THE .44 SPECIAL IS ALIVE AND WELL! by JOHN TAFFIN

[JimT]

From the old Sixgunner.com Archives
(This article first appeared in the July/Aug issue of The Shootist © 1987 and is used by permission of the author)

In 1905 Smith & Wesson started to test a new cartridge and a new revolver to handle the new sixgun round. Little could they realize what a tremendous impact this would have on the shooting world. By 1908, the .44 Hand Ejector First Model and the new .44 Special cartridge were a reality. The new factory load carried a 246 gr. bullet over 26 grs. of black powder, still as anemic as the older .44 Russian, but both the new "Triple Lock" sixgun and the new Special round had great possibilities.

The Triple Lock was so nicknamed because it locked the cylinder in three places, at the rear, at the front of the extractor rod, and at the front of the cylinder, where the yoke meets the barrel. These .44's were probably the finest examples of the gunmakers art ever to come out of the Smith & Wesson factory. This revolver was the first S&W sixgun to have the shrouded ejector rod, something that I think should be standard on all Smith & Wesson K and N- frames.

The new .44 did not sell well, and after producing slightly over 15,000 of them in .44 Special as well as .38-40, .44-40, and .45 Colt, they were discontinued for the less expensive .44 Hand Ejector Second Model.

Gone was the shrouded ejector rod and the third locking feature which gave The Triple Lock its name, was also discarded. Almost 18,000 of these less desirable N-frame sixguns were produced in .44 Special, .38-40, .44-40, and .45 Colt from 1915-1917, and then again after the war from 1920-1940. The .44 Second Model could well have been the end of the line for the .44 Special and the big S&W six-guns, if it had not been for the company of Wolf & Klar of Fort Worth. This forward looking company placed an order for 3,500 .44 sixguns in 1926. These were to have the shrouded ejector rod as the earlier Triple lock. This Model, the .44 Hand Ejector Third Model stayed a special order item until it was cataloged in 1940. Production was short lived as WWII caused manufacturing to cease until 1946, when it returned and stayed in production until 1949. This Model is also known as the Model of 1926.

In 1949, the latest .44 was modernized by adding a ribbed barrel, a micrometer adjustable rear sight, and the new "short" action. In September of 1950, what was to prove to be one of the finest sixguns ever developed, the 1950 Target .44 Special came into being. Actually, very few of these .44's were ever produced. The first two years of production saw less than 250 of them being sold, and in 1956, the introduction of the .44 Magnum spelled the death of the 1950 .44 Special. My wife presented me with a 6½" .44 Special 1950 Target Model, Bright Blue finish, for our first Christmas in 1959. Sadly, I had to sell it in 1963 to stay in college. I had enough money to pay tuition or buy groceries for our three kids, but not both. I sold my .44 Special, my .45 Colt SA and my Model '94 all for the magnificent sum of $l00! They have all been replaced many times over since then, but I really felt bad that day, believe me.

That could have easily have been the end of the .44 Special again, but thanks to Charter Arms offering their pugnacious little .44, the Bulldog, and especially thanks to the efforts of Skeeter, the .44 still lives.

Colt had produced a few .44 Specials in their SA series but dropped it for lack of sales, just as Smith had done with their 1950. Skeeter started beating the drum for the .44 Special and Colt was convinced enough to re-introduce the .44 when they resumed production of the SA in the late 70's. Sadly, the SA is no more, but they are still readily available. Smith even came back with a special run of 7500 Model 24 (1950 Target) .44 Specials in both 6½" and 4" barrels. I have a 6½" Model 24 that is one of the finest shooting sixguns I've ever had. The demand for .44 Specials was still there, so Smith found themselves in a real dilemma.

Promising only to build 7500 .44 Specials, and many collectors bought them on the basis of this promise, what was Smith & Wesson to do? The market was still there, and it is hard to ignore sales in today's lagging sales picture. Smith solved the problem, and held onto their integrity at the same time by bringing out the Model 624 which is basically the Model 24 but made of stainless steel. I have a 6½" Model 624 that also shoots better than I can hold.

