Discussing the use of .410-bore shotguns for home defense often ruffles some feathers. “You should get a 12-gauge shotgun,” they say. “That’s the best shotgun for the job!” This sentiment is not untrue, but it’s also not complete.
Let me be clear, combat shotguns chambered for 12-gauge shells are, shot-for-shot, among the best close-range fight stoppers yet devised. They throw an impressive amount of lead with nearly irresistible levels of force at across-the-room (3 to 7 yards) and across the house (7 to 15 yard) distances. Lew Gosnell, training director of Gunsite Academy, summed it up quite succinctly during a 12-gauge shotgun demonstration when he said, “Shotgun fights don’t last for very long.”
Combat shotguns chambered in 12-ga., like this Mossberg 590A1, have long been favored for military, law enforcement and home-defense applications.
But due to Newtonian physics, 12-gauge levels of stopping power come at a price. Full-power shells filled with hard-hitting defensive payloads can generate intense levels of felt recoil. The shotguns themselves can be relatively large, heavy and too long in the stock, making them unwieldy for some folks. For this reason, a more complete statement regarding the defensive 12-gauge would be that it’s best option if the home defender can manage it.
For this conversation, let’s take a look at the reasons why one might choose to stage a .410-bore shotgun for home defense, some of the suitable .410 shotguns currently available and which types of .410 shells are a good fit for personal protection. Some of the guns and ammunition mentioned here fall under the “whatchagot”category of defensive options.
Why Choose a .410 Bore for Home Defense?
The top reasons for picking a .410 bore for home defense were touched on above, namely, gun size and felt recoil. The shotguns are slim, lightweight and often available in compact configurations with the same shorter 18.5″ to 20″ barrel lengths commonly used with 12-gauge security shotguns.
Mossberg Security and Shockwave models chambered in .410 are slimmer and lighter than 12-gauge models.
But these aren’t the only reasons to consider a .410. A shorter-barrel model can share ammunition with longer hunting .410 shotguns or .45 Colt/.410-bore handguns like the Taurus Judge revolver. This saves money for those who use .410 for sporting purposes and reload the shells themselves. In this same vein, sporting models and defensive models that share the same controls, features and levels of felt recoil make it much easier for the self-defender to transition between them. In fact, some models can comfortably be used for both sporting and defensive purposes.
Finally, a .410 may be either the only gun you currently have access to, or, it may be the gun you have at hand when a self-defense situation arises. This means having at least some defense-grade ammunition on hand, and an understanding of what it can do, is a good idea.
A Quick Note on Ammunition Performance
The scientific field of research known as ballistics is dedicated to understanding how firearms and their projectiles perform. What it boils down to for the home defender is this: Projectiles launched by a defensive handgun, rifle or shotgun must penetrate deeply enough that an attacker loses the ability to continue the assault.
.410-bore shells are available with a variety of projectiles.
But how much penetration is enough? Back in the late 1980s, the FBI’s Firearms Training Unit (FTU) established a series of ammunition performance protocols in which handgun rifle and shotgun rounds are fired into 10% ballistic gelatin. As a rule of thumb, they are looking for projectiles that travel through the gel to an optimum depth of 12” to 18”. Projectiles that penetrate less than 12” are not considered a good fit for home defense. This standard is used for the Clear Ballistics synthetic gel test results included below.
Ballistic gel testing is a good way to evaluate ammunition performance.
It should also be noted that several of the defense-grade .410 shells available these days were developed for the popular Taurus Judge .45 Colt/.410 revolver. The performance of these defensive handgun shells improves when fired from 18.5″ to 20″ shotgun barrels.
.410 Bore Shells for Home Defense
Originally developed by Eley Brothers of England in 1874, the .410 bore is one of the smallest shotgun shells commonly in use in the United States today. It is currently available with birdshot, buckshot, slugs and mixed payloads. Let’s take a look at each and see how they fit into a self defense plan.
Birdshot
Long guns chambered for this round are eminently suitable for small game hunting, pest control and for more experienced sporting clays enthusiasts when the shells are filled with tiny lead pellets which are commonly referred to as “birdshot.” The vast majority of .410 shells manufactured in the past, and today, are topped off with various sizes of birdshot.
