Originally Posted by
BrushyPines
I'm not familiar with the 44 mag, but needed a rifle that I could use during MS' primitive weapon season. From what I've read, the recoil is not as bad as the other popular primitive weapons people use around here (45-70, .444 Marlin) and I didn't want to purchase a gun that I was going to dread to shoot.
The 44mag will recoil less than the larger case punkin' chunkers, but you might be surprised how much a Handi-Rifle or 1894 in .44mag will recoil compared to a standard sporting rifle. It's been years since I ran the numbers, but I recall my 300grn load out of my 1894 has a greater Free Recoil Energy than my 150grn load out of my .30-06!
It's all manageable - recoil pad on the rifle, or a recoil pad on the shoulder, you won't have any issue.
That said, I do have to plug this - the .45-70 and 444m really aren't as bad as folks might think. The throw big bullets, so the recoil is stiff, but it's very different than a bottleneck magnum.