Sighted in my S&W 44Mag today

[Tahoe]

I had a trap lesson at the range and went out a little early to sight in my new .44 Mag. It is a handfull. I will not buy the 50cal Desert Eagle or whatever it is. This is enough hand gun for me. Let alone the SW460...Casul.

I shot low left and couldn't bring it up. I moved the sights, and I still shot low left. If I was shooting at a living being, it would now be a dead being, but didn't hit the bulls eye as much as I wanted. I can hit it with my 357...it seems like...almost every time.

Is my inability to hit the beye like I want, just need to get more familiar, or am I a little apprehensive of the extra kick of 44? Is this a pattern with progressing to larger calibers?

[woodsltc]

I went through the same thing not long ago. I was shooting my new .44 mag for the first time and was shooting low to the left. I forced myself to maintain my sight picture and not flinch and the holes began to appear in the bulls eye where I was aiming.

My conclusion was that one must practice, practice etc... to adjust to the recoil. I also learned to practice with .44 spl rounds and then to move up to the .44 mag for a few rounds. This seemed help me get adjusted to the trigger pull of the new revolver without fighting the recoil of the magnum rounds.

I now can shoot the magnum rounds with confidence and am reasonably accurate at hunting distances.

Don

[Tahoe]

I was shooting 240gr jsp...Winchester. I should check and see what else they have. I used to shoot wad cutters(?) out of my .357. I thought a 240 would be fairly light. But I'll definately check and see. I have some Red dot ammo...I can't remember for sure....but I thinks they're 280 JHP. NOT for target.

Thanks and thats good advice, work my way up to the caliber. I have a couple of Colt .45Auto's but just don't shoot them that much. Not sure how the recoil compares but I was DEFINATELY surprised by the kick on the 44mag.

BTW...The shooters on both sides of me (2 bays away) kept commenting on the percussion. They said they felt it. I stopped after almost a box. That was plenty.

[tulsamal]

Yeah, take it easy and don't give yourself a flinch. They are a lot easier to get than they are to get rid of! Definitely find some lighter loads. Even 180 grain loads will hurt less even if they have more blast. Finding a box of .44 Specials would help a lot. There is a Blazer .44 Special load that I've had good luck with.

Gregg

[cochise]

I had 3 boxes loaded to try on the other trip with my .44. One was 200 grn the other 240 grn, and a third 265 grn [Hornady's hunting bullet].

I definetly could tell the difference in felt recoil. I was shooting my Ruger Super Blackhawk. The front of my trigger finger was blistered and bleeding when I empty the third box. My S&W Classic cut the inside of my hand-web the previous trip.

Mo more marathon testing for this shooter.

[P-990]

Low-left sounds like a recoil-anticipation-flinch issue to me.

The blast and percussion are pretty severe with the .44. The bigger bores are worse. It just takes practice to get used to. Ease yourself into it with some .44 Specials and limit your exposure to the full-power loads until you get some more experience with it.

I'm not a big person (5' 8" and 145 pounds or so) and I find I can shoot about a box of full-power .44 Magnums in my 6" 629 before I have to find something else to do for a while. My normal practice load is a 200gr RNFP at about 900 fps or so (reloads). This makes the big-bore great fun to shoot and most people can pick it up and hammer everything in sight with it. It's a far cry from the big boomers, which are fun in the same way running down small, defenseless furry animals with oversized 4x4 trucks is fun! (For a little while anyway.

I think sometimes people forget, in this world of .500 S&W, .454 Casull and .475 Linebaugh, that your average shooter is really at his or her upper limit with a 4" .357 or 6" .44 Magnum. And I don't mean that to offend anybody, merely as a statement of observed truth.

Edited: Try dry-fire practice as well. This will show what you are doing when the trigger breaks and the hammer falls more easily than firing live-ammo. Recoil can cover some of the after-break movements the shooter is putting into the pistol.

Good luck and remember: Sight alignment, breathing, and trigger control. Always focus on those because they'll take your mind off of the other things that lead you away from the bullseye.

[mg66]

My limit on my 44 mag is about 50 rounds. Not just because of recoil of my hand loads but also holding a 52oz gun straight out starts to get my point of aim a tad wobbly after about 50 rounds. I use snap caps and practise with mine for 10 minutes almost every day, especially for DA.

Low left for a right handed shooter is:

1. slapping or jerking trigger, or
2. tightening fingers

Here is a small copy of a R/H Correction Target. For a full size (8-1/2"x11") you can download and print it from my website, just goto http://www.bghi.us/index.php?x=targets. There is also one for lefties which is just the opposite of the one for righties.

[JIH]

I will not buy the 50cal Desert Eagle or whatever it is

Not really a revolver... and the perceived recoil is different because of the weight of the gun, the gas actuation, and the fact that a lot of weight is in the grip when it's loaded. Moreover, in general, an autoloader and a revolver are just going to recoil differently, so there's not a lot of comparison in that department. And, that's as far off topic I'll get.

I will say, however, that perceived recoil differs in what types of gun you get. A .44 Mag in my Ruger Blackhawk feels different than it does in a Ruger Redhawk, S&W 629, Taurus Raging Bull, etc, much less going between different calibers.

A lot of it is balance and how the grip rests in your hand. the right grip can do wonders. I don't necessarily mean getting the Hogue or Pachmayr grips (though they're nice), but even other custom grips that aren't necessarily made for recoil compensation can change how you hold the revolver and how it feels in your hand.

Some revolvers also come ported/compensated, or can be made that way after-market, and that can help as well (though it's a bit drastic). Heck, because of the giant compensator on the S&W .500s, they don't kick near as hard as you'd think.