However, the small and relatively light birdshot loads launched by .410 shotguns are poorly suited for self defense applications. When fired from .410 shells, birdshot payloads are quite small when compared to larger shot shells, the pellets tend to spread apart relatively quickly and they do not penetrate deeply enough to reliably stop a threat.
Shown here is a gel block shot with the only “defensive” birdshot load I’m aware of, Federal Premium’s 2½” long .410 Handgun load topped off with 7/16 oz., or about 60 pellets, of copper plated #4 birdshot with a listed muzzle velocity of 1200 f.p.s. (a velocity that’s similar to larger shot shells).
The pellets stopped at distances between 4″ to 8.5″ in the gel block with the majority of pellets stopping somewhere between 4.5″ to 6.5″. This is well below the FBI’s 12” minimum. Being peppered with this .410 birdshot load would be an excruciatingly painful wake up call, even for an assailant wearing thick clothing. However, due to the pain nullifying effects of drugs and adrenaline, self defenders can’t count on pain alone to deter a determined assailant. Due to low levels of penetration, it’s best to reserve .410 birdshot loads for pest control, sporting clays and small game hunting. If birdshot is “whatchagot,” then be aware of its limitations and plan accordingly.
Buckshot
Buckshot is comprised of much larger and heavier round lead pellets than those used in birdshot. It’s a popular option shell configuration for hunting and home defense because of the advantages it offers at close range. The individual pellets have enough mass and momentum to produce effective levels of penetration and tissue damage. However, several pellets are launched simultaneously. If they strike the target at close range, while still clustered together, they produce a massive impact. If the target is further away, and the pellets spread out to form a pattern, then the pellets form multiple wound tracks. The effect is roughly comparable to being struck with multiple .38-cal. or 9 mm round-nose bullets at the same time.
Reliable .410 buckshot loads are available in 2½” or 3″ shell lengths from major American manufacturers including Federal Premium, Remington and Winchester. The most common buckshot pellet size is 000 (triple-aught). These are .36-caliber (.36″) balls that weigh about 70-grains. The 2½” shells are loaded with three or four pellets while the 3″ shells are usually packed with five pellets. Because they are stacked one on top of the other in a row inside the shell (instead of in a cluster) they tend flatten out, or “pancake” as they travel through the barrel.
Shown here is a before-and-after picture of the four copper plated pellets fired into gel from a Federal Premium .410 Handgun shell with a listed velocity of 1200 f.p.s. for 224 ft-lbs. of muzzle energy for each pellet. The pellets average depth in bare gel was 20.7″ with four distinctive .36 to .38-cal. wound tracks behind each pellet.
Essentially, the only real difference in defensive performance for .410 buckshot shells, when compared to that of reduced-recoil 12-gauge buckshot loads containing 8 or 9 pellets, is the number of pellets fired. I’ve had mixed reliability results with some imported polymer-hull .410 buckshot loads. They tend to run reliably in some guns but not others. The imported shells with all-metal hulls that I’ve worked with have jammed up every handgun and long gun I’ve tested them in, badly. I had to drive the spent hulls out of the gun chambers with a hammer and a cleaning rod. My advice is to avoid them completely for self-defense purposes.
Slugs
Slugs are one-piece projectiles used to extend the range of shotguns when hunting. They essentially turn a shotgun into a medium-range rifle. The only type of .410 slug I’ve gel tested so far is the Remington Express .40-cal. 1/5 oz. (87.5-gr.) rifled lead slug. It’s a nearly hollow round-nose configuration which launched at 1752 f.p.s. and hits into the gel with 596 ft.-lbs. of energy. However, as you can see from the photo here, the slug shattered on impact. The fragments only traveled between 2.5″ to 4″ into the gel. Like birdshot, this type of slug should be relegated to sporting purposes or whatchagot status.
Mixed Payload Shells
The following two 2½” shells were developed specifically for the Taurus Judge revolver. But both produced impressive gel test results when fired from an 18.5″ defensive shotgun.