Lew Horton, gun distributor had also aided in the sales of .44 Specials by ordering special runs of .44 Specials both in blue and stainless with 3" barrels and K-frame style rounded butts. These make very effective sidearms for duty use and even the factory .44 Special load is way ahead of the .38 Special for defensive use.

Let's back up here a little bit and take a look at the one man who did more to promote the .44 Special more than any other. Anyone, unless they are very new to sixgunning, knows that this was Elmer Keith. The .44 Special was Elmer's pet, the ultimate sixgun cartridge from 1927 until the advent of the .44 Magnum in 1956. When the .44 Magnum came along, Elmer retired his .44 Specials in favor of the bigger, and perhaps, better .44. The following quotes are from Elmer's "SIXGUN CARTRIDGES AND LOADS (1936)":

"I consider the .44 Special our finest large caliber revolver cartridge by a wide margin. It will do all that any .45 Colt or .44-40 will do and more. Any weight bullet that works well in either the .44-40 or .45 Colt will do good work in the .44 Special. The .44 Special will also give higher velocities with any weight bullet from 200 grain up to 250 grain or even 280 grain than will the thin-walled-cylinder guns chambered for either the .44-40 or .45 Colt. The case being straight, will withstand complete resizing and reloading a great many times. It is fully as accurate as anything ever produced in a sixgun, not excepting the .38 Special and is a great deal easier to hand load for fine accuracy than some .38 Special guns. Some may wonder at this statement, but they will find the reason if they load the two cartridges for different guns of each caliber, especially if there is any variation in groove diameter from the standard. A variation of .001" is not so much in a .44 Special, but makes quite a difference in a .38 Special.

"In 1927 I abandoned the .45 Colt for my own use in favor of the .44 Special, and have seen no reason to change back. I soon found that I could load much more powerful cartridges for the .44 Special than for any other revolver. These powerful handloads extracted easily and shot more accurately than any .45 Colt I have ever owned or used. The 230 grain Hollow point can be loaded to 1200 feet and in long barrel guns possibly up to nearly 1300 feet with Hercules #2400 powder. The 250 grain can be given a velocity of around 1100 feet with the same powder."

"I once designed a 260 grain bullet for Belding and Mull, using their blunt nose shape and Croft and I also worked out a similar shape for the same firm weighing 280 grains, both for the .44 Special. These bullets were very good killers and quite accurate at reasonable ranges but did not do so well or tear as large holes as those I later designed for Lyman Gun Sight Corporation(#429421).

Last year, I did considerable experimenting on chucks, jacks, and other pests with the .44 Special, handloaded with my 235 grain hollow point bullet and 18.5 grs. of #2400 to see if it was as good or better a killer than the .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum. In all cases it proved to be a much more powerful load and gave nearly twice the amount destruction as the .357 Magnum, even when the latter was loaded with a 160 gr.Keith hollow point bullet at standard velocity for this cartridge. Jack rabbits shot in the chest had their whole hind part or rear half blown away. I have handloaded a great many .44 Special loads for friends who have killed elk, bear, moose and mule deer here, and one sportsman took some to Africa and kept twelve men supplied with antelope meat with my 250 grain handloads in a S&W .44 Special with 6½" barrel."

Now in defense of the .45 Colt, it must be recognized that Elmer worked with "modern" Smith & Wesson .44 Specials, and the .45 Colts he used were probably older black powder models for the most part. Keith later said if he had to use factory ammunition exclusively and had to choose between the .44 Special, .357 Magnum, and .45 Colt in factory loadings only. it would be no contest and he would opt for the .45 Colt. Modern .45 Colt sixguns are much stronger than those he worked with and can be loaded to outdo the .44 Special by quite a distance.

