[Jeff Higgins]

Maybe my "firm handshake" is firmer than most. Probably easier to demonstrate than explain anyway; but I'm sure we all agree we need to hang onto these things.

I do shoot these quite a lot. I go through well over a thousand rounds a year in my .44 mag and various .45 Colts. My standard load in the .44 mag is a 300 grain long flat nose cast from wheel weights in an LBT mold, over 23 grains of W-W 296 with a CCI magnum primer; this approaches 1300 fps in my 6" Virginian Dragoon. My standard .45 Colt load (for the Ruger Blackhawk only) is another 300 grain flat nose out of an LBT mold, again over 23 grains of W-W 296 with a CCI magnum primer. This one gets just about 1200 fps from a 4 3/4" Blackhawk.

One of my carry guns is an old 2 1/2" Charter Arms Bulldog Pug; a five shot revolver in .44 Special. Standard load is the RCBS .45-250K, weighing about 260 grains when cast from wheelweights. Loaded over 8.0 grains of W-W 231, it's good for about 840 fps from this stubby 2 1/2" barrel. It's about the size of that little Scandium S&W but, being all steel, somewhat heavier. The bullet is about twice as heavy as any .38 caliber as well, though. You want recoil? I'll show you recoil. This little guy is a handful.