Granny was born in 1907,
she ain't as pretty as she once was,
she's been around the block a few times,
she's set a few men straight and has the marks to prove it,
been loved and neglected,
kinda loose internally (if you know what I mean),
been rode hard and put up wet far too many times
her bore is kinda rough.

But damn it, if things get spicy, she can still shoot Minute of Mother Fucker.

Colt New Service in the somewhat rare 44 Russian, original configuration.
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I wouldn't say "no" to a .44 Special as a SD weapon.

What's its reliability like?

Well, I was shooting the wrong ammo simply because it was all I had.

First time shooting was with 44 Special ammo loaded with a 200gr Cowboy at around 900 fps (only lead 44 bullet I have).  Completely wrong for this gun and its Colt rifling.

Going to try to find some medium-hard cast 240gr keiths and push them out at around 700fps to see what it will do.

Unfortunately, the timing is quite loose and if it is cocked slowly, you might get shaved bullets and keyholes.  Have got to do some internal work to tighten it up a little.

All and all, I was quite pleased with the old girl.  Went bang everytime and all of the bullets went thata way & even hit the paper.

MLG