.44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world ! really

[TwoRivers]

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

Regards.

They are. Quite a few of local hunters and out-of-state hunters go after grizzly/brown bear. And quite a few bears are killed every year in self defense. Currently there's a family of four raiding livestock and trying to break into houses a few miles from here.

[Baljit]

Look for game hunting with scoped revolvers.

Do you have a experience with .44 Mag.? if you do then post a comment ,Please do not copy and past or whatever you seen on youtube, because so many people make a video to put imperssion on other people and also Please, Please let us know where are you so we can give you a properly ans.



Baljit

[kenhypno]

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.

Wow and Yohoo! thanks for the answers and this is the kind of answers i like with properdetailsthat is why i post here Google does give answers but not the way i like you all are my teachers and my personalized Google in case i want to know !

[Skyman]

Baljit,

Two rivers has confirmed what i stated- .44 mags are used to put down Grizzly Bears.The same way, they are used to hunt deer and other game from a distance, using scoped revolvers and hand loaded ammo.This is done by enthusiasts.


I need not have shot a .44 to know the above, or have watched a video of animals getting shot.
I have not asked a question.Why are you trying to answer me, and why do you believe where i live has any logical relation to what i say?


I have asked no question anywhere above.

[Baljit]

Baljit,

Two rivers has confirmed what i stated- .44 mags are used to put down Grizzly Bears.The same way, they are used to hunt deer and other game from a distance, using scoped revolvers and hand loaded ammo.This is done by enthusiasts.


I need not have shot a .44 to know the above, or have watched a video of animals getting shot.
I have not asked a question.Why are you trying to answer me, and why do you believe where i live has any logical relation to what i say?


I have asked no question anywhere above.

i know Two River give you a ans.but you have to understand if you are in same spot then what you have to do? did you have a expeience with Grizzly ?if you do please post your expeince for all of us because you know what to do.



Baljit

[Skyman]

Chuckle.Any sane man,me included, would empty all available lead into the head of the bear as quickly as possible.Unless the pied piper is at hand.I live in India, no Grizzly's here.I can teach you how to escape being chased by a bull though.Did experience that.

Two Rivers did not answer me.He made an independent statement which confirmed what i said.He lives in Alaska, and would better answer what to do when faced with a Grizzly.

[xl_target]

Chuckle.Any sane man,me included, would empty all available lead into the head of the bear as quickly as possible.Unless the pied piper is at hand.I live in India, no Grizzly's here.I can teach you how to escape being chased by a bull though.Did experience that.

Two Rivers did not answer me.He made an independent statement which confirmed what i said.He lives in Alaska, and would better answer what to do when faced with a Grizzly.

Actually if you read Two Rivers statements carefully, you will see that nowhere did he state that people regularly go after Grizzies with just .44 magnum handgun.

No sane man would deliberately go after a Grizzly with just a .44 Magnum handgun. Lot of the dangerous game handgun hunts that you read about in magazines are arranged with guides as backup. You can bet the guide has more than just a .44 Magnum revolver.

Head shots against a charging animal, even something the size of a Grizzly are not easy. On any animal, man included, the head moves around a lot when they are charging you. Have Grizzlies been taken with just a .44 Mag? Most likely they have but I'd be willing to bet that the hunter/hiker/prey had nothing bigger on him at the time or he would have used that.

[Skyman]

Xl, sure no one goes after them looking for trouble.I said .44 mags are used to take down grizzly's as a testament to their power.Not that it is a bear hunting cartridge.

Please pursue this article- http://www.chuckhawks.com/firearms_defense_bears.htm

I said .44 mags take down bears in the same way you would say a .50 cal takes down planes.

[TwoRivers]

Skyman: People carry .44 Mags because they were the most powerful revolver available, without getting too big and difficult to carry along with everything else. Yes, grizzlies have been killed with it, as they have been with lesser calibers. And people have been mauled by grizzlies after having shot the grizzly with a .44 Mag.
Handgun hunters don't hunt without backup; and they don't use factory cartridges. They use handloads with heavier bullets that give better penetration. XL has said about everything that can be said about this topic.

