Smaug
Member
Today, I went to the range with two magnum revolvers. I had made up some fine hand loads for them.
The guns were my 3” Ruger SP-101 in 357 Mag and my 7-1/2” Ruger Redhawk in 44 Mag.
I first shot the SP with some wadcutter handloads; they were easy to shoot, but their accuracy was disappointing. That’s part of handloading, I guess.
To round things out for that gun, I also shot two cylinders full of full-on magnums. A full load of H110 with 125 gr. SJHP. Wow! I forgot how dramatic that is from a 3” steel revolver: big flash, deep boom, and a sore trigger finger, from being thumped with the trigger guard under recoil. Despite that serious recoil, the shots hit home with better accuracy than the wadcutters. Nice clean holes in the paper, from the high velocity hollow points. Even with that great accuracy, I could only shoot two cylinders full; my trigger finger couldn’t take more. My lane neighbors in were a young guy and his girl. They were shooting a 22LR AR, some kind of full size 9 mm auto pistol, and a 45 pistol of some kind. With that first Magnum shot, their lane fell silent until I was done with my cylinders. I forgot to warn them. I didn’t remember how bassy a little 357 could be.
It was then time to zero the scope of my 7.5” 44 Mag Redhawk. I got ‘er pretty well dialed in at 25 yards with the light magnum handloads. I had some full-on magnum loads for it. Again, to my surprise, they were even more consistent than the lighter loads. Even though this load had a lot more power behind it, it recoiled less than the little 357, because of the extra weight of the long barreled 44 with scope.
My wife and I had some fun at some dueling games with her S&W M&P 22 Compact. She loves it. When we were done with the 22 targets, I shot them again with the bigger bore guns.
The magnums ruled the show, though.
The guns were my 3” Ruger SP-101 in 357 Mag and my 7-1/2” Ruger Redhawk in 44 Mag.
I first shot the SP with some wadcutter handloads; they were easy to shoot, but their accuracy was disappointing. That’s part of handloading, I guess.
To round things out for that gun, I also shot two cylinders full of full-on magnums. A full load of H110 with 125 gr. SJHP. Wow! I forgot how dramatic that is from a 3” steel revolver: big flash, deep boom, and a sore trigger finger, from being thumped with the trigger guard under recoil. Despite that serious recoil, the shots hit home with better accuracy than the wadcutters. Nice clean holes in the paper, from the high velocity hollow points. Even with that great accuracy, I could only shoot two cylinders full; my trigger finger couldn’t take more. My lane neighbors in were a young guy and his girl. They were shooting a 22LR AR, some kind of full size 9 mm auto pistol, and a 45 pistol of some kind. With that first Magnum shot, their lane fell silent until I was done with my cylinders. I forgot to warn them. I didn’t remember how bassy a little 357 could be.
It was then time to zero the scope of my 7.5” 44 Mag Redhawk. I got ‘er pretty well dialed in at 25 yards with the light magnum handloads. I had some full-on magnum loads for it. Again, to my surprise, they were even more consistent than the lighter loads. Even though this load had a lot more power behind it, it recoiled less than the little 357, because of the extra weight of the long barreled 44 with scope.
My wife and I had some fun at some dueling games with her S&W M&P 22 Compact. She loves it. When we were done with the 22 targets, I shot them again with the bigger bore guns.
The magnums ruled the show, though.
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Same thing happened to me on Friday when I broke out the 4.2” Model 69. 
