Magnums? No Thanks!

I’m not saying I never used magnum rifles. I’ve owned and hunted with such magnums as a 7mm Remington, .300 H&H, .300 Winchester and .308 Norma to name a few. In fact, I’ve actually shot two critters with a magnum rifle. The first was a cow elk standing broadside at about 80 yards. After I shot, she just stepped into the brush and disappeared — I’d swear the bullet just made her feel better. Seconds later, another cow stepped out of the brush almost in the first one’s tracks. I shot her too. She stopped and looked at us, whereupon my partner shot her and she fell down — dead.

The friend then looked at me and said, “How did you miss them?” To which I replied, “I didn’t miss them. Both were good shots.” He didn’t believe me until we walked up to his elk and, in addition to his spinal hit, there was a bullet hole precisely in the heart/lung area where I had aimed. The bullet hole was about the size of a pencil going in and the same going out.

After his elk was tagged and dressed we went looking for the first cow elk, and we found her too. A young couple was dressing her out. They were a little defensive when we asked if she had a bullet wound through her lungs. I said, “Don’t worry. That’s your elk. We just don’t want another wounded one wandering about.” Then they said “yes,” the elk had also been hit. Same story: In and out with no expansion.

I was never any great shakes as an elk hunter but I did get a few: A cow with a .270 Winchester, a smallish bull with a .30-06, another with a .308, a big bull with a .50-90 Sharps. None were fiascos such as happened with the magnum. Of course, it wasn’t the rifle’s fault — it was stiffly jacketed bullets in those factory loads that didn’t expand after impact. In my pursuit of mule deer and whitetail and pronghorns, I used the .257 Roberts, .270 Winchester, 7mm-08, .280 Remington, .308 Winchester, .30-06 and .45-70. Never was a magnum needed for any of them.

Regular readers of mine (If there are any!) should be remembering a magnum I still own and brag about. It’s my early 1960s-vintage Remington Model 700 ADL in .222 Remington Magnum. I bought it in May 1980 and it has served me well for varmints ranging in size from tiny ground squirrels to coyotes. It’s somewhat battered now but I’ll never sell it. Anyway, I don’t consider it a “true” magnum in the belted-case sense of the word.

Magnum Handguns

As to handguns, I did feel a need for magnums when I was younger. I spent a lot of time in the mountains north of Yellowstone National Park, which is known as grizzly bear habitat. In my town it wasn’t uncommon to see black bears strolling through the streets. On my various horseback forays I almost always packed a magnum handgun. When concerned mostly about black bears my favorite was a Smith & Wesson Model 27 .357.

However, if I was deeper into the mountains, I packed something a bit bigger. I started with a Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum upon which I had the barrel amputated from 7-1/2 to 5-1/2″. After a few years a friend talked me out of it, so it was replaced with a Smith & Wesson pre-Model 29 with a 5″ barrel.

This S&W was one fine handgun. It had been made in 1957 and was shipped to my home state of West Virginia with a 4″ barrel. I bought it from a Mingo County deputy sheriff in 1968, along with 18 rounds remaining from his first box of ammo purchased with the gun. Along the way I had a 6-1/2″ barrel installed. While on a visit to Elmer Keith, he swapped me one of his books for the old 4″ barrel. Shortly thereafter I sent the .44 to Smith & Wesson and they cut the barrel to 5”. They dated their work. Stamped under the wooden stocks was “3-74.”

Actually I was able to shoot those .44 Magnums fairly well. My eyes were good and I was working outdoors every day, so my health was great. They weren’t what I would call fun but I could get a dozen or so rounds through them before flinching set in. In 2010 I sold my S&W .44. Why? Because I was made a handsome offer for a gun merely gathering dust and I’ve never missed it. Not once in all the years I had those magnum handguns did I ever have to fire a single round in a serious situation.

What about personal protection in the real world, not out in the woods? Those N-Frame Smiths were too big and bulky for keeping close by in civilized areas. However, still having a magnum mindset, I picked up a 6″ barreled Model 19 .357. It was a wonderful revolver — the trigger pull was an even 2 lbs. and with good handloads it would cut one ragged hole in paper targets. It went nigh everywhere in the pickup with me. I never shot a live animal with it, yet it helped me bring home plenty meat.

How did it work out? In those days there was a fad locally of having cow and horse pasture turkey shoots up and down the Yellowstone River Valley. Some organization or another wanting to raise money would buy a mess of frozen turkeys and local handgunners competed on paper targets with rifles and handguns. The shot nearest to center won a bird. The most I came home with in one day was four. I hate to admit this but somewhere along the line I let the Model 19 go and don’t remember to whom or even when. It’s one of the very few, out of hundreds of guns which passed through my hands in over a half century, I’ve tried to relocate and buy back. No luck!

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