The 44 Magnum’s position in the shooting sports remains quite solid. The business is still dominated by Sturm, Ruger & Co., Smith & Wesson, and Colt’s Manufacturing. The lone challenge to those three companies’ market share comes from Taurus International Firearms, which has gained a fairly wide distribution of its new 44 Magnum. Here’s how one Taurus 44 Magnum performed:
Taurus M44:
Not Without Problems
When you consider that Taurus International has become one of the leaders in the mid-priced revolver market with a variety of 38 Special and 357 offerings, a 44 Magnum seems like a natural progression. It just took awhile.
The gun we tested featured a 6.5-inch barrel and an overall length of 12 inches. It weighed approximately 55 ounces. The most notable feature on this Taurus, which retails for about $450, was the ported barrel with four 1⁄8-inch holes on either side of the front sight. The ports began a quarter-inch from the muzzle and extended back about an inch.
The revolver’s appearance was excellent. The frame, barrel, and cylinder had a deep blue-black exterior finish. The only flaws we noted were a number of minor tool marks on the recoil shield.
Fitting could have been better in several areas. There was a slight opening at the seam on the bottom rear of the grips and some overlapping where the grips met the trigger guard. The left panel was also a bit higher at the bottom than the right. Metal-to-metal fit was adequate, but in need of improvement.
The porting on the barrel did little for the gun’s recoil, but it did help hold muzzle flip to a manageable level. The revolver balanced just forward of the hand and pointed quickly and easily. The grip was sized adequately for most of our shooters.
No major problems were noted in the Taurus’ operation, but its performance was not perfect. The revolver timed out satisfactorily. The barrel-cylinder gap measured 0.007 inch. A considerable amount of lead was shaved when firing UMC 240-grain lead-bulleted ammunition. We had no such problem with jacketed ammo. Fiocchi 240-grain semi-jacketed soft points were troublesome. It was extremely difficult to get those rounds out of the cylinder until they had cooled.
The Taurus had an excellent single-action trigger. It had virtually no take-up and broke at a crisp 4 pounds with very little backlash. Double-action operation was smooth throughout the pull before releasing at 12.5 pounds. The revolver’s sight setup was reasonably good. The rear sight, a large square block with a smaller square notch highlighted with white, was screw adjustable for windage and elevation. The front was a 1-inch serrated ramp with a red plastic insert.
Accuracy was not as good as we might have expected, given the good trigger and satisfactory sights. The gun didn’t like the UMC lead ammunition at all. Five-shot groups with the load averaged 5 inches at 25 yards. The Fiocchi ammunition produced 2.75-inch groups at the same distance. Remington’s 180-grain load performed best, averaging 2 inches. None of the loads performed well at 50 yards. The Remington 180-grain rounds’ 4.25-inch groups were the best.
Muzzle velocities we recorded with the three loads were greater than those generated from the other guns, something we attribute to the 100-degree outside temperatures when we shot the Taurus. The Fiocchi averaged 1287 fps. The 180-grain Remington generated 1719 fps, while the UMC medium load measured 1029 fps.
Taurus has the beginnings of a good 44 Magnum revolver, but the one we tested had just enough flaws in its performance and execution to make us look elsewhere.
Our Team Said: The Blue Book of Gun Values lists the blued 1995-era Taurus Model 44 with a New In Box price of $400. A 98% gun would fetch $350, one in 95% condition would go for $310. A 90% piece would be $280, an 80% gun $240, a 70% pistol $210, and one in 60% condition, $185. We’d be hard-pressed to go more than $250 for one in very good condition.
Adapted by Gun Tests Staff. GT
