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It's hard to believe, but the .44 Magnum cartridge is over 40 years old. That means that most of today's handgunners have literally grown up with this great cartridge. Most handgun hunters, particularly, can't imagine what it would be like not to have this dependable cartridge around. In spite of the .44 Magnum's sustained popularity, it is still very difficult to understand the impact it had on the shooting public when it was unveiled back in 1956.
While the .44 Magnum has earned a reputation in the field with sturdy sixguns like the Ruger Super Blackhawk, its versatility stems from the variety of suitable powders and bullets that are available to handloaders.
Remington and Smith & Wesson worked together to develop the cartridge in 1955 and introduced it, along with the S&W .44 Magnum revolver, in early 1956. Ruger followed suit not long thereafter by chambering a beefed-up version of the Blackhawk for the new round. Original factory ammunition used a 240-grain semiwadcutter (SWC) bullet that generated approximately 1,500 fps. It was lauded as the most powerful handgun cartridge of the time, and some even said it was entirely too powerful to be considered a practical handgun cartridge.
Almost immediately, some so-called gun "experts" declared that this new magnum generated entirely too much recoil and muzzle blast to ever be of any use to the average handgun shooter. They cautioned that the recoil was so severe as to cause the web of the hand, between the thumb and trigger finger, to be split. They also assured us that the checkering on the big Smith's target grips was guaranteed to draw blood. Besides all that, the muzzle blast was so horrendous as to guarantee that we'd all be completely deaf well before our time.
Clearly, time has shown that these concerns were overstated. A .44 Magnum handgun does have a good deal of recoil, but experience has shown us it is nothing that can't be managed with a bit of thought and a good deal of practice. In fact, the .44 Magnum actually gave most of us our first lesson in dealing with significant recoil in a sixgun and the importance that good grip selection plays in this equation. The .44 Magnum, it turned out, could be managed and would deliver all the power and accuracy that most handgunners would need. Because of the lessons we learned from this big .44, we have welcomed the introduction of some really heavy-kicking cartridges, like the .454 Casull and the .475 Linebaugh, and found that they too can be managed.
To fully appreciate the evolution of the .44 Magnum, however, we have to take a little jaunt back through history. For, you see, the story really begins back in 1870. In that year, Smith & Wesson modified their popular American top-break sixgun in order to fill a contract for the Russian government. The new Smith & Wesson Russian revolver was also chambered for a new cartridge, the .44 Russian. The Russian cartridge used a 246-grain inside lubricated bullet for a velocity of approximately 770 fps. The .44 Russian soon gained a well-deserved reputation for accuracy and became a favorite on all of the world's frontiers.
The Freedom Arms .44 Magnum, shown here with a 2x Leupold, and the Smith & Wesson Model 629 Classic are excellent sixguns. Jim's Ruger flat-top ranks as one of the great .44 Magnums.
By 1907 Smith & Wesson had begun to devote its attention to the design and manufacture of solid-frame revolvers with swing-out cylinders. In that year, they introduced the New Century Triple Lock, the forerunner of the present N-frame revolver, and an entirely new cartridge. This new cartridge, the classic .44 Special, was designed by lengthening the .44 Russian case and using the original 246-grain lead roundnose bullet. For some reason that I have never understood, there was no increase in velocity. This is particularly curious given the fact that the .44 Special cartridge was originally chambered in some of the largest frame revolvers, such as the N-frame S&W, Colt's Single Action Army and the massive New Service. Regardless of this oversight, the .44 Special soon established an excellent reputation for accuracy.
Serious students of big-bore sixguns soon began to experiment with increased power in the .44 Special and its guns. Lawrence I. Newton had founded a group called The .44 Special Associates that used a newsletter to share hot .44 handloads among its members. Other experimenters, like Phil Sharpe and John Lachuk, were working with various wildcat .44 cartridges that were suitable for use in revolvers. Most often their cases were made by cutting down the brass from the .405 Winchester and the .30-40 rifle cartridges.
One of the most vocal advocates of a high-performance .44 Special load was an Idaho cowboy named Elmer Keith. Keith's experiences were based upon a lifetime spent on the northern cattle ranges and as a big game outfitter. Early on, he began to sell the stories of his various experiences to the popular gun magazines of the time and, ultimately, became one of the most popular gun writers of modern times. His classic book Sixguns by Keith is still available through Wolfe Publishing Company (6471 Airpark Drive, Prescott AZ 86301) and is a necessary addition to any serious sixgunner's library.
