Taurus USA Model 444 Raging Bull
https://www.taurususa.com/444
Buy a Raging Bull on GunsAmerica!
I am now the proud owner of a full sized, 8 3/8ths inch Taurus Model 444 Raging Bull. It’s always been a cool gun, but Taurus as a company has come a long way as a company in the past few years and I think this gun is the best buy in a .44 Mag revolver, even if you’re not on a budget.
I have always been a fan of the .44 Magnum, not because it is the biggest boy on the block (it’s not), but because you can always get ammo for it, and it’s easy and cheap to reload. But probably the biggest strength of the .44 Mag is that you can get ammo at most any gun shop, and even at Walmarts that still carry ammo. To me that outweighs the little bit of extra power you can get with guns that are more powerful, and that have much more expensive and rare ammo. I think every gun accumulation should have a .44 Mag in it. And if you can afford one of the top name (and price) brands, you should consider them. But if you’re on a budget, I have found that this new generation of Taurus products are extremely high quality. The Model 444 Raging Bull 44 Mag .has been around for a generation at this point, and at a street price of under $700, I thought it was worth a new look and a range test. After a couple hundred rounds downrange, the gun did not disappoint. The Raging Bull is a handful, to hold and to shoot, but if you are in the market for a .44 Mag, I think you’d be surprised by this big Taurus stainless steel revolver.
Even shooting the Raging Bull one handed is not uncomfortable with full snot .44 Mag loads. It is an almost 4 lb. gun with a big heavy full underlug. If I have one complain it would be that the grip is a little too beefy for my short fat fingers.
I hadn’t shot a .44 Mag in a couple years actually, since I reviewed the Desert Eagle in that caliber. A revolver in .44 Mag is totally different. Revolvers were the idea when the caliber was created as a slightly longer version of the .44 Special. Recoil rolls back, even when you muscle the muzzle down. And I found that this long and heavy almost 4 lb. gun didn’t give any kind of “unhinged” feeling you can get when shooting heavy calibers in smaller guns. The Raging Bull is ported, and I don’t know how much actual effect it has on felt recoil and muzzle flip, but I found it more than manageable. I wouldn’t even call follow up shots uncomfortable, and the ample rubber grip is comfortable enough to shoot the big .44 Mag all day without gloves and without any discomfort in the web of the hand. I have been reticent to even review a .454 Casull, and the big .500 S&W, because of the damage that those calibers can do to your bones. I can shoot this gun all day.
This was where the gun shot out of the box with the Blazer rounds.
Function and reliability were a big problem for Taurus for several years. You’ll probably see some comments come on to this article in fact with people complaining about an old Taurus they had with problems, and I have two old problem Taurus guns in my own safe. But I have to tell you, I haven’t heard a complaint about a Taurus for years, and when I visited their factory here in Miami, I saw them making OEM parts for a number of more expensive gun companies. I think Taurus guns are a great buy right now. And from what I’ve heard, Taurus has been great for several years in fixing those old guns and making things right with whoever owns them today. I’m planning to do a fixitup story for my two Taurus lemons, just haven’t gotten around to it.
This Raging Bull functioned flawlessly out of the box. It shot close to point of aim, and after 4 boxes of range rounds and some Hornady carry rounds, I didn’t experience any problems, misalignments, or stutters in the action of the gun at all. At 25 yards I shot it about as well as I can shoot with open sights at that distance, and I found the adjustable rear sight easy to use and repeatable. There is no optics rail on the gun, so if you want to use it for handgun hunting you’ll have to practice with the open sights.
After a quick adjustment of the sights, this was my second cylinder.
