Best ammo for a S&W 44 Mag

[NE450No2]

OK for friendly discussion...

A while back I had a buddy call me and ask me the following;
[He has a 4" and 6 1/2" S&W 44 Mags].

He said,"I want to stock pile ONE factory 240gr 44 Mag load.
I want to be able to use it for defense, and for hunting, in either my 4" or my 6 1/2".

So what one factory round would you suggest?

I talked to him at length and recommended he consider 2 different rounds. One for self defense, and one for "General purposes".
We are still in the discussion phase, so what 2 factory rounds would you suggest???

Big Bear protection is not in the equation, as he will most not likely be going to BIG bear country, and if he does a box or three would get him by.

A little background, my buddy, is 44 Mag [S&W] all the time kind of guy.
It is the only calibre gun he has. He is a very experienced 44 Mag shooter, as back in the day, he carried them as his duty gun, and he has hunted with them as well.
He is a reloader, but he wants to stockpile "some" factory ammo.

[ArchAngelCD]

You might want to suggest DoubleTap Ammo to your friend. It's high quality ammo that doesn't cost as much as some of the quality ammo available today.

If you want a more conventional ammo from a larger manufacturer I highly suggest Hornady Ammo. Their ammo costs less than most of the other big manufacturers and it's a quality ammo.

BUT, since he's a reloader I really don't see the need for factory ammo. If he's any good at all at reloading ammo he's reloads will be better than most if not all the factory ammo he can buy. (and it will be a lot cheaper too)

[Mule88]

I would suggest he try a few different brands Gold dots , XTP's etc... and find one that shoots well in his gun and stick to that brand. All major brands make good loads and should serve him well. Another thing he may consider is how easy it is to get the loads he likes, not everyone stocks all brands.

[off road]

For 'defense', Hornady Critical Defense 165 gr .44Sp.

For 'hunting', Hornady 240 gr XTP will cover anything in Texas (deer, hogs).

[ScottJ]

They don't make it any more but IMO the best compromise .44 Mag was Remington's 210gr SJHP (R44MG6).

It was rated at 1450 out of a 4" vented test barrel.

It shot flatter out to 100 than any 240 and that 30 less grains did show up as slightly milder recoil.

I never took deer with them but know guys who did. In fact it was a deer hunter who turned me onto it after having the 180gr SJHP that I was carrying at the time stop in a deer's shoulder.

I really wish Remington would bring the load back and I even e-mailed them about it back in the 90's but they just didn't seem interested.

Fortunately you can still buy the bullet as a component and I have a bit less than 100 on hand right now.

[papajohn428]

That Remington 210-grain JHP is still available as a component bullet from Midway, I shoot them a lot in my Marlin 1894 but still have a couple thousand of them in my stash. Not every gun likes them, but they might be worth investigating for a Personal Protection Load.

Remington Bullets 44 Caliber (429 Diameter) 210 Grain Semi-Jacketed Hollow Point - MidwayUSA

[NE450No2]

Genltemen, thanks for your replies.
He reloads 240gr cast bullets with various charges of Unique, lighter for DA practice and up 9gr for light field loads.

He uses 240gr cast bullets and 2400 for his full power hunting loads.

He wants to only buy factory loads in Magnum cases so he can then use them for his reloads...

So I told him to take a look at the Speer 200gr Short barreled load, as it is easy to shoot, even one handed in a 4" 44 Mag, and should give good expansion and plenty of penetration, but not to much for "city" loads.

For his General Purpose load I recommended the Remington 240 SJHP.

This load expands good in 4" guns but even in 44 mag Rifles it does not overexpand. This bullet had a good reputation in actual city shootings, and I have killed several deer with it, mostly in a 44 Mag rifle, and I always got complete penetration, whether the shot was 20 yards or 120 yards...

Also these loads are not too terribly spendy.

While I tend to be a heavy bullet kind of guy, I will say that a while back I bought several boxes of Cor Bon 44 Mag 165HP gr loads.

These are not loaded to FULL power 44 Mag specs, but are designed to be 44 Mag "City" loads. I find them very controlable, they do kick more, and are louder than the Speer 200 gr Short Barreled load, but still very controlable, at least for me.

There is nothing wrong with many of the 44 Special loads, but I agree with my buddy, why complicate your life with 44 Special brass???

Just get a suitable 44 Mag cased load. Keep things simple.

More opinions, even if different, are welcome.