Winchester’s mixed-payload PDX1 Defender fires three, pre-flattened .40-cal. copper-plated lead discs, followed by 12 pieces of BB size copper-plated lead shot, at an average muzzle velocity of 1073 f.p.s .from an 18.5″ barrel. The three disks penetrated an average depth of 27.25” with the 12 pieces of BB shot pellets penetrating between 5″ to 26.5″.
The Hornady Critical Defense Triple Threat load fires a .41-cal. 115-gr. FTX hollow-point lead slug followed by two .35-cal., .65-gr. round lead pellets with a muzzle velocity of 1116-f.p.s. When fired into the gel bock the .41-caliber FTX slug successfully expanded to .64-cal. and traveled 14.50″. But as you can see here, the slug took some damage as the two .35-cal. pellets went past it to stop at 23.5″ and 26″. The slug’s polymer wad traveled 13.25″ into the block, effectively making it a fourth projectile.
Which Shells for Home Defense?
Here’s what all of this ammunition testing information boils down to: Loading shorter-barrel .410-bore shotguns with buckshot loads, or defense-grade mixed payload shells, turns the gun into a viable low-recoil home defense option. This gun and ammunition combination launches more projectiles per trigger pull than a handgun but does so without the punishing recoil of a 12-gauge shotgun. But remember, birdshot and slugs should be reserved for sporting purposes.
Compact .410 Bore Shotgun Options
In pursuit of an understanding of the defensive capability of .410 shells, I’ve run them through a variety of long guns. Here are a few of the shorter barrel models found in the market place today.
Single-Shot Break Action Shotguns
The hinged-barrel, single-shot shotgun is one of the most prolific .410-bore action types available. These svelte little guns are lightweight, ruggedly reliable, easy to operate and usually available at most sporting goods stores for low prices. There are several entry level variations available from manufacturers including the Hatfield Gun Company, Iver Johnson, Rossi USA, and Stevens (Savage Arms).
Rossi Tuffy
These shotguns are great for training youthful shooting sports enthusiasts, small game hunting and they are favored for use as emergency survival and “trunk” guns. However, their limited ammunition capacity and slow rate of fire are not a great fit for home defense. This is strictly a whatchagot option. But if you own one, having at least a few defense-grade shells on hand is a good idea.
Stoeger Industries Double-Barrel Coach Gun
There are not too many budget-friendly traditional 2-trigger, double-barrel shotguns to choose from these days. But Stoeger Industries does offer a slim and a handy little 20″ barrel coach gun in .410 with suggested retail prices starting at $479.
Stoeger Coach Gun
We have one in the family that’s been used for everything from plinking to pheasant hunting. Like single-shots, the double barrels have a lower rate of fire and a slower reload. But double guns are reliable, easy to operate and have served in defensive roles many, many years.
Mossberg Pump-Action Youth & Security Models
Pump-action shotguns with shorter 18″ to 20″ barrels, also known as “riot guns,” have been a standard for home defense since the early to mid 20th century. They are tough, reliable and offer a quick rate of fire with some practice. Most models can also be loaded on the go because the tubular magazine port is accessible with the action closed.
Mossberg 505 Youth
Over the years Mossberg has offered more home-defense ready .410 pump-actions than any other American manufacturer. The Model 500 is chambered for 2½” and 3″ shells with a 5+1 ammunition capacity. Options have included flexible youth models, like the wood stocked 505 Youth (#57120, MSRP: $473) shown here. Youth models have shorter shoulder stocks and pump grips which have been moved closer to the receiver. This makes them a better fit for small frame shooters of all ages.
Model 500 18.5″ barrel Security configurations have been available with either synthetic shoulder stocks or pistol grips. They even offer a 590 Shockwave non-NFA firearm with a 14″ barrel. I’ve worked with these guns extensively and found them to be just as reliable and user friendly as the models chambered for larger shotgun shells. Although not all of them are currently in production, due to high demand for 12-ga. shotguns, then can still be found for sale with a bit of internet research.
Henry Lever Action .410 Shotguns
Although various companies have offered .410 lever guns over the years, Henry Repeating Arms’ .410s are among the toughest yet built. This is because they are based on the company’s all-steel .45-70 Gov’t. rifle action. This gives these shotguns an unloaded weight of 7.5 lbs., which soaks up felt recoil like a sponge.
