This is a short range report and musings about an ammo test with my new M69 with a 2.75" barrel. I was only testing shootability for an EDC round. I also wanted to get the gun sighted in.

The two ammo options I settled on was the Hornady Critical Defense .44 Spl 165gr FTX and the Speer Short Barrel .44 Mag 200gr Gold Dot. The latter is discontinued but Bud's had it in stock, so I bought a bunch just in case it was the winner.

There isn't a lot of decent performance information on ammo from a .44 short barrel to help in this decision. I believe that prevailing wisdom seems to be that the Speer ammo will be about 200 fps faster than the Hornady ammo, based on various published stuff on the web (it's on the web, so it must be true!) These two videos are what led me to settle in on these two options:

Hornady Critical Defense .44 Spl 165gr FTX

Speer Short Barrel .44 Mag 200gr Gold Dot

The range results were interesting. For me, I didn't think there was any difference in felt recoil between the two loads. This is an area where definitely YMMV. But in my case, either load would be about the same in this area of shootability.

Where I found the difference was in flash and noise. In the confines of an indoor range, the Speer load is definitely much louder and makes a pretty decent flash, even though it's supposedly designed for short barrels. On the other hand, the Hornady load didn't produce any flash (that I could perceive) and the noise factor was pretty "normal", so not much different for me than a .45 ACP.

Lastly, the two loads shot to the same point of impact at 7-10 yards in my gun, so I was able to set the sights and not worry about which ammo I would carry.

The moral of the story? I'm carrying the Hornady round. While the terminal ballistics on a BG I may have to engage would probably be better with the Speer round, I think the Hornady round will be just fine in the BG put-down department. The noise and flash were the deciding factors for me.

My 2 cents, in case it helps the next guy down the road.

....but thanks for posting the videos and sharing your ideas for us to consider. Having so very little info on .44 special, anything is highly welcome.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I'm interested to know your thoughts. I'm always open to alternative ideas. Please share.

I chrono'd the Underwood 200gr Gold Dots and Hornady Critical Defense 165gr thru my 3" M29 and 2" M445.

Underwood 44 SPL 200gr Gold Dots

M29:
1055/1071/1040/1070/1044/967* Avg=1056 (excluding the *Crit Def)

*=Hornady 44 SPL 165gr Critical Defense

Hornady 44 SPL 165gr Critical Defense

M445:
937/953/958/940/1017** Avg:947 (excluding the **Underwood)

**=Underwood 44 SPL 200gr Gold Dot

There was a huge difference shooting the Underwood vs the Hornady in my aluminum Taurus snubbie - the Underwood was much hotter.

I also shot some Fiocci I had with disappointing results.

Fiocci 44 SPL 200gr JHP (44SA)(I question whether this would expand at these speeds)

M29:
792/778/768/772/756/792 Avg:776

M445:
758/756/err/764/761 Avg:760

That 2" isnt even equaling compact 40 S&W energy levels.

I don't think it has to do with barrel length nearly as much as the fact that the Hornady is fairly tame. However, that goes back to the eternal question about the importance of power vs simple penetration and expansion. I personally think power does matter at least a bit, so the Hornady does not appeal to me a whole lot.

I'm no expert on 40 S&W, but wikipedia says 350-500 ft.lbs, so if that's true they are both in the 40 S&W range, though the Underwoods are at the very top.

But note that (as I understand it), they are also much hotter than historic 44 SPL, so not much more can be wrung out of that caliber without essentially ignoring the max chamber pressures for it.

If you want more, use magnums. This is exactly why 44 magnum is amazing. You can download it to pretty low but still serious power levels, or ratchet it up to Hiroshima levels.

The 44 Special has lots of loads to work with, but I think of it as a.........
over sized 38 Special.

Just depends on what makes you feel happy.

And the problem with that would be?

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Oh well, what the hell.

At the typical pricing of the Fiocci ammo, I consider it a well priced practice ammo. I would never consider carrying it.