Powerful products, such as big handguns, have a limited following, so choosing them should be a careful process, as a March 2008 article in Gun Tests magazine showed.
The winner of that test was the $625 Taurus Raging Bull Model 444B8, the only one of three .44 Magnums that the Gun Tests staff thought was ready for the field straight out of the box. It earned an ‘A’-grade from the magazine.
If you’re interested in buying a similar gun, GunBroker.com had just three Taurus Raging Bull Model 444s listed a day ago, with a low price of $539 for a new gun with a 6.5-inch barrel and stainless finish. The text for Auction # 109039763 said the gun “… A well deserved reputation for outstanding strength reliability and accuracy.” On Tuesday, the auction had a buy-now price of $550.
High price on GunBroker.com was $559 for a starting bid in Auction # 108991730, which was for a 8.75-in. barrel in stainless.
Gun Tests said the blued 6.5-inch-barrel Taurus was much easier to shoot than other guns in the test: “… throughout our tests none of our guns experienced a failure of any kind. The blued finish that distinguished our Taurus from our stainless-steel test guns proved durable, holding up to a couple of gaffs where we unceremoniously dropped the gun—once out of a tree and another time on to the door frame of a gun safe. Built to handle the Casull, we also expected our Raging Bull to be the most comfortable to shoot in .44 Magnum. This assumption turned out to be correct.”
