CARE AND FEEDING OF THE 44 REMINGTON MAGNUM by SSL

Care and Feeding of the .44 Remington Magnum

by SingleShotLover

Somewhere, perhaps hiding under a rock in Afghanistan, there may be a lonely soul who hasn't heard of the .44 Magnum, but he may well be the only one. This cartridge has rated near the top of the list of popular loading dies for over 40 years with no sign of losing ground to more "modern" offerings. Bigger, faster and more recoil-producing rounds have arrived on the scene but offer no real threat to the "King" of the magnums.

Background

A former cow-puncher, guide and gun-writer by the name of Elmer Keith (now deceased) can claim the rights to be considered the father of the .44 Magnum round and its family of firearms.

Elmer had been pestering the firearms and ammunition manufacturing community for years to produce a hotter loading (complete with revolvers strong enough to accept these loads under regular usage) of the .44 Special using his 250 grain SWC (semi-wad cutter) designed cast bullets at a nominal 1,400 fps. No one was interested primarily because of the older .44 Special revolvers made of milder steel then in existence. The only solution was to create both a new cartridge and the guns in which to use it.

The most entertaining version of Elmer Keith's crusade is that he supposedly pulled off what had to be the most creative con-job ever perpetrated on the firearm industry: Traveling to the Smith and Wesson plant in 1953, he convinced the powers that be that Remington was soon to release a new cartridge called the .44 Magnum. Since he even had the specifications for the "new" cartridge (.10" longer case than the .44 Special) , S&W was convinced and launched a campaign to be the first manufacturer to have a revolver ready for the debut of this new cartridge. Elmer then proceeded to make a dash to Remington and inform them that S&W was planning a new revolver for a new cartridge to be known as the .44 Magnum. If they wanted to be in on the ground-floor, they needed to move fast; and by the way............here are the specs for the new cartridge!

A very entertaining story, but a bit hard to believe. I have no doubt that Elmer Keith was gutsy enough to pull off the events described, but I seriously doubt that someone at either Remington or S&W wouldn't have made a few calls to sort out details. More likely, Elmer probably used his considerable force of character to persuade both sides to meet and agree to the joint venture. However it came to be, Keith was by all accounts the moving force and the first Model 29 was shipped in December of 1955. Full scale production and shipping began in 1956.

Though a closely held industry secret until the announcement in 1956, Ruger also began producing .44 Magnum Blackhawk revolvers the same year. How? A Ruger employee found a handful of empty brass in an industry dump. Bill Ruger, not being stupid, had the necessary "heads-up" that he needed to roll out his own single action version of the .44 Magnum!

Revolvers and Accuracy

The .44 Magnum is available in several action styles by many manufacturers. There are single actions, double actions, single shots and semi-autos as well as several rifle designs. Since the vast majority of my experience with this cartridge was gained with revolvers, that is what we will discuss.

The unfortunate fact is that cylinder/throat/forcing-cone/bore dimensions vary wildly from manufacturer to manufacturer and even within the same line. I have found revolvers with chamber throats as tight as .428" and as large as 434". Match this with what should be the proper bore diameter of .430" and you can see that accuracy can suffer. Ideally, chamber throats should be .001 - .002" larger than bore diameter. My own .44s all have bore diameters ranging from .4295 - .430". I have opened the chamber throats on each to a uniform .431" and altered all forcing-cones to an 11 degree taper. Using .431" cast bullets, the resulting fit is about as close to perfect as you can get, and accuracy with all is top-notch.

Actually, when you look at the sequence of events that take place when a revolver is fired, it is a wonder that anything works!

Consider: The trigger is pulled and the hammer falls, driving the firing pin forward to detonate the primer. The primer detonation ignites the powder charge instantly creating a building gas pressure. When the pressure has reached a certain level, the bullet begins its forward movement creating an equal movement of the case rear-ward. (Remember- For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.) The rear-ward progress of the case is arrested by the recoil plate and the case continues to expand to create a gas seal within the chamber. By this time, the bullet has exited the case and is passing through the cylinder throat while being subjected to immense pressure from the rear causing it to expand to fill the throat (known as obturation). Upon exiting the cylinder, it has to make a jump of anywhere from .002 to .006" (barrel/cylinder gap) and enter the forcing-cone where it hopefully gets centered and swaged to bore diameter. Now the poor bullet is subjected to the wrenching trauma of encountering the rifling and forced to not only proceed forward at speed, but take on a rotation before finally exiting the bore into the unfriendly world and hurtling toward the target (which it hopefully hits).

