A Competition Taurus .44 Special

I recently visited with my good buddy Paul and he let me photograph his Taurus Model 441 .44 Special revolver.   Paul and I grew up together in rural New Jersey.  We’re both firearms and reloading guys, and I love getting together with Paul and talking about both topics.

Paul told me he purchased the Taurus new in 1986 or 1987 from Harry’s Army & Navy store on Route 130 in Robbinsville, New Jersey.  That shop is no longer there, but back in the day it was a major gun store in central Jersey.   Paul said he is 98% sure he paid $249 for it.

I know Paul likes this 5-shot .44 Special revolver very much.  He used it extensively in monthly defense revolver matches.   Those matches required a defense revolver with a barrel length of 4 inches or less and a caliber of .38 or larger.  The matches were shot at distances up to 50 yards. Paul did well with the Taurus in the Eastern Regional Defense Pistol matches, taking many medals in his class. The matches attracted over 60 shooters from Maine to Florida and they were held over three days.   The awards you see below are just a few Paul won with this handgun.

The frame size is between a Smith & Wesson K and L frame. The grips you see in these photos are from Hogue.  Paul has the original grips.  He told me the Hogue just feels better in his hand.  Paul did all his match shooting with the original grips and changed them for the Hogue grip about two years ago.

Paul is a very competent machinist and gunsmith, and he modified the Taurus to his tastes.  He did a trigger job on it and replaced the springs with a Wolf spring kit.  He also added the trigger over-travel piece on the back of the trigger.  That’s to limit any further rearward trigger movement after the hammer has been released.  It helps to minimize gun movement and improves accuracy.  I dry fired this gun both single and double action at Paul’s place and the gun is silky smooth. It’s a really nice weapon.

Paul is also a very experienced reloader and he does it all, including casting his own bullets.   He’s the guy I call when I have reloading questions.   For this gun, Paul uses the 429215 Lyman gas check bullet mould, but he does not use a gas check.   Paul’s preferred .44 Special load is the 215-grain Lyman bullet and 7.0 – 7.1 grains of Unique.  Paul told me it’s very accurate in this gun and the load has mild recoil.

While handling the Taurus, I was impressed.  I was tempted to make Paul an offer on it, but I knew doing so would be pointless.  When you have a handgun you shoot well, you modified to fit your tastes, and you have a history with, you keep it.  It sure is nice.

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