One thing I’d like to rant about a little is short barrel vs. long barrel in a .44 Mag. This test gun is an 8 3/8ths model, which I believe was the first one out years ago. As you can see from my chronograph tests, it exceeded the velocity. This gun is officially 63 ounces. But if you look at the Taurus M444 page, the lightest 444 on the Taurus website is 27 ounces. For one, that’s a huge ouchy. I can see why someone would want to carry a light gun in the woods as bear repellant, but you just aren’t going to get .44 Magnum ballistics out of a 2″ barrel. I think that rather than spend much more money on a shorty .454 or .500, carry a full sized .44 Mag, and just use a chest holster where the weight isn’t going to bother you at all. The full length underlug on the 444 is one of the reasons it is so manageable and accurate. If you can find one to rent at a range try it. You’ll be amazed. I would rather have 6 rounds of better than full snot .44 Mag than one round of .500 and a broken wrist because I didn’t have my hand on the gun properly.
I have probably said a dozen times in my articles, don’t question your gun or your own shooting until you shoot Hornady ammo in it! This is about as good as I can shoot at 25 yards with open sights. There are six holes here in what appears to be five.
I am not a big fan of shooting .44 Specials in a .44 Magnum, but if you didn’t know that you can do that, you can. As I said before, like the .357 Magnum, the .44 Magnum was built as an update to an old classic (the .357 Mag. updated the .38 Special, which yes, is .357 caliber). Usually there is not a big sacrifice in accuracy using the Specials, but technically the shorter case can cause a ring in your cylinders because some of the powder burns down in the hole. I’ve never actually seen this in my guns when I have done it, but since it is a pain to keep two different types of brass anyways, I have always found it easier to just load cast bullets at reduced velocities for plinking. The Hodgdon website has an updated load calculator for all of their recommended powders these days. For reduced power loads, I have found that Trail Boss works in pretty much everything. The .44 Magnum is an ideal caliber to get for your first reloading setup because the savings are huge over always shooting factory ammo, the case wall ixys straight, so you don’t have to trim it and it will last for several loadings, and you can get or make cheap lead bullets. See our reloading articles here, and my bullet casting series if these are all foreign concepts.
My gun came with this velvet Carry On bag, two keys for the hammer lock, and a rubber sight protector.
As revolvers go the Raging Bull is actually pretty sexy. I think the fit and finish on the gun have always been really nice over the years, and the new gun is flawless. Mine came with a Taurus Carry On velvet bag, rubber sight protector, and two keys for the integral Taurus hammer lock security system. This is a transfer bar gun, which mean that there is no pin on the hammer. The hammer hits a bar, which transfers its force to the firing pin. This is meant to allow you to carry the gun with 6 chambers full, Do so at your own risk of course. Other than the reach being a little long for my short fat hands, I couldn’t find a complaint with the Taurus Raging Bull Model 444. If you are in the market for a .44 Magnum (this gun also comes in .454 Casull), I would definitely consider the $799 MSRP Raging Bull.
 One of the advantages of the .44 Mag is that it can be reloaded many times if you keep the pressure down, and it doesn’t need to be trimmed. But beware, the aluminum Blazer cases can’t be reloaded. |
 The 8 3/8s barrel gives you a little more than full snot ballistics, because more powder is able to burn in the barrel before the bullet leaves. |
 The Hornady carry rounds are rated at 1350 fps. |
 If you don’t reload and you want cheap range rounds, the Blazers are fairly tame as well. |
 The big revolver has two cylinder lock releases. |
 The Taurus hammer lock security system is a great extra measure to prevent unintended use of your firearm. |
 The Raging Bull is made in Brazil, as are the majority of Taurus firearms. |
 The adjustable rear sight was well within the impact point of all the ammo, and easy to adjust. |
 I don’t know how much the ports contribute to the manageability of the gun, but it is a very comfortable gun to shoot. |
 This is a transfer bar gun, so there is no pin on the hammer. It is meant to make it so carrying a round under the hammer is safe. |
 The single action trigger pull is just under 5 lbs, with no drag or takeup. |
 The double action pull is a little difficult for me because I don’t naturally hold the gun so that more than my very tip of the index finger reaches the trigger, but it isn’t a heavy pull at under 11lbs. Both pulls are consistent. |
 The rounds have to be pulled from the cylinder, whether brass or aluminum. They don’t just fall out. |
 I guess this sight protector is if you want to carry the gun in an open holster. |
 You can of course buy these Hornady bullets as bullets, not just loaded ammo, if you want to reload your own carry rounds. |
 It’s a dirty gun after a couple hundred rounds, but it didn’t get sticky or draggy at all. |
 Note that you can shoot .44 Specials in a .44 Magnum, but I think it is easier to just download your own brass to 44 Special velocities using lead bullets and Hodgdon Trail Boss powder. |
 I was never a fan of my revolver saying Raging Bull across the barrel, but 20 years later, eh. |
My Taurus 454 Raging Bull with Winchester Ammo, would punch holes right through
Steel I-Beams as they were drilled in there with a large Drill. I had no problem shooting it with one hand.