The .44 Special has always been a favorite of mine since my wife gave me my first one way back in 1959. I've owned seventeen .44 Specials and still have fifteen of those in my possession. One slipped away so I could stay in college and the other, a 1950 Military Model 5" barrel was traded for a Colt SA .45 Colt 4 3/4" barrel with an extra .45 ACP/Auto Rim cylinder. The Special .44's have given me many years of shooting pleasure to say the least. This past summer I did extensive testing of the .44 Special using the Lyman #429421 Keith bullet and three of my .44 Specials. Six different powders were put to the test, some of which I have never seen published anywhere for use with the .44 Special. All of the loads listed were safe in my sixguns and showed no excessive pressure signs. Your sixgun could be different so use caution.

As mentioned, three of my favorite .44 Special sixguns were used to compile the loading tables. Those were my Colt New Frontier 7½" which is fitted with custom ivory stocks by friend Charles Able of New Mexico and which will drive tacks at 25 yards with the 250 gr. Keith bullets over 17.5 grs. of #2400. To me this is the most beautiful .44 Special ever factory produced. The second .44 sixgun in Smith's Model 24 6½" fitted with Skeeter Skelton style stocks of fancy walnut by friend Deacon Deason of Bear Hug Grips. This sixgun will also shoot one hole groups with the heavy Keith load. The last choice is the traditional SA sixgun, the Colt 4 3/4" .44 Special. This sixgun shoots to point of aim at 25 yds. and carries perfectly in a Tom Threepersons SA holster or just stuck in the waistband. It is fitted with Brazilian Rosewood stocks and just plain feels good in the hand.

The .44 Special comes closer to doing it all than any other sixgun caliber. In fact, the .44 Special is my most used caliber, other than those that I shoot in silhouette competition. By most used I should explain that the two handguns that I always keep loaded are two .44 Special Charter Arms Bulldogs. One is kept at one end of the house in my desk drawer, and the other is at the other end of the house in my bedroom. One of these is always with me when I head for the desert or the hills. They are so light and pack so easy either in pocket or in my boot top. When I sleep in my mountain cabin, one of these is under my pillow. It is obvious that I would be willing to bet my life on either one of these. They are both loaded with Keith slugs over 7.5 grs. of Unique. The only time in my life I have ever had to pull a gun on someone, it was my .44 Bulldog. I thank the Lord that I did not have to use it.

The .44 Special makes the perfect packing pistol for defense in the form of the 4" Smith & Wesson 1950 Target or later Model 24 or 624. I have a 1950 4" .44 Special with ivory stocks, standard hammer and trigger and an action that has to be experienced to be believed. At one time the DA's came out of the factory with an action job that would cost $100 or more now. That was before the days of product liability and lawyers getting fat off ridiculous claims. Stoked with three Keith SWC's over 7.5 grs. of Unique followed by three more over 17.0 grs. of #2400, I am prepared for any situation.

As a hunting sixgun, we have three excellent choices in the .44 Special, unfortunately only one of which is still in production. However, the other two are still available. The production sixgun is the S&W Model 624 6½" stainless, the other two are the blues counterpart, the Model 24. Colt's excellent offering is the 7½" New Frontier. I have gone as high as 1400 fps in my Colt with the Lyman Keith 429421 bullet using a load I won't even quote, however this is not a practice I would recommend. It does show that the .44 Special can be loaded up to .44 Magnum factory loads

There are so many excellent bullets available for the .44 Special that one could spend a lifetime of shooting just experimenting with the .44. Favorites of mine are NEI's #260.429, the closest copy of Elmer's bullet that is available, Lyman's #429421, Keith's original design slightly modified, and two of Ray Thompson 5 excellent designs, both of which are SWC gas checks. These are #429215GC and #429244GC. The first weighs in at 220 grs., with the latter going 255. All four of these bullets are excellent performers on targets as well as game.

Forty-four Specials weigh a good half pound less than their counterparts in the bigger .44 Magnum. And while I have no intention of giving up my cherished .44 Magnums, I still plan to keep and shoot my Specials. Not only are they fun to shoot, giving great performance with everything from squib loads at 700 fps to full house loads; I think I also feel like I'm just a little part of Elmer Keith when I shoot them. He did so much for handgunners, we must always keep his spirit alive. Even though he was directly responsible for the .44 Magnum, the vast majority of his shooting was done with the .44 Special for the thirty years before the advent of the bigger .44. And all he really asked for from the manufacturers was his bullet at a full 1200 fps. This can be safely attained in any modern Special sixgun.

