I seem to recall Remington made a 44Mag Round that wasn't full strength, but not a 44Special either. Does Remington or anyone else still make a load like this?

There are several manufacturers who have a 240 JHP at around 1180 FPS. I believe Remington loads that but I can't recall the catalog number. Maybe Speer, too, and probably a few others. That's a pretty sturdy .44 Magnum but not what I would call full-charge, which might be another 150-175 FPS faster than that. Look for something at about that speed.

Most of the common brand name ammo is downloaded significantly from the original Remington 240 gr LSWC at 1500fps. I bought some Magtech 240s a few yrs. ago and they were puddytat loads.

No fear.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

For what it's worth...I have found that the Federal 200gr. specials are awesome and VERY manageable. and for a hot round the Hornady .44 LEVERevolution 225gr. both are super accurate in my 629 3 inch.

It was labelled ''medium load'' and if I recall correctly,it pushed a lead SWC at around a claimed 1000Fps.It was offered in the late '70s -early '80s.
To my knowledge,nobody is offering such a load nowadays.Guess you'll have to either load your own or go with .44Spl.
Qc

Freedom Munitions has some loads that might meet your criteria I think. They have a 240 grain RNFP plated load that I've personally shot and it is what I would class as a medium load slightly on the hotter side. Their page on it says 1235 fps. They also have a 240 grain lead SWC round at about the same speed listed. And they have a 200 grain lead RNFP load shown at 1000 fps, which sounds pretty much like that old Remington load you are talking about.

You're right. I liked it. It was, I believe, made at the sugestion of gun writer Hal Swiggett.

Alas, few heard of it and most .44 Mag. users wanted just the hot stuff.

Its loss made the .44 much less versatie for those who don't reload.

Buffalo Bore's .44 Special 255 gr./1000 fps might be close to what you're looking for.

2 bucks a pop, though!

My Ruger SRH .44 is my #1 HD gun, and I shoot a 200 gr. Speer Gold Dot HP, with enough Blue Dot to push it about 900 fps.

Do you reload? If you don't, it might be a good time to consider it!

What Texas Star said. It was later offered in their value priced UMC line in the yellow boxes. The bullet was described in the literature as either swc or simply "lead" . By actual shape, it was RNFP. For a time CCI had a similar Blazer round , with s true swc.

None of the major mfg presently offer a similar round. I haven't researched recently, but when I did look, some of the smaller ammo companies like Georgia Arms did. As noted the warm .44spl from Buffalo Bore or Grizzly had similar magnum cased offerings.

The Speer Short Bbl Gold Dot with 200gr had similar recoil. The expansion and penetration properties may or may not meet the desired parameters.

Buffalo Bore makes a Lower Recoil 44 Mag. Item 4E. 255 Gr. Keith
bullet (1350 FPS). "Unlike our other .44 mag. loads, this load is
designed for and is safe for use in all .44 mag. handguns and rifles."
Buffalo Bore Ammunition | Strictly Big Bore - Strictly Business

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In Omnia Paratus

Sounds good, but is a true .44 Magnum load. The Remington stuff inquired about was a 240 grain FN lead bullet at just 1,000 FPS. That's as hot as such a round should be.

Thanks for all the replies. I may just have to buy a S&W 24 to shoot 44Special through for the performance I want with my older hands. Don't reload right now as between moves, but plan to again in the future. Thanks again gentlemen.

Gary, don't turn your nose up at the Freedom Munitions ammo. It's some good quality stuff with good pricing and the brass is good for reloading too, since you plan to reload in the future. I can personally vouch for the 240 grain plated stuff as I have fired it in my 629 Classic with no problems. It's not nearly as snappy as my hotter reloads either. My brother had bought 1000 rounds of it and I shot at least a box of it in my pistol. He's shot a whole bunch of it in his 629 no dash too. And plated means no leading problems too.

BTW, I'm 60 and my brother is 57, so we ain't no young pups either and I know what you are saying about too much recoil on the old hands and wrists. My 44 hot load limit is between 50-100 rounds a session spread out over the trip to the range. Those Freedom loads don't seem to wear me out near as bad as my H110 load stuff.

Probably the closest thing to a medium velocity .44 Magnum from the big four ammo companies (W-W, R-P, Federal and Speer) may be Winchester's 225 grain Silvertip JHP. It's pretty mild for a .44 Magnum. Dunno if it is still cataloged, but I saw some for sale a few months ago.