Add all of the above to the fact that the average cartridge is a loose, rattle-fit in each chamber and is seldom actually centered at time of ignition, the accuracy of any revolver is a true miracle.

Stay with me.......we are going to see how we can eliminate some of these variables by thoughtful loading techniques and practices.

Bullet and Powder Selection

 

The traditional load that any aficionado of the .44 Magnum can name without reference to any loading manuals is Elmer Keith's famous 250 grain cast SWC propelled by 22 grains of Alliant 2400 for an average of around 1,400 fps. This load is still one of the best (with a reduction of 1 -2 grains of powder since today's 2400 is a bit hotter than it used to be) and works well in many revolvers. With all respect to Elmer however, other loads and bullet styles work as well or better.

The .44 Magnum is probably best known for its accuracy and power using cast bullets. Cast bullets are both accurate and inexpensive to buy or cast as well as offering shapes and styles that meet many needs. They also offer the advantage of creating lower pressure and higher velocity when compared to comparable jacketed loads...in essence, free horsepower! The basic styles fall into three main categories (1) SWC Keith design (2) round-nose (3) LBT (Lead Bullet Technology).

The Keith style SWC is often copied (poorly) by cast bullet and mold makers. The original design calls for a square-bottomed grease groove, three wide driving bands of full diameter and a flat base. These full-diameter bands (particularly the front one) ensure that the bullet can receive a firm grip upon entering the bore without stripping or skidding across the rifling. The flat base allows for uniform pressure dispersal across the entire base to ensure proper obturation to seal the gasses behind the projectile. A true "Keith" designed SWC seems to shoot well in most reasonably accurate guns.

Today's bulk casters seem to insist on narrow drive bands and bevel based bullets. Bevel based bullets are probably more responsible for leading in revolvers than any other source. Gases are allowed to work not only on the base but to squirt up the sides of the bullet causing gas cutting and its resultant leading. The narrow drive bands allow the bullets to skid across the rifling before a grip can be achieved and also contribute to leading. Avoid these bullets like the plague.

The round-nose designs should be relegated to target and small game shooting. Their design is poor for penetration and shock transfer but can be used for practice or hunting small game with minimal meat damage.

The bullet style that I have used the most lately is the LBT design. This style is the brain-child of the late Veral Smith and offers an entirely new concept. The LBT design is characterized by a wide flat nose (meplat). Depending on the particular style (LFN - Long Flat Nose or WFN - Wide Flat Nose) the meplats range from .300" (LFN) to .340" (WFN) and create increased shock and larger wound channels than the Keith design. Elmer was operating on the erroneous assumption that the shoulder of his SWC design was causing much of the damage upon impact. Recent tests prove that this is not the case; only the nose meplat causes the damage in tissue with the shoulder actually existing in a near vacuum as a result of hydraulic effect. Naturally, a larger nose will create more damage while allowing for a heavier bullet without increasing length excessively.

I usually use the 270 grain LFN with a plain base (though gas-checked can be used) in my .44s. Using an appropriate amount of 2400, I easily clock 1,300 fps from my 5 1/2" Ruger Super Blackhawk and can usually keep 6 shots at 50 yards around 2". The WFN design at 320 grains runs just at 1,200 from the same gun but opens groups to just under 3" at 50 yards. My Ruger has driven the 270 grain load completely through two medium sized (110-120 pound) deer with no bullet recovery. The first one was at 40 yards and went through the ribcage without hitting major bone. The second was at 70 yards and destroyed the left front shoulder, passed through the lungs angling through the body cavity and shattered the right hip joint before exiting. The wound channel on both was impressive and the penetration of the angling shot was far beyond expectation.