Henry X Model
Chambered for 2½” shells only, these guns have quick, intuitive handling, a 6-round ammunition capacity and removable choke tubes. The side loading gate found on the right side of the receiver allows the magazine tube to be topped off as needed, much like that of a pump action. The company offers two wood-stocked models with either a 24″ or 19.75″ barrel. The X Model is outfitted with polymer stocks, fiber optic sights and a 19.8″ barrel. Suggested retail prices start at $1,017.
Often dismissed as ineffective for personal protection, .410 shotguns can get the job done when loaded properly.
Aversion of this article was originally published on April 16, 2017, under the headline “Virginia Tech was not the worst school massacre in U.S. history. This was.”
That spring morning in 1927 could not have been more beautiful, one of the students would later recall.
The Bath Consolidated School just outside East Lansing, Mich., was holding final exams, but before the morning bell rang on May 18, 1927, children ran and played outside. Peals of laughter could be heard.
“Little did their young minds, as the rest of ours, fancy their destiny was at hand … perhaps in half an hour they would rest in eternity with their playmates,” a 15-year-old student name Martha Hintz later recalled in an essay.
Later that morning, once students and teachers had settled into their classrooms, an explosion brought walls and ceilings down. The school had been dynamited by an angry school board member, but no one knew that yet. The only thing certain was that children and educators were hurt and others were dead or dying.
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“We began to run screaming and crying in the same breath, some running for the door while others made for the windows,” Hintz, a ninth-grader, wrote in an essay published in a book titled, “The Bath School Disaster.” Once outside, she recalled: “From every direction, we could see people coming, some running at their utmost speed, and others driving machines, both hoping and praying that their children or friends were not among the dead.”
After each school killing, there is an urge to capture its magnitude in superlatives. That happened after the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech, in which senior Seung Hui Cho killed 32 people and then himself. Media outlets at the time — and as recently as 2015 — described the event as the country’s “worst school massacre.” One Virginia newspaper ran a headline with the phrase: “Nation’s Worst Rampage.”
But they were wrong. As horrific and devastating as that April 16, 2007, day proved, it was not the worst mass killing on a school campus.
That distinction belongs to the mostly forgotten, harrowing explosion at Bath Consolidated School 95 years ago. That day, local farmer Andrew Kehoe, angry about taxes used to fund the school, killed his wife and then blew up the building before doing the same to his car as he sat inside it. In total, 45 people were killed, among them 38 children.
After the bombings, a sign found fastened to a fence on Kehoe’s farm read, “Criminals are made, not born.”
Unlike the school killings that would later follow it — among them Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary and now Tuesday’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex. — the Bath event did not spur debate about mental health. A New York Times article that ran at the time described Kehoe as the “Michigan maniac” in the headline and as a “madman” in the first sentence.
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The sign on the fence, the author wrote, “may give an inkling to the psychology of the man who with measured deliberation, it is believed, attempted to wreak vengeance on this community for what he felt was the high tax imposed on him and other financial troubles … He was notified last June that the mortgage on his farm would be foreclosed, and that may have been the circumstance that started the clockwork of anarchy and madness in his brain.
Monty Ellsworth, one of Kehoe’s neighbors, who later wrote “The Bath School Disaster,” described him as “the world’s worst demon.”
Kehoe’s mother had died when he was young, and he didn’t get along with his stepmother, Ellsworth wrote. He recounted a story Kehoe’s former neighbors and classmates told him about the day the boy’s stepmother lit an oil stove and it exploded, setting her on fire: “Andrew stood and watched her burn for a while and then he got a pail of water and threw over her. It spread the flames and made them worse. His stepmother died from the effects … Although there was never any trouble made about it, the neighbors whom the writer talked with were of the opinion Andrew knew something about what was wrong with the stove.”
In the book, Ellsworth described in painful detail those who were killed in the school that educated more than 300 elementary to high school students: a teacher who was found with a child in each arm; a sixth-grade girl who had a talent for the piano and had picked a bouquet of lilacs that morning; a 7-year-old boy who loved to play baseball and before he left for school had said, “Goodbye mama, I’ll be good.”