[Skyman]

I dispute none of what XL or you have said.As i said above, it has been done.But .44 mag is not exclusively a bear hunting caliber,i just mentioned bears have been taken down by it.Nobody is wrong, neither am i under the illusion that handguns are enough to hunt with.All my above statements point to one fact.The .44 mag is quite powerful.

I mentioned hunters using revolvers use hand loaded ammo already above.

[Baljit]

Chuckle.Any sane man,me included, would empty all available lead into the head of the bear as quickly as possible.Unless the pied piper is at hand.I live in India, no Grizzly's here.I can teach you how to escape being chased by a bull though.Did experience that.

Two Rivers did not answer me.He made an independent statement which confirmed what i said.He lives in Alaska, and would better answer what to do when faced with a Grizzly.

Let me tell you somthing here " Chuckle.Any sane man , me included " i do have a experience with Grizzly once about 10 years ago.we went for moose hunt up north and we set up our base camp right on the river. one morning around 6:30AM we got our moose and after that we are working on the moose, about couple of hrs. later we sport a Grizzly maybe 60 yards or so away from us and he is heading to us .We are lucky because our guns are loaded and only 4 feet away from us.

i am not talking about.44 Mag Rev. i am talking about both rifles i have 7MM REM.MAG. and my friend have .300 WIN.MAG. and both rifles have five rounds in each and we fire seven rounds on that Grizzily then he is dead.

Now you tell me if you think you know batter then anybody, if we have .44Mag. Rev. and we fire six round at him from 60 yards or so do you think he going to be dead?


Baljit

[Skyman]

While i cannot comment on You and your friend's shooting prowess,or how resilient a particular bear will be, Grizzly's have been put down by two or three rounds from a .44 mag.This does not happen every time.I do not understand what you are trying to say.

Are you saying i am wrong in saying a .44 mag can't take down a grizzly? Or are you saying i can't do it?

I have said a .44 has taken down a grizzly.I repeat, i never said it is ideal for bear defense, or that anyone should try it.In most cases, you might get off a round before you are mauled.

[timmy]

For sensational purposes, Clint Eastwood tried to depict the characters he played as carrying the "most powerful handgun" in a number of movies. For example, in one movie that I cannot recall off of the top of my head, he carried a Colt Walker revolver (percussion cap and ball, Walkers used 50 grains of black powder and were truly powerful for their day -- almost like a 357). In The Outlaw Josie Wales, he carried Remington percussion revolvers and a belt full of charged cylinders that he'd change as he mowed down the bad boys Rajinikanth-style. Eastwood's character used a .44 Auto Mag in the movie Sudden Impact:



These also came in a short barreled version, and there was a corresponding cartridge both barrel lengths could be chambered for called .357 Auto Mag.

These cartridges were made by cutting down a .308/7.62x51mm NATO case. The .357 was a bottlenecked cartridge. The .44 was ballistically similar to the .44 Mag, but since it was used in a semi auto pistol, the ballistics benefitted from being fired in a barrel that wasn't vented (i.e., there was no barrel to cylinder gap to bleed off the propulsive gasses). The Auto Mag pistol operated somewhat like the Stoner system used on the M16, where there was no operating rod and piston and the gasses impinged directly on a rotary bolt. Unfortunately, they were not worked out well and there were operational troubles with the product, and so they were unsuccessful. But they were a big, powerful pistol that gained much attention at the time, and Eastwood sought to capitalize on that image for his movies which featured sensational violence and revenge, as well.

And yes, I'd love to have an Auto Mag! I always liked them.

[hamiclar01]

Very interesting thread.

Skyman, just out of interest, are you based in India?
If yes, then are your observations based on the internet? If not, I'd love to hear your experiences with the particular calibre.

[Skyman]

I am based in India.I have said this before, i need not have shot a .44 to know it can, i repeat CAN take down a bear, in the same way i need not have flown concorde to know it travels faster than sound.Why aren't people getting this?