-ing Me some questions about a .44 mag I had given him.
It's a S&W 4" 629. It was mine, briefly, then my dad bought it and carried it for years on hunts, and his trip of a life time, up to Alaska. My dad recently traded it back for some guns better I had as those are better suited to home defense for him.
I have really taken JT's "A pair and a spare" rule of 3 a bit further when it come to 4" N frames... MY son, still living in Alaska, wanted a good .44 mag. When he was recently down for a visit, he mentioned it again. Then, he really worked on me, he mentioned that he was considering buying a Taurus .44 mag!(Taurus is OK, but not a S&W!)... I had loaned him one of my .44 mag Mountain Guns when we lived in AK together. He liked packin it, but not shooting, the lighter weight gun. I had the answer and he received a standard weight 4" 629. We went out back, he shot it with some Skeeter loads I had in my desk drawer. He rang the 20 yard 3" steel gong 11 times with 12 shots shooting through the dust inside my 55 gallon drum suppressor. He was hooked. I am happy. When I was talking with Jake, I mention ed that my favorite resources was JT's Taffin tests...

I just re read this

http://web.archive.org/web/20030625023516/http://www.sixguns.com/tests/tt44mag.htm

while listening to this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpbHt7Cqjd8

and yes, it brings back some precious memories...

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

Those precious memories are priceless.

While I have no children, I have one nephew who grew up being raised by his stepfather 260 miles away. 'Craig' was born when I was a senior in high school. My brother and sister in law divorced 2 years later and she moved away. I treasured everytime he came to spend time with grandpaw and grandmaw. I still lived at home off and on so I got in all the visiting I could with him.

He one day caught me in the barn reloading, he was about 8 years old at the time. He was growing up in a rural area, so guns were part of the family farm life for him. He'd never seen ammuntion reloaded before. I was in the barn reloading some .44 Mag's for my Model 29 6" when he came strolling in. As soon as I explained, his eyes lit up and he was all eyes and ears.

I started explaining the process to him step by step, then got up and seated him on my stool. You ready to learn young man? Boy was he ever! I explained 'light/medium and FULL HOUSE loads to him. And that we would make him some light loads and he could should Unka's gun. We got 6 cranked out and out the back door of the barn we went to send them down range.

I opened the gun and asked for the 6 rounds he was holding in his hand he was so proud of. I gave him earplugs and showed him the proper grip. I stepped up behind him and watched. He cocked the gun and steadied himself and let the first round go. I waited for his reaction and it was good, all smiles. I told him to keep on going. What I didn't tell him, was Unka had slipped a full house load in on the last chamber. After the 5th shot I asked if he was sure he had a good grip on the big ole gun, 'Uh huh'. I stepped in about a foot behind him while he concetrated on the gun.

He indeed had a good grip. When the round went off, the muzzle rose about twice what it had been and he came back about 6-8"s. Then there was about 3 seconds of silence. I was almost afraid I'd done the wrong thing, until he turned his head up and back towards me. The grin on his face matched the exuberance in his voice as he shouted...FULL HOUSE!!! It still brings a huge smile to my face sitting here remembering that day.

I just wish he hadn't moved to Arizonia 20+ years ago, sigh.

Murphy

cartridges in the ammo boxes for me. he started this at about age 3.

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

Rob, I gather from your last few post on your son, He is living in Alaska now. Is he still in the area you guys moved from? And has he had a chance to hunt any big game yet?

My best to you and your family.
Gary

Picture is partially photochopped: shows on of my rigs with a custom M29. He was wearing a different rig that he made with the 1911 I bought from you.

--
Of the Troops & For the Troops

Busy Man !!! Hope he enjoys all his time there.

Unfortunately, I did not reload when my kids were growing up. We all got started a bit late...

I cannot wait to give my Son his first sixgun.