Actually the .44 Magnum came a little to soon because it stopped the progress of the .44 Special abruptly. If it had waited a few more years, Ruger would have probably chambered their excellent .357 Blackhawk for the Special. My second favorite packing .44 Special is a 4 5/8" Ruger .357 that has been rechambered to .44 Special and rebarreled. It has been given a bright blue finish and fitted with ivories and would have made a beautiful production sixgun. When Ruger brought out the .44 Magnum, they went to a larger frame, that is also now used on their .357. The older, smaller frames when converted to .44 Special have the wonderful balance of the Colt SA. Available as a pocket pistol in the Bulldog, a perfect target round, using either factory loads or a 250 gr. SWC over 6.0 grs. of Unique in the Model 24, an excellent defensive packing pistol in the 4" Model 24 or 624, or even in a 4 3/4" Colt SA or Ruger conversions, and a real hunting sixgun for game up to the size of mule deer and black bear especially in the 7½" Colt and Smith & Wesson 6½" Model 24 or 624, what more could anyone ask from a sixgun cartridge? The old .44 really is Special.

Caliber: Smith & Wesson .44 Special
Brass: WW .44 Special Temp: 60
Bullet: Lyman #429421
LOAD MV - 4 3/4" bbl MV - 6 1/2" bbl. MV - 7 1/2" bbl.
15.5 gr. 2400 1054 1042 1155
16 gr. 2400 1064 1120 1149
16.5 gr. 2400 1107 1190 1194
17 gr. 2400 1139 1190 1210
17.5 gr. 2400 1160 1219 1270
18 gr. 2400 1198 1297 1279

17 gr. H-110 976 1063 1083
17.5 gr. H-110 1015 1093 1120
18 gr. H-110 1063 1111 1119
18.5 gr. H-110 1064 1139 1179
19 gr. H-110 1111 1186 1190
19.5 gr. H-110 1127 1244 1274
20 gr. H-110 1192 1248 1277

17 gr. H4227 958 980 989
17.5 gr. H4227 998 1029 1056
18 gr. H4227 1032 1070 1101
18.5 gr. H4227 1053 1115 1149
19 gr. H4227 1083 1157 1163
19.5 gr H4227 1129 1148 1196
20 gr. H4227 1157 1209 1237

15 gr. #9 991 1021 1074
15.5 gr. #9 998 1029 1056
16 gr. #9 1067 1090 1157
16.5 gr. #9 1072 1118 1167
17 gr. #9 1074 1161 1195
17.5 gr. #9 1115 1185 1214
18 gr. #9 1183 1246 1273

12 gr. HS-7 957 998 1018
12.5 gr HS-7 980 1036 1077
13 gr HS-7 1038 1131 1123
13.5 gr HS-7 1088 1156 1145
14 gr. HS-7 1107 1206 1207
14.5 gr. HS-7 1163 1241 1243
15 gr HS-7 1198 1263 1305

6 gr. Unique 628 683 688
7.5 gr. Unique 912 913 947
8 gr. Unique 919 949 1000
8.5 gr. Unique 940 983 978
9 gr. Unique 970 007 1044
9.5 gr. Unique 1031 1061 1109

All loads assembled with CCI Magnum LP primers except, Unique loads used CCI Standard LP primers.

[ollogger]

Jim, Thanks for a good read on a almost rainy day
gonna go load some for my 454





Brad

[Scott Tschirhart]

Thanks for sharing this Jim.

[wvfarrier]

Highly under rated self defense round

[Ray]

And there are a lot of poorer choices out there (other self-defense chamberings) than the "anemic" factory 246 gr. l.r.n.....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w2Na73eUb ... 40NA%3D%3D

Fast forward to about 6 minute mark to see .44 spec. gel penetration slo-mo.....

