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Cartridge of the Week

Talyn

Talyn

SAINT
Founding Member
The .44 Special
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The .44 Smith & Wesson Special, also commonly known as .44 S&W Special, .44 Special, .44 Spl, .44 Spc, (pronounced "forty-four special"), or 10.9x29mmR is a smokeless powder center fire metallic revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1907 as the standard chambering for their New Century revolver, introduced in 1908.

On the late 19th century American frontier, large .44- and .45-caliber cartridges were considered the epitome of handgun ammunition for self-protection, home defense, and hunting. Black-powder rounds such as the .44 American, .44 Russian, .44-40 Winchester, and .45 Colt enjoyed a well-earned reputation for effective terminal ballistics, accuracy, and reliability.

At the start of the 20th century, Smith & Wesson decided to celebrate by introducing a brand new revolver design which they called the New Century. Smith & Wesson wished to pair their new revolver design with a worthy new ammunition chambering. At the time, smokeless powder was state of the art in ammunition technology. Older black-powder ammunition was in the process of being converted to smokeless. Smith & Wesson's popular .44 Russian cartridge had established a reputation for superb accuracy and was a renowned target load, and they decided to use an improved smokeless powder version as the basis for the new round.

Due to the lower energy density of the early semi-smokeless powders, prior efforts to convert the .44 Russian to smokeless had produced less than stellar ballistic performance. Smith & Wesson addressed this issue by lengthening the .44 Russian cartridge case by 0.190-inch and increasing the powder capacity by 6 grains. The resulting design, which S&W called the .44 Special, had a case length of 1.16-inch.

Unfortunately the ballistics of the new cartridge merely duplicated the 246-grain bullet at 755 ft/s statistics of the .44 Russian, when the powder capacity of its case would have supported performance rivaling that of the .45 Colt and close to the .44-40. Nevertheless, the .44 Special retained its progenitor's reputation for accuracy.

The SAAMI maximum pressure standard for the 44 SW special is 15,500 PSI. Almost from its introduction, firearms enthusiasts and cartridge handloaders saw that the potential of the .44 Special chambering was far from being realized and by the end of the 1920s were loading it to much higher velocities than factory standards. Led by articles in firearms periodicals penned by gun writers such as Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton, a loose cadre of enthusiastic fans who called themselves the ".44 Associates" formed. Trading information such as .44 Special handloading data and tips regarding the conversion of revolvers to .44 caliber, they promulgated the belief espoused by many firearms authorities and experts that the .44 Special chambering is one of the best overall in the handguns.

The hype and excitement surrounding the introduction of the .44 Magnum in the mid-1950s eclipsed the .44 Special, causing the latter to fall out of popularity with firearms manufacturers. As a result, gunmakers offered fewer revolver models chambered in .44 Special for several years. Recently the .44 Special has experienced something of a resurgence, as many firearms enthusiasts have realized that the heavily recoiling Magnum round is really "too much pistol" for many applications, and the heavier and more bulky revolvers in which it is chambered are not as convenient to carry.

Another key factor fueling the Special's comeback is its ability to fit in the longer chambers of the aforementioned .44 Magnum revolvers, much like the .38 Special fits in the longer chambers of the .357 Magnum. This makes the .44 Special cartridge an attractive alternative for reduced velocity target shooting and plinking.

The recent popularity of cowboy action shooting has also helped pique interest in the .44 Special, motivating manufacturers to offer modern and reproduction firearms chambered for this classic cartridge. Currently a variety of factory ammunition loadings are available in .44 Special, including bullet weights of 135, 165, 180, 200, 240, 246, and 250 grains at various velocity levels.
 
I carried a Charter Arms Bulldog Pug in 44 Special for a number of years.
It has a bobbed hammer and is stainless.
It has never failed to go "Bang!".
The only thing is, I could never hit the broad side of a barn past 15 yards.

I took Harry's advice and tried running those same loads through my Ruger Super Blackhawk.
The recoil is nil but the accuracy is much better.

My wife used to ask me regularly when I was going to sell that Bulldog Pug. I could never seem to part with it though.
It sits in the safe to this day.

As an aside, it was replaced in daily carry by my XD-S 45 ACP.
 
iklwa said:
I carried a Charter Arms Bulldog Pug in 44 Special for a number of years.
It has a bobbed hammer and is stainless.
It has never failed to go "Bang!".
The only thing is, I could never hit the broad side of a barn past 15 yards.

I took Harry's advice and tried running those same loads through my Ruger Super Blackhawk.
The recoil is nil but the accuracy is much better.

