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Is The .44 Magnum A Wise Choice For CCW Carry

Grayfox said:
Magnum? No. For all the mentioned reasons.
.44 Special? Absolutely! One of my favorite cartridges and a well documented "man stopper". In the days before Magnum cartridges, big bore rounds such as the .44 Special and .45 Colt were extremely popular among law enforcement and for good reason too. Big slugs at moderate speeds had a tendency to end gunfights quickly and effectively. ;)
Three of my favorite .44 Special carry guns can be seen in this picture along with their like caliber friends.
S&W 24-3 3", S&W 696 5 shot L-frame 3" and a 3" CA Bulldog. Any one makes a fine big bore CCW. ;)

https://imgur.com/NrKyogi
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Very nice collection.
 
A big heavy slug just seems to do the job. I carry either a 69 Smith 3” or a Ruger SBH 4 5/8” in the toolies. I dined ‘em a tad too big for CC, but for a belt gun? Sure. And you can have confidence a well placed shot will work against pretty much critter that decides to be fractious.
 
Many, many many moons ago we hired a new police officer in the little town where I lived and worked. This was about ‘72. The new guy was a big man, 6’3” and about 230. Very nice guy, quiet and easy going. All our ops carried a 19 Smith but one and he had a 1911. The new guy had a Smith 29 with a 6” tube. All of us firefighters and his fellow cops teased him a Lot about his “cannon” (where are the wheels, etc.). He took it well and the only response I ever heard was “I never want to have to shoot anyone, but if I do I don’t want to shoot but once”. He practiced hard with that Smith, and for a longtime was shooting a box (50) full power .44’s a day just south of town. A couple years later he WON the State Police Pistol Championship with that S&W. The teasing stopped.
 
I was a resident deputy and chief of security at a army national guard post in Louisiana. A lot of our patrol area included a number of ranges in the 13 thousand acre reservation. Also we had a 200 inmate work release state prison facility on the post. The inmates maintained the ranges and we had to regularly check on them for various reasons. I carried a 4" S&W 29. While in the field I felt the 44 mag was a good choice. While patrolling the post proper I did feel over gunned.
 
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Shibadog said:
Many, many many moons ago we hired a new police officer in the little town where I lived and worked. This was about ‘72. The new guy was a big man, 6’3” and about 230. Very nice guy, quiet and easy going. All our ops carried a 19 Smith but one and he had a 1911. The new guy had a Smith 29 with a 6” tube. All of us firefighters and his fellow cops teased him a Lot about his “cannon” (where are the wheels, etc.). He took it well and the only response I ever heard was “I never want to have to shoot anyone, but if I do I don’t want to shoot but once”. He practiced hard with that Smith, and for a longtime was shooting a box (50) full power .44’s a day just south of town. A couple years later he WON the State Police Pistol Championship with that S&W. The teasing stopped.
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When Dirty Harry premiered a lot of officers bought a Model 29. Some wanted to carry them, most PD's wouldn't allow them. I worked for a chief in the late 70's who said if you can qualify on the timed police qualification course you can carry it. I didn't know anybody who qualified with it.
 
HayesGreener said:
When Dirty Harry premiered a lot of officers bought a Model 29. Some wanted to carry them, most PD's wouldn't allow them. I worked for a chief in the late 70's who said if you can qualify on the timed police qualification course you can carry it. I didn't know anybody who qualified with it.
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I know a detective in the city I was raised works plain clothes. For years he has wanted to carry in a shoulder holster his S&W 629 6 1/2 incher on duty. He has been denied each request and told he has to carry the police issue Glock. He is very proficient with his 629 and has placed 1st in shooting contests 3 or 4 times. I’m friends with his OIC and he said that the city is fearful of liability if he was to have over penetration and hit a citizen if he was to shoot an offender. Even though I’m a advocate of the 44, I can understand the dept. concern.
 
Annihilator said:
I carried this and used it as my house gun years ago, an Astra Terminator in .44mag, I just used .44 specials in it. It looked like this, great gun and very accurate.

View attachment 8255
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George Clooney's piece in From Dusk Till Dawn! That's a great old gun.

Here's my 3" .44 -a 629 Carry Comp. It wears Pachmayr Compaq's and gets fed .44 Spl Gold Dots.

View attachment IMG_5395.JPG
 
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Lexie__M said:
What about the trauma alone from the impact that you may die from❓
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Back when wild Cocker Spaniels roamed the earth, Ricard Davis inventor of the first concealable bulletproof vest and founder of Second Chance, used to go from dept. to dept. selling the vests. He would put on a vest and let one of the Deputies shoot him in the chest with a 44 mag. After a while he would put a phone book between the vest and his chest " not because I'm worried about the vest not stopping the bullet but because it hurts like hell."
Dying from impact trauma, not likely. Getting the dog snot knocked out of ya (y) yup, Yup, YUP.
 
Although it wasn't a 44 mag I saw a 2nd Chance vest rep/owner shoot himself with a 357 Mag. Everyone watching wanted to see the trauma from the hit. There was a very deep red fist sized mark on his upper right chest. I think it was 1976 when I was going through Alexandria PD academy.
 
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