Raging Bull .44 Magnum, 6.5 inch barrel, ADVICE NEEDED PLEASE!

[evenflow80]

Thanks for the kind words and advice.... but my raging bull is 6.5" barrel, not 8". I hope your opinion doesn't change much with that though.

I really do hope the recoil will be ok. It just sucks sometimes when you really do want to be proficient at something but for some reason it just doesn't turn out the way you imagined it. A part of me is telling me once I shoot my Raging Bull I'll be very surprised at how nice it felt compared to the hot loads of .357 mag I've shot out of my SP101.

Here's hoping.... I just wish the dealer would call me with good news. I'd hate having to actually wait 4-5 months....

 

[evenflow80]

UPDATE ON ORDER STATUS:

So I'm at work and went out to a cigarette break. Came back, had a wierd number for a missed call on my cell. I called and my gun dealer answered and for those few seconds until he connected me with the guy who is handling my order, I was hte happiest guy in the world.

The guy told me yesterday that he got an RB for another customer, so that could be good news for me and he'd call if he heard any good news.

Sadly it was not to be..... he wanted to ask me if I wanted the 8 3/8" barrel version instead, and its available now. I opted to hold out for the 6" I ordered and wanted.

I just felt extremely depressed afterwards. The worst feeling in the world is when you are happy and excited about something about to happen only it doesn't, and you crash HARD.

Assuming what he told me about Taurus and there sporadic bulk shipments, if I missed this shipment from yesterday, then it means I'm in for the longest wait possible in this scenario.

 

[evenflow80]

So I've been killing time while waiting by doing research online on how best to shoot a heavy caliber revolver like the Raging Bull, and its interesting, but the best way (at the range at least) that most seem to agree on is:

facing the target straight with your body, feet apart about shoulder width, the dominant foot forward about a few inches, leaning forward *slightly* (at least not AWAY from the gun), elbows bent a little bit.

By default, I've been using a stance with my .357 that is also very common, but I never really saw at the range: body slighly twisted, one leg extended back, one arm extended all the way, the other bent and supporting the other dominant hand. Not really facing the target with my whole body. It just felt natural that way since I can use the extended leg in the back to support my body during the recoil.

But apparently, having both arms extended evenly splits the force of the recoil evenly across both arms, which makes sense.

So I was wondering.... what kind of stance do YOU guys and gals use? At least when shooting Magnums or other high calibers?

 

[zxcvbob]

When I'm shooting hot loads in my Ruger Bisley (.45 Colt loaded like a .44 Magnum) I prefer to shoot one-handed with my side facing the target (not 90 degrees, but close.) Elbow straight but not locked. Gun comes back across my face from the recoil instead of straight up. At least that's how it looks to me from my perspective; I've never seen myself on video BTW, I'm usually shooting at metal falling targets.

I shoot milder loads two-handed -- and faster.

I've started sometimes shooting midpower loads with my weak hand just to see if I can do it. That could come in handy someday (I hope not)

 

[evenflow80]

One handed? Geez man I have a loooooong way to get there bud

Actually, I have another important question:

The Raging Bull has a safety transfer bar. I did my research and apparently what it is is that the hammer itself doesn't strike the bullet, rather it strikes teh transfer bar and THAT strikes/fires the bullet.

my question is in a revolver with the transfer bar like the RB, If I'm UNCOCKING the hammer, and lets say my finger slipped and the hammer shot forward, will it fire?? I let go of the trigger once I started uncocking it so.....

 

[zxcvbob]

I think the heavy recoil is easier to manage one-handed. I don't try to hold the gun on the target, I just keep it from kicking up *too* much. The weight of the gun absorbs most of it (slows it down is more accurate), and I use my elbow to control it. What's really bad is shooting hot loads in a 8 ounce mousegun. The recoil there is like having a ladyfinger firecracker go off in your hand.

my question is in a revolver with the transfer bar like the RB, If I'm UNCOCKING the hammer, and lets say my finger slipped and the hammer shot forward, will it fire?? I let go of the trigger once I started uncocking it so.....

It might. (without the transfer bar, it would) If you have to uncock a revolver, you have one thumb on the hammer spur. Put the web of your other thumb between the hammer and the frame as you pull the trigger. Ease the hammer down past the half-cock notch, then take your finger off the trigger *before* you take you thumb out from under the hammer. I'm not sure I would do it quite like that with a hammer-mounted firing pin

Or just forget all that and make sure the gun is pointing downrange and at the backstop, then be careful not to slip off the hammer.

 

[woad_yurt]

The recoil won't be that bad. My Redhawk weighs one ounce more than a Raging Bull. I shot some 300 grain Double Tap 1215 ft lb mofos out of it and it wasn't at all bad. Bracing, yes, but totally ok. It's a really cool caliber.

Your gun is a heavy one; you'll be fine.* Get the cheapest stuff you can find and save your brass when you shoot.

* I'm not too familiar with Taurus grips; comfortable grips get more and more important as power levels rise. Pachmayr et al must have something nice if the originals are lacking.

 

[Three44s]

You need a hobby to pass the time while you wait for you RB.

May I suggest????

Regards

Three 44s

 

[evenflow80]

Three44s: Hit me, I'm wide open.

zxcvbob:Thanks for the tip about using hte web of your fingers, very smart little trick, Thanks!! I think it would be awesome to learn to shoot one handed too.

woad_turt: I think the RB is supposed to be even easier recoiling than the Super Redhawk. I think the RB has more of its weight in the barrel portion, and also I don't think the SR has ported barrels? I'm not sure, but at the very least, it will be as nice to shoot as your SR at the very least, which gives me hope. As a side note, how tall/heavy are you if you don't mind me asking???

