44 Special ?

M

marsbars

New member
I have been seeing a lot of 44 special revolvers and not being to familiar with revolvers I was curious to how it fits inbetween the 357.45LC and the 44 mag. I am interested in buying my first revolver but I want the wife to be able to shoot it. Also any info on the 45LC would be apreviated:p
 
My experience with the .44spec has been good. Performance and recoil similar to .45ACP. In a STOUT gun it can be loaded up into the lower .44mag range. Heavy loads not to be used in thin cylindered guns such as the Smith 696.

Lightly built guns should be fed cowboy loads or even lighter.

I think it is a hoot to shoot and the inherent accuracy of the round leaves little to be desired.

Oft carried .44 three incher.

Sam
 
It's a mild cartridge with ballistics that are more potent than the .38 Special but not as stout as .45 ACP. Up until recently, your only choices in defense ammo in this venerable caliber were 200gr Winchester Silvertips or Federal's 200gr Lead Semi-Wadcutter HollowPoint; now, however, there are also loads from Speer and Cor-Bon that look interesting.

If it's a little five-shot .44 Special snubbie, you may want to try renting one first for her to shoot; some folks find them to be quite a handful...

PS: I'm going to slide this thread over into the "Handguns: The Revolver Forum" right next door...
 
I highly suggest a nice .44 mag for you, and then your wife can shoot the .44 special through it.

In a fullsize revovler, the special will be easy (like 9mm through a full size auto).

CCI makes some nice inexpensive Blazer JHP 200 grain .44 special.

Honestly, you can't go wrong. I know of no other caliber that will give you such a wide range of power with factory loads.
 
"... but not as stout as .45 ACP." Welllll, that depends. They are very, very close. Most comparisons are made with a .45 230 gr bullet compared to a .44 Spl 240 gr bullet. Or a .45 200 grainer to a .44 Spl 210 gr bullet. So, there is a mitigator right there. The old Hodgdon 25th Edition gives the edge to the .44 Special almost every load.
 
For all practical purposes, standard loads for 45 ACP, 45LC, and 44 Special are so close that its not going to make any difference.

Bullet design and number of choices for defensive purposes against Homo sapiens is probably better for 45 ACP
 
My wife wont even shoot my Charterarms Bulldog anymore. the heavy recoil from such a light revolver is too much, and the big fireball is distracting. However, she LOVES to shoot my .44 Mag with warmish handloads. She is so good with it, we hadda keep moving the targets back and back and back, until we were at a range where she missed sometimes. Range? 100 yards. Targets were gallon jugs of water. Pistol, Ruger RedHawk......
Buy a Ruger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:p
 
Lew Horton

Lew Horton has just introduced a VERY limited number (150) of recreations of the S&W 44 Special revolvers of the 1950's. This is the first of what they are calling the Heritage Series. About 50 left if you are interested.
 
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