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March 21, 2008

"Pistol: Any non-revolver type handgun," according to Midway's Gun-Tec Dictionary.

So technically speaking, my Baddest Tactical Pistol No. 3 is not a pistol, it's a revolver. But it's definitely pretty bad and IMHO, it's also pretty tactical. For my purposes, I have chosen to define "Tactical" as a full-size handgun of a serious caliber.

Besides, for "Tactical" I think I've got that covered pretty well with my Baddest Tactical Pistol No. 2, a CZ75 SP01 Custom. It's the only pistol I know of that has a bayonet for an accessory! If that's not bad enough and tactical enough, I don't know what is.

So BTP(R) No. 3 is a Smith & Wesson Model 21-4 .44 Special revolver, an N-Frame, their largest size until they introduced the monster-beyond-.44 mag. calibers in the new X-Frame size. And if .44 Special ain't a serious caliber, there ain't none.

But first, allow me to digress. I had looked at the eight handguns I then owned, all pistols, and decided I needed a "belly gun," which by definition is almost exclusively a .38 Special snubby revolver.

So I began looking around and found a slew of .38 snubbies to choose from. My daughter has a nice S&W .38 with Lasergrips she's very happy with and I liked shooting it. But I just couldn't seem to make up my mind as I looked at S&W and Taurus and others.

Maybe it's because .44 Special was lurking around somewhere there at the back of my mind. I've been reading John Taffin, Duke Venturino and Clint Smith writing about their ".44 Special obsession" in recent times and Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton were preaching the Gospel of .44 Special long before the current evangelists came on the scene and took up the pulpit.

Then I read an article by John Taffin on the Charter Arms Bulldog, the .44 Special snubby the infamous "Son of Sam" serial murderer in New York used. Taffin says he keeps two within easy reach at home and his wife also totes one.

Caliber	Grains	Type	FPS	Ft./Lbs.
.38 Special	125	JHP	1125	351
.38 Special	158	JHP	900	284
.44 Special	165	JHP	1150	486
.44 Special	200	JHP	900	360

So that prompted a look at ballistics on the hottest loads I could find in .38 Special vs. .44 Special.

Obviously, .44 is more better than .38. So I changed gears and began thinking .44 instead of .38. But I only had about $200 in my pistol fund, so I took at look at my impulsive recent purchase of two .22 target pistols, which I reported in .22 Pistol Heaven: S&W 22-A1 and Colt Huntsman

The S&W was the keeper, I decided, and since my son had already laid claim to my Walther P22, the Colt Huntsman, sweet little shooter that it is, was the odd .22 pistol out.

So I took my new-to-me Colt Huntsman to a local gun show to see what I could do. Met a Colt lover who paid me $375, which made me quite happy as I only paid $300 for it just two weeks previously.

I had my eye on a pair of .44 Special S&W revolvers I'd seen in Mid South Guns in Wagram, NC, one a 2.5" snubby, the other a full-size 4" S&W Model 21-4 that's definitely not a snubby, but I liked the way it felt in my hand. So I went back to the shop with cash in hand to try to decide which one to get.

S&W 396 Airlite SC Mountain Lite .44 Special

First choice was a S&W 396 Airlite SC Mountain Lite .44 Special: Scandium frame, Titanium cylinder, chrome-lined 2.5" barrel, Hogue Bantam grips, Hi-Viz front sight, adjustable rear sight, 5-shooter, light as a feather. What's not to like?

Took her out to the gun shop range. Fifteen rounds of 200 gr. Remington and Ultramax full-house .44 Special gave me all the answer I needed.

My left hand started to sting about the third round. Good thing I'm ambiguous. Switched over to the right for the second five, then back to the left for the third five. Enuff! Now I know why one gun magazine writer called this Mountain Lite the "Mountain Bite!"

Plus the sights were way off. Shooting high and to the right several inches. I guess I know why the previous owner never got it zeroed in. Back to the gun shop and Plan B.

Or maybe it was Plan A all along and I just had to get over my infatuation with ultra-lite.

Plan B was a S&W Model 21-4, 4" barrel, blue steel with factory Rosewood grips, marked at $450.

S&W Model 21-4, 4" barrel, blue steel with factory Rosewood grips.

I had looked at this beast earlier and the price was so low I figured it was used. But when I asked about shooting it, the shop owner said it was new and unfired and he had picked it up at an estate sale recently.

I didn't argue with him. After a very brief haggle, I forked over $425 and walked out of there quick before he could change his mind. Davidson's price? I checked: $750+!!!

I may get arrested for robbery, but at least for now, she's mine. So that's how I started out looking for a .38 snubby and ended up with a .44 Special monster.

My only complaint after firing the 21-4 was she bit just a bit into the web of my hand. It wasn't bad, just not 100% comfortable and I was fine with it until I ran across this note.

I found the following in a Guns magazine article written by Duke Venturino in 2005 on his new S&W Model 21-4 .44 Special Thunder Ranch Revolver:

"I don't like the round butt... With the first 100 rounds fired, the factory grips wore a hole in the web of my shooting hand. But there's an easy remedy. I called my friend Raj at Eagle Grips and had him send me a set of his new walnut Heritage grips, which are patterned after the old S&W "coke bottle" shaped grips of the 1950s. They can be had to fit a round butt S&W N-frame and instantly convert it to a square butt. Mine now make the new TR .44 an exceedingly comfortable handgun to shoot."

I figured if Big Duke could get a new set of grips without caring if somebody called him a wimp, I could too. I struck out with Eagle Grips and several other sites, looking for some "coke bottle" shaped walnut grips to convert the round butt to square butt.

S&W Model 21-4 with Pachmayr Decelerator grips, Bianchi holster, four HK speedloaders and a couple of Gunmate speedloader pouches.

But I found a set of Pachmayr Decelerator grips for the S&W Model 29 and all round-butt N-frame S&Ws. I figured if they were designed to handle .44 Magnums, .44 Special should be a walk in the park.

With the new grips, I decided to name her "Black Betty." Don't she look good, dressed up in all black?

I also stocked up on .44 Special range ammo at a gun show with 500 rds. of 240 gr. flat-nose and SWCs, plus got some quite snappy 200 gr. HPs from Georgia Arms, so I'm good to go. I see happy days of pistol shooting ahead.

Shot her with the new Pachmayr grips and she's now a pussycat, even with those snappy 200-gr. JHPs I got from Georgia Ammo.

I thought I might be shooting only light Cowboy loads when I bought my first .44 Special, and if it had been that 396 ultra-light, maybe so. But the 21-4 can handle all the full-house loads I've tried so far, up to 240-gr., with all ease.

What a great pistol (revolver)! If I could, I'd personally thank Clint Smith for convincing S&W to bring the Model 21 back out of retirement with his Thunder Ranch Revolver series.

Thanks to Clint Smith, I've got a Model 21 that was last made in 1960 but came back to life in 2004. And for range ammo, I can buy light "Cowboy Loads" if I want, but after shooting full-house loads in such comfort I can't see any reason why I'd want to go "light."

I bought a couple of boxes of "Cowboy Loads" while I was trying her out, but those are long gone and I doubt I'll be buying anymore, unless I can talk the wife into shooting it. No luck so far.