 

[woad_yurt]

I'm 6' tall and 210 lbs. with brown hair and brown eyes. However, I'm presently seeing someone.

 

[Three44s]

Evenflow80,

I was being sneeky ........ ....... I was refering to reloading as "that hobby" ........... LOL!!

Don't think you have to spend a bundle to get your feet wet at it either!!!

My guess is that you'd be amazed on what you can do on a shoestring .....

Three 44s

 

[Ironworker]

Oh know

You should of bought a Colt Anaconda

 

[woad_yurt]

evenflow80:
Maybe $350 would be your total outlay if you decided to load your own. I do .38 SPL and everything necessary cost me less than $350, total. Once you plop down the original investment, it costs very little per round. .44 magnum will cost a little more than my lowly .38s because I only use 4 gr of powder per load whereas yours will use about 3X as much. All of the bullets are a bit more, too. But, in the end, to reloading, per round, will probably cost 1/3 the price of buying the cheaper factory ammo.

I got my stuff maybe a year before The Great Ammo Panic. It's a good thing I did because I was able to go shooting to my heart's content when many others couldn't shoot at all.

 

[evenflow80]

woad_yurt:

Thank you for the suggesstion. I will definately take up hand loading at some point in the future, but right now... I'm just really a beginner.

I do have a VERY important question though that would help me out a LOT:

What is the rule of thumb in judging how "hot" a certain kind of bullet will be? I mean recoil wise. I know you can tell by grains, but lower doesn't necissarily mean "milder" far as I can tell. Like on the .357 Magnum rounds, 125gr rounds are considered harder than, say, 158gr (my numbers could be off so for that I apologize).

I know velocity is important too and that is consistent: the lower the fps, the lower the recoil. But far as I can tell velocity is not listed on the boxes of ammo you go out and buy, but grams are.

Any suggestion on what to look for when buying .44 ammo (both special and Mag)? Remember that I'm mostly going to be target shooting, not hunting or whatever.

Thank you for your consistent help and advice, all of you.

 

[woad_yurt]

It's friggin' 54 oz gun!

Get any regular ol' factory jacketed cheap-o ammo and you'll be surprised at how easy shooting it is. Shooting magnum rounds in your little SP01 will bang your hand a lot more.

 

[zxcvbob]

Any suggestion on what to look for when buying .44 ammo (both special and Mag)? Remember that I'm mostly going to be target shooting, not hunting or whatever.

Then you *really* need to start reloading sooner rather than later. (you'll have to reload eventually to be able to afford shooting a big bore revolver.) A Lee single stage or hand press is good enough to get started, and will still be useful if/when you move up to a better or faster press. And get a decent balance-beam powder scale, you can find them on eBay. You can use homemade dippers instead of a fancy powder measure to get started, but you have to know how many grains of powder are in the dipper. Buy a new 3-die set of Lee dies, you can add the 4th "Factory Crimp" die later if you need it (but 99 times out of 10, you won't need it)

I would start with a box of 240 grain cast bullets, a pound of Unique or Herco, and maybe use .45 Colt (but not the "Ruger" data) or .44-40 load data in .44 Magnum brass to start with. And get a pound of 2400 so you can dabble with full-power loads.

 

[Three44s]

Slow down and smell the coffee 'old boy ..........

"I'm a beginer ........."

"How hot is this bullet ........?"

Reread your own questions.

Follow your own bread crumbs.

You are begging for moderate loads .........!!!!!!!!

THERE IS BUT ONE ROUTE to the path you seek!



HANDLOADING ....... NOW!


Three 44s

 

[zxcvbob]

Your third mistake would be taking that poster's comments too seriously. The fact that you are not comfortable with a snubby .357's recoil does NOT mean that you won't be able to handle that of a .44 magnum. You won't know until you try.

I shoot .45 Colt loads in my Ruger Bisley that are hotter than .44 Magnum, and they are a lot of fun (unless I shoot too many of them at a time and start flinching, but we won't talk about that.) The Ruger weighs about 3 pounds.

I also have a .380 ACP Kel-tec, and that gun is a b**** to shoot; it *hurts* when I fire it. (it weighs about 8 ounces.)

The Kel-tec is easy to carry but I don't like practicing with it. The Ruger is a lot more powerful *and* it's fun to shoot. Woe upon the badguy that attacks me when I just happen to have the Ruger with me, but that's not how it usually works is it...

 

[skinnygun]

Just bought a Colt .44 mag Andaconda ported with a 8" barrel Gunsmith said it has hardly been fired.

I Shot my first .44 mag revolver today 6 shots in .44 mag 240 Gr, the recoil with the big Andaconda was more like shooting a .38 special in a 2" S+W snub nose revolver.

 

[evenflow80]

Wow, that's good to hear.

I googled the Colt Anaconda you got and its pretty much the same exact weight as the Raging Bull (52oz I think is the weight of your gun). You barrel is an inch and a half longer so I don't know how much effect that will have over my gun's 6.5 inches.

I'm also encouraged by the fact that your gun doesnt have porting and doesn't have the same rubber grips as the Raging Bull, which tells me the RB should ATLEAST be as nice shooting as your gun.

Here's hoping. The wait to get my gun is excruciating. I've pretty much exhausted every article, forum, review, videos, and pictures of my gun online and now I'm just waiting.

Seriously, anyone ever had to wait this long to get a gun from the factory??