Why the .44 Special

I've read through every post (I think) and haven't seen mentioned one of the best reasons for having a dedicated 44 Special instead of just shooting them in one of the big brother Magnums. The 44 Special fired in a 44 Special chambered revolver is just classy, elegant, and evidence, as Craig said above, that you understand.

Dave

A great little carry option .. that slings out a 240gr .430 slug
If a Charter Bulldog 44 Spl was anymore business
It would have to carry a Brief Case

Why the .44 Special: better question might be is...why not? Mainstream calibers are fine for like 95% of most handgun situations but every now and then I like to get off the beaten path and do a little bit of exploring. The .44 Special (along with the .41 Magnum and the .38 Super in a semi-auto), allow me to play around with handloading and have a bit of fun experimenting with them. Just something different to do!

I'll just come out and admit it...I'm kinda done with 4 spcl. I was really into it when I first started reloading, but in all honesty, of the 3 44 firearms I own, only one is an actual special (a Bulldog). For the others, it was just so much easier to set up my equipment for magnum cases, then load them down to special charges if I want that.

I'd like to have a larger 44 special revolver, but it just isn't in the cards right now.

i likem.

I think that the .44 Special has an aura about it. It was made legendary by the big name gun writers of the 1960's/70's and 1980's. Many were miffed that the S&W model 29 was too heavy and the .44 magnum round, to powerful. All that power causes a lot of recoil and some of them just did not want it. Most were handloaders, so they could brew their own .44 Specials and use them in a lighter gun like the S&W model 24. I have seen loads for the .44 Special in the 900 to 1250 fps range, as the wanted load.
Skeeter SKELATON even wrote of having S&W model 28 and RUGER Blackhawk .357 magnum revolvers converted to .44 Special
I like it at about 900 fps for practice and 1000 to 1050 fps with 180 to 200 grain jhp for self defense, but only in a large gun, like the model 24 or something similar.
Also, when S&W discontinued it, it became a must have for collectors and those who wanted to have a "bragging" gun.

One last reason for the popularity, was the CHARTER ARMS .44 Bulldog and the many variations of that revolver and some of the other guns that have come along. When CHARTER decided to make a .45 Long Colt, they had to make a bigger frame. The .44 Special could fit inside the dimensions of a 6 shot .38 Special, like the old COLT Police Positive. It was easily concealable and many believed that the .44 Special 246 grain factory load or the WINCHESTER Silvertip were much better stoppers than the .38 Special. I believed it and bought an original 3 inch barreled Bulldog. I found, even with rubber grips, that recoil with anything heavier than the two above mentioned loads was considerable! I eventually had it MAGNA-PORTED.

It is still the same round it was in 1960. A large caliber, mild recoiling round (in an S&W N-frame gun) that could be loaded up for hunting if needed. I had a 24 with round grip and 3 inch barrel and eventually sold it when I became disenchanted with big bore snub nose guns. I kept the 6 1/2 inch model 24 and would like to get a 4 inch, if they were not frequently priced the same as the old COLT PYTHON!

It is a good gun/caliber combination for handloaders and those not wanting the recoil of a .44 or 41 magnum or the weight of those guns.

Jim

I can see that.

I think it boils down to if you reload or not. If you don't, 44 special is a big cost to shoot with factory ammo. Honestly, if I were going to give some advice to a friend, I'd tell him that if he really wants a slow/heavy round revolver and he plans to shoot it, 45 colt may be a better option. It's often cheaper and easier to find than 44 special.

If you reload and really want a 44 special? Sure, get a revolver that is made for the round. Like people keep mentioning, they often much smaller than a magnum revolver. The Ruger Gp100 model 1770 looks like a real winner for a designated 44 special revolver:

https://ruger.com/products/gp100/specSheets/1770.html

For those of us that have magnum revolvers AND reload, its like I said earlier, I'll just load magnum cases lighter.

You really must reload for the .44Spl to make much sense. Factory loads have always been atrocious. The ones that aren't are prohibitively expensive.

Shooting Specials or light loads in .44Mag's is fine but I consider .44Spl and .44Mag sixguns to be different tools for different jobs.

Why the .44Special???
Apparently to make sure that I am constantly going broke buying another .44Spl handgun that I don't really need.
Pretty much the same reason they make the .41Magnum...to keep me poor.

Typetwelve said:

...I think it boils down to if you reload or not. If you don't, 44 special is a big cost to shoot with factory ammo...