[Scott Tschirhart]

And there are a lot of poorer choices out there (other self-defense chamberings) than the "anemic" factory 246 gr. l.r.n.....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w2Na73eUb ... 40NA%3D%3D

Fast forward to about 6 minute mark to see .44 spec. gel penetration slo-mo.....

Absolutely! Actually both of those “old fashioned” loads did very well.

[Old Savage]

One of the very best.

[Walt]

You have good taste, Fred. I have a model 24-3 just like that. I did have to put a taller front sight on it. In fact, I shot it at steel gongs just yesterday.

[samsi]

And there are a lot of poorer choices out there (other self-defense chamberings) than the "anemic" factory 246 gr. l.r.n.....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w2Na73eUb ... 40NA%3D%3D

Fast forward to about 6 minute mark to see .44 spec. gel penetration slo-mo.....

My old hunting partner was a County Deputy and one evening responded to the scene of a shootout (at rock throwing distance) involving a couple of local ne'er-do-wells. The winner had a Charter Bulldog with the 246 RN load and hit the other guy 4 times. I understand the exit wounds were impressive.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Nothing fancy but a good Charter Arms Bulldog is a fight stopper.

I loaded a hundred or so .44 cases tonight with a .431 diameter RNFP 240 gr machine cast bullet over 6 grains of Unique.

It doesn’t go very fast but it will poke holes right through most things.

Shoots fine in my Model 69

[Ji in Hawaii]

Mahalo nui Jim, for these timely articles. I have been saving these for future reference.
Back when I worked in Lahaina, Maui, a friends indoor shooting range went bankrupt, and he gave "countless" rounds of 38 Special, 44 Special, 357 Magnum, and 44 Magnum. He kept all the 45 ACP since he owned a S&W 645. I also have several boxes of Winchester Silvertip 44 Special ammo I bought from a local Sporting goods store that was closing down. I own some 44 Magnum chambered guns, but none specific in 44 Special. I will be burried before I ever get the chance to shoot up even half of what I got. I havenʻt needed to reload these cartridges in several years.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Still the best load. Skeeter’s load

[Galloway]

I think the 44special is among the best cartridge for outdoor use, but the days of the Saturday night special or switchblade armed holdup man are long gone. Todays thugs attack in multiples with glocks and 30rd stick mags. On the rare occasion i carry its usually a 5 shot 38 but i dont pretend for a second I'm well heeled to take on todays criminal element. JMHO

[JimT]

I think the 44special is among the best cartridge for outdoor use, but the days of the Saturday night special or switchblade armed holdup man are long gone. Todays thugs attack in multiples with glocks and 30rd stick mags. On the rare occasion i carry its usually a 5 shot 38 but i dont pretend for a second I'm well heeled to take on todays criminal element. JMHO

It still takes only 1 well-placed shot to stop an attacker with a 30 round magazine.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I often carry a SAA with only five rounds available. But I would think that a Charter Arms Bulldog would certainly do the trick.

But a .38 snub nosed revolver leaves a man far from disarmed.

[marlinman93]

The .44 Special is a neat old cartridge, and I prefer it much over the .44 Magnum. But I never saw it as any better or much different to the .45 Colt, so I've always leaned towards the .45 Colt in handguns myself.

[Walt]

Yep, I agree with you, Vall. As much as I enjoy my .44 Specials, I love my .45 Colts even more.

[Scott Tschirhart]

The one thing I love about the .45 Colt is how I have available bullets that really fill out the chambers.

With normal loads this seems to true up the bullets with the forcing cone and contributes to consistency.

I wish I had a .430 bullet like this.

[Grizz]

That's a beauty Scott.

that's exactly what my 405Gr load looks like in the Redhawk, which is my woods load.

My house load is 44-spcl hollow points, although my house gun on the magnet is the 1911 . . .

so many options, so little time left :)

[Scott Tschirhart]

Grizz.

