S&W Trail Boss Dash 5

[berettabone]

I've talked to other older revolver shooters and 44 special seemed to be a favorite caliber for many of them...........................................

[ltxi]

.....with good reason. .44 Spl is an excellent general purpose big bore revolver round. .44 Mag has a mystique, but it's overkill for many purposes.

[Barth]

In one of the Dirty Harry Movies, Magnum Force I think. Harry mentions he shoots 44 Specials out of his 44 Magnum. I was disappointed when I first heard it.
If .44 Special was good enough for Harry, it's got to be good for everyone else. :-)

Yes, I remember that too.
44 Special is very close to 45 ACP.
Not really going to blow your head clean off - LOL!
But definitely effective.
I mostly ran Federal Premium Personal Defense 44 Remington Magnum 240gr Hydra-Shoks.
My hand would bleed at about 50 rounds
Thought that was sort of a medium velocity round anyway.
Later switched to Speer GDHP 44 Mag Short Barrel 200 gr (1075 fps 513 fpe).
That's good stuff, but I believe discontinued.
But my big Smith 44 loves 240 gr Magnums.
So I'm back to Hydra-Shok Magnums - LOL!

At short range I've put a cylinder into a single hole...

Magnum Force

[340pd]

If you want the gun and it checks out, buy the darn thing. You are dead a long time and whether you spent a hundred bucks too much or too little will long be forgotten after you have a few boxes of ammo downrange. As one customer once told me over a Rolex I didn't "need", treat yourself. I did and it is now after twenty years of enjoyment, it's worth twice what I paid for it and not for sale.