I just purchased a Taurus model 444 in .44 Magnum with a 6.5″ barrel, I AM LOOKING for a
Rubber / Plastic rear sight protector for caring through the woods without knocking the sights loose.
I anyone knows where I might find one please send me a message or Email. Thank you so very much .
I am looking for a new or very lightly used ” Rear Sight Protector “, for my TAURUS Raging Bull .44 Magnum.
Please let me know where I might find one Thank you very much .
Want a 44 Mag? Go get a Ruger Redhawk. Accurate and amazingly strong, has had many thousands of \”full house\” or \”HOT\” rounds through it without a hiccup. It still shoots better than I do, and now in my current condition (Six shoulder surgeries) I shoot 44 specials instead of Magnums and it still shines.
Anyone know where to find either a factory Taurus Raging bull scope mount?? Or at least one that fits and tightens properly??
.44 8 & 3/8 barrel
Thanks
I have a model 85 from the 1980’s a 1911 and a PT92 never had any issues with any of them. My best friend had an 85 and double charged a reload (at least he said he did) and blew the cylinder in half on his. He mailed it back and they repaired it 100% at NC to him. I guess there are bad ones at least there seem to be many people who have issues with them but I had a brand new Browning HP that the rear sight fell off of it before the first bow of ammo was shot through it. A BN Winchester Md 70 that the bolt had to be pounded into battery, so everyone makes duds sometimes even Taurus.
It\’s not the quality that I had a problem with, as you are correct; everyone can have an oops!. It\’s the treatment I got just trying to get a new magazine to replace a defective one. They acted like I was trying to steal something from them, and this included the manager I asked to talk to after the first service rep treated me so badly. Such a bad experience I will NEVER own another Taurus.
Love my judge….it’s my basic all around woods gun take it in the boat with me spring gobbler love the 410 for snakes and the 45lc for bears but I do want something with more punch like the 454…… but I am looking and looking hard for the raging judge magnum…I am also in central pa near bellefonte but I go back home to the Pittsburgh area quite often and am always on the look out but can never seem to get my hands on one
A few years ago I bought a Ruger RedHawk in 480 Ruger , has six chambers , took it to the range it was almost impossible to get a round in the one chamber and two others were very snug and the extractor would jump over the rims, so I called Ruger, the folks there were not very nice at the time in fact were kinda of Rude, But I sent the pistol back to them and they addmitted there was a Manufacturing Issue with the Cylinder and thet fixed it, Mine has the 7.5 inch barrel, I have it Scoped, and it is one accurate Handgun, The 480 Cartridges feed easily and extract easily now, Ruger just needs to improve the Attitude of some of it’s employees. The Cartridge is a heavy Hitter but recoils much like the 44 Magnum. Note I have never owned a Taurus !
I have both the Taurus PT22 (tip-up barrel) AND the Beretta 22A (tip-up barrel). Both have been EXCELLENT! shooters,
accurate & reliable. The only ‘gun’ problem ever experience was from crud build up after MANY sessions. They do work best when reasonably clean.
I have a PT-22, and you are more likely to hit the target throwing it rather than shooting it. I also have a Beretta Tomcat Tip-Up in 32 ACP which shoots like a dream. I even had others try the PT-22 just in case it was me. It wasn\’t. My best friend literally laughed out loud at how bad it was. Good inside of arms length, and I guess that\’s what it was designed for.
