Yet you’re comfortable hamstringing the .45 Colt based on this 80% of the strength of the .44 Mag claim. Put them on equal footing and the bigger cased round wins.
The .44 is a great and versatile round that can be dressed for success in many roles. However, on really big game, loaded correctly, it’s still an underachiever. It will get it done, but not as effectively as other and bigger calibers I’ve used. Ross was right (despite the bullet limitations he faced), on big game it was like sending a boy to do a man’s job.
Again, sorry for the thread hijacking. This will be my last post in this thread unrelated to the original topic.
I'm confused, what does
"this 80% of the strength of the .44 Mag claim" mean? That's not hamstringing, that's working within the limitations of the platform.
Of course the .45 wins if they're run at the same pressures, I've said that many times. However, in what guns is it deemed safe to run the .45 at .44Mag pressures? And in those guns where it is safe, is it not also safe to run the .44 at even higher pressure? I'm sorry but to compare the .44Mag and .45Colt at .44Mag pressures in the context of a Blackhawk/Super Blackhawk is bogus. The guns aren't the same strength and that is the core of the whole issue. The whole reason that "Ruger only" loads are 80% the pressure of .44 loads. The .45 doesn't operate at those pressures because it can, it does
because it has to. As I said, to do so cuts the safety margin by half. I don't know anybody who thinks that is wise and yes, it is easy to get enough slow burning powder in the .45 case that a standard six shot Ruger is in peril. That's why we have five shots.
If you run them in guns that allow each to realize their full potential, which would be BFR's, FA's, custom oversized cylinder Rugers, Redhawks and Super Redhawks, then you're comparing top loads consisting of a 340gr .44 and a 360gr .45, both at 1400fps. In which case the .44 has a higher sectional density and less friction so it will penetrate deeper, as it usually does. That's theory that I intend to prove or disprove. From Ruger only levels on up to 50-55,000psi, all the two do is tap dance back and forth within 100fps of each other. No critter will ever know the difference. If you think a 365gr with a .335" meplat is going to somehow magically do better than a 355gr with a .340" meplat, then I have some Arizona swampland you might be interested in.
I have more respect and admiration for Seyfried than any other writer, past or present. However, his comments about sending a boy to do a man's job must be kept in proper context. When he wrote that (30yrs ago?), bullet selection was crap. A lot of things have changed since the Seyfried/Linebaugh collaboration but some folks refuse to accept it. Bullet selection is better and data is better. The chart pictured in your last book showing that the.44 penetrates measurably better than the .45Colt and the three head of 1800-2000lb critters taken in the last year and a half would seem to refute that "boy doing a man's job" nonsense. Not to mention Jack's comments about attempting a brain shot on elephant with the .44Mag Punch bullet. I think you, just like Parker, made up your mind a long time ago based on all this Linebaugh myth & legend and you won't be swayed by the facts. The difference you put so much faith in, simply doesn't exist. You have to keep in mind, I used to believe it all too. For a long time, it was an accepted piece of Sixgunnery Doctrine in Craig's mind. The revelation came with I found the Hodgdon heavy bullet .44 data. Then I ordered a bunch of bullets and tested it against theirs and Linebaugh's .45 data. Then I started looking at meplat diameters and found that the .45's was not always bigger and even when it was, it was out of proportion to the difference in bullet diameter. It all conflicted with what I had accepted as fact. Further testing just proved that everything we'd been led to believe about the two cartridges no longer held true, if it ever did.
That said, I'm going to do a lot more testing. I'll test the 45,000psi Garrett 405gr load, with its relatively small .335" meplat against the Beartooth 405gr. I'll push all the heavy .44 bullets in strong guns and see if the increased pressure/velocity yields anything meaningful. We'll get those 405's up to 50,000psi and see what happens. I don't expect any revelations because I don't think there's anything to gain with 400gr bullets but whatever happens, I'll post the results for all to see because unlike 'some', I don't care which way it falls.