44 special

[kid buckskin]

i normaly shoot 45 lc just caus i can get cowboy loads that dont thow the pistol all over the place(light recoil) i can under stand that there are tons of variables ,powder weight of bullet and so on. is 44 spec any good ?

[mcwoodduck]

Well way back when.
45 Colt was a 255 grain bullet with 40 grains of Powder.  Powder is Black.
45 S&W was 225 grain bullet with 36 grains of powder
44 -40 was a 200 grain bullet with 40 grains of powder
And
44 Special was 246 grain bullet with 34 grains of Powder.
all about the same speed of 750 to 850 FPS.  I may be a little off on the powder measurments as I am doing this from Memory and do not have a COTW in front of me.
Personally I see it as debating the difference between 30-06 and 280.  Slighly smaller bullet.  Same or similar powder capacity and similar speeds acheived with similar weight projectiles.
I load a hot special with 180 grain bullets at 1000 FPS using Blue Dot.  Mild recoil and plenty of HP to knock bowling pins off a table.
The only thing you will be able to do with the 44 Special is use slighlty lighter bullets.  180 grain for 44 and 185 grain for 45.  Unless you want to go to the 452 round ball then you are looking at about 123 grain bullets.
The only thing I can say is the old 44 Russian and later 44 Special had a good rep for accurate target rounds with 246 grain bullets.

[kid buckskin]

Well I have to say  wood duck you make a good point,fPS is good indication of what will happen as far as recoil! Now what about accuracy atpowder for a cowbow load and a light bulllet

[mcwoodduck]

Like I said you can get similar speeds out of them.
the 44 special will use a smaller weight bullet.
so a 180 grain lead 429 bullet @ 650 to 700 FPS will recoil similar to a 38 special being shot in a large frame revolver.
the reverse of that is the 185 grain 451 lead  round at the same speeds will recoil the same. 
If you are looking for mouse burp loads look at the round ball loads with small amounts of powder and a fier wad to keep the powder infront of the primer.  Had two friends build light loads and as long as they were aiming level or up the round would fire.  If they pointed down the round would fail to fire and just pop the bullet out of the case and spill powder.  Strange but cotton balls or fiber wads solved the problem.
If you are looking for plinking fun. I have seen, I think in Cheaper than dirt, 45 colt rounds that you unscrew and load a 22 LR into them.
and load them into the gun for plinking and cheap grip and trigger comfort.  Like dry firing only with a result.  The 22 was not supose to hit the 45 barrel.  I was thinking about them for my 45 Schofield and get used to how it points.

[kid buckskin]

Lol woodduck you got to be kiding me 22lr shot out of an 44 - 45 cal that's to funny !! Whould the round ball loads be any good for sass shoots?

[mcwoodduck]

Don't know.
They may be too light (in weight and speed) to knock over steel.
if it just has to make it ring they would work.

[kid buckskin]

Iam going to check it out! think a bout it less recover time to get the sight back on the next target ! That whould be cool

[NickSS]

If you want a light cowboy load I have loaded a .454 round ball lubed in LLA in my 45 colt with 3.5 gr of red dot and no filler.  I shot it for cowboy action and hit all the targets with both my rifle and lever gun.  I cast the balls from pure lead andput a heavy crimp about halfway down the ball.  Worked well but felt like I was shooting a 22.

[Old Fart]

. is 44 spec any good ?

Yes

[MHicks]

I shoot cowboy action using 44 special or russians.  If you load a 200 gr. bullet in the midrange of loading data using, Unique, Clays or other powders, you have a nice moderately recoiling load.  Or go down a little toward the minimum data if you want.  With the older balloon head cases you could get 40 grains of black powder in the case in 45 and 44-40 but with modern cases more like 35 grains unless you compress the heck out of the powder before seating the bullet.  44special holds closer to 25 grains of black powder.  I shoot all real black powder ammo with a 200 gr. bullet in both the special or russian cases in my revolvers.  My rifle is 44-40 with the same bullet and a full load of bp. 

I have one of the new Ruger 44 special flattops.  I got some 240 gr Keith style semi wadcutters and have shot a couple boxes with them loaded with 7.0 - 7.5 grains of Unique.  The 7.5 gr load is the Skeeter Skelton load and is as much as I will push the 44 special.  They definetly kick harder and aren't needed for just plinking.  Mark

[John R.]

For hog hunting I use a 260 gr. WFN over 17.5 grs. of 2400, for 1125 fps. The rest of the time I generally use the Skeeter load.

[Old Griz]

Read this article. It will enlighten you a bit on the .44 Special. John Taffin and I both seem to like them.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BTT/is_171_28/ai_n6123166/

[weemsf]

I love the 44 Special.  I own two now and am anxiously awaiting one to arrive at my FFL's distributor.  I want one of the Ruger Blackhawks in 44 Special.  My first was a Taurus 431 3" and it was extremely accurate.  Let a missoinary talk me out of it and so I had to find another.  One of mine is a custom gun done by Don Williams of the Actoin Works.  Started life as a 4" SB and it is now a 3" RB.  Taurus even did some warranty work on it after all the customization, free of charge.  It is a great self-defense round as it is the ballistic twin of the 45 ACP.

[Fourbits]

  Another lover of the 44 Special.  I have a Ruger Blackhawk Flat top and a S&W Model 24 Classic.  I love to shoot both.  I use middle of the road W231 loads with Keith bullets from Missouri Bullet Co.  I usually bring both to the range.