A little help with .44 special ballistics?

T

TX_RGR

New member
Hi guys.

Enjoy the forum and the great information here. A lot of friendly informed people. Which is why I thought I might get some help with this...

I am trying to get some basic chrono data on a few .44 special loads, but some is hard to find, and some have conflicting data. Do any of you know the velocity for the following:

200 gr. Winchester Silvertip
CCI/SPEER 200 gr. GDHP
PMC 240 gr SWC
Hornady 180 gr. XTP

???

It would ultimately be fired from my 2.5" Bulldog, but velocity from any standard barrel length would be fine by me.

Some Golden Saber in this caliber would be cool, but I haven't found any.

Any help you may be able to offer is much appreciated.

Thanks

TX
 
From what I remember

I pick up one of the first stanless bulldogs when they first came out.
A friend with the Indiana state poliece was there balistic tech and borrowed mine for some testing with the new winchester silvertip.
Out of my gun they measured an average of around 850 fps and when fired through heave cloth into a water tank they all openend up very well with the minimum diamater of .73 inches, one went over .8 and they kept well over 95% of there weight, thats why I always carry them. There might be better preforming rounds, but I was very impressed with there over all preformance.
So was he.
 
I'll start

Let me share what I have come up with, and maybe some of you can confirm, deny or supplement this data. I realize this is not going to be precise, and I really dont care about that. I just want decent ballpark numbers. Within 250 fps is most likely all we can expect without being sure on barrel length. I am trying to get chrono data for the 2.5" Bulldog, but I'll take what I can get. Except where noted, the velocities are most likely from a 4" or greater barrel length under optimum conditions.

Black Hills 250 gr. 900 fps
ProLoad GD 900 fps
*Elmer Keith all purpose load 250 swc 910 fps (1030 5.5" barrel)
*Grizzly LNFP 840 fps
*Winchester STHP 784fps
Hornady 180 XTP 1000fps
Buff Bore 255 SWC 1000fps
Corbon 165 JHP 1250 fps
PMC 240 SWC 764 fps
4Premier 240 SWC 800 fps

*Hornady 180-grain JHP-XTP 276 831 3.91"
*Winchester 200-grain Silvertip HP 220 705 4.54"
*Federal 200-grain LSWC-HP 253 755 3.73"
*Georgia Arms 240-grain SJHP 394 859 3.76"
*Winchester 246-grain RNL 199 604 3.75

Some updated (and in some ways different) data from a Bulldog shooter. First number is energy, followed by fps, then the groups. I've also seen 777 for the Wicnchester STHP, though I don't remember where. A little bit of variance here.


*Chronoed from 2.5" Bulldog (not by me)
 
Last edited:
Whoever keeps shooting those Keith loads in a Bulldog, I'm afraid they're not going to have the gun long. Elmer came up with those loads experimenting with Colt single actions and N-frames, not pocket pistols. :eek:

The CCI/Speer 200 gr Gold Dots you mentioned do about 830 fps out of my 3" 696, so they should still be over 800 from from your Bulldog, assuming everything is in spec. Everything else I shoot through it is home brewed, so that's the only commercial ammo info I can give.
 
Last edited:
I don't doubt the best bullet is the Gold Dot and I may switch over to it some day. Right now I carry the CorBon load. There is NO doubt it is the hottest round I've ever fired out of my 296. It would probably be too much with the factory boot grips but the larger wood ones I put on it help out. You definitely get the highest energy by going this way but I will grant you right up front the Gold Dot will penetrate more deeply. Six of one thing, half a dozen of the other!

Gregg
 
Too hot to handle

With a 19 0z. revolver I figure I will have all I can handle with any load at 800 fps or so. I don't even want to try the corbon or anything resembling a Keith load. Those guys are crazy! The Hornady seems to hot as well. I am leaning towards the speer gold dot (seems to be the consumate favorite), and the grizzly 260 gr. flat point @ 800 fps, because it just feels right. :D
How much more kick you figure that grizzly will produce over the gdhps?
 
