can get them DA/SA or DAO, or that's been the case in the past, anyway. I don't know if they still offer the shrouded hammer model. I like mine and carry it sometimes.

Please forgive the poor-quality pictures.

View media item 1900
View media item 1991
Click to expand...

Oh, I didn't realize they made the 720 for so few years
 
Tallball said:
I have shot a lot of 44 special, and I don't think of it as a high-recoil round. The Bulldog is as small and light a revolver as you will find for it, and it doesn't bother me at all (YMMV). In the heavier 720 it's a pussycat. I would much rather shoot 44 special from a small revolver than 357 magnum.
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It isn't the recoil that I'm worried about, it's the gun itself.

Most things I read recommend against heavy loads in a charter bulldog
 
Antihero said:
It isn't the recoil that I'm worried about, it's the gun itself.

Most things I read recommend against heavy loads in a charter bulldog
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Yeah, it's pretty light. I would expect hot loads to shorten its lifespan. I practice with lighter loads, but load it with SD rounds when I carry it.
 
As Tallball referenced, if you can find a Taurus 431 (3" bbl, fixed sights) or a 441 (4" bbl, adjustable sights) grab it. They come blued or stainless, and I'm not aware of any difference in model #s between the two.

I have a blued 431. Manufactured early 1990. I have various S&W of the same era, and the fit and finish us very comparable between the two companies.
My 431 is an accurate revolver, and I do carry it in a Mernickle holster.
 
44s.jpg untitleddr44rfg.png 44-3.png

I've gone the 44 special route a few times and I'd recommend a magnum loaded with specials. I never had the fortune of trying the Taurus 445 so that might have changed my mind, but the C.A. Bulldogs are not going to hold up to regular shooting. They are a shoot a box of bullets per year and stick it in the socks drawer kind of gun. The Rossi was a good gun but they've been discontinued for over a decade, and should you need repair you can forget about it.
 
Rossi made a 5 shot snubbie recently. I think it may have been exclusively for Academy Sporting Goods. Can’t remember the midel number, but I like mine. It’s a .44 mag.
 
Dan-O said:
Rossi made a 5 shot snubbie recently. I think it may have been exclusively for Academy Sporting Goods. Can’t remember the midel number, but I like mine. It’s a .44 mag.
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they had a short run of those then Rossi got bought out by Braztech aka Taurus and the gun was dropped.
 
"Rossi made a 5 shot snubbie recently."

When I saw them at Academy they looked a lot like the Taurus 445 I owned at the time. I assumed it was the same revolver, maybe made of slightly different materials. IIRC, there were problems with them.
 
LOL, Its clean now. :)

That last pic was the day got it, right after getting home and it hadnt been cleaned yet. This is it now, with a set of better grips on it.

enhance.jpg
Those port's are a PITA to clean up after to, especially with lead bullets.

Ive got one of those Talo Rugers too.....

enhance.jpg
 
I like the .44 Special for defense and to shoot for fun from time to time.
The Rossi owners covered the 720. It is a fine revolver. The one I had was.
I have the Taurus 441 and 431. Several of both actually.
 
I have a GP100 chambered in 44 Special and a S&W Model 69 (L frame) chambered in 44 Magnum. While both are the larger size, neither are full sized revolvers chambered in the appropriate 44 caliber round.

For my Model 69, I load a hot 44 special load in 44 Magnum case. For the GP 100, the load is similar but loaded in a 44 Special case. I also use this load in an S&W 624 N-frame revolver , 44 Special chambering, although it is an N-frame the round is a soft shooter..

They are nice shooting rounds although not at the level as a top loaded 44 Magnum round.

I doubt that anything smaller than an S&W L-frame will be a viable 44 Special revolver.
 
I have to agree with GRIZ22 on this. If you want a 44, and you want to shoot heavy loads, then what you want is a 44 Magnum. There are lightweight 44 Magnums, IIRC. Wanting a small 44 Special and wanting it to be durable with heavy loads as well is like wanting a sports car but wanting it to be good at towing a heavy trailer. The qualities you desire are in opposition to each other.

OTOH, I suppose you are asking what best compromise in that direction is, which is a reasonable thing to do. It may not be good enough to be all that you want, but there's no harm, aside from the money, in trying.
 
Monac said:
I have to agree with GRIZ22 on this. If you want a 44, and you want to shoot heavy loads, then what you want is a 44 Magnum. There are lightweight 44 Magnums, IIRC. Wanting a small 44 Special and wanting it to be durable with heavy loads as well is like wanting a sports car but wanting it to be good at towing a heavy trailer. The qualities you desire are in opposition to each other.

OTOH, I suppose you are asking what best compromise in that direction is, which is a reasonable thing to do. It may not be good enough to be all that you want, but there's no harm, aside from the money, in trying.
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I'm not saying it will get many heavy loads, I'm saying it will get a few.

I literally have half a dozen magnums I could shoot heavy loads thru. This gun is not getting lots of heavy loads, I want an all arounder that CAN SHOOT BEAR WORTHY LOADS SOMETIMES.

Imagine a carry gun/truck gun a speedloader of buffalo bore. I just want the option without it going kaboom
 
Antihero said:
I'm not saying it will get many heavy loads, I'm saying it will get a few.

I literally have half a dozen magnums I could shoot heavy loads thru. This gun is not getting lots of heavy loads, I want an all arounder that CAN SHOOT BEAR WORTHY LOADS SOMETIMES.

Imagine a carry gun/truck gun a speedloader of buffalo bore. I just want the option without it going kaboom
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a C.A. Bulldog will do what you want, but it will not be a pleasant gun to shoot with stout special loads. for regular shooting stay with the watered down factory stuff on the shelf. a box of Buffalo Bore specials will last you a good while if you just fire one cylinder full to see what they're like every year. don't let the recoil of the C.A. bulldog fool you. the velocity of factory specials off the shelf type loads is very low for 200gr. and up. even with the Buffalo Bore loads, shooting a bear with the reduced velocity from a C.A. will be very risky; follow ups are not going to be fast either. now, if you mean the 150 pound black bear that occasionally get in suburban neighborhoods in the southeast, I guess they will do the trick as those bears are more about running away than attacking to begin with.
 
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