In the uncomplicated days before the Great Misunderstanding of December 7, 1941, no one I knew had a 44 Special because no one I knew could afford to buy a gun. Although plenty of Smith & Wesson New Century, 1917 Hand Ejector, and 1926 Military models must have been around somewhere, I couldn't find 'em.
Handgunnery in my Dust Bowl social circle was carried on with creaky old Colt single actions and modestly priced Iver Johnson Owlheads in .32 caliber. Forward-thinking pistoleros, a lot of them Texas Rangers, favored 1911 Colt .45 autos—mostly marked "United States Property," relics of the Argonne Forest or some such.
Colt catalogs of the period mentioned that New Service, New Service Target, and Single Action Army models were available in the 44 Special dimension, but the only ones I ever located reposed in the displays of affluent postwar collectors.
It was a situation to drive a man to the jug, and the inflated prices of a gunless, wartime market did nothing to help. Every year or two, if you were lucky, you might glimpse a classified ad offering a 44 Special revolver at prices that would bankrupt a bricklayer. The postwar boom helped little. Years went by before any gunmaker got around to dishing up a good .44.
Through this whole mess, my appetites were honed by a dedicated group of individualists who called themselves "The .44 Associates." At the time, I thought these aficionados of the 44 Special rather smug. They already had their guns and interchanged loading information and jokes about .357 shooters in a regular newsletter. My simmering envy of The .44 Associates was finally boiled over by the excellent magazine articles of Gordon Boser and the flamboyant Elmer Keith.
I sold my 38 Special. I sold my saddle. I cashed in my War Bonds and quit smoking. With bulging pockets, I walked to Polley's Gunshop in Amarillo and paid my friend, Tex Crossett, $125 for a clean, tight 38-40 Colt single action. This was in the late '40s, and the thumbbusters' prices were still held high by the Colt factory's refusal to tool up and produce them for their postwar fans.
Trying not to think of my stripped bank account, I shipped the old Colt to Christy Gun Works, who installed a matched 44 Special barrel and cylinder of their own manufacture. California's old King Gunsight Co. added a low-slung, adjustable rear sight and a mirrored, beaded-ramp front. Somebody else did a trigger job and bright-blued the whole package. Panting for breath, I plunked down 20 bucks for a pair of one-piece ivory grips, 20 bucks more for bullet molds, sizers, and loading dies, and started a charge account to get empty cases. It had taken 10 years, but I had my 44 Special.
The Cartridge
The 44 Special is simply a longer version of the 44 Russian, throwing the same bullet at the same velocity. It is inherently more accurate than any other centerfire pistol cartridge that I have fired, as loaded by the ammunition factories. This trait can be improved upon by handloading. Therein lies its fascination.
As a defense or hunting load, the factory 44 Special is on a par with the 45 ACP and the 38 Special—both notoriously poor performers. Commercial cartridges in 45 Colt, 44-40, 38-40, and 357 Magnum far outshine the leisurely moving, roundnose .44, which for generations has maintained its staid, 760 feet per second pace. But put a bullet of the right configuration over a 44 Special case crackling with enough of the right slow-burning powder and its superiority to any of the above-named rounds is so apparent as to make comparison a waste of time.
The 357 Magnum, with much justification, has enjoyed a heyday since 1935. Smith & Wesson's advertising for this revolver used to proclaim, "The S&W 357 Magnum Has Far Greater Shock Power Than Any .38, .44, or .45 Ever Tested." With factory loads, this was true. Handloaded, the 44 Special made the 357—also handloaded to peak performance—eat dust. It was the case of a good big man beating the hell out of a good little man.
Favorite 44 Special Handloads
Homebrewed workloads for my 44 Special were originally based on the excellent Lyman No. 429244 cast bullet, in both solid and hollowpoint form. For me, this was a natural choice of bullets after having found the .357 version of the same design (No. 358156) to be an extremely accurate one in my guns of that caliber and to shoot at maximum velocities without leading.
My gorgeous custom Colt revolver ate up many hundreds of heavy loads with this bullet before I realized that the gascheck, so necessary to prevent leading in hot 357 Magnum loads, served no good purpose in the 44 Special. Lyman No. 429421 molds, throwing the well-known Keith semiwadcutter bullets in both solid and hollowpoint forms, were acquired. The Keith bullet, cast in a 1:15 tin-to-lead mixture, gives minimal leading problems in the 44 Special and is fully as accurate as the gaschecked No. 429244 when care is taken in casting.