Elmer Keith was a big-bore sixgunner all the way. His life was spent around wild game, wild cattle, ornery horses and wilder men. He absolutely thought that "smallbore" was a dirty word and always advocated using the biggest gun available for the job at hand. Over the years, Keith experimented with heavy handloads for the .38-40, .44-40 and .45 Colt. The latter was his caliber of choice for some years, until he managed to blow up one of his .45 Colts by using a 300-grain cast bullet and a heavy load of powder. At this juncture, Keith reasoned that the cylinder walls of the .44 Special sixgun were a bit thicker than the same gun in .45 Colt, so he turned his attention to the .44.
In working up a heavy .44 Special load, Elmer Keith used several powders before settling on the then-new Hercules 2400 (now known as Alliant 2400) powder. Using a 250-grain SWC bullet of his own design, Keith began loading 18.5 grains of 2400 in the old balloonhead .44 cases for a velocity of about 1,250 fps. In later years, with the advent of modern, solid-head cases, Keith dropped his charge to 17.5 grains of 2400 to obtain the same velocity. Keith was pleased with this load's accuracy and its ability to shoot completely through most anything that he chose to shoot at. Over the years, he killed quite a number of game animals with this load, with an assortment of wild cattle and broncs thrown in for good measure.
Encouraged by response to his articles on hot .44 Special loads, Elmer Keith began to pester the manufacturers to bring out some better ammunition for the cartridge. In 1953 he traveled to the Remington plant to try to sell them on the idea. The Remington officials, however, were justifiably concerned about the results of firing these hot loads in some of the older .44 sixguns that were still used by some shooters. Not to be outdone, Keith suggested that they simply lengthen the case, as they had done in creating the .357 Magnum, so that the improved cartridge would not fit in the older guns. He also obtained an agreement from Smith & Wesson to build a sixgun for any reasonable cartridge that Remington could come up with. Keith continued to pester the two companies until, in 1955, they matched cartridge to sixgun and the .44 Magnum was born. Elmer Keith received one of the first three .44 Magnum sixguns to leave the factory. I am sure that his joy truly knew no bounds. He had wanted a 250-grain bullet with a velocity of about 1,250 fps. What he got was a 240-grain bullet traveling right at 1,500 fps. Keith immediately developed a handload using his own 250-grain cast bullet and 22.0 grains of 2400. This combination would remain his favorite until the end of his long, productive life.
Left, representative .44 Magnum loads include
the (1) 245-grain BRP cast bullet handload, (2) Speer 240-grain
jacketed hollowpoint factory load, (3) Black Hills 240-grain
semiwadcutter factory load, (4) Speer 270-grain Gold Dot factory load
and (5) Garrett 310-grain semiwadcutter factory load.
My own experience with the .44 Magnum cartridge goes back some 35 years. During that time, it has become apparent that one of the strongest selling points for the .44 Magnum is its versatility. The massive re-volvers that are chambered for this caliber guarantee that one can use the hot-test, practical loads possible, when that sort of power is actually needed for a particular handgun chore. However, the large variety of factory ammunition allows the handgunner to choose a load that most closely meets his specific needs, not always the most powerful. The handloader can even go a step further and build handloads that not only give the required accuracy but also meet a particular power level. From light target loads to ammunition that will deal with a mad grizzly, the .44 Magnum can do it all.
As any handgunner knows, the assortment of proven .44 Magnum handloads would fill a good-sized book, and it would be virtually impossible to list all of them in one magazine article. On the other hand, I have never been one to run a bunch of handloading tests for no particular reason at all. Frankly, my handloading has been done from a much more workmanlike perspective. I have sought loads that would meet specific needs and, once I found something that worked for me, I have hung onto it. What follows is a discussion of the handloads that have, for me, stood the test of time and given the necessary results based upon the particular task at hand.
Early on, I developed an affinity for the 4-inch S&W Model 29 as a law enforcement and personal defense gun. It also became readily apparent that I was not near as tough as Elmer Keith seemed to be. With hot factory loads, or Keith's load with 22.0 grains of 2400 and a 250-grain bullet, the Model 29 just had too much recoil for me to be able to get off a string of fast double-action shots. It also appeared that I was not alone in this regard, because the ammunition companies soon began to offer reduced loads that they called "Medium Loads." Remington was the first to take the lead on these loads and their medium-velocity .44 cartridge is still one of the best. Another of my favorites is the Black Hills Medium Load. Both loads use a 240-grain lead SWC bullet at velocities of just under 1,000 fps.
