HANDGUNS
The Fabulous .44 Mag
Why it's still the best all-around handgun cartridge around
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Ask about my favorite hunting rifle, and I'll probably stumble a bit. It really depends on what kind of game you--or I--might be talking about, and it even depends on the year. I like and use a whole bunch of different rifles chambered to different cartridges, depending on the game, the country and sometimes just on a whim. Ask me about my favorite hunting handgun, though, and it's easy: the .44 Remington Magnum. For me the choice of revolver is also easy; I've carried S&W Model 29s for more than 20 years and have been perfectly satisfied. In fairness, however, I've never felt the need to own a bunch of different .44s. Over the years I've put in a lot of range time with .44 Mag revolvers from Colt, Ruger, Dan Wesson and Taurus, and I would be equally happy with any of them. And, of course, I have a scoped .44 Mag barrel for my Thompson/Center Contender.
As long-time readers of this column know, old Elmer Keith, its former author, experimented widely with heavy handloads for all the large-caliber handgun cartridges available to him back in the 1940s and '50s. He eventually came to believe that the "right" combination was the .429-inch bullet of the .44 S&W Special, loaded to the gills in a strong double-action revolver. The ultimate result, in a cooperative effort between Remington (ammo) and Smith & Wesson (revolver), was the .44 Remington Magnum, introduced in the mid-1950s.
The case is simply the 1.160-inch .44 Special case lengthened to 1.285. The length is partly to increase case capacity (which is really not necessary with all powders and all loads) and partly to absolutely preclude the new cartridge's chambering in firearms designed for .44 Special pressures.
Some years later, Clint Eastwood's character Dirty Harry Callahan described the .44 Mag as "the most powerful handgun in the world." It was, at least in factory form, but only for a very short time; it was quickly eclipsed by the .454 Casull in 1959, and today there are several other more powerful handgun cartridges, including the most recent .480 Ruger. The problem, for me, is that when I get above the .44 Mag in recoil, it just isn't fun anymore. One of my favorite references says this about the .44 Remington Magnum: "It takes a seasoned handgunner to shoot it well as both recoil and muzzle blast are considerable." Maybe. But in a heavy revolver, I've never had any problem shooting well. Mind you, some revolvers are heavier than others, and longer barrels quickly add gun weight and reduce muzzle blast. The S&W isn't as heavy as other .44s, including the Ruger Redhawk and Colt Anaconda, but I've always used either a 61⁄2-inch or 83⁄8-inch barrel, and I've never had a recoil problem. A ported barrel, standard on some models, does help if recoil is an issue.
However, recoil depends considerably on what loads you use. One of the great advantages to the .44 Mag is that it's one of the most popular handgun cartridges ever designed (so there must be a lot of folks who don't find it objectionable). There are at least three dozen standard factory loads from all the major manufacturers, ranging from fast 180-grain JHPs on up through the standard 240-grain load at a variety of velocities, all the way to 300-grain heavyweights. Depending on what you need, the lighter bullets kick a whole lot less than the heavy bullets, and lighter, slower loads kick least of all.
All .44 Mag revolvers and single-shots (not necessarily tubular-magazine rifles because of potential feeding difficulties) digest .44 Special ammo without a hiccup. If you want a real treat, try some .44 Special Cowboy Action loads firing a 240-grain bullet at 700 fps. It's a pussycat--good for practice and lots of fun.
The .44 Mag's popularity also crosses over into the handloading arena. Everybody who makes projectiles makes .429-inch bullets suited for the cartridge, with a tremendous array of jacketed and cast numbers available in virtually all weights and styles. Handload recipes are legion, and I've found accuracy to be generally as good as you can hope for in revolvers and exceptional in single-shots like the T/C Contender. There are many powders that will work, but Winchester 296 and Hodgdon H110 are among the favorites.
Despite its legend as a real powerhouse, it's important to understand that the .44 Mag is not really a "powerhouse" in hunting cartridge terms. The "standard" fast factory load uses a 240-grain bullet at 1,350 fps for 971 ft-lbs of energy. This is not a lot of energy at all; even though the bullet weight and larger caliber make a difference, this is just half the energy churned up by the .30-30. Because of its blunt, short bullets, velocity drops quickly, so the .44 Mag is at its best at very close range.
Despite the low energy, I've had pretty good luck with 240-grain softpoints, JHPs and hard-cast flatpoints on deer-size game, including various midsize African antelope, out to maybe 125 yards, which is really the .44's sensible limit. On larger game it's best to cut the range in half, and I believe the heavier bullets, although generally slower, are even better than the 240-grain loads. The 300-grain loads from the major manufacturers are good, but the hottest over-the-counter .44 Mag load that is safe in revolvers is probably Garrett Cartridges' 310-grain Super-Hard-Cast Hammerhead bullet loaded to 1,325 fps for 1,200 ft-lbs of energy. Penetration is excellent with the hard-cast bullet and, of course, Elmer Keith discovered many years ago how effective his Keith-type flatnosed bullets were on game.
Heavy loads like this change the recoil picture considerably. I shoot my .44 a lot, but I don't shoot it much with the heaviest loads because it takes just a few of them to peg out my fun meter. However, I do shoot them, and I strongly recommend you do if you're planning on hunting with them. Because of the more violent muzzle flip of heavier loads, my point of impact rises dramatically as I move up the power scale, so it's important to sight-in carefully with whatever load you're planning to hunt with.
But I don't use the heavier loads more than I have to. I want my .44s to remain fun to shoot.
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