A masked shooter. A campus killing. And a manhunt 159 years before Columbine.
Also killed that day was the school’s superintendent, Emory Huyck. He had a contentious relationship with Kehoe, who became the treasurer on the school board in 1924. Huyck survived the blast but was killed when Kehoe blew up his car. An 8-year-old boy was also killed at that time.
Before the day was done, hundreds of people had joined the rescue effort, and the town hall had became a morgue. Some families lost multiple children. Among the survivors, dozens were left with horrific wounds.
“There were sights that I hope no one will ever have to look at again,” Ellsworth wrote. “Children would be brought out, some with legs dropping, some with arms broken and hanging, some would be moaning, and others would be still. When carrying them, you would know they would never answer their mother’s call again.”
Days later, on a Sunday, the town’s roads were clogged with thousands of cars, each filled with people hoping to pay their respects at the many funerals.
“I think,” Ellsworth wrote, “we had the greatest demonstration of American sympathy ever awarded a grief stricken community.”
The instinct for superlatives, it seems, existed even then.
Now I am the 1st to admit. That I am a coward and that there are somethings. persons and guns. That I will not be around & or use & I don’t care what you think or how much money is involved!
All I know for sure is that Somebody has bigger balls than me, That’s for sure! Especially when this stud up & cranked one off with this Old Veteran!
OLD VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well-fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE OLD STORY
Be responsible for yourself!
————————————————-
MODERN VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well-fed while he is cold and starving.
CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.
How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’.
Occupy the Anthill stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the Black Lives Matter group singing, We shall overcome.
Then, Reverend Al Sharpton, has the group kneel down to pray for the grasshopper while he damns the ants. He later appears on MSNBC to complain that rich people do not care.
Former President Obama condemns the ant and blames Donald Trump, President Bush 43, President Bush 41, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper’s plight.
Nancy Pelosi & Chuck Schumer exclaim in an interview on The View that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having; nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and given to the grasshopper.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn’t maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug-related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and peaceful, neighborhood.
The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Be careful how you vote in 2022….I believe that you are an ant, not a grasshopper!
Pass this on to other ants.
The Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum has a distinctly American backstory. Introduced to much fanfare in 1955 as the “most powerful handgun in the world,” the .44 arrived at a time when we were adding muscle and power to cars, jets and space rockets. The .44 Mag. was a dramatic leap ahead of the previous record holder, the .357 Mag., in a similarly sized, large-frame Smith & Wesson double-action revolver. The revolver now known as the Model 29 was introduced simply as “the .44 Magnum,” and it was a premium product in every respect. This deluxe status followed the precedent of the “Registered Magnums” that accompanied the release of the .357 Mag. cartridge. The .44 Magnum was a real achievement; shooters now had a sidearm that could deliver more energy than many of the popular rifles of the frontier era.
The new Smith .44 was an immediate success and became an iconic symbol for Smith & Wesson. Even now, the wrapper in which Smith & Wesson handguns are shipped are printed with the familiar profile of the original .44 Magnum. Collectors and shooters alike are deeply passionate about the early “Pre-Model 29” .44 Magnum N-frames.
There is something undeniably special about them, and the prices reflect this, with the early revolvers selling for double or triple of what a later sample brings. Smith & Wesson made a relatively small number of the early revolvers before deleting the upper sideplate screw, making the .44 a “four screw” rather than the original five. A short time later, in 1957, the factory adopted model numbers, with the .44 Magnum becoming the Model 29.
Legendary gun writer Elmer Keith lobbied aggressively for what became the .44 Mag. cartridge for many years, and he had this to say in the 1966 printing of his definitive book Sixguns: “The [Magnum] was a masterpiece, both as to accuracy and careful fitting and sighting. In fact, I consider it the finest product of the Smith & Wesson factory.”
Keith quoted a S&W manager who described the new magnum as coming off the assembly line only as fine, hand-fitted, super-grade guns. It is worth keeping in mind that this was at a time that many view as the “golden age” of S&W, so super grade at that time must have really been special.
