What .44 ammo for home defense?

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ATN082268

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Paul Harrell, who has one of the better YouTube gun channels (IMHO), said in one of his videos that one of his top 5 home defense weapons was a .44 Magnum Revolver. If you were going to use a .44 Magnum Revolver for home defense, what kind of ammo would you use?
 
Paul Harrell, who has one of the better YouTube gun channels (IMHO), said in one of his videos that one of his top 5 home defense weapons was a .44 Magnum Revolver. If you were going to use a .44 Magnum Revolver for home defense, what kind of ammo would you use?
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If I thought there was any possibility whatever that I would fire it indoors, I would use .44 Special ammunition.
 
A load that approximates .45 Auto.

Of course, I wouldn't consider a .44 Mag revolver as a top-10 choice for home defense, unless I was anticipating running out of ammo and wanted the gun to also serve as a club.
 
The only way I'd use .44 Mag for indoor HD is if that was ALL I had.
Otherwise- never.
There IS no GOOD .44 Mag load for indoor use, and the caliber is a bad choice for both hearing and recoil.
It's also over-penetrative, both in people and walls.

VERY bad choice.
Denis
 
Dirty Harry

I load with 44 Special as well. Plenty of close quarters power with significantly less chance of sheet rock penetration.
 
I load a 240 gr. JHP with 11.0 grs. of HS-6 for a general purpose .44 Magnum load. Velocity is about 950 F.P.S. and recoil is mild. And substitute a 240 gr.cast bullet with the same load.

Bob Wright
 
I strongly agree with other people in this thread who have recommended to use 44 special rounds in a 44 magnum revolver that will be used for defense. But I think one of the key reasons to prefer 44 special has not been mentioned, and that reason is the speed of follow up shots.

I have seen very few people who can make rapid accurate follow up shots with full 44 magnum loads in double action. And even those few people who have good fast control with 44 magnum probably still have more control with 44 special rounds.

My recommendation for anyone considering a 44 magnum revolver for defense would be to work on some multi-shot drills like double taps or two quick shots on separate targets. Try these drills with loads that have ballistics similar to 45 ACP, and then if you want try them with magnums. I think the advantage of 44 special level loads will be decisive.
 
I think a load of .44 Special would be superior to the much ballyhooed .357 for home defense in that you don't have the muzzle blast and as severe hearing damage. The .44 is a big chunk of lead and not sure it even needs to expand to be pretty effective, and recoil and noise would be much less than the .357. Winchester has made a 200 gr Silvertip load for a long time.

If you are going to use a wheelgun for home defense then I think a .44mag/spc loaded with .44 special would be one of the better choices.

I don't know where Paul Harrell lives but if out in the country then a .44 mag could have uses, whereas it would be way too much in urban/suburban situation.
 
The 44 Special is a Member in Good Standing of the Big Bore Revolver Club along with the 41 Magnum, 44-40, 45 ACP and 45 Long Colt.
 
That's a bad choice. Including a .44 mag in his top 5 means you should question everything he says.

.44 Special would be better.

Even Harold Callahan liked to fire .44 Specials in his Model 29.
 
.44 Special ammo in your .44 Mag is what I would use .... My Bulldog is loaded with hand loaded 240g SWCs at normal SAAMI pressures. Never have bought factory, so no help there. Big bullet and slow velocity.
 
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Winchester Silvertip .44 Special 200 gr. JHP
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That'n. ^^^



That being said...
Both of my .44s and the .480 are loaded and ready for potential SD/HD use, and all are stoked with full-power 'magnum' loads.
.44 Special would be better in the house, but I don't have any. And the .480 loads ... well, that's just what I had loaded.
 
I don't shoot factory loads, so have no idea there. But my handloads of 200 gr Gold Dots at 1100 fps are extremely accurate and still controllable in double-action.
 
A load that approximates .45 Auto.
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Excellent advice...think over-penetration with any full house .44 Magnum load. We live on a farm and I wouldn't use a .44 Mag for home defense for just that reason.

If you load your own ammunition, Skelton's old day to day carry load is a good choice: any good LSWC or LSWC HP backed by 7.5 gr of Unique for ~950 fps in .44 Special brass. When carrying a .44 here on the farm, it's my #1 choice.

Rod
 
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Even Harold Callahan liked to fire .44 Specials in his Model 29.
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an official explanation for what he meant by a light special load.

In the audio commentary on Magnum Force DVD (Warner Bros. Entertainment, 2001), John Milius (who wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay), said that this was misinterpreted during filming, that "it's really not supposed to be a light Special, it's just supposed to be a little lighter .44 Magnum load."
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