Originally Posted by SuperMan

Problem with the .44 Special when used with that bullet is it isn't fast enough to dependably make it expand. A friend bought a .44 Special Thunder Ranch Special with intentions of carrying it but after testing that load and every other locally available .44 Special load on the market found that none of them expanded to any degree.

He lucked out and found a 629 Performance Center 3" round butt carry gun to replace it. I gave him some of the GD ammo and the extra 200 fps of velocity made the bullet expand EVERY time. The other very very dependable round was the old standby, 240 grain Remington scallop JHP. Last I talked to him he was trying to decide between the two loads.

When reloading, 10.0 grains of Winchester 231 with the 200 grain bullet duplicated the factory load. The 210 grain GD bullet is a much tougher bullet and made to hold together at high velocity. Berry's used to make a 200 grain plated bullet that was a cheap practice round for the Mountain Gun I had. That was sold off and as I am not planning to get any more .44s really need to get rid of the GDs and Berry's I have siting here...

Bob