Indians For Guns

I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

Is it really so powerful that it can shoot right through walls and kill a person within? Or stop a charging large animal?Can you take it to hunting just this no rifles ? Can it take down a deer ,zebra,elk,bear wild boar buffalo,camel and other animals?and if it blows head clean off it must kill large game too?

The .44 mag was a very powerful cartridge in Harry's time.Still is, but more powerful cartridges are present now.

.44 mags are used to put down bears.They can take down deer at 80-100 yards.Awful trajectory at range though.

At close range it will certainly make a mess of above mentioned animals.But hey, Alaskans always say " A .357 may stop a grizzly.A .44 will."

This information is freely available on wikipedia a numerous other sources.Ask google before posting here.

if it were for Google i would not be here!

Kenhypno,

Too much going in that post. It is one of the most powerful handguns for sure. But, it is not a substitute for big game rifles. There are some who exclusively hunt boars, deer etc with it. But, IMHO not ideal except within the limitations of range and size of the animal.A bison or a grizzly might just take exception to being badly pricked.Going through walls means the walls of plywood/plastic boards etc in the West.Not our brick and mortar walls. Horses for courses.

Best-
Vikram

Aloha,

Personally, I will take a 41 Magnum over a 44,

anything the 44 can do, the 41 can do just as well,

WITHOUT the Blast and Recoil.

Ballistically, the 41 is just about 5% less than the 44.

The 41 shoots a lot flatter than the 44 over the same distances.

My favorite Model 57 S & W 41 magnum, with Pachmyer Jordan Trooper grips(no longer made)



It was developed by old time well known law enforcement and serious handgunners as the

ultimate Police caliber.

Great for anything as long as bullet is properly placed.

Skyman wrote: Alaskans always say " A .357 may stop a grizzly.A .44 will."

This information is freely available on wikipedia a numerous other sources.Ask google before posting here.

Are those Alaskans the ones with scars all over? A lucky hit with something much smaller than a .44 Mag can kill a grizzly, or anything else. A poor hit with a .44 Mag will only make it more mad. It's bullet placement first, bullet performance second that count. Not the size of the cartridge.

With dialogue written in Hollywood, anything is possible, including the .44 Mag being called "the most powerful handgun in the world". Even though it is the cartridge that gives the handgun its power.... but we know what they are trying to say. Just as an aside; later in the movie when Dirty Harry is asked what kind of ammo he uses, he mentions that he uses a .44 Special in his service revolver.

Can it shoot through walls? That depends on the wall. in the USA we use wooden or steel studs to hold up sheetrock (a gypsum based product) walls. Two layers of sheetrock are not much of an obstacle to a .44 mag bullet. If it is a poured concrete wall, it probably will not make it through, especially if it is a soft point or a hollow point bullet.

Can it stop a large animal? Depends on how large and where you place the bullet.
Whitetail Deer? usually no problem with proper placement. I have seen Whitetail deer, shot with a 12 ga. slug at close range, take of like nothing happened.
Zebra, Elk, Bear, wild boar? Depends on placement. A big Grizzly would be really tough to put down if you didn't hit it right.
Buffalo? Your average Bhains? Maybe, if you place the shot correctly.
African Cape Buffalo? I wouldn't even consider it. This is pound for pound one of the meanest animals on earth.
Camels? No clue. I can guess but I'm not even 100% sure exactly where the vital organs are located on a camel.

However, even in Dirty Harry's day, it was not the most powerful handgun cartridge on earth.

Since we are talking about hunting, be aware that many people do hunt with this cartridge in a handgun but usually it is non-dangerous game. If we compare it to the .30-06 which is middle of the road for big game and one that I would not consider for some of the animals listed in your list, here are the energy figures:

Some muzzle energy figures
.44 Mag.
Bullet (gr.)-----(50 yds)----(100 yds)
180--------------745--------------551
240--------------623--------------543

.30-06 Springfield
Bullet (gr.)----- (100 yds)-----(500 yds)
180----------------2522----------1349


As you can see, even at 500 yards, the .30-06 bullet will have more energy than the .44 Mag at 100 yards. It will be hard to use the .44 Mag to blow any animals head clean of with one shot (unless it was squirrel or groundhog size), at least not anything that we classify as big game. It will do a lot of damage though but it is not as powerful as that movie would have you believe.

I hope this answers some of your questions.

TwoRivers, i neglected to add, when shot to the head.

It used to be the most powerful but that crown has since long passed on to the .500 S&W.

Now that truly is a missile

With the Thompson Center Encore handguns, you can fire many rifle cartridges so when you say "most powerful handgun", you have to consider those.
http://www.tcarms.com/firearms/encore.php
The largest caliber that I have fired in that handgun is 7.62 X 39

When ever i see this gun, it reminds me of the movie hard target, where the villian used it, excellent movie

Skyman wrote: ...Alaskans always say " A .357 may stop a grizzly.A .44 will. ...

I didn't know that grizzly bears were a popular target in Alaska.

Regards.

no, they are the baddest animals there.Thats why they are mentioned by name.

Looks like some one watching Dirty Harry's movie in these day's..44 mag. is a powerful hand gun but shooting a deer at 80 or 100 yards wow!!!.
i agree with Two River and XL it's depend on bullet placement and bullet performance.


Baljit

Look for game hunting with scoped revolvers.