Cast bullets should be lubed with a relatively soft lube and be cast to a BHN ( Brinell Hardness Number) to suit the pressure levels at which they will be used. How do you determine what hardness to order? Actually, it is pretty easy to do. Determine the listed pressure of the load you intend to use and divide by 1,422. Example: at the top operating pressure allowed the .44 Magnum by SAAMI - 36,000 psi (NOT CUP) divided by 1,422 equals 25.3 BHN. Remember that bullets that are too soft will lead, but so will those that are too hard. Gas-checked bullets can be a bit softer. I usually have good luck with BHN in the area of 20 to 22 unless I am working with heavy-duty loads.

Jacketed bullets of several styles also work well and are available from Hornady, Speer, Sierra, Nosler as well as Winchester and Remington among others. I am no fan of light bullets driven at high velocity in handguns. Light bullets driven at excessive speed seldom penetrate straight and usually prove no match for substantial bone. Hollow points may or may not work at anticipated velocities, which is why I prefer the reliability of heavy hard cast bullets and let the design do the work.

Powders that work best in the .44 for hunting loads usually start with W-231 on the fast burn-rate side and run through Unique, HS-6, HS-7, Accurate 7, Enforcer, Accurate 9, 2400 and H-110/W-296 (most reloaders are aware that H-110 and Winchester 296 are actually the same powder). A new-comer to the scene, Lil Gun, is showing a lot of promise and may end up being the powder of choice for cast bullets. Its cooler burning flame seems to not scorch the bullet bases as badly as 2400 and may make a cleaner burning, lower pressure load.

Interestingly, 2400 doesn't respond well to the use of "magnum" primers. Regular large pistol primers usually provide better pressure uniformity and produce a flame that doesn't scorch or etch the bases of cast bullets as badly as magnum primers. H-110, on the other hand, seems to require magnum primers for best efficiency.

Brass is available through virtually everyone. IMI, Midway, Starline, Remington, Winchester and Hornady offer new brass as do others.

Loading Tips

One of the major factors affecting accuracy with straight sided cartridges is case length. Make sure that all cases are uniformly trimmed. After trimming, de-burr only the outside of the case mouth. The sharp edge left on the inside of the case mouth as a result of the trimming assists in a firm bullet crimp.

Use a firm, uniform crimp (I prefer a roll-crimp on revolvers and a taper-crimp on autos) that is enough without over-stressing the case mouth or buckling the case. Most of the powders used in the .44 require a firm crimp to develop uniform pressure, not just to keep the bullet in the case.

Adjust your sizer to size only to the web of the case if your revolvers will allow this. This allows the base of the case to remain a snug fit in the chamber to assist in alignment.

Choose bullet diameters that are a snug fit in the throat of your chambers. A .431" throat needs a .431" bullet. Add this fit to the base fit (above) and you have taken control of cartridge alignment rather than leaving it to the tender mercy of gravity.

Seat and crimp in two different stages. This is particularly valuable when using cast bullets. The gradual closing of the "belled" case mouth as the bullet is seated can (and will) shave material from the bullet. The best way to do this is to adjust your seating die to only seat the bullet and obtain a Lee Factory Crimp die for the actual crimping process. This die is easy to use and has the added advantage of making sure that all cartridge dimensions remain correct.

I actually use a Lee progressive press as a "semi-progressive". Since it is only a 3 station press, I size and de-cap all brass on a single stage press followed by priming using a hand-held priming tool. This also gives me the chance to examine every piece of brass for defects. I then dump all of the primed brass into the press hopper and begin loading. Stage 1 now becomes the expanding/powder step followed by bullet seating only at Stage 2. Stage 3 is a pass through a Lee Factory Crimp die for crimping and final overall sizing of the cartridge.

The Future

The future of the .44 Magnum is bright. Even with the onslaught of the new "super" magnums like the .454 Casull, the .475 and .500 Linebaugh, and the S&W 500 Magnum, the old .44 will always have its devotees. The excessive recoil of the challengers have created a large number of recoil related injuries. One highly experienced gun writer suffered wrist and hand injuries from only 40 rounds from the new S&W offering.

Conversely, the .44 Magnum can be mastered by anyone with practice and a proper firearm. It offers the power and penetration to handle any reasonable handgun hunting needs (with proper bullet selection) and is also capable of target quality accuracy. Reduced loads (or .44 Special ammo) make this a truly enjoyable cartridge to shoot by anyone.

SSL