Big Bore Snubby--any subbestions?

[Lloyd Smale]

heres the one ive been playing with lately. Its a 3.5 inch 44 mag redhawk dustin linebaugh made me. Round butted bowen rear sight front sight dustin made. He also did the black linnen micarta grips.

[S.B.]

In the past, S&W has manufactured some fixed sighted 3" model 29s.
Steve

[S.B.]

Check this one out, it has potential.

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=45957&langId=-1&isFirearm=Y

[Camp Cook]

Here is what I carry in remote wilderness areas/grizzly country...

A shortened 4.25" Ruger SRH with Crimson Trace laser grips in 454 Casull (bottom gun).

My bush loads are Beartooth 405gr WLNGC's with Rem 7 1/2 primers and LilGun powder averages 1330fps.

[Devy55]

Depends on what you want it to do.  Kill bears or stop a mugger.

For killing muggers I prefer the 44 special.  I'm not trying to kill bears or shoot through engine blocks, so I don't need a magnum to accomplish the mission.

A .44 special in a revolver has the same ballistics as a .45acp from a 1911, which is a proven man-stopper.

My Taurus 445 with 2" barrel is easily concealable and will do anything I ask it to do in a self-defense role.

[coyotejoe]

I once had an old 1917 S&W with shortened barrel, tritium bead on a low ramp and rounded butt which seemed a very good balance of size, weight and ballistics. I got rid of it because it had a glitch in the lock-works which sometimes made the trigger pull very heavy on one shot. It was a bug which just cropped up at random and I never did find the cause so got rid of that gun.
  I now have a first gen Charter Arms Bulldog .44 but I limit it to 180 and 200 grain bullets at 700 fps because any heavier loads will rip skin off the first knuckle of my trigger finger where the guard scrapes in recoil. I've never had this happen with any other gun, not even other Charters and don't understand why. I've tried wrapping the triggerguard with black electrical tape and that helped but only a bit.
 I can attest it is hard to avoid a flinch when you know the shot is going to draw blood, my own, that is!

[TeamNelson]

Im not looking to stop pacyderms.  Most of my shooting will be dry fireing, followed by parper targets.  Any shots on Dangerous Game is likely to be two legged types

Given your purpose, why a Big Bore? "Because" is a great answer; Lord knows I've used it when buying guns. Just curious. For the job you mention, I trust a Taurus 606 2" ported 6 rds of .357. Little extra weight and the porting seem to take the edge off hot loads.

[MSP Ret]

I, like you, wanted a big bore short barreled revolver. To that end for several years I had my eyes out for a nice used Charter Arms .44 that met my criteria. What I did get, and carry as bear protection when lonely flyfishing in far northern Maine along the Canadien border, about 60 miles to the closest paved road, is a S&W Model 58 in .41 Mag. The barrel has been shortened to 3" and the butt has been changed from square to round, and it wears a nice set of rubber round butt N-frame grips. The action has been tuned and it is extremely accurate for a 3" powerful gun. It is a one of a kind but works for me. It is a 6 shot and heavier that a Charter Arms would be, and if I ever come across a nice .44 short barreled Charter Arms I will pick it up. However the Charter Arms shorty will no longer be for work or for normal day to day carry, but it might get carried on special ocassions. I now prefer high capacity semi autos for possible dangerous 2 legged situations, however I am sure a revolver would work just fine in those situations much of the time as well, especially for non LEO individuals....<><....                                   

[TEFLON]

FOR THE MONEY YOU CAN'T BEAT THE CHARTER .44 BULLDOG.  PUT SOME PACHMAYER GRIPS ON IT THOUGH.  I CARRIED ONE FOR YEARS AS AN UNDERCOVER/BOOT GUN FELT COMFORTABLE WITH IT.  200 GR SPEER LEAD SEMI WADCUTTERS WAS MY FAVORITE LOAD

[MSP Ret]

Different strokes I guess. When I worked undercover we were at first issued .38's, them .357's, and then Walther PPK's in .380. I usually carried either the .380 or my favorite, an Iver Johnson TP22 in .22 LR. Others in the unit carried .25 autos and we had a running arguement over which might be best. One thing we wanted to avoid was getting found out carrying what looked like a "cop's gun" by the bad guys. Many of them had guns anyway so "carrying" OK, but you did not want them to think you were a cop. During the cold months you might be able to get by with a bigger gun, but when it was sweltering in the summer in the city that little TP22 in my pocket or belt felt good. My TP22 looked just like a small Walther PPK and I still have it and still occasionaly carry it for work now. Years ago I never felt really undergunned with in on the street but now I sometimes do. I guess it all may stem from our perceptions of what we may be called on to use the gun for. Years ago it was just my last ditch "belly gun" if needed, and the hope was you could BS yourself out of any situation. For what I do for work now it is usually sufficient. When not working it may be needed more to protect someone close to me or others that may need help, and for that it is on the light side....<><....