I would really like to try your load in a Redhawk. It sounds like the cat’s meyow!

[Scott Tschirhart]

Btw…did anybody notice the fly trying to land on my SAA?

[Grizz]

Grizz.

I would really like to try your load in a Redhawk. It sounds like the cat’s meyow!

Found this picture of the setup. I got around 950fps, Marshall got 1020 or so.
.

44_405.gif

.
I didn't bench mark it for accuracy, although they would stay on steel at the ranges I was making venison. I mentioned elsewhere that most of my pistol hunting was with a 325Gr bullet in a SBH. I haven't made meat with this one, but it runs straight from the Redhawk and expect it would do everything the SBH did out past 50 yards. It is designed as a Stopper, what I wanted to have if I had to stop a bear or moose or bull or horse. Never mind what Mr. Shoemaker did with his 9mm ! ! ! :)

I forgot to include this image:

45_44_405g.png

It was made by Beartooth Bullets in Idaho, which seems to be gone now. Designed for the 444 and made for handgun hunting with the second crimp groove. Their alloy is the best I've ever shot, standing up to tough tests. Reliable.

grizz sends

[Scott Tschirhart]

Looks like it would do the job!

[Bullard4075]

A huge amount of good info. Thanks. Five Specials - so far- put me in the fan club.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I have one more to pick up and I should have that one in June. A 7.5 inch flattop Bisley Ruger.

I’m thinking about loading up a goodly number of .44 XTPs over a healthy dose of H110 for smoothing out the barrel of my 4 5/8 inch Ruger.

I shot a couple of hundred rounds of .45 ACP ball through an old model convertible Ruger and it made it a much better cast bullet gun.

[Walt]

Scott, this is what I do to firelap my revolvers so they don't lead the barrel with cast bullets. I use lead bullets that are rounded all the way to the case mouths; no SWC because they just push the grinding compound out of the barrel. I load up 8 or 10 rounds using around 2 gr of Bullseye. Based on John Linebaugh's suggestion I use a fairly coarse oil based grinding compound like 280 grit and removing the cylinder, I use half a Q-tip held by a hemostat or needle nose pliers to dip into the grinding compound and smear it all around the narrowing part of the forcing cone and into the lands. I put on my hearing protection, take the revolver out into the garage and shoot one round into a sand-filled bucket. After re-applying the grinding compound for each subsequent shot I thoroughly clean the gun, being careful to remove all the grit. It makes a remarkable difference in eliminating leading and may in fact contribute to better accuracy. I wouldn't use commercial rounds sold for firelapping because they wear the chamber throats as well as the barrel and possibly ruin the throat sizing that I've so carefully done previously.

Out of my four dozen or so revolvers, only a handful have ever had jacketed rounds through them.

BTW, I have an old .45 Colt Blackhawk that had a constriction in the barrel under the frame threads due to over-tightening at the factory, a fairly common occurrence with large bore guns and Rugers in particular. The constriction reduced the bullet diameter and caused them to pass undersized down the remainder of the barrel. It played havoc with accuracy but since firelapping is most effective at the breech end of the barrel, it took quite a few rounds to wear down the constriction and make the gun accurate.

[Turdyturdy]

Odd that John Taffin declares 44 Special alive and well and an article in the June 24 Handloader by another well known writer declares all 44 revolvers and calibers as dying.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I haven’t read the article but I think it’s premature.

Think about how many companies are making .44 Special and Magnum revolvers these days.

Ruger, Henry, Rossi and Smith & Wesson are making .44 Magnum leverguns.

.44s aren’t going anywhere.

As long as there are rednecks with Super Blackhawks the .44 will never die.

