.44 Magnum Home Defense?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I use Cor-Bon 165gr in .44 Spl in my S&W. They also make the same round in .44M.
Full house loads are pretty iffy for home use, better to use loads designed for SD.
 
Nathan Bedford would say to get there "firstest with the mostest"

Not many can but if you can shoot it quickly and accurately but if you can a 44 magnum is excellent.

If I have to investigate a noise I carry an XD45 or a Smith .357.

As Dirty Harry would say "A Man's Got To Know His Limitations."

Mine are .357 and 45ACP
 
To me, a .44 Magnum seems a little too harsh for indoor use in one's home, IMHO. How many walls would one blow through, anyway? My guess is 3 on an old, solid house, at the very least. In a new house, with 1/2' sheet rock and that vinyl siding, I think the question should be "How many houses would a .44 Magnum blow through?"
 
FWIW, I don't think noise should be a primary concern for a defensive round. Gunfire generally falls into the range of 150-165 dB. Anything above 140 dB is almost certain to cause serious and permanent hearing damage.

I am aware of some folks who keep a pair of electronic ear muffs at the bedside in case of emergency. Regardless of caliber, this seems like a good idea, although the paranoia factor is getting up there...
 
44 Special Cor Bons 165 JHP makes it a very nice house gun!

44 Mag.'s in a house and it will be several days before you can hear again .........even if you "can" or "do" hit what you were shooting at!
 
Hotter .44 specials or light .44 mags

Should do just fine.
I would tend to use the light mags as to keep the blast ring further down the cylinder. Go with hollow points.
 
How lucky you feel has a lot to do with which end of the .44 magnum you happen to be standing.
 
I am not a handloader. Cabellas offered .44 mag reloads with a 240 grain lead flatnose bullet. I tried them in a Ruger Deerfield autoloader and this ammo lacked the power to cycle the action. I don't have a chronograph but I am guessing this ammo is hotter than .44 Special but clearlt less than standard magnum loads. The point is this seems like a good self defense load- less likelt to over penetrate but enough power to push through heavy clothing and the over developed pecs and abs that come from hours and hours of weight lifting in the exercise yard at the local pen.
 
If I get to the point where I need to pull the trigger on someone or something in my house I assure you if a 44 Mag. is what I had, I would definitely use it. In fact, I have a 44 Special, but if I didn't I would probably use the 44 Mag. stoked with Glasers and 44 Spl. Gold Dots for backups, and I would feel very comfortable in my ability to face a threat.
Here we are discussing whether a 44 Mag. is too powerful, and the shotgun folks are wondering whether a 3" double ought or a #1 Buck is the way to go.
 
I've recently acquired a box of .44 spc CCI Blazers JHP and I'm thinking they'll be a pretty good HD round since they're affordable, JHP, and deliver only 376 ft/lbs at the muzzle. Only downside is for reloaders since they come with aluminum casings (I don't reload though).
 
I use a 4" S&W 29-2 as my primary home defense gun, but it's loaded with Federal 200gr. LSWC-HP or 200gr. JHP Blazer .44 Specials. Just as good as a .45acp, while retaining the ability to use MUCH more powerful ammunition.
 
I've recently acquired a box of .44 spc CCI Blazers JHP and I'm thinking they'll be a pretty good HD round since they're affordable, JHP, and deliver only 376 ft/lbs at the muzzle.
I've also found them to be VERY accurate at 50ft. They're also completely controllable out of a 4" Model 29. I'll probably buy another box or two at the gunshow tommorrow if I can find them. I bought these over the net.
 
Others here have said it in different ways, but torching off a .44 mag at night in closed quarters may momentarily incapacitate you from the concussion and flash.

Not a risk I'd want to take when there are many good alternatives suggested in this thread.
 
Right. What Deanimator said. It's the whole reason why I bought a .44 Magnum. Before getting my head right I was thinking of getting some kind of uber 1911 in 10mm. Yeah they can run the lowend 10mm loaded to .40 S&W levels or .41 Mag level full house 10mm but the issue is that there doesn't seem to be a way to tune one of those things so it'll feed fire and eject both RELIABLY. I've got a Redhawk with a 5.5" barrel, so I've got an extra .5" on the barrel, big awesome adjustable sites, reliability and flexibility with ammo... she is a little bigger though and only holds 6 rounds, but if a Cape Buffalo breaks into my apartment she's going to hell and steaks are for dinner!
 