Handloaders can duplicate these useful loads by using one of the various medium-burning powders. Unique has long been the popular choice for such loads because of its dependability and uniformity. However, very good results can be obtained by using Winchester 231 and Hodgdon's Universal Clays. Both of these powders are quite uniform and burn a good deal cleaner than Unique. Using 8.0 to 9.0 grains of any of these three powders is the place to start in load development. For years I used 9.0 grains of Unique with the Lyman 429421 cast bullet, for good results in the 950 fps performance range.
Commercial cast bullets from Bull-X and BRP are top drawer.
Most recently, however, I have made a change in both bullet and powder for my medium-load .44 needs. Hodgdon's Universal Clays is a much cleaner-burning powder, and my tests have shown that it gives just a bit better accuracy than I ever got from Unique. Coupled with that, I have also switched to the RCBS 250K mould for my cast bullet needs. Ronin Colman (PACT) and Dave Scovill worked together to get RCBS to produce this mould that more closely duplicates Elmer Keith's original design, and my tests have shown that it is capable of a bit better accuracy than the 429421 bullet. For my purposes, the 250K bullet and 9.0 grains of Universal Clays, at approximately 950 fps, is accurate and quite comfortable to shoot. A side benefit of this sort of defensive load is that it is also an excellent choice for small game shooting. I particularly like it when using a .44 Magnum sixgun for turkey hunting. It will drop a turkey without the danger of tearing up too much meat. If you drop your shot a bit low and get into the breast, there is not a lot of damage and, as the old-timers used to say, you can eat right up to the bullet hole.
One school of thought suggests that the various 180 to 200-grain jacketed hollowpoint (JHP) bullets are excellent for defensive purposes in the .44 Magnum cartridge. They point out that these lighter bullets will result in less recoil for the shooter to contend with. My experience, however, has shown that the light .44 JHP bullets need to be driven to about 1,250 fps before they can be expected to expand with any regularity, and we are back to dealing with that old problem of excessive recoil. In addition, these bullets have never proven to be quite as accurate as the 240 to 250-grain bullets, particularly when ranges begin to exceed 50 yards. It could be that they are below the balance point that exists between bullet weight and caliber in the big .44. It could also just be that the longer, heavier bullets just have more contact with the bore and, for this reason, come under more control of the rifling. Light .44-caliber bullets are also a poor choice for handgun hunting, with their limit being very close shots on animals in the 100-pound range.
Of course, the .44 Magnum really shines as a handgun hunting cartridge, and for this task, my preference has always run to single-action revolvers. The single action's grip shape is such that it tends to roll in the shooter's hand and dissipate much of the felt recoil. Fast, repeat shots are not nearly so important to the handgun hunter, as he tends to concentrate on that all-important first shot. What he does need is an accurate handgun that is tough enough to stand up to the pounding of heavy hunting loads. In this re-gard, I have found nothing better than the 7 1/2-inch Ruger Super Blackhawk, the 7 1/2-inch Freedom Arms .44 Magnum, and the 5 1/2-inch Grover's Improved No. 5 from Texas Longhorn Arms.
To duplicate Keith's experimental .44 load, one can use the RCBS 250K cast bullet over 20.0 grains of 2400 for about 1,250 fps. This is an accurate handload and one that doesn't pound the shooter or his handgun. It will generally break both shoulders on deer-sized game and is again proof that we don't always need the hottest load to get the job done. I particularly enjoy using this handload when hunting whitetail deer, turkey and javelina with my old flat-top Ruger .44 Blackhawk. Other good bullets to use with this powder charge are the old Speer 225-grain half-jacketed hollowpoint, the Speer 240-grain half-jacketed softpoint and the 240-grain JHC from Sierra.
Probably the most useful .44 Magnum hunting loads are the 240 to 250-grain bullets driven at 1,300 to 1,500 fps. These can be expected to do well on all manner of deer, exotics, black bear and feral hogs. If jacketed bullets are your poison, then you will nearly always find something that suits you among such bullets as the 240-grain Hornady XTP or similar offerings from Speer and Sierra. These bullets will generally give a good bit of expansion and, yet, will still give complete penetration on deer-sized game. Slightly heavier than this class, but just as useful, is the new 270-grain Gold Dot from Speer. Last year I used this bullet from my Freedom Arms .44 to take a nice 10-point Texas whitetail. The bullet punched both shoulders, at about 50 yards, and the exit wound indicated some nice controlled expansion. I have found that it is always desirable for the handgun bullet to completely penetrate the game animal. The shock effect seems to increase, and complete penetration leaves a much better blood trail should some tracking be required.