My wife used to ask me regularly when I was going to sell that Bulldog Pug. I could never seem to part with it though.
It sits in the safe to this day.

As an aside, it was replaced in daily carry by my XD-S 45 ACP.
Click to expand...

I use 44 Specials in my 329PD when not in Griz country. Makes the super-light weight revolver much more comfortable to shoot.
 
Talyn said:
A 200 gr 44 Special Gold Dot JHP load basically duplicates a similar 45 acp load.
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While the 44 case holds roughly double the case capacity of the 45ACP and could theoretically generate more energy than the 45, if 230 grain projectiles are used in both, the performance difference is marginal with "standard" loadings. Hand crafting one's own ammunition opens other doors, however. Most loadings of the 44 Special hold 210 grain bullets.

The reason the 1911 was preferred to all other revolvers when it was chosen is rapidity of reloading and the 230 grain bullet visibly whacked the carcasses harder than the 44.
The main issue with the 1911 was the lack of production capacity during war time and that is why many revolvers were brought out of mothballs and converted to the ACP cartridge.

I choose the Bulldog Pug at the time because there was no off the shelf reliable semi-auto that was as concealable, light or easy to carry. I had gotten tired of muscling around my Government Model and listing heavily to starboard.

All I know is: I'm not getting rid of mine any time soon (ACP or Special).
 
Annihilator said:
My primary CCW gun now is a Charter Arms Bulldog in .44special, I feel well armed with the gun and cartridge.
Click to expand...
I never felt under gunned while carrying mine. My biggest issue was, I just couldn't hit with it!
I consider myself to be a competent marksman and have so for more than a couple of decades. I just was never able to master that little blaster! I even changed the grip to a Pachmayr and painted the sight but of no use.
When I read the reviews about the accuracy of the XD-S with a similar barrel length and after seeing the price, I had to try it. I was not disappointed.
The XD-S is smaller across the beam and somehow seems easier to hide and carry.

I have a Winchester Model 94 chambered in 44 Mag that I have yet to test my Special loads through. I know the Winchester is not supposed to handle the Specials de to the lifter mechanism but with care, it does feed and eject them.
One day I will have a go.
 
iklwa said:
While the 44 case holds roughly double the case capacity of the 45ACP and could theoretically generate more energy than the 45, if 230 grain projectiles are used in both, the performance difference is marginal with "standard" loadings. Hand crafting one's own ammunition opens other doors, however. Most loadings of the 44 Special hold 210 grain bullets.

The reason the 1911 was preferred to all other revolvers when it was chosen is rapidity of reloading and the 230 grain bullet visibly whacked the carcasses harder than the 44.
The main issue with the 1911 was the lack of production capacity during war time and that is why many revolvers were brought out of mothballs and converted to the ACP cartridge.

I choose the Bulldog Pug at the time because there was no off the shelf reliable semi-auto that was as concealable, light or easy to carry. I had gotten tired of muscling around my Government Model and listing heavily to starboard.

All I know is: I'm not getting rid of mine any time soon (ACP or Special).
Click to expand...
Different loads have different performance profiles.

One reason the 44 Special may have 2X the powder capacity is it was originally a blackpowder cartridge which required greater capacity to reach a performance level. When the 44 Special was converted to smokeless powder the manufacturers had to keep in mind the tons of older BP revolvers out there that could stand up to maxing out the powder capacity of the 44 Spcial case. That being said the SAAMI maximum pressure standard for the 44 SW special is 15,500 PSI.

Wheras, the .45 acp was designed from the get-go with smokeless powders, and the .45 acp has a higher SAAMI maximum pressure standard of 21,000 PSI. The load I mentioned, tht is commercially aviailable replicates the ~same .45acp load velocity for that bullet weight.

And as we all know Elmer Keith etc, hot-rodded the 44 Special which led to the 44 mag. And the .45acp is hot-rodded to the .45 Super which is the same case capacity as the acp but higher pressure.

Lastly, having a higher pressure than the 44 Special the only older revolvers that were chamered for the .45acp was the 1917 and the Brit Webleys, both strong enough for the acp.

Has far as the Charter Arms revolver in 44 Special we all know that guns and people are individuals and while one things works for one person may not work for another.

My .02
 
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Talyn said:
Has far as the Charter Arms revolver in 44 Special we all know that guns and people are individuals and while one things works for one person may not work for another.
Click to expand...
Agree, completely, I can shoot a 1911 good, my brother can’t hit the broadside of a barn......
 
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