Thanks for the link, mec. Good stuff there. :) If there's any interest, I will repost some of that data here, or folks can just follow your link.

TX

Load Bullet Weight & Type Powder Type Charge Crtg. OAL (inch) 3" Bbl fps fpe 4" Bbl fps fps Std. dev. fps Approx. 25-yard Impact 25- yard Acc. Exp. Dia. Recoil Energy, Ft. Lbs. Comments
1 Glaser Shot - - - - - - N.M. 1299 N.M.* 1410 N.M. 11 -14" >10" N.A. B N.M. Glaser Safety. Clean.
2 110 PMC- THP - - - - - - 1.471 1039 263 * 1111 301 19 -16" 3"-4" 1.0 D 7.5 PMC, Ultramag. Plastic plug, 8.8 gr., hollow copper bullet, clean.
3 180 H-JHP HS-6 11.5 1.455 986 394 * 1040 432 22 -4" 3"-4" 1.45 A- 13.8 Some unburned powder. Works with XTP.
4 180 H-JHP HS-6 12.5 1.455 1065 453 1115 496 19 -4" 3"-4" 1.54 A 15.9 See Note 4. Fairly clean.
5 200 H-JHP HS-6 10.0 1.455 834 309 * 895 355 16 0 4" 1.18 B+ 12.2 Much unburned powder. Works with XTP.
6 200 H-JHP HS-6 11.5 1.455 965 413 1035 475 17 0 3"-4" 1.39 A 16.2 See Note 4. Fairly clean.
7 200 W-Stip - - - - - - 1.508 (1) 729 235 * 777 267 11 0 3"-4" 1.64 C 9.7 Winchester Silvertip, Very Clean load.
8 200 F-LHP - - - - - - 1.582 797 282 * 850 320 15 0 2"-3" 1.32 B 11.2 Federal Lead Hollow Point, Smokey but clean.
9 200 R-SWC - - - - - - 1.463 805 287 * 858 326 35 (2) 0 >4" (3) 1.05 B 11.4 Remington SWC. Fairly clean. Disappointing load, see notes 2 & 3.
10 215 SWC W231 5.6 1.350 750 268 800 305 13 +2" 2"-3" 1.0 C 9.5 Very hard, commercial cast bullet. Very clean.
11 240 SWC W231 5.9 1.485 750 299 800 340 7 +7" 2"-4" 1.0 B+ 11.8 Harder bullets give better accuracy. Very clean.
12 246 W-LRN - - - - - - 1.578 649 229 * 684 255 12 +8" 2"-4" 1.0 B 11.0 Winchester Lead RN, Remington similar. Clean.
13 40 - - - - - - N.M. 18" Bb l 1215 130 10 N.A. N.M. 1.0 N.A. CCI 22 LR Mini-Mag Solid, control load, fired from Ruger 10-22

Test load 1a 1b 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
fps 1411 1405 1129 1015 1119 895 1012 785 860 859 795 803 669
Ave. Penetration Std. dev. 4.50 0.25 2.13 0.13 6.08 0.14 5.46 0.07 4.75 0.25 6.75 0.75 6.42 0.14 3.13 0.33 5.21 0.71 7.88 0.54 9.38 0.33 10.2 0.19 12.42 0.19
Retained Weight N.A. N.A. 108 176 173 183 176 199 198 199 211 235 245
% Original Weight N.A. N.A. 100 98 96 91 88 99 99 99 100 100 100
Average diameter Std. Dev. N.A. N.A. 0.43 0 0.62 0.05 0.66 0.05 0.50 0.03 0.60 0.01 0.70 0.04 0.57 0.05 0.45 0.01 0.43 0 0.43 0 0.43 0

The above is a reprinted chart. Hope its readable. If not, or for more information, click here: http://www.levergun.com/articles/44_Special_Bulldog.htm
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top