Author Topic: 44 Special (Read 1230 times)

Sliphammer · « **on:** March 18, 2003, 11:22:12 AM »

Can 44 Special ammo be fired in a 44 Magnum weapon?

sjc1 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 18, 2003, 11:44:09 AM »

Yes, but .44 magnum ammuntion cannot be fired in a .44 Special.

handcanon · « **Reply #2 on:** March 18, 2003, 01:40:04 PM »

I believe the problem you will have is called ringing a chamber. It's been known to happen with high power loads in a shorter than normal case. Burns a small groove at the front of the shorter case causing the longer cases to get stuck in the camber after firing.

KN · « **Reply #3 on:** March 18, 2003, 02:08:53 PM »

Handcanon stole my post!! KN

handcanon · « **Reply #4 on:** March 18, 2003, 03:00:14 PM »

Sorry,KN, it beats doing all the spelling for my self!!

KN · « **Reply #5 on:** March 18, 2003, 03:25:09 PM »

I figure anything posted is fair game. KN

handcanon · « **Reply #6 on:** March 18, 2003, 03:31:23 PM »

thats good, I'd hate you to drive all the way down to mississippi and put a whoppen on me. you did a good job and I couldn't have said it better!

Flint · « **Reply #7 on:** March 18, 2003, 04:46:23 PM »

If you were going to fire high power loads in a 44 Magnum, use 44 Magnum brass. If you shoot 44 Special or 44 Russian (the father of them both), you would load appropriate loads for those calibers. People have shot Special in Magnum cylinders ever since the cartridge was invented. It is also reasonable to shoot 38 Special in a 357 Magnum revolver. Cleaning the cylinder well before changing calibers should always be done. The only thing I have ever seen in over 40 years of shooting is a coating of carbon in the chambers, never a "burned ring" from normal fast powder light 44 Special or Russian (or 38 Special) loads.

MS Hitman · « **Reply #8 on:** March 19, 2003, 07:06:33 AM »

Mostly the problem with shooting shorter cartridges in chambers comes from high pressure rounds fitted in tight chambers, i.e. shooting .45 Colt in the Freedom Arms Model 83 chambered for .454 Casull. Most shooters do not take the time to really clean the bullet lube, carbon, etc. from the chambers prior to switching over to whatever Casull loading they have. Having this constrictio in an already very high pressure round lends itself to problems. The best practice, as previously stated, is to load to whatever level of performance needed at the time or use a smaller gun. Loading .44 magnums to between 1000 to 1200 fps gives a very managable, yet effective round to plink with.

I have shot Specials (both 38 and 44) out of the respective magnums for years and had no problems. I can also load down for plinking rounds if I do not feel like doing a lot of cleaning. Just depends on how froggy I feel at the time.