Shooting the famous handguns - 500 S&W vs 44 mag vs 357 mag etc

Shooting the famous Revolvers & Pistols

Ive shot most of the popular calibre handguns, & want to share my opinion.

For this post we'll start at the bottom of the food chain to build some points to talk about:

 

9mm Beretta M92 FS Military Tactical with Rubberised grips

Now isnt this a pretty little thing. Easy peezy, accurate, insignificant recoil, tiny muzzle climb.
Accurate for continuous shots, cheap. Well, there is a reason its so popular. Comfortable versatile cartridge. It doesnt have the kind of power serious use needs, but thats a different matter.
I particularly loved the Beretta M92 FS Tactical rubberised version (maybe its the same as the M1 tactical not sure). This handgun was so easy to shoot & had so little recoil I couldnt believe I was shooting a 'non .22' haha! It really felt like a .22LR being shot, wasnt even very loud!
Thanks P. Beretta, the day I start buying handguns, this beauty will be in my gun safe :)

.38 Special

My favourite calibre, accurate, managable recoil, & no discomfort when shooting the 8" barrelled S&W. As a first time shooter, I grouped it in 2 inches at 10 metres, which is good for a noob.
It is clean, not insanely fast, & jumps slowly. Allows you to do a good follow through, I can totally visualising this as being a target shooting favourite, & for good reason. Brilliant revolver, will be part of my handgun collection some day.

.45 ACP

There is a reason the M1911 is still a legendary & highly regarded pistol, & thats because despite being an old design, it is beautiful to shoot. Accurate, managable recoil, very capable for its medium size package. This is perhaps the winning pistol cartridge, versatile, not too heavy, & adequate for target practise without giving you a soar had whilst helping you get used to more recoil than a 9mm. This had slightly better grips than the older models, which would have helped, & It didnt look like the newest version either. Well, the newest version of this will also be in my gun safe one day! :D

.357 Magnum

After reading all the numbers around its efficieny & trajectory, I was expecting this cartridge to impress me in the small package. Well, it didnt.
The recoil jump direction was very random, it wasnt heavy intensity, it was just the thing shaking all over the place. Its the same 8" S&W revolver I used for the .38 Sp I enjoyed shooting.
It was less accurate than the 500 s&w mag & I didnt enjoy it. Also, it has this annoying whiny noise that lacks the thump, All that talk & no walk haha reminds you of poorly editing sound effects in cheap cow boy movies.

.44 magnum Desert Eagle

Being highly impressed with the M-4s gas blowback auto loading system, I expected this to be the best big bore handgun to shoot. It was the worst. The Gas reloading was so slow that the intertia of the slide moving slowly & stopping after the recoil jump had ended was very distracting.
You almost had the instinctive need to pause, check & ensure it was ok to take the next shot, because it felt like the slide was loose & going to come flying into your face.
The recoil was much lesser than shooting the .44 S&W m 29 as expected, but the overall fun was dead. Id rather shoot a .45 ACP for target practise, or the 500 S&W if I wanted some heavy action.

.44 magnum S&W legendary Model 29

Expected this gun to be much lesser felt recoil than the 500 s&w magnum, but turns out the built in muzzle break compensator inside the S&W 500 is really really good. The .44 noticibly climbed more ater each shot, & being lighter than expected, it did shake all over the place. The recoil & jump was very very fast. It really digs into your palm, be prepared for sore hands. The digging in is no less than the 500 mag. Overall accuracy was quite good but you do need to hold it really firm.
The standard grip wasnt too impressive, a bit too thin in my opinion, let alone the material being such that lots of metal from the chassis was directly exposed out in line with the grip.

500 Smith & Wesson Magnum .50 cal

A true masterpiece of precision. Has had its set of comprimises, but its amazing I could shoot it with so much ease cmpared to what I anticipated. The recoil is tamed really well thanks to the built in muzzle break, causing the jump to not climb over approx 40 degrees. The .44 magnum S&W M29 climbed a lot. The weight balancing is such that its extremely heavy in the front, which has its downside, but the recoil benefits far out weigh the slight shake caused by this excessive muzzle weight. The Grip was quite nicely fitting, again better than the antique .44 mag. Grouping was good. Overall, a very nice experience.

Do tell us about handguns you have shot or owned. Do you have any tips for taming them better?

Please do share your experiences.
Happy Shooting