Virginian said:
Here we are discussing whether a 44 Mag. is too powerful, and the shotgun folks are wondering whether a 3" double ought or a #1 Buck is the way to go.

But for the purpose of overpenetration, doesn't a single shotgun pellet have a lot less energy than a .44 bullet?
 
Footcheese,

A cape buffaloe wouldn't make it up my front steps. Now, you wanna 10mm that could care less what you power it with? One that will let you feed it wimpy .40s, too? Get a S&W 610. That 'action' is power level insensitive - at least to the extent you are!

Now, as far as the excellent Speer #4429 200gr Gold Dot designed for 800 fps opening - I'll buy mine loaded in fresh Starline brass - from Georgia Arms. Five bags of them, delivered, was less than five boxes of the Blazers from Academy Sports locally, where I'd bought over a thousand of them over the years (They are cheaper there than anywhere mail order.).

Those Blazers were my 296's only diet - it shot over a thousand of them over the years. One split in my 696 - and they no longer go in my 296. I shot my stash up in SS cylinders. The GA Arms, Blazers, and my reloads were within a few fps of each other from the 2.5" 296 (~800-808 fps) and 4" 629 (875-890 fps). You gain nice .44 Special brass with GA Arms loads, too - and they are nice folks.

BTW, at 805 fps, folks have registered full opening (.69"-.73+") in gel, wet newspaper, and brisket. So, stoke your .44 Magnum with the GA Arms or Blazer .44 Special Gold Dots and you'll be ready for that marauding piece of cow carrying Jell-o wrapped in the rain-soaked Sunday paper.

Stainz
 
Last edited:
keyboard commandos

Don't listen to these keyboard commandos. I carry a 6.5 " 629 classic 24/7. I handload 180 grain hornady xtp bullets to over 1600 feet per second. There is more penetration with the 158 grain swhp +p "FBI load" in a 38 special. I use this load because it DOES NOT penetrate much more than 15-16 inches in gelatin. !80s, even in the fastest comercial loads or handloads, do not kick in a 45 odd ounce gun. The action is very smooth, right from the factory. The longer barrel, and hence, sight radius, makes hitting very easy. My scores at 50 yard bullseye shooting make all the old codgers at the shooting range green with envy.

I don't know everything, but I have carried this piece every day for over a year, and the longer barrel actually makes it EASIER to carry inside the waistband. The longer barrel puts more gun below the belt, which stabilizes everything better. It is probably a few tenths of a second slower to draw,but that's about all. I have killed deer and bullfrogs with it, and I can guarentee nothing will do more damage to meet than a light hollow point at 1500 feet per second plus.

The problem with these armchair quarterbacks is that they wuss out when something is loud, and has a visible muzzle flash. I promise you, the gunfight will be over before your eyes have a chance to adjust to the bright flash, anyway. Besides, did you ever hear of a flashbang grenade? It is the first thing swat teams do now, throw in a flash bang. It disorients the bad guys.

Don't listen to someone repeating what someone else told the guy that told them. If you can shoot, you can master the 44, especially with lighter bullets. I wouldn't reccomend 300 grain hard cast bullets for the 44, but I have personally seen 40 smith and wessons penetrate a lot deeper than my carry load (3x deeper) with full metal jacket.


A final thing, most of what is on the net is fourth and fith hand urban myth from some idiot gunwriter, rehashed, rewarmed, and served up to an earnest seeker after knowledge as if it were carved in stone on a mountain top. Use your head. I heard all my life that a carry gun should be small. Why? As above, a 6" barrel carries better than a four for me. It's the holster, stupid, not the gun. I heard all my life that a 44 will go through three houses and two schools and bust the engine block on a locomaotive parked on the other side. It's the bullet, stupid, not the calibre. You are probably a lot smasrter than most of the people giving you advice; you still ask questions, you're just asking the wrong ones.
 
Virginian, you cannot be a member of the keyboard commando club unless you can type a 5 paragraph post as your response, it's a requirement :D This will convince others how "smasrt" you are.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top