I was recently able to extensively handle and fire a pristine, five-screw .44 Magnum. This Smith was one of only several hundred 4″ models produced in those first years, the bulk of the first thousands produced sporting the heavy, ribbed 6½” barrel. This particular revolver was later returned to the factory for a nickel refinish and appeared to be unfired following that refinish when I first inspected it. Nickel can look a little flashy on many firearms, but, in my book, a nickel 4″ N-frame is one of the most handsome handguns ever made. This sample had a level of polish, fitting and workmanship that was super grade in every sense of the term.
There are a variety of features that distinguish a “Pre-29” or “Five-Screw” Smith from those that would follow in later years. Arguably no single one of these matters, but as a group, they add to the overall richness of the whole. There are the countersunk, recessed-rim chambers that fully enclose the case heads. The repetition of the serial number on the rear of the cylinder and the inside of the ejector-rod shroud adds a touch of class. These parts didn’t just end up together; they were meant to be mated. The screws at the top of the sideplate and the forward curvature of the trigger guard speak to the old manner of assembly—not necessarily better but different, and, with the passage of time, distinguished.
In discussing the Smiths of this era, a highly respected pistolsmith remarked that, by today’s standards of custom, each revolver—particularly the high-end models like the .44 Magnum—were truly hand-built and fitted with “honed lockwork parts,” according to the early advertisements.
This level of fitting is the magic that makes the Golden Era guns so special. However, hand-fitting/honing inevitably yields a level of variability from revolver to revolver. They will certainly all meet the expected standards, but the feel of how the parts interact can be distinct from one N-frame to the next.
There is a uniqueness to the timing and trigger pulls on the big Smiths that seem to be the personality of the big-belt guns. This particular Pre-29 has a precision to the timing that is an enduring testament to the mastery of the craftsman who fitted it. Cocking this .44 Magnum is an experiential sonnet of American exceptionalism in the post-war era.
Rolling through the double-action pull is a real treat. It is almost perfectly smooth and even, the heavy-profile short barrel holding the front sight relatively still in the notch as the big hammer retracts and falls. Weight of the pull measures 10 lbs. but feels lighter. I often marvel at how a big Smith can rotate and lock a rather large cylinder and simultaneously cycle that target hammer while the shooter simply feels a smooth, even pull. There may be a lot of physical work being done, but the beauty of leverage and careful polishing hides it all from the shooter. There are more than a few double-action semi-automatics where the shooter feels like he or she is doing a lot of work and feeling a bunch of parts rub together to simply retract and drop a little hammer.
Rolling double-action shots onto somewhat challenging targets is one of my favorite shooting pastimes. I have the great fortune of being able to shoot a wide variety of firearms and in different settings. Shooting this S&W with low-pressure .44 Spl. loads is just plain fun. I tried Black Hills’ 210-grain lead flat points, as well as Magtech 240-grain jacketed flat points, and both are pushing mass and velocity that were considered serious manstoppers in days of yore. The feel through the N-frame magnum, though, is surprisingly mild. Casually connecting on my 3″x6″ steel “truth teller” target in double action from about 25 yards was pure joy.
One could shoot nothing but Specials in the .44 S&W and be perfectly happy. However, the whole point of the model was the introduction of the .44 Mag. cartridge, and the Smith takes on an entirely different character when the magnums are nestled into those recessed chambers. You simply don’t get to push 800 ft.-lbs. of energy out of a 42-oz. revolver without noticing it. The carry-friendly 4″ barrel ensures that the ignition is regularly accompanied by a fearsome daylight fireball, and the velocity makes a violent racket. I can imagine that the experience was jarring to the 1950s shooting public baselined on firing mild .38 Spls., with either no or ineffectual hearing protection. Many of those shooters undoubtedly formed the “For sale: used, like-new, fired only six shots” story that has been so often repeated.
The stocks on those early guns are a story of their own. Known widely as “Cokes,” the striking gonçalo alves wood was a departure from traditional walnut, and they were shaped with a mild curvature and swell that resembles an old-fashioned bottle of Coca Cola. The shaping and fitting on the stocks is, well, magnificent. They feel great in the hand, work well in both single- and double-action modes and handle recoil reasonably well. Smith & Wesson kept the basic profile of the stocks, but, over time, the later renditions became increasingly large, square and blocky—until they almost single-handedly boosted the aftermarket replacement makers such as Pachmayr. One indication of just how good the old Coke stocks were can be found in the current price of a set being sold separately from its magnum. Shooter-grade sets that show their age often go for more than a new J-frame revolver. Pristine sets can go for as much or more than a complete shooter-grade Model 29 from the later decades.
