I'm not from a shooting family but I was always fascinated by guns and shooting. As far as I was concerned the opportunities to see firearms or actually shoot were far to few and rare. So I'm in my single digits and I'm watching a friends father and another fellow shooting a 44 magnum Blackhawk. It was the only gun they were shooting. They offered me a shot. I dont think they were trying to be mean or smart a**es, they knew I was interested and offered me the chance. Heck if it had been a 460 Weatherby pistol I'd have said yes. I'm left handed and the Blackhawk had right handed thumb rest grips. When I took the shot the two men were impressed I hit the well used target tapped to a cardboard box. What impressed me more than the recoil was the impression the ridge on those thumb rest grips made on me. So fast forward to the age 21. My first purchase was a Single Six. My second or third pistol was a Super Blackhawk. It's loaded with 44 Specials. The hammer is back and the trigger is pressed which leads to a bang. Now physics say the bullet hit the ground some where. I couldn't tell you where. Twelve or thirteen years and I hadn't forgotten those grips. It was truly one of the more spectacular flinches. It took me awhile to learn to shoot the Blackhawk. I'm not sure if there is a moral to this story or not. I still remember being given the chance to shoot the pistol fondly. If it had been wearing the factory grips my later learning curve might have been shorter or maybe not. There was a reason my Blackhawk was loaded with 44 Specials.