I had 1 of these in 454 for about a year, I liked it until I shot my friends Ruger. I have since sold it and own a Ruger with a 9 1/2″ barrel and a Ruger Alaskin both in 454. Neither have a ported barrel but don’t kick any worse than the Taurus did. All very manageable. I have a Taurus 357 snubby as well, I should have inspected the new gun in the box before picking it up (only looked at the floor model) as the crown was never deburred, by that I mean it had a giant burr hanging to the inside of the barrel. I’m done with Taurus. All these guns were purchased in the last 3 years so its not the old stock the author spoke of.
I prefer my Raging Judge Magnum. I love the fact that I can shoot a .410 shotgun shell. .45 Long Colt, and best of all the .454 Casull! You really become attached to the power .454 Casull and you can never let go. fortunately I have some one close who can reload .454’s so I’m lucky twice!
I bought a 444 raging bull a month ago and used it last weekend to bring down a big buck during deer opener. She’s a heavy girl with 6 rounds in the cylinder but on it’s first shot took down the deer. Love it for walking and use a chest holster. No problems yet.
I have owned 4 Taurus handguns. First was a model 92 in stainless. Never had any problems with it and I shot it a lot.
3 to 5 hundred rounds a week, at my range. Still have it.
I have two raging bulls, 1 in 44 and one in 454. I live in Alaska and depend on these to keep from being some Bruins breakfast.
I am also in security and carry a 1911 Taurus as my duty weapon. I practice frequently and have the upmost faith in it.
I also own many others, but for the money, it is hard to beat a Taurus.
P.s. I do clean my weapons religiously and shoot clean, quality ammunition.
I have 4 Taurus revolvers and all are good, dependable shooters, have had 3 autoloaders and none were worth a squirt of peepee! The tip barrel .22 was so bad that when the ole lady left I gave it to her! And the other two have/had head space probelems to the point that the 709 wouldn’t set 50% of ammo from the beginning and was returned to dealer, and the Millennium started same thing after about 400 rounds, couldn’t take it back, Taurus couldn’t fix it and I wouldn’t sell it to some who might hurt useing it for self defense! I leave it out in case of a burglary, let him have it!
Good idea to leave it out! I’ve got a Beretta bobcat tip -up and it’s the worst piece of crap ever. My Taurus. 44 and 1911 are both pretty stout though. No problems from either. I’m not a Taurus geek but everything I’ve ever had from them has functioned fine and been accurate. Every Beretta I’ve ever had has been extremely finicky including a 686 over and under that continually had (has, I passed it down to my son) light strikes.
Is it safe to say that your “Raging Bull” was delivered by Taurus USA? If it was, you got one that worked. If you went to Academy Sports and bought it, you achieved a feat worthy of praise and much backslapping. If they work, they are great. If not they are an expensive paper weight. I have four in the first category and HAD 4 in the second.
How many of the latter 4 were bought in the two years new?
Of the four “duds” I have had, they were all purchased new over the last 3 years, the last purchased in 2014. Three of them were Model 605’s and one was a 22 magnum.( all “snubbies) They all suffered the same malady, the post the trigger “rides” on was too small and caused subsequent lock up in double action. All made three trips to Miami each, none were repaired or replaced, and all four were sold “as is” to people who’s patience had not worn thin. FWIW, I included detailed instructions as to what the gun was/was not doing.
But we digress. Did you buy the gun or was it “selected” by Taurus? I’m not asking did you pay for it, I don’t care about that. I ‘d like to know if it was selected for you or did you buy it “off the rack”? That is a HUGE difference when talking about QC. And you were the one that brought it all up in the first place. So ‘fess up” if it was “groomed” say so.
At any rate I’m not taking a $700 chance on a “changed” company.
No Taurus isn’t one of the companies that sends doctored guns. They send one off the top of the pile, and it is actually their PR company that sends them. There are actually very few companies that send doctored guns anymore. As you can see from the comments here, this particular gun has rarely been a problem model. It sounded from your comment that you had 4 of these guns that had been lemons. Taurus is a very different company since Mark Kresser came in and re-engineered the entire product path, but every gun company has problem models they should re-engineer, and it sounds like that particular model could still be coming in with some problems. I don’t know why you would buy three when you were experiencing problems.
