The 44 Special is super useful for a multitude of purposes

Transcript

Introduction: Why the .44 Special Matters

Hi folks, this is Tim Sundles, with of course my beautiful wife Kim doing the filming on an iPhone. I want to talk to you about something that'll have really wide application in today's usage.

Everybody knows I'm a big bore guy. I like to shoot dangerous animals and watch them collapse—or watch them seriously change their behavior. And I’ve always done that with big bores, because they work—if the ammo's right. If the ammo's not right, it doesn't matter how big a bore you're shooting.

Today I want to talk to you about something that’s really useful, and that’s the .44 Special.

Gun 1: Smith & Wesson N-Frame Lou Horton Special

This is one of the old N-frame Lou Horton specials. I don’t know if you guys remember Lou Horton, but he would do what Lipsey’s does today—he’d order certain guns made certain ways in quantity, and get them made the way he wanted, then sell them.

It’s a .44 Special with a 3-inch barrel, tapered barrel like the mountain guns. I unloaded all these guns before I started, because most of them were loaded.

Here’s what I shoot in this gun—it’s our 185 grain jacketed hollow point, doing about 1,050 feet per second. I think you can see the modern version of it here using XTP bullets—that’s the load.

Why do I shoot that load in this gun? Because it won’t shoot a hard cast bullet worth a damn. Doesn’t matter if it’s gas-checked, doesn’t matter what it is—this gun likes jacketed bullets. So I keep it loaded and stashed in a very convenient place.

Gun 2: Ruger .357 Flattop Converted by Ben Forkin

This gun started life in 1955 as a Ruger .357 Magnum flattop. My father bought it. Back in the day, believe it or not, sheriff's deputies sometimes carried single-action revolvers. He carried this as a deputy, along with a Smith & Wesson Model 15 .38 Special.

When he passed away, I sent the gun to Ben Forkin and said:

“Ben, please turn this into a .44 Special flattop.”

I think it’s a 5-inch barrel, five-shot conversion. It’s got buffalo horn stocks, and it’s just a dream revolver.

This is a gun I’d carry in the woods. I generally like bigger guns because I live in grizzly country. But in most of America, a gun like this with our 255 grain Outdoorsman load—1,000 fps—is plenty.

Just a reminder: that’s the same as the original .45 Colt cavalry load—255 grains at 1,000 fps with black powder, out of a 7.5-inch barrel.

So the idea that you need a giant big bore to kill large animals? Kind of a fallacy. I’ve been attacked by animals more than my fair share of times—you learn to be decisive. But this load will kill anything you reasonably need to.

Gun 3: USFA Custom by Brian Pearce

This is a USFA that Brian Pearce built for me. I wanted two cylinders—.44 Special and .44-40—so I could use it as a test gun. It’s built on the flattop target frame, my favorite USFA frame.

Had I lived in the 1880s when the single-action Army was the gun to have, I’d have chosen flattop targets. They had better sights and lateral adjustment via the dovetail. A very finely made gun.

Gun 4: Ruger .357 Flattop Converted by Jack Huntington

This is another Ruger flattop, made in 1956. It was a .357 Magnum. Jack Huntington converted it to a .44 Special with a 4¾-inch barrel and buffalo horn stocks.

It’s not quite to my liking—I’d case color the frame and black the rest—but a friend of Jack’s needed money, and I said,

“Well, I’ll give him $900 for it.”

It’s a $3,000 gun. I didn’t really want it—but it outshoots every gun on this table. You just never know when that’s going to happen.

Gun 5: Charter Arms Bulldog

This is a Charter Arms Bulldog. These weigh about 18 or 19 ounces, been around for over 50 years.

They’re not high-end, but they’re high-quality enough. Great for pocket carry, especially with our 200 grain wadcutter load—which I specifically designed for this gun.

Older Bulldogs (like this 70s or 80s example) shouldn’t be fed Magnum-type loads. But the new Bulldogs—under the current owner—are built better and can handle any of our .44 Special loads.

Gun 6: Smith & Wesson 396 Scandium

This one’s really interesting—it’s a Smith & Wesson 396, all scandium and titanium. It has the goofy sleeve barrel I’m not a fan of, but this one is pre-Hillary hole, so I’m keeping it.

It’s a five-shot L-frame with a 3-inch barrel, very light. I’ve carried this all over.

One summer I was hunting rattlesnakes—we’d see 40-50 snakes a day. I carried this loaded with snake shot, and a bigger revolver on my hip for bears.

Gun 7: Smith & Wesson 696

The Smith & Wesson 696—also a 3-inch, L-frame five-shot .44 Special. Doesn’t have the sleeve barrel. Just a very, very nice gun.

I carried it with our 190 grain anti-personnel load—very soft, gas-checked, almost pure lead. It mushrooms like crazy and holds together.

Gun 8: Smith & Wesson 296 Scandium DAO

This is the Smith & Wesson 296, also scandium and aluminum. Internal hammer, short 2–2.5-inch barrel.

This gun stays loaded by my bed. No hammer to snag if I have to shoot through the covers at a midnight assailant. There’s also no slide to get hung up like on a semi-auto.

It’s loaded with the same 190 grain anti-personnel load. Horrifically destructive to mammalian tissue, low recoil, standard pressure.

Gun 9: Smith & Wesson Model 624 “Mountain Gun”

This is the Model 624, in the Mountain Gun configuration—a big N-frame, six-shot .44 Special. Tapered barrel like the original mountain guns from the '50s and '60s.

Technically, it doesn’t say “Mountain Gun” on the side, but it is one.

For this, I’d carry the 255 grain Outdoorsman load—Item 14B—or the 200 grain wadcutter, Item 14E.

Historical Perspective on Stopping Power

We’ve been talking about .45 ACP +P and .45 Super a lot lately, but don’t forget—the original .45 Colt was a 255 grain bullet at 1,000 fps, designed to shoot cavalry horses out from under their riders.

That’s what our .45 ACP +P mimics today. So when people say, “Well, the 10mm penetrates deeper, so it’s better than the .45”—if you want deeper, fine.

But if you want 2.5 to 3 feet of penetration and a noticeably larger hole, the .45 is better. That original load went through a horse. So yes, it works.

.44 Special vs. .357 Magnum

If you're living in a non-grizzly area, the .44 Special is just really cool beans.

They work. They work. They work.

And one thing they do better than the .357 Magnum? They don’t blow your ears off. The .357 runs at much higher pressures and really hurts your hearing.

I have dozens of .357s—they’re great—but full-powered loads are hard on your ears. They’re part of the reason I wear hearing aids now.

Conclusion & Announcements

Anyway folks, I hope you’ve enjoyed this little collection of .44 Specials, and I hope you can see their versatility.

They’re good for anti-personnel, they’re good for woods protection, even against large bears.

If I had to pick between a nice .357 and a .44 for running around in the woods, I’d take the .44—just to save my hearing.

God bless you, and Kim and I will see you on the very next video.

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All I want to do is buy more guns and play with guns.

Thanks so much—God bless.