Recoil in the S&W was at the level where an experienced shooter can manage it in moderate doses. A somewhat-seasoned shooter can tolerate it for a few occasional shots in the field or the range, and a novice may either enjoy the experience or be mildly scarred, depending on their outlook. There is no doubt that serious energy is being unleashed, and the experience was intense with full-power loads.
Lighter .44 Mag. revolvers are now relatively commonplace, but the original may still be one of the best compromises—light enough to carry but heavy enough to shoot and control the significant energy being launched. Magnums that are more pleasant to shoot tend to be inconveniently heavy and unlikely to be carried far or often. Really light .44 Mag. revolvers are at their best with moderate .44 Mag. loads, with many shooters finding them downright unpleasant or even painful with stout ammunition.
I find one of the most significant shooting challenges out there is shooting groups with a heavy-recoiling magnum. For me, it is a test of willpower and discipline like few others—not quite as hard as walking by a plate of cookies fresh from the oven without taking one, but still very hard. I spent the bulk of my adult life in the Marine Corps, where discipline is valued like gold bullion, and I find nestling behind a carry-weight magnum and trying to shoot to its potential to be at once intimidating and a worthy challenge. The Pre-29s have a reputation for accuracy, but you have to not flinch as the gun bucks and roars to prove it.
The 1956 gun shot every bit as well as its legendary status would suggest. Federal 220-grain solid-copper hollow points printed a 1.2″ 25-yard group, and American Eagle 240-grain soft points fared just under 0.2″ larger. Black Hills’ 240-grain JHPs roared into 1.42″ and the company’s 160-grain fluted Honey Badgers cut their distinctive holes into 1.2″ clusters.
When I saw how well the .44 Magnum shot, I was happy and a little relieved. I then started thinking how to put some practical challenges to the S&W. Not quite Elmer Keith’s famous shots dispatching a wounded mule deer escaping at 600 yards with his magnum, but what might I be able to do with this particular one? I had been working on a rifle at 100 yards, and had, on a whim, fired four of the Federal 220s over a barricade at a bullseye, grouping just off the paper in a spread I could cover with my hand. The Black Hills 240s hit very nearly dead-on at 100 yards with no sight change, so I set up a Defense Targets 9.5″x20″ reduced steel silhouette and set forth to make it ring.
I rested the revolver on a beanbag rest flopped over a sawhorse and knelt down solidly behind it getting my natural point of aim set and thinking positive thoughts. I gently added pressure to the curved target trigger, a special, deluxe feature that was introduced as standard on the .44 Magnum, and the blast of the shot melded into the deep bass tone of the steel being rung hard at center. The next three shots felt equally good, and I could almost make out the splatter on the target forming a group right under where I was holding the front sight. On the fifth shot I didn’t give the trigger press 100 percent of the respect it deserved and called the shot a touch left. At 100 yards, “a touch left” pushed the impact more than 5″ from the center to the edge of target; it served as a reminder of the level of concentration required.
I redoubled my efforts and knew, as the S&W rocked upward, that the shot was good. The 100 yards down to the target was one of those walks where you think something special just happened and are eager for the paces to bring you into visual confirmation that the group you think you saw is what is actually there. The super-grade magnum had hammered those .44-cal. JHPs into a 4.6″ group on the steel.
There have been tens of thousands of S&W .44 Mag. revolvers made since that dramatic launch some 65 years ago. There have been both larger and smaller magnum revolvers from numerous makers and a half dozen or more cartridges that eclipse the power of the .44. Nonetheless, to this day, the .44 Mag. retains a mystique, and its original Smith & Wesson N-frame platform an aura that extends beyond the shooting world and into the popular culture. Any shooter lucky enough to examine one of the early Pre-29s is likely to string a bunch of very complimentary adjectives together. After some long deliberation, I chose just one that I think suits its power, old-world quality and grace … and that is majestic.
