Off topic, but WTH. :supergrin: Fred & CM, would you not agree that say a Ruger .44 Special loaded with a 250 gr. hardcast Keith style SWC over 7.5 gr. Unique will do 95% + of what a .44 Mag. will with a helluva lot less punishment and noise as far as penetration is concerned?
It's a given that the .44 Mag. is more versatile for factory ammo choices, however a PROPERLY loaded .44 Special in the recently introd Ruger Flat Top is a helluva gun using the Skeeter Skelton load and even more importantly, easier to shoot & shoot accurately.
Hey there amigo !
No, a 44 special 'will not' do 95% of what a 44mag will do, even with your load. ( a skeeter skelton load).... I own load for and shoot these all the time.
I use a Ruger flat top in 44sp, (nice gun ain't it?) and other Rugers 'meant for 44mag and 44sp'. I use in the 44special 250gr Keith with 7.5 grs of Unique, 'and' several other loads stouter than this one using up to 17.0 grs 2400, "and some others". Even have a load with the 300gr cast that is real lethal in 44 sp ! :wow:
Sure, if I am say 50yds from a broadside elk and shoot him in the shoulder/lungs, with the 44sp, it will kill him with the stouter loads, but the 44mag will do that at over 100yds +.
I will not and cannot deny the potensial of the 44sp, one of my 'pet cartridges', but at the same time I cannot compare it lethal-ness (sp) in a "host of situations" to the "full throttle 44mag", say with a 250gr Cast bullet and 25.0 grs of H110.. No contest amigo. Ha.
I
EDC on the ranch and have all my life, a Ruger in SBH 44mag/sp with a 4 5/8" barrel, and or a Ruger BH 45LC with the same barel length, or the Ruger 44sp FT. When the Vaquero's came out I went to them as 'my most carried gun' in the saddle and on the place here. It too, is 4 5/8" and both in 44mag/sp and 45LC. Although I do own Rugers with longer barrels, 5 1/2", 7 1/2". I prefer for a "packin Gun," the 4 5/8" and depending on my situation the Vaquero stands first in line. If serious hunting is in order, I usually go to the SBH or FT for the sights obviously, although the Vaquero and I get along really good even out at some pretty long range, and just draw , 'point and shoot.' (takes time and a whole dump load of 'boolits' to get 'er down). Ha Ha.
The old style Vaquero will handle 1300+FPS with no sweat. I am not going to get this fron the 44 sp load, with a 250/275gr cast bullet. And 1500fps out of the longer barrel is doable in the 44 mag.
Again, I shoot 'all the time', and have since i was a kid, and am now 60. :fred: I pack these hog legs constantly, and load for, and shoot them all the time.
Expert ?
NOPE ! Just have learned a thing or two in almost 5 decades.
The 44special is one 'tremendously Versatile hand gun cartridge', and I love it. It is capable of some pretty impressive work.
But a 44mag it ain't.
I will not make a % guess on it in a comparison, but 95% of what the 44mag can do...?
No way ! Just No Way pard !
Nothing like shoting the special, man I can do it all day and do alot of times off and on through out my day on the place. I love the Vaquero, with the "draw and point" shootibility (if there is such a word. ha) and it is very doable with the 44special and 7.5 Unique, and several other loads with less velocity but still enough horse power to take down a mountain lion out here, or whatever need be with a good HC bullet.
But again, although the the 44special is very special, :supergrin: and is nothing to sneeze at, and we can long range it out here at some very impressive ranges, as well as a number of other calibers, and although we can take elk with it at 'resonable range', and although Mr Keith did some really cool things with it as well....
AH, He did go on in his discontentment with it (even though he loved it) to hassle everyone to death to make it 'better.' Thus a 44mag was born !
That should all be self explanatory... I hope !
I'm crusin on about two cylinders today, so Lord knows what this turns out to be. HaHa.
No time amigo (right now) for 'more details', and gettin all scientific, (not that i could anyway on that last one) Ha, But long live the 44sp, and if your going to hunt 2,000 # American Buff's, or long range elk or moose, or SD against a brown bear on down, and a 44mag, or a 44 special
is all that is layin on the table, take up the 44mag, and stuff that puppy with 25.0grs H110 and 250/275/300gr hard cast, and I can assure you it will go "through what ever you shoot with it", be it a big huge bruin, moose , whatever...(with a good shot of course.
I have a 4" S&W 44mag model 629 and he don't like heavy bullets past 275grs.
But again, 24/25.0grs H110 will blow length ways through a large grizz and through these other animals as well in the 44mag. The 44special loaded stout, as with 250gr and 17.0grs 2400 is a nasty piece of medicine as well, but I cannot give you a % on this. Maybe I have 'and we need to see it in the things I've related to you here amigo'.
I will not stop shooting them till I die, I have been blessed as a cowboy and rancher in the west, to have always had the whole world (it seems) to shoot guns in, and things to hunt, and after guiding for 25 years in various places and for different game etc, and my own personal hunts as well. I can tell you, hand gun wise, that I have never once been dissipointed in the 44 mag/sp, or my also beloved 45LC and they all get HC bullets and rarely ever have seen a JHP.
I'll throw this in the pot as well. I can not compare the 44mag to the 45LC either. To many folks in this modern fast paced young people's type society want fast and zippy, and have not had the opportunity to grow up using what
they call 'slow and lumbering' rounds such as these, or even a 45acp, etc.
We/I, as well as
FRED whom you addressed in your post as well, have grown up with these mags. Fred knows his 44's and shoots a great deal. I too, shoot all the time, and hand load all of it, unless I am testing something for myself or a friend in the way of factory fodder.
We have the ability out here to not only hunt and shoot game animals etc, but also to do the kind of testing that I realize other folks cannot do where they live. Like after butchering a steer, and taking a hind quarter (ouch)
'every now and then' and place all the guts/internals behind the quarter, and drape various wranglers and other clothes over it and shoot various ammo into it, and all types of various barriers etc, and
'other things' we have come up with as well.
There have also been a collective (among every one still alive around here) experience of over several hundred years, 'if you added up everyone's
personal experience' (
you know what i mean) and it has been a blessing to have grown up being taught and "doing'' all manner of really cool stuff, and keeping my ears open to those around me (the real old timer's) and just learning...
Start of the day all loaded up:
Usually like this by supper time:
No one knows everything, but it is fun on the journey to do stuff and learn.
Well, it is R&R time for me tonight, and I am bushed !
Hope something of value was in here for you !
Good shooting
CM
