If you have larger hands, you may need to rotate your grip (rotate in a horizontal plain) in order to keep your knuckle away from the back of the Ruger Bisley trigger guard on heavy loads. I find the FA grip frame ideal for my hand, and I thought that the Ruger Bisley was close enough to be a good fit. After getting my knuckles busted a few times with heavy 44Mag loads, I called John Linebaugh (since he made the gun for me recently) and he told me about the rotate trick. Anyway, it did work, but then my trigger finger was in somewhat of a poor position to allow me to squeeze straight back. However, when I shot lighter loads that didn't bust the knuckle, I maintained good finger geometry and fired it very accurately (4.75" barrel). After getting out a ruler, I found that the FA does offer a few millimeters more space for the knuckle, and shooting heavy-recoiling cartridges from it is no problem. But if you're going to use the Ruger Bisley for heavy recoil and you have large hands, you'll need to make some adjustments to the way you grip the gun. So you have to ask yourself, do you want to fit the gun to you or adjust yourself to fit the gun. I think at a certain price point, fellas ought to be giving more consideration to buying what fits their hand more naturally to facilitate recoil and accurate shooting. Few revolvers are more beautiful than a blued Ruger Bisley, but for me, I think I'd rather own just one good FA than three Rugers. Since I custom load, I can make the few revolvers I do have to just about anything I want. I don't think it's necessary to load for both the 44Mag and 45Colt in this day and age. One thing the Linebaugh writings don't address so much is that if the 44Mag and 45Colt are firing the same weight bullet at the same velocity, sure the Colt will have less pressure, but the 44 also has more sectional density, which means (theoretically) better ballistic coefficient and sectional density (penetration). The BC tends not to be much of a factor at short distances, but depending on the shot placement, so shooters might appreciate a little more sectional density to aid in the penetration on their shot. If it were me buying the Ruger Bisley again, I'd get the 45Colt since it can be downloaded and shot comfortably with those with smaller hands, my wife, or a youngster starting out. If the Bisley fits already and you don't handload, the 44Mag will have better cartridge selection, but since you do handload and don't mind loading for both the 44 and 45, and assuming it fits you well, already, then go for the 45Colt and find a good cast bullet that fits it. (Sorrr for such a long post, guys!)