I respect your opinion, and hope you will in turn respect those of us who are of the opinion that Taurus still has a way to go.
It appears that there are a great many of us who have had our fill of “Carry On”.
Thanks and “Carry On Paul”.
You know Taurus has actually brought in the guys who run the taurusarmed.com board as consultants to help them make their products better, and their customer service process better. They were there at the writers introduction to the Curve I went to in Miami. Obviously Taurus guns are meant to be inexpensive, and you are generally going to have to expect a performance hit when you get something for half to 2/3rds the price. It just gets old when people drag the same story from years ago out over and over and over because they have this revenge factor for a bad experience. I bought a Taurus revolver for a friend in 2005, long before Mark Kresser came in, and I still go shooting with him with it periodically. Though I have heard stories of timing issues with guns back then, it has always been accurate and it has always worked flawlessly.
At some point the tide of bad experiences was noticeable with Taurus, but you don’t hear it at all from buyers since Kresser took drastic measures to improve the QC. I was told the details in confidence, so I won’t share them, but I will continue to try to share the story that Taurus is a totally different company now, and that the guns are in general a great value. Taurus does advertise here some, but compared to many of their competitors the ad budget here is tiny. We have no reason to promote one company over another, but I personally will promote Taurus because I like the idea of cheap guns that people can afford. The 2nd Amendment means nothing if you can’t afford a gun, and Taurus is the absolute leader in reliable and affordable guns in today’s market.
I have owned a Raging Bull (454) for over 12 years, my son Jim G. has a raging bull, 6 inch barrel , and my brother-in law in Bellefonte, Pa. has three Raging Bulls (454, 22 hornet, and 218 B. We have shot hundreds of rounds thru them all and no problems at all. I have stood next to shooters with freedom arms 454 , at the range , and after 6 shots had to lay it down. Too punishing. We shot hundreds of rounds thru our Raging Bulls and never have to lay them down. What a gun says down the barrel does not have anything to do with how it shoots.
I have owned a Raging Bull (454) for over 12 years . My son in Houston, Tx ownes a Raging Bull (454) my brother-in-law ,in Pa. ownes three Raging Bulls (454 , 22 hornet , 218 B) and we have shot hundreds of rounds thru them with no poblems. I have seen people shooting Freed Armes (454) and had to lay it down after 6 rounds, too brutal. What a gun says down the side does not affect how it shoots.
The porting helps tremendously. I had a Ruger Super Blackhawk that I had Magnaported. After I got it back it was like shooting a 357. The bad part was shooting on the range with 15′ berms on 3 sides. Even with ear plugs the report was deafening. However, out in open country hunting the report was negligible.
I’ve got one of the older Model 44’s with the 8 3/8″ barrel. Never had any problems with it and it constantly shoots groups like Paul’s at 25 yds. with Winchester white box ammo. Paid $300 for it brand new and had a $40 trigger job done and it’s a pretty sweet piece now. Mines blue and doesn’t say Raging Bull down the side, that’s a little much for my tastes… I’d actually be inclined to buy a .545 if it didn’t have that down the side…
I have about 9 Taurus revolvers and semi-automatics. Wouldn’t sell or trade a single one. Also have several Ruger’s including a GP100 and two Blackhawks. Wouldn’t trade or sell them either.
I had a 1911 Taurus and the safety broke (my fault) and they replace it, cleaned the gun and returned it in about a week, week and a half. Great company, great gun.
Don’t be such a wimp and uncork a few 454’s and 500’s. I shoot both and hunt with the Casull. An unscoped Casull does kick mostly roll back in your hand if its a SA like Freedom Arms but if it is scoped it’s not much more then a full load 44 Mag in a 4″ Model 629. My 8″ Smith 500 does have a violent recoil but it’s hardly bone breaking. The gun is very heavy and ported and although I shoot it just for fun, it’s not something you just carry around in the field. A Casull is very comfortable to carry in a shoulder holster for hunting and powerful enough at normal handgun ranges for just about anything.
