Over at Shooting Illustrated, Tamara Keel sings the praises of the venerable .44 Special. But… “It [.44 Spl.] was, in many ways, supplanted by its own offspring, since a revolver chambered for .44 Mag. could do all the aforementioned .44 Spl. chores, plus chamber magnum rounds capable of taking pretty much any game on the North American continent. For years the .44 Mag. was a connoisseur’s cartridge, but when you’re the biggest kid on the block, word gets around.” And then, Callahan . . .
It’s probably Dirty Harry’s fault. He’s the guy who got up there on the nation’s movie screens and told everybody that the .44 Mag. was “the most powerful handgun in the world,” that it could blow heads clean off, and all manner of other hyperbole. Sales of the .44 Mag. skyrocketed, and probably not because there were suddenly a lot more revolver connoisseurs in the country who needed a big-game hunting handgun.
TTAG’s resident war hero is hankering for Ruger’s GP100 chambered in Ms. Keel’s fave. Review to follow. Meanwhile, got .44? Want .44?