44 Special

[Ricochet]

I know that we've learned a lot about handgun accuracy, bullet design, load data, sizing, etc by shooting handguns at 100 and 200 yards.

I use a handgun for self defense 80% of the time, the other 20% for just casual paper punching.

I don't shoot past 25 yards with handguns. For all those that like to shoot farther, I say enjoy yourselves ! !

Ben

I'll shoot farther with my Super Blackhawk, but that's just for fun.

 

[Ben]

Ben;
That little snubby of yours should be just the thing for "serious" work with a proper load for it's size.

FWIW
Dale53

Yes, I think so Dale.
I feel comfortable with it when I'm driving in Birmingham now.
Getting to be a rough place ! !

 

[Ricochet]

Back in the '70s I used to be a lot happier in Birmingham when carrying.

 

[9.3X62AL]

Not meaning to steer things into a social/political direction here, but roughening areas get worse when idiot public policymakers insist upon turning convicted predators loose from prison in a misguided attempt to "save money" on incarceration costs. There is ALWAYS a cost to managing feral individuals of this sort--the manner in which those costs are borne is directed by public policy. Pay to lock 'em up and keep 'em out of our face, or "pay" via their depredations in both blood and treasure. At least some states recognize this reality, and enable their citizens to keep the means at hand to protect themselves from these depredations and perhaps disincentivize criminality.

 

[Rick]

Very true Al. First jails should not be hotels. Crowded? Tough, if ya don't like it there change your ways and stay out of jail. Second it is expensive to keep them locked up BUT it costs far more to turn them loose with as you say "blood and treasure" but also added insurance costs, police and legal and court costs. Add all that up and it's cheaper to keep them in the hotel.

 

[Ricochet]

I have yet another .44 en route to me. A Taurus Model 44 stainless steel with an 8 3/8" barrel. Pretty near a knockoff of an S&W Model 629. Nowadays for Magnums instead of shooting Specials I load less than maximum loads into Magnum brass. I reserve certain bullets like the 429244HP and Ranch Dog boolits to readily identify the full tilt, rock and rolling Magnum loads and others for the mild or moderate ones. It's a myth that Specials will burn rings in Magnum chambers, but they sure will soot up the distal part of the chamber making it sticky to load and extract Magnum cartridges after them. Any Specials I load now are for the Bulldog, not for the heavy iron.

 

[Ricochet]

I agree with Elmer Keith that gas checks are generally unnecessary for pistol bullets, but I have these GC moulds and a bunch of checks. Might as well use them, and I'm not going to use them for less than maximum loads.

Hey, speaking of gas checked boolits, does anyone else remember when all .44 Magnum cartridges from both Winchester-Western and Remington-Peters came with a 240 grain soft swaged lead semi-wadcutter gas check bullet with dry wax lube like a .22? I still have a few of those bullets from Winchester. When they dropped them in the late '70s I bought all I could find still in stock. I think jackets are even less necessary than gas checks on handgun bullets. I still have a few old 240 grain JHPs, but I bought them when I thought the Marlin 1894 needed them.

 

[Steve in Micco]

I too have always liked the Special. Bought my first...a Charter Bulldog when I turned 21 back in '74. Even with the mild factory 246gr RN the recoil was not pleasant. ...and got worse with each successive shot.

Now-a-days I just use my old 4" M29 as a heavy barrel Special. Does all I ask of it w/o overstressing it (and me) with the magnums.

Have used 5.0 of Red Dot for years with the Lee 240gr swc. Prefer a soft cast. Am happy.

Have been giving thought to buying a Ruger 5.5" Bisley in the Special. Any thoughts on this sidearm?

 

[Brad]

A BH is never a bad choice. Had I not bought the 624 from Rick I would have looked very hard at a 44 special BH.
Never fired one with the Bislet grip so I can't speak to that.

 

[Dale53]

Steve;
I have two Ruger Flattops in .44 Special. One is a SS Flattop with 4 5/8" barrel and the other is a blued 5.5" barreled model. I sincerely believe that these are two of the finest single actions that Ruger has made. I have several Ruger single actions and treasure them all. The only thing the flattops needed was a trigger job. They both shoot extremely well (well under 1" at 25 yards off a rest) and handle well. The mid frame flattop seems to hit the perfect balance of weight and handiness in my hands. I prefer the plow handle grip but I DO have a .45 Colt Bisley Vaquero that I treasure, so the grip style is strictly a personal thing.

My 5.5" wears Pachmayr grips and my 4 5/8" is as issued. I like BOTH!





Here is an excellent bullet for general use - an LBT 240 gr. WFN. It's not a long range performer but should do all anyone needs doing at reasonable ranges:



Dale

 

[9.3X62AL]

Dale et al--

I load a very similar Accurate RN/FP for my 44 Magnum revolvers and rifle. It differs only in that it has a gas check heel--slightly smaller meplat--and 250 grain weight in 92/6/2 metal. It feeds wonderfully in my RiceChester Model 92, and pushes back a bit at 1800 FPS with a rated-"R" dosage of 2400. Those loads go only in the rifle and the Redhawk......I tone things down some in the 629 Mtn Gun.

 

[fiver]

I have both of the ones Dale pictured and the Bisley.
I have never shot the Bisley, I don't know why I haven't shot it since I like the Bisley handles a lot.
I do need to send the cylinder to the stainless one off to Doug Guy to get it's holes diameters matched up.
if I swap in the cylinder from the blued one it's a tack driver, when I put the stainless one back in the group size opens about 50%.
I guess I could just shoot the bullets I make from 40S&W cases but that just doesn't seem right in these revolvers.