[Grizz]

Scott, this is what I do to firelap my revolvers so they don't lead the barrel with cast bullets. I use lead bullets that are rounded all the way to the case mouths; no SWC because they just push the grinding compound out of the barrel. I load up 8 or 10 rounds using around 2 gr of Bullseye. Based on John Linebaugh's suggestion I use a fairly coarse oil based grinding compound like 280 grit and removing the cylinder, I use half a Q-tip held by a hemostat or needle nose pliers to dip into the grinding compound and smear it all around the narrowing part of the forcing cone and into the lands. I put on my hearing protection, take the revolver out into the garage and shoot one round into a sand-filled bucket. After re-applying the grinding compound for each subsequent shot I thoroughly clean the gun, being careful to remove all the grit. It makes a remarkable difference in eliminating leading and may in fact contribute to better accuracy. I wouldn't use commercial rounds sold for firelapping because they wear the chamber throats as well as the barrel and possibly ruin the throat sizing that I've so carefully done previously.

Walt, this sounds right, but my redhawk cylinders are too tight and they swage the bullet before it gets to the forcing cone. Would coated bullets serve to open up the the cylinders? Someone said they lapped cylinders to size with a flapper dowel, which seems chancy. I could ruin a cylinder in seconds that way..... Until I get the cylinders to the right size for my ammo the gun will never perform correctly. Any ideas about this part?

thanks
grizz

[Scott Tschirhart]

If your throats are too tight you can ream them out yourself by renting a reamer on line.

I’ve done a few and this is easy and difficult to screw up.

Or you can just send the cylinder to a number of places and they will ream those throats for you.

https://singleactions.proboards.com/thr ... rza?page=1

[Walt]

Grizz, I have enough revolvers in .357, .44 and .45 that I purchased all three reamers from Brownell's. The only exception was .41 caliber of which I have half a dozen revolvers but for which I couldn't find a reamer on line. I have several steel rods of different sizes that I have sawed slots into and in the case of the .41s I used those with 240 grit emery cloth. It may sound scary to do but it really isn't. Since I shoot only cast bullets sized to the same diameter, I use a bullet as a guide and am easily able to tell when I am getting close to my target throat diameter. I stop when I am able to push a bullet through the chambers with a plastic rod. It takes a fair amount of time to remove even .0005" from the throats. Go slowly, check frequently. The results are well worth the effort and you'll essentially be saving the gun. Be sure you remove the cylinder from the gun as well as the ejector rod and enter the cylinder from the throat end with the emery cloth Tightly wrapped around the rod so that your alignment is correct.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I’ve never felt the need to do anything about the chamber throats on any .357 or .44

But it seems that every Ruger in .45 Colt needed to be opened up a bit.

[piller]

What about the GP100 in 44 Special? Anyone have experience with them?

[Walt]

One of my Ruger .357s had undersized throats, another did not. I did need to ream the throats of my Smiths.

If memory serves me, I did need to ream the throats of my Ruger .44 Specials and also my Smiths. I don't believe I reamed the Ruger .44 mags or the Smith .44 mags.

In spite of being a bit annoyed with having to size bullets for Freedom Arms revolvers differently than my other guns, I'll probably live with it the way it is.

Piller, you'll just have to see if you can push your most frequently used .44 bullets through your GP100. If they push through the cylinder with a minimal amount of effort (but don't fall through) there's no action needed.

[JimT]

I always shot every sixgun I got a lot. I put hundreds of rounds through them, sometimes many more than that, before I decided to do anything with them. Most of the time by shooting them enough I figured out they were just fine as is. Sure, there were the odd ones that needed work. But most of the time the work that needed to be done was me.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Wise words Jim.

[Walt]

Odd that John Taffin declares 44 Special alive and well and an article in the June 24 Handloader by another well known writer declares all 44 revolvers and calibers as dying.

Turdyturdy, regarding the "dying" .44s, Venturino loves using provacative titles to his articles. Maybe he thinks those titles lead to larger numbers of readers. Although in some respects it is probably true, it's not specifically and entirely true. The fact is that in this day and age, semiauto pistol sales have by far outpaced revolver sales. So although it may be that .44 revolvers aren't selling as well as autos, the same is true of any revolvers. If .44s are dying, so are .38 specials, .357s, .41s and .45 Colts and virtually all other cartridges that are chambered exclusively in revolvers.