Some critics of the No. 429244 say that this gascheck bullet, designed by Ray Thompson, can't be as accurate as a plainbase bullet because the copper cup at its bottom prevents it from slugging out and forming a gas seal in the barrel. This, the detractors claim, allows hot gases to squeeze by the bearing surfaces of the slug, misshaping it and prematurely eroding the bore of the revolver.
I have not found this to be so and heartily recommend the gascheck version to everyone who is willing to go to the extra trouble and expense necessary to produce it. Because of the perfect bullet bases provided by the preshaped gaschecks, the Thompson-designed bullet guarantees accuracy, and I suspect still slugs out to form as good a gas seal as any plainbase bullet.
I chose the Keith design because I found it possible, through careful casting, to produce bullets that would perform as well without the necessity of fiddling with the little copper cup.
Solid or hollowpoint, these .44s are deadly and can't be bettered for defense by any cartridge other than the 44 Magnum and 41 Magnum, equally properly loaded.
A heavy load for police work or big-game shooting is an easy one to put together. Size either the Thompson or Keith bullet to 0.429 inch for Smith & Wesson or Ruger guns and 0.427 inch for Colts. Seat this bullet over 6.2 grains of Winchester 572 powder and cap with CCI Magnum primers. If you can shoot a handgun, this load will arm you better than you would be with a 30-30 rifle.
This is a maximum load, and it is unlikely that it will be employed exclusively by men who shoot a great deal. For an intermediate load of around 750 fps, 5.2 grains of Trail Boss serves well and outperforms most factory pistol cartridges of any caliber. Charges of 6.2 grains of CFE Pistol or 4.7 grains of IMR Target with either the Lyman No. 429244 or 429421 bullet will give fine near-factory-load velocities.
For normal to medium-heavy charges, almost any pistol, shotgun, or fast rifle powder may be used for the 44 Special. IMR Red and Hodgdon Universal shotgun powders give singular performance, as well as such slow burners as IMR 4227. A comprehensive list of untemperamental 44 Special loads will fill books.
The 44 Special is versatile. Although recommended by some of the more magnum-minded as being a fine deliverer of such small table game as cottontails, squirrels, and grouse, it is a bit severe on these edibles when loaded with full or semiwadcutter bullets, usually ruining a great deal of good meat. Lyman, as well as other moldmakers, offers roundnose bullet styles and weights that penetrate your entrée with no more damage than the 38 Special.
If making your own bullets holds no appeal, excellent commercial ones are available. A good 240-grain jacketed softpoint bullet serves well as an all-around number, although it won't expand spectacularly at lower velocities.
The various swaged bullets, with copper base cups covering their pure lead cores, are very good. Speer, among others, offers an excellent .44-caliber semiwadcutter. And don't forget the super-accurate factory load's usefulness for small game. The cheapest cases for reloading can be obtained by firing these precision loads that shoot so pleasantly.
I'm a little saddened by the fate of the 44 Special sixguns. My first custom Colt cost almost $200 many, many years ago. Acceding to the rule of supply and demand, it was worth the price in terms of enjoyment and education.
Smith & Wesson finally got some of its 1950 Target Models on dealers' shelves in 1954, but scarcely two years of readily available 44 Specials were enjoyed by those who wanted them before the 44 Magnum was foaled in 1956. There can be no argument that the "Big .44" did in all others who vied for top berth in the power department.
Remington's sensational 240-grain lead bullet at 1,500 fps gave even the most power-mad pistolero more than he bargained for. Whimpers were heard from effete shooters who allowed that shooting the 44 Magnum compared to the sensation of burning bamboo splinters being driven into the palm.
While touching off the magnum is far from being that rough, it is true that few want to shoot a steady diet of full-charge loads in it. It results in 44 Magnum shooters loading down their big guns to more palatable levels. A favorite cartridge for 44 Magnum devotees just about duplicates the old, proven 44 Special handloads and is, in truth, adequate for about any situation a six-shooter man may face. The everyday man who holsters a handgun for come-what-may eventualities cannot improve on a 44 Special revolver.
A big, holstered sixgun is no longer part of my work, but when I get the chance, I roam in the brush country where a rattler, a whitetail buck, or a javelina might join me at any moment. I have a 44 Magnum, but my 44 Special is more relaxed.