For a nice, soft 44Mag. range load, maybe give some Cowboy Action loads a try. Here's one that I picked up that is in the range you're looking for. A plus is that they use Starline brass, so it's a great way to stock up on cases for reloading.



HSM Cowboy Action .44 Mag 200 Grain RNFP 50 Round Box - 44M11N - 837306004841

All true. WW also offered this load with a SWC. It looked just like the full-charge SWC, except the full load had a cannelure on the case and the medium load did not. I recall the medium clocked 900-950 from a 4" bbl.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

Speer has a short barrel ammo line that is very light. Their 44 Magnum Short Barrel ammo pushes a 200gr GDHP bullet 1075fps at the muzzle. I doubt you will find anything lighter unless you load your own.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Looks like a nice round, but at a buck and a half a round you sure won't be shooting many of those for practice, unless you use them to rob a bank!

Freedom has a 200 grain hard cast lead round (RNFP bullet) shown at 1000 fps for 56 cents a round, which would probably make a good practice analog for the Speer ammo though.

I buy Speer ammo online in 50 round boxes, not 20 rounds. The price is well under a dollar a round that way. I also reload so I can make all the replica ammo I need for practice. I know everyone doesn't reload but like I said, you can buy the ammo cheaper. I only answered the OPs question as asked, he didn't mention price.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

It's all cool, ArchAngelCD. I'm glad you did mention that ammo because I wasn't aware of it myself and it looks like it would make some good defensive ammo for 44 Mag that won't over-penetrate too badly, which is a real problem for that cartridge. That looks to be about the best defensive cartridge for 44 Mag that's readily available. Cor Bon supposedly makes a 165 grain JHP round at 1300 fps for defensive use, but I haven't seen it available for well over a year. I'd bought 500 of the bullets from Midway about 3 years ago (production overrun) and was really impressed with the bullets but never have bought the loaded ammo from Cor Bon. The 165 grain JHP bullets were made for Cor Bon by Sierra.

I have five rounds of that in an old box that I've had forever. They are marked "medium load" and contain a pure lead rnfp bullet. I marked the box 1000 fps, but whether I read that somewhere or chronographed it myself back in the day is lost to history. Some kind of cowboy action load would probably be your best bet today.

Gary1911,you haven't mentionned the purposed use of medium 44Mag loads(if for SD or plinking/target shooting).In the first case,you won't go wrong with either(imo)but in the second,I doubt that the SPL ammo will be much cheaper than Mag ammo.And by going to the SPL,you loose flexibility when you will reload your own.Just my opinion.

I admit that the.44SPL gun is lighter and for SD purpose(if you'll be carrying),it is more appealing than the heavier .44Mag.But otherwise,I'd go with the Mag.
Qc

For what it's worth, if you get back to re-loading, I used to load 240gn Cast SWC over 10.5gn of Unique that would give me right around 1000fps from a 4" Mountain Gun. It's a nice load with a fairly mild recoil.

The Bitterroot Valley 240 grain load is fairly mild mannered, if it is still available.

HSM does a "Cowboy Action" load, a 240 gr semi wadcutter, medium hard cast (15 BHN) at about 1150 fps. I enquired about it to them for hunting use, they said it would make a good deer load for those who don't like the full power stuff.

Only reason they call it "reduced recoil" is because it recoils less than the 300 gr. offerings, it's still a full power load.
Don't be fooled by marketing.

Here is what the old Remington rounds were. I still have 40 rounds left. I really wished it was still in production as I am considering a model 69 once the 2.75 inch barrel version is released.

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Many years ago I was able to connect with a Custom Loader from Hollywood, Fl.,..... American Arm's or something akin to that. Had him load me up the same type of rounds as well as the old " Elmer Keith ", loading. It wasn't terrible expensive and I still shot the stuff.

That model 69 2.75" barrel you are waiting for is on the S&W sight right now.

I have been using Corbon as a medium load. The box says 180 gr JHP velocity 1200 fps. The only number I found is on the tab when you open the box: CB03/20.

Another Zombie thread lives!

HSM 44 Magnum 240 Grain Semi Wad Cutter Ammo is loaded at a nominal 1150 fps in a 6.5" barrel.

I remember that someone gave me some of the "medium loading" Remington 240gr. Lead semi-wadcutter ammo back in the seventies. It took me an hour to shoot them and a week to clean the lead out of the bore. I was much happier with my hard cast reloads but I was interested in the brass.