Revisiting .44mag as house gun

S

Shmackey

New member
Just a couple of days ago, someone casually mentioned to me that a .44mag is lousy for self defense because "it'll just go right through ya."

But I remembered something that Jim March once said, and I think I agree. Frangibles in this caliber might be great for a house gun. According to Glaser, their .44mag offering will dump over 1000 foot-pounds of energy into its target--yes that's right, over 1000. And since it's a frangible, it really should deposit that much.

Does anyone have any info on big-caliber Glaser or Magsafe ammo? Seems like a good combo. I understand the issues with smaller frangibles, so let's not go there; I'm curious about the big stuff.
 
Go to ammolab.com and join their forum.
In the forum under bullet street performance there is a discussion of real life cases in where some frangible ammo is used. If I'm not mistaken I beleive there is one case in where the .44 mag was used.
 
.44SPL Cor-Bon, 165gr.JHP

I clocked these out of both my S&W 4 inchers at 1025 or so. I assume they would do the job quite well and I wouldn't permanently loose my hearing. Fairly close to .357MAG at the equilvalent weight. best....dewey
 
Triton .44 Magnum "Lite" 165gr JHP @ 1250fps/572fpe
Cor-Bon .44 Magnum Self Defense 165gr JHP @ 1300fps/619fpe

Some other options to consider.
 
Federal Hydra Shok-. 44 Rem Magnum
240 gr @ 1180fps @ the muzzle/ 240 gr @ 1130fps @ 25 yards
675 ft pounds at 25 yards.

This is from a 6 inch barrel. Figure a drop of 100fps for a 4" and your roughly have a .45acp Hydra Shok "super dooper ala carte".

I'm at an utter loss to explain why normally otheriwse sane people think a 230gr @ 855 fps is an viable defense round, but believe a slug weighing 10 gr more, and having only 145 fps more is going to destroy churches in the next zip code.:confused:
 
Try sumpin.
If the bullet goes all the way through, it doesn't dump energy....wrong.

If two bullets expand the same amount and at the same rate but one passes through and thej other stopped. The one passing through dumped the same amount of energy as the stopped bullet PLUS whatever energy was required to continue on to the other side of the target.

Easy figure is if neither expand. Then pass through dumped the most energy.

"Just goes right through ya" is good. Cept for the recipient.

Sam
 
Pro-Load .44 Magnum Gold Dot™ Hollow Point - (Tactical Lite) -- 200 grain Gold Dot at 1050 FPS. IIRC it uses the Gold Dot designed for .44 Special so it was designed to work at the slower velocity.
 
I believe that a lot of people object to the 44 mag because of the recoil. Any gun can be used for self-defense, and as long as you can handle the recoil and have confidence in your ability to shoot it accurately, you're all set.
 
>>>"Just goes right through ya" is good. Cept for the recipient.<<<

I think he was implying that it goes right through without even expanding.

I'm glad to see some other folks agree that it's crazy to think that a .45ACP is perfect but a .44, which can be loaded anywhere from milder to hotter--and spot on--is no good.
 
.44 Specials and Magnums are 10 times more versatile than any .45 ACP, especially if you reload. You can duplicate the velocity of a .45 ACP easily with a .44 Mag and a seriously wide range of bullet styles are available, moreso than the 45 ACP. No feed problems. I put Meprolites on my Redhawk just for this reason, plus the walk back to camp at dusk when hunting.

I've been toying around with making my own Glaser type Safety Slugs for a little while and with good preliminary results. Accuracy and reliability anyways. Have only shot fruit so far, and the Chrony!:rolleyes:

Heavier weight might help in this dept., so I've been capping the Safety Slugs with a 00 Buck instead of a plastic cap which gives me 185 gr Slugs for the 45 ACP and 225 gr slugs for the 45 LC using #9 shot. No gelatine testing yet. Probably should start making them in .44 also. Expensive tooling though.
 
Another thing people object to is noise.

Will firing one shot of .44 magnum indoors give you permanent hearing damage?

Many argue that a semiauto rifle in an intermediate catridge is a good HD choice. Well, on the noise issue, my friends 7.62x39 Saiga AK, due to its muzzle brake, barks louder than my .30-06. THERE'S some noise.

Sure, if you fired it indoors, your hearing would be muffled for a bit and your ears would be ringing, but would it really give you PERMANENT hearing damage?
 
How true, But shooting inside a house is only (normally) done in self defense so ya' gotta do whatcha' gotta do...rather be deaf than dead.

I've never shot a 44 in the house, but the more sane type self defense loads for the 44 that I cook up are ALOT quieter than the full house loads thats for sure. So it might not be too bad.

Full wadcutters at reasonable velocities in the gun and speedloaders of semi-wadcutters backing it up. With nite-sites.;)
 
I understood that one of the objections to using a .44 mag indoors was its large muzzle flash in conditions of low light or dark, which would be the most likely time one would encounter an intruder. And that the muzzle flash would lessen your ability to see afterwards, much like a photo flash. Of course, the intruder would be blinded also. And another objection was the recoil making it harder to get back on target for a second shot. But I guess handloaders could remedy those problems, if they are problems. I don't know.
 
Just shot my new Anaconda today.

While I have no doubt it has "the mostest" stopping power in my handgun collection, I can't even imagine shooting it in a darker environment in an enclosed space without ears.

At least not more than once.

I realize that the question is more about frag ammo, but still!

Just my 2 cents.
 
DanP,

The various "Self Defense", "Tactical" and "Lite" factory loads discussed above (as well as Glasers/MagSafes) were designed with being shot indoors and in the dark in mind. They are relatively low-noise and definitely low-flash when compared to the usual 240gr .44 Magnum stuff you shoot at the range.
 
Thanks Tamara,

I had not realized that. Any way to quantify the "less noise / less flash" part?

As in "nn% less than the average range stuff" or "more like an xx Caliber"...

Without a doubt I'd prefer a 44 load in a revolver for anything other than carry, just didn't think it was practical.

Eager to learn more, thanks.
 
When I carried a 4" M29 with ported bbl as a duty gun (long ago and far away) I carried a 200gr Hornady factory load that was supposed to give about 1400 fps. In comparison to the 200gr CCI load also available ( 1600 fps I believe) it was a pussy cat and the muzzle flash was much less. A friend was watching me through a glass partition as I was practicing night firing with that gun and she said with the CCI load it looked like a dragon sneezing every time I pulled the trigger. Fire rolled out in two balls from the ports and about 2' on either side of the muzzle!

We were shooting a timed exercise at the range the other day, draw and hit a 6" plate, hit a second plate 3' to the right, hit a third plate 6' to the left each with one shot at about 10 yards. Just trying out new security holsters and our new P229. Lo and behold my times from concealed carry with the 4" Mtn Gun and realistic loads were quite close to those with the auto.

I wouldn't have any problem carrying a .44 again and I think the muzzle blast is less for the .44 than some of the .357 loads.

YMMV
Rick
 
Federal Hydra Shok-. 44 Rem Magnum
240 gr @ 1180fps @ the muzzle/ 240 gr @ 1130fps @ 25 yards
675 ft pounds at 25 yards.
Click to expand...

This is my preferred self-defense load in the .44 Magnum.

I can't even imagine what it would be like to fire one of these indoors without hearing protection. Not very pleasant, I'm sure.
 
Ah, yes, this question again...

The .44 Mag is a great house self-defense cartridge. If I am ever attacked by a house, darnit, I want to make big, deep holes. ;)

Till then, like some of the others above, I'd load .44 Special or .44 Mag "lite" loads. And, I'd stick with conventional ammo, not Glasers or other esoteric loads.
 
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