 

[Ricochet]

I have both of the ones Dale pictured and the Bisley.
I have never shot the Bisley, I don't know why I haven't shot it since I like the Bisley handles a lot.
I do need to send the cylinder to the stainless one off to Doug Guy to get it's holes diameters matched up.
if I swap in the cylinder from the blued one it's a tack driver, when I put the stainless one back in the group size opens about 50%.
I guess I could just shoot the bullets I make from 40S&W cases but that just doesn't seem right in these revolvers.

Are you just filling those .40 cases with lead and making wadcutters?

 

[Ricochet]

I have both of the ones Dale pictured and the Bisley.
I have never shot the Bisley, I don't know why I haven't shot it since I like the Bisley handles a lot.
I do need to send the cylinder to the stainless one off to Doug Guy to get it's holes diameters matched up.
if I swap in the cylinder from the blued one it's a tack driver, when I put the stainless one back in the group size opens about 50%.
I guess I could just shoot the bullets I make from 40S&W cases but that just doesn't seem right in these revolvers.

I see people are swaging these. At .424", and with unsized fired cases being swollen a bit, I think it could work to simply fill them with lead. The only problems I foresee with that are if the sized .44 cases aren't tight enough to hold them and whether they can be satisfactorily crimped. I have no earthly use for jacketed bullets in a .44 Magnum, but it is something to experiment with.

 

[fiver]

I actually use a 180gr 358 mold for the core [some others use a LEE t/l mold]
but I core seat in one die this bumps the fully annealed cases up some.
then I point form/final size them to the diameter of 430.
I can add one of 2 different hollow-points, or make them flat pointed if I add a little more lead to the bottom of the case before adding the core.
and pre-cut the case to open up just like a hornady XTP bullet.
I can also change the weight and make them up to 350grs if I want, or use a half jacket and a 400 diameter core mold I have to make some pretty wicked 300gr half lead bullets [same point options] I coat with some 45/45 lube.
I also use the dies to bump swage my 200gr rnfp 428 diameter boolits up to 430 and/or add a hollow point and shoot in the 44 specials or in my 44-40 lever gun.

I mainly shoot them from my Browning B-92, and model 94 trapper on top of 9.3 grs of unique.
the 94 needs a much bigger boolit than I wanna bother with to shoot well, and the B-92 is picky about oal so I add a cannelure and make them work in both rifles.

the best part is I just have the wife or one of the kids cast the cores from my whatever [dunno] but softer lead so I can concentrate on the rest of the stuff needed to put them together.
one of these day's I might give that mold a try in one of the 357's or the 357 max revolver just to see how it does.

 

[Ricochet]

I actually use a 180gr 358 mold for the core [some others use a LEE t/l mold]
but I core seat in one die this bumps the fully annealed cases up some.
then I point form/final size them to the diameter of 430.
I can add one of 2 different hollow-points, or make them flat pointed if I add a little more lead to the bottom of the case before adding the core.
and pre-cut the case to open up just like a hornady XTP bullet.
I can also change the weight and make them up to 350grs if I want, or use a half jacket and a 400 diameter core mold I have to make some pretty wicked 300gr half lead bullets [same point options] I coat with some 45/45 lube.
I also use the dies to bump swage my 200gr rnfp 428 diameter boolits up to 430 and/or add a hollow point and shoot in the 44 specials or in my 44-40 lever gun.

I mainly shoot them from my Browning B-92, and model 94 trapper on top of 9.3 grs of unique.
the 94 needs a much bigger boolit than I wanna bother with to shoot well, and the B-92 is picky about oal so I add a cannelure and make them work in both rifles.

the best part is I just have the wife or one of the kids cast the cores from my whatever [dunno] but softer lead so I can concentrate on the rest of the stuff needed to put them together.
one of these day's I might give that mold a try in one of the 357's or the 357 max revolver just to see how it does.

Cool! I've had some interest in swaging, especially .224s from .22LR cases, but the equipment investment, having to find space to set it up and a whole new process to learn and carry out has dissuaded me. I looked into BT_Sniper's dies for the .40 cases to .44 bullets. Still a lot bigger investment than casting. I'll stick with pouring my own.

 

[Ricochet]

I still may try just for the heck of it pouring some range pickup .40s full of lead and shooting them, though.

 

[fiver]

well if you pour about 30-40 grs in the bottom and then flair the case mouth out to slip in the next case size up.
and load it base to the muzzle they fly pretty well as a shuttle-cock.
I was able to flair some up and thumb seat them in 45 caliber cases, a slight spud type inner sizing would get them pretty tight in the 44.
on top of unique they act like a hollow base and bump the case up to size and they fly fairly well and pretty flat too.
10 grs of lead and 10 grs of unique at @ 50yds will for sure stop the neighbors horses from ever leaning on your fence again.......just sayin.
bumping the lead up to 40grs is enough to easily kill stuff like bunny's and [allegedly] rock chucks for sure[tested at the same fence line] at that distance.

 

[Ricochet]

Might be interesting to play with that. Maybe even upside down empties for a very light short range wadcutter!

 

[fiver]

the empties could work if you get enough tension on the case to keep things together enough to light off the powder well.
heck 4-5 grs of bulls-eye under a slip fit case would probably be enough for 15-20' practice and you might could recycle them a few times if just shot through a box.
they could even get better after a run or two.
a roll in some thinned out alox could help with the tension once it sets up for a week or so too.

I do know testing one out in the basement with 10 grs of unique will not be appreciated by the wife right above you washing dishes.