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225 Speer JHP |
Unique |
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H-4227 |
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VV-N110 |
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240 Sierra JHC |
Universal Clays |
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AAC-9 |
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VV-N110 |
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240 Hornady XTP |
2400 |
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H-110 |
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H-4227 |
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240 Lyman 429421 |
Unique |
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Universal Clays |
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W-231 |
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250 RCBS 250K |
2400 |
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H-110 |
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295 BRP SWC |
H-110 |
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VV-N110 |
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2400 |
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300 Speer JSP |
H-110 |
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AAC-9 |
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Note: Handloads were fired from a 7 1/2-inch barreled Ruger Super Blackhawk. | ||||
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To get the best performance from this level of .44 Magnum hunting loads, it seems to be best to use one of the slower-burning powders. Alliant's 2400 is always a good standby, as are H-110, H-4227, Winchester W-296, Accurate Arms's No. 9 and Vihtavuori's N110. Although I rarely use a magnum pistol primer with 2400, it does seem to improve the performance of the rest of these powders.
Back in my early days of .44 Magnum shooting, I loaded Keith's favorite handload using a 250-grain cast bullet and 22.0 grains of 2400 with a standard large pistol primer. A recent session with my PACT Professional chronograph indicated that this handload averaged 1,540 fps out of my 7 1/2-inch old model Ruger Super Blackhawk. Well over 50 percent of all my .44 Magnum shooting has been done with this one handload. It is an accurate load that just always seems to get the job done.
A couple of years ago, I was hunting feral hogs with Bill Grover, founder of Texas Longhorn Arms. We were both armed with our Grover's Improved No. 5 sixguns, and mine was stoked with this old Keith load. When I got a chance at a hog, it was in heavy brush at extremely close range. The first shot was through both shoulders and broke the off-shoulder going out. A second shot punched through the top of the shoulders to take out the spine, and it also exited the 200-pound hog. Given the heavy gristle that covers the front quarters of the feral hog, this is a good indication of the killing power of this popular old handload.
The .44 Magnum has been proven superior in the field in the pursuit of mule deer, whitetail and smaller game like javelina.
In recent years, a good deal of my .44 Magnum hunting has been done with a 300-grain bullet. These heavier bullets generally give a greater degree of accuracy and can be depended upon to completely penetrate the heaviest of American game. Garrett Cartridges (PO Box 178, Chehalis WA 98532) offers a great 310-grain cast bullet factory load at a muzzle velocity of over 1,300 fps. Garrett casts his bullets extremely hard and the accuracy is quite impressive. To date, I have taken several feral hogs, an assortment of exotics and a couple of mule deer with Garrett's load in one of my .44 Magnum hunting handguns.
Right in line with this heavy bullet performance is a handload that was given to me by my friend John Taffin. John suggested I try the 295-grain cast bullet from BRP Cast Bullets (1210 Alexander Rd., Colorado Springs CO 80909) over 21.5 grains of H-110 with a magnum pistol primer. In my 7 1/2-inch Ruger or the Freedom Arms .44, this load will run about 1,380 fps. Again, if jacketed bullets are your choice, the cast bullet can be replaced with the 300-grain JSP from Speer or the 300-grain XTP from Hornady. Speer's reloading manual, by the way, suggests that this weight bullet can be loaded over as much as 22.5 grains of either H-110 or W-296, should you need more power.
My years of shooting the .44 Magnum have clearly indicated the great versatility of this fine cartridge. Unlike some other handgun cartridges, the .44 Magnum will give good accuracy within a broad range of bullets and powder selections. It has also been proven that we don't always need the hottest handload to get the job done. If I were limited to just two .44 Magnum handloads, those would be the RCBS 250K over 9.0 grains of Universal Clays and a 300-grain cast bullet over 21.5 grains of H-110. If the field were trimmed down to just one handload, my hands-down pick would be Elmer Keith's original .44 Magnum load using his 250-grain SWC cast bullet over 22.0 grains of 2400. None of these are magic loads, no bells and whistles here, just dependable, accurate sixgun loads &endash; the sort of thing that the .44 Magnum is famous for.
Copyright 1997 Mark Harris Publishing Associates, Inc.