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Factory ammunition in any cartridge is expensive. If you plan to shoot more than a box or two a year, learn to reload.

Kevin

Just because ...

earlthegoat2 said:

But are they? It seems most 44 Specials are 6 shot 357s modified into 5 shot 44 spls or 44 mags just modified into 44 special only ??!! Or in the case of the S&W N frame which was originally designed for the 44 special, it was apparently designed way too long as 44 mag seems to fit as well. Maybe im looking at this thing wrong?

Real question because I don't know, does there exist a 44 special that has a scaled frame JUST for 44 special? and is there one that also retains 6 shot capability?

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My Rossi 720 is a K frame with a J frame grip. 5 shot. Best damn gun. Great ccw gun

Spokhandguns used to convert K frames to 5 shot 44 Specials. They may have rounded the butt also. By the time I had saved my coins, they had stopped making the conversion.

Kevin

Legionnaire said:

Just because ...

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My Bulldog is my around the house fella. It's a cheap, reliable, and effective tool.

Yup. Here's what I usually stoke it with.

Rim Rock's 200 grain DEWC over 5.0 grains of Trail Boss. It shoots right at 750 fps and is plenty accurate.

6.4 grains of Unique drives the same bullet to 860 fps.

Legionnaire said:

Yup. Here's what I usually stoke it with.

Rim Rock's 200 grain DEWC over 5.0 grains of Trail Boss. It shoots right at 750 fps and is plenty accurate.

6.4 grains of Unique drives the same bullet to 860 fps.

Click to expand...

It's funny you'd post those. I bought some 185 and 250g wadcutters from Matt's bullets a few months back with the same idea of making my own copy of a Buffalo Bore "anti-personnel" load specifically for the Bulldog. I messed with them a touch, but put it on the back burner for now. I was contemplating starting the 185g over 6g of Unique. The load data provided by Lyman says 7-11.5g of Unique...but that 11.5g charge is a super hot one and it lists the vel at 1351...WAY too hot for a Bulldog.

I'll also say that seating those WC's was giving me a bit of grief...

I like Matt's button nosed wadcutters, too.

Typetwelve said:

It's funny you'd post those. I bought some 185 and 250g wadcutters from Matt's bullets a few months back with the same idea of making my own copy of a Buffalo Bore "anti-personnel" load specifically for the Bulldog. I messed with them a touch, but put it on the back burner for now. I was contemplating starting the 185g over 6g of Unique. The load data provided by Lyman says 7-11.5g of Unique...but that 11.5g charge is a super hot one and it lists the vel at 1351...WAY too hot for a Bulldog.

I'll also say that seating those WC's was giving me a bit of grief...

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Try just a little more flare. I too thought most published loads were kind of hot for a Bulldog and backed them down a bit. If I launch a big .44 cal. bullet I really dont care how long it takes to get to the target. It's going to mess it up........

Saeco offers a 200 grain, 44 caliber wadcutter mould, #944, for those who cast their own bullets.

Works well in a 44 Special.

Arsenal Molds has four different wadcutters for the 44.
NOE has seven
MP has one hollow base
Accurate molds has well over a dozen.

They're not that hard to find.

Typetwelve said:

It's funny you'd post those. I bought some 185 and 250g wadcutters from Matt's bullets a few months back with the same idea of making my own copy of a Buffalo Bore "anti-personnel" load specifically for the Bulldog. I messed with them a touch, but put it on the back burner for now. I was contemplating starting the 185g over 6g of Unique. The load data provided by Lyman says 7-11.5g of Unique...but that 11.5g charge is a super hot one and it lists the vel at 1351...WAY too hot for a Bulldog.

I'll also say that seating those WC's was giving me a bit of grief...

Click to expand...

I tried 6.5 grains of Unique with Matts 185 wadcutters and they were pretty sloppy. I tried 7 and got the same. When I loaded them at 7.5 grains I had 2 groups of 2 touching and 2 separate, all making a 1.5" group at 25 yards. I love that load combo.

Legionnaire said:

Just because ...

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I really like that!

I now need one!

Yes. You do...... I can carry a Bulldog Pug all day and almost forget it's on my belt. (19 oz. empty) Of course as soon as you fire that sucker you know it'a a flyweight snub.

Why the .44 Special
Because I have one and really like it.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?attachments/dsc01088-jpg.44638/