445 supermag

I've read in several different forums that the 445 supermag is a .44 cal and some say it is a .45 cal. Which is it, and what can be fired from this gun? I'm looking at a T/C with 15" barl.

The name is misleading. The .445 Super Magnum is a 44 magnum case that has been lengthen by 3/8 inch. It can drive the same bullets 300 FPS faster than the .44 Mag.

Based on this, then the 445 supermag can fire the .44 cal mag-.44 spec, and the 445 supermag cart?

one more question-can you buy 445 supermag brass?

Somewhere, I have a photo of a friend shooting a .445. The shutter opened right as he touched off a round. The muzzle blast and blast from the cylinder gap is awesome.

At one time Starline was the only one making .445 brass. Don't know if they still are. You should be able to fire the .44 Spl, .44 mag and the 445 Super Mag. I'm not familiar with the .445 Cart.

As stated, the .445 SM is a .44 Magnum lengthened to 1.60". The SuperMag can use the Magnum and .44 Special but the bullet jump to the chamber throat/forcing cone with the Special may be too excessive to allow good accuracy. IMO, if you want .44 Special velocities, simply load the .445 SM case with Trail Boss. The brass is made by Starline with on-again/off-again production. Alternatively you can make the case from either .303 British or .30-40 Krag brass. With some loads, the .445 SM is nearly equal to the .454 Casull. High quality ammo is available from Reed's Ammo.
www.reedsammo.com

You can also fire .44 Russian in it. Why, I don't know.

Starline should have brass, and at one time IHMSA supplied brass, but I doubt it's still available. I've made brass from .303 British and .30-40 Krag as mentioned. The .303 worked better. If you go that route, you should know that the rifle brass is thicker and has less capacity than .445 brass. Also because it's thicker, you will need to inside ream each case mouth in order to use bullets longer than about 240 grains. You will need a special expanding plug and will need to fireform if you don't have a complete set of expanders. It's a lot of work to shorten the cases too. I used standard large rifle primers. Also, because the rifle brass rim size is larger (even more so on the .30-40, I believe), it won't fit your .44 speedloaders. Finally, because the rifle brass rims are thicker, you may not have enough headspace for these rounds in your gun without thinning the brass head or making your gun's headspace longer, which in turn could create issues with factory .445 brass.

Check the various auction sites, it occasionally comes up for auction.

Personally, I'd rather go with the .454 Casull. Now problems getting brass for that one.

I believe you can use 444 Marlin brass to make 445 SuperMag ammo.

No, you can't use the .444 Marlin. It is .470" above the rim while the .445 SM and .30-40 Krag are .457" and the .303 British is .455". Attempting to size down that much difference will ruin your equipment and damage the brass.

444 Marlin brass can be converted by turning down the outside of the case but why bother?

Some years ago I bought some brass from IHMSA with a Gates head stamp. This was made by PMC and was a bad batch, it would stick badly no matter how light the load.

Since then I have used Starline brass. They still list it, it works fine. The easy out, no conversion work required.

The nominal case length is NOT 1.600 but rather, 1.610 inch. (All the SuperMags have a nominal case length of 1.610 inch.)

While I usually don't run really hot loads, I don't download below 44 Magnum levels either. I shoot it in a Dan Wesson revolver and I have a matching DW revolver in 44 Mag for lighter loads.

I had the same problem with the IHMSA Gates brass. I always wondered if using it a bit and letting it work harden would help.

In theory it should. However, after the third load stuck I abandoned the attempt and simply used the Starline brass which never gave any trouble.

BTW: In my book, the 445 SuperMag is a better proposition for ammo than the 454 Casull, cheaper to shoot and about the same horsepower with less pressure. Wider bullet availability.