When I bought a .460 for hunting, I fell in love. Soon thereafter, I sold my .44. With the muzzle brake, recoil is mild, although muzzle blast isn’t. Versatile, you can shoot 454casull and 45 long colt, too. Amazing accuracy. I scoped it, but it makes it too big, so I am going to go back to open sight, which will do for me out to a hundred yards or so ( older eyes now!).
I would be happy with those bad eyes lol.
Noting the past problems of Taurus then saying for years that they’ve been good and you’ve not heard complaints completely ruins any credibility you may have had with me. What about the problems they had with being drop safe, or firing with the safety on? Where there are decent Taurus guns out there, they are all problems waiting to happen. I hope Taurus paid you well, Paul Helinski, because I’ll never be able to trust a single word you write from here on.
This is like an instructional manual on how to be a self righteous moron. Drop safe? That is a term invented by the people who only want to take your guns away. I don’t own a gun that I would drop 100 and expect it to not go off at least once. I don’t even like transfer bars on my revolvers lol. Every gun company has had their ups and downs with QC. Go try a Ruger auto pistol from the 90s. Does that mean that the new ones suck? It used to be that you couldn’t even buy a Colt 1911 that could make it through a magazine out of the box. And as for firing with the safety on, I have a Mossberg 94 that does that. It’s called broken, and guns break. Why don’t listen to some Taylor Swift, stop worrying about the dirty dirty cheats in the world, go get a Raging Bull and bust some caps at the range. It’s cheaper than counselling.
I’ve owned several Taurus revolvers, put many, many rounds through them without one problem,,, not one. One of my shooting buddies however, had his 454 Casull Bull go out of time after about 100 rounds. He sent it back (free, no questions asked). It came back a couple weeks later and has had zero problems since.
My first S&W 629 broke the first round fired through it. The hand (the part that rotates the cylinder) broke at the stop pin hole. One ‘bang” then, “click”.
Every model of every firearm has had failures from the factory, most folks who just paid big $$ for their gun are less likely to get on the net and sling poo.
That’s stainless steel? Looks like cheap aluminum. A nice satin finish, PLEASE!
I was constantly wiping prints and smudges off my Ruger 44 Stainless. Nothing looks more tacky than a smudged up mirror, this is an improvement for someone that would rather shoot, give it a quick wipe and put it down with it still looking good!
No rail for scope? Didn’t do your homework very well! Taurus makes a scope mount that clamps to the upper rig if you check.
Oh cool thanks. They should have sent it. It also should be noted on the gun page.
If you call the company they no longer manufacture the rail mounts. You can sent it in to have it worked on from custom sites and from what I have read and heard they will most likely drill and tap it to mount a rail main reason I am no longer looking towards getting a raging bull.
Do not drill and tap unless you dont want the lifetime waranty. I called taurus and they said it would void waranty if i had a smith install the scope mount with any drilling into the firearm. Funny thing is, while at gunsmith to get work done he found a new taurus scope mount in some old stock he had at store. I got it for $50. These mounts can sell for up to $150+ on eBay and gun auction sites.
Does he have another one???
I bought a used one about five years ago for about $400. I had problems with light strikes and a the crane assembley had a bad habit of falling out of the gun. I noticed one of the screws was slightly buggered, and suspect the previous owner may have attempted a botched trigger job. I returned it to Taurus. It was back in three weeks, fixed 100% at no charge. No problems since. As for performance, the trigger is a bit disappointing. A bit creepy in single action, a very stagey double action. I have 6″ and it’s VERY heavy for anything but range use. I’d sooner lug a carbine around the woods than this thing. The double cylinder latch system is strong, but can be cumbersome to operate. Mine sees occasional use as a range plinker and I’m happy enough to keep it for that. I think a Ruger Super Blackhawk would probably serve just as well, though I’ll admit the Raging Bull beats the Blackhawk on looks.