In my experience, I really like my Blackhawk for shooting .44 Mag. It rolls in my hand, and that helps with how the recoil feels. S&Ws and Colts have been a little more unpleasant for me because they push directly back into my hand.

If you're new to shooting .44 Mag and new to your gun, I would do as woodstlc and tulsamal suggest... step down to .44 Spl and familiarize yourself with your gun, and then go into .44 Mag. Also consider lighter .44 Mag loads/bullets like 180-200 gr. before stepping up to stuff like 240-300 gr.

You're not alone. There's a lot of used large-bore handguns (and rifles) out there that have only been through one box of ammo. Typically, their owners jumped in with both feet and got the biggest, baddest loadings they could find and scared themselves and lost a few hundred dollars on the resale of a perfectly good firearm.

[mg66]

JIH has a host of very good points. My ported M44 is a nice revolver to shoot and the weight at 52oz unloaded helps control recoil also.

Here is my wife shooting my M44 with near max loads. She is of average build and prefers 38sp and 357 but loves shooting the 44 also and is very accurate with it. Its actually hard to pry it out of her hands so I can shoot it

[357shooter]

I would definitely take the advice from the other posters,and try starting out with lighter loads,either specials or lighter handloads.I developed the same problem, as I am one of those people who jumped right in with both feet and started shooting heavy loads.I evntually started handloading lighter loads and worked my way up to the heavier stuff,and I now shoot quite a lot,and always trying to maintain my sight window,not flinching,and using only the pad of my finger to press the trigger.by the way I think those wwb jsp loads are a little hotter than they claim.They claim they are like 1100 fps,but the jhp I have been loading are rated for 1300fps according to the hodgdon reloading manual and don't have nearly the recoil the wwb loads do.

[Tahoe]

Thanks guys...I was in the safe so I grabbed my .357 and I just felt so much more confident with it...dry firing it, etc. So I will take the advice and find some lighter loads....but I will progress to the heavier loads or I will sell the gun. I don't expect that to be a problem, but I bought it because of it power.

[mg66]

If you reload then it will make it easy to work up to some stout hunting loads. Give it a chance to get use to it. It is a bit of a jump from 357 to 44. I prefer shooting my 44 to my 12 gauge using slugs.

[Tahoe]

But wouldn't it be similar to my Colt 45 1911's? I don't shoot them as much as I should but wouldn't the kick be similar?

I don't reload right now, but considering it.

[JIH]

But wouldn't it be similar to my Colt 45 1911's? I don't shoot them as much as I should but wouldn't the kick be similar?

Not at all. They're completely different firearms and completely different loadings.

[Sarge]

Tahoe- long-time .44 mag shooter here.

Start over.

Your sights should regulate with 240's. Find some .44/240 'cowboy loads' (they won't beat you silly while you're learning a new gun) and go back to the range. Shoot from a bench, watch your front sight, and press the trigger straight back until the gun surprises you by going off.

A short article on marksmanship basics, that apply to any handgun, can be found here. It also applies to shooting from a rest.

Take as long as you need to fire six perfect, individual shots. You should be getting a group- don't try to adjust the sights until you do. Look for the center of the group, and then move the rear sight a small amount (3-4 clicks) in the direction you want the group to go. Write down what you just did on a notepad, and then fire again. Make every shot prefect, as near as is humanly possible. I use this method to dead-zero fixed-sight 1911's at 50 yards. The principles are the same, but the tools are hammer/drift/files instead of screwdrivers.

If you're not sure of yourself, have an experienced, skilled shooter try the gun. Somebody will be willing to help. I used to shoot a lot at public ranges and I lost count of the guys I helped to get a handgun or rifle sighted in. It was well worth the effort to see the smile on their faces when they started hitting well at 25 or 50 yards.

[PinnedAndRecessed]

You need to start reloading. Starting shooting a 44 with full charge loads is intimidating. I don't use full charge except for sighting in hunting rounds, and I haven't hunted in years.

Start with 44 special velocities until you get used to the gun. Work up from there.

[Tahoe]

Just picked up a box of 44 specials/cowboy. After the morning hunt on friday, it'll be plinking time. Not sure ya can call a 44 plinking though.

thx again to all.

[JohnKSa]

Load up a cylinder, but leave one chamber empty. Now, look away from the gun and spin the cylinder. Still without looking, close the cylinder.

Now shoot a group without checking to see where the empty chamber is. My guess is when you drop the hammer on the empty chamber, you'll get a pretty good understanding of why your shots aren't on target.

[PinnedAndRecessed]

Actually, John, I read you only load three chambers, and load at least two bullets contiguously. Plus, you're supposed to have someone else do the actual loading.

[JohnKSa]

That will work too.

The key is getting at least one empty chamber to come up unpredictably.

[mg66]

Guys, that is a great method to see if flinching is present .... stopping that flinch is another story

[DanM2000]

There is a chance that the problem is more gun than shooter related. It seems that a lot of N frames hit far left. Check out this thread:http://smith-wessonforum.com/eve/for...4/m/8281079651

[JohnKSa]

The biggest problem with a flinch is letting the shooter see it. From there, if they want to beat it, they can with work.

In my experience, until they see it with their own eyes, it's impossible to get anywhere.

Far left is likely to be a gun problem. Low left with a shooter new to the gun and caliber is more likely to be a shooter issue. Shooting from a rest would tell for sure.

[Tahoe]

The 44 specials definately worked. Thanks. I never thought about smaller loads to start with. It was a relief. I hit the 10 repeatedly. I went to the 240mags and it was still good. I'm gaining more and more confidence all the time with it.

[JohnKSa]

I'm gaining more and more confidence all the time with it.

That's the key. If you note the flinch coming back (it happens), go to some light loads for awhile and maybe do a little dryfiring.