As of today, August 1, 2020, we are in the midst of the great ammo shortage of 2020

But .44 Special is still available at somewhat reasonable prices.

44 S&W Special Ammo | Bulk 44 S&W Special Ammunition - AmmoSeek.com 2020

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I love the 44 special, but I now load it. Sadly, oddball ammo will dry up here soon and makers stop making it in favor of the common stuff.

So is 32S&W long, 38S&W and 455 Webley. Shooting oddball calibers has it's advantages!

I like 44 special as well, the perfect round IMHO

Find me a lightweight, quality 44 special revolver and I will buy it. No not a Charter Arms. I had one for 2 days.

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Still Running Against the Wind

My advise is that if you own and plan on shooting a .44 Spl. a lot - make sure you have the capability, bullets, primers and powder to do your own reloading. While I think the .44 Spl. is a great SD/HD round - I see availability, variety & quantity getting scarcer and prices increasing as time goes on.

Can the .44 Spl. be fired through a .44 Magnum? Like a Model 29?

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I only take a knee for God

Yes, absolutely it can!

The .44 Magnum is simply a .44 Special case having about 1/8" more length. The .44 Special is nothing more than the .44 Russian with longer case.

I load .44 Special quite a bit. Home cast 240SWC bullets and reasonable powder charges provide all the performance I ever need and cost me about $3 or so per box of 50. Accuracy is very good in all of my .44's (Model 29, .Model 629, Model 1950 Target, Colt Single Action Army).

It has been at least 20 years since I purchased or loaded any .44 Magnum ammo. I probably would if I was going stream fishing in Alaska, but otherwise I just have no need for it.

Last .44 Special ammo I saw on a dealer's shelf was priced about $35 for lead SWC and $45 for JHP, so about 70 to 95 cents per round. I will put my 6-cent per round hand-rolled ammo up against any of it!

I am a reloader going back 45 years or more, but I never pass up the opportunity to pick up factory ammunition at a good price. The .44 S&W Special is my favorite caliber.

Earlier this month I picked up a 500 round case each of the Remington 246gr RNL (Outdoor Limited) and the PMC Bronze 180gr JHP (Carolina Munitions) at what I think are very good prices (in spite of the outrageous shipping charge at Carolina). Who knows when the supply of .44 Special ammo dries up, like it has for many of the more popular calibers.

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FBINA, 204th Session

I bought a case of Fiocchi .44 Spl last month so that I can keep shooting my 624. That was in addition to almost a dozen assorted boxes I’ve bought since March. I can’t get .45 Colt ammo anywhere, but almost every shop I visit still has .44 Special ammo. When it does run out it will probably be a long time before it reappears, so I think I’ll go grab a few more boxes.

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Wheel guns are real guns.

I also am a fan of the .44, .44 special, .44 Magnum, .44 Russian, and 44/40 Black Powder. I load the .44 Russian Black Powder also. I can't remember buying any loaded ammunition but have reloaded all of my .44s for decades. I was even thinking of getting a .444 Marlin but settled on a 44/40 Winchester. I don't own a revolver that shoots .45 Long Colt, all of my Colts are in .44 special or 44/40. Even my Schofield reproduction is in 44/40.
I shot my Colt Bisley 44/40 today in fact, the load I worked up is a 200GR RNFP over .060 wad on top of 30GR of 3F Swiss. Shoots to point of aim at 10 yds, lots of noise and smoke. I can usually get through a box of 50 without wiping the cylinder face off, I can feel the cylinder start to drag, 50 is a good exercise.

I'm curious. I can reload a box of 44 spl for about $6 or so. If you can reload, why buy the expensive factory stuff? For the price, you could get a lot more primers and bullets.

When I train or teach, I do not offer my reloads to friends or students. Always factory ammo when sharing the shooting sports with others. I've never had a reloading mishap and with diligence and luck I hope I never will. However, if I do, I will be the shooter who experiences it, not someone else.

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FBINA, 204th Session

Today at the Longview, WA, Sportsman’s Warehouse. The last to go was 460 S&W and 50 AE. Aside from 5.56/.223, there’s a decent selection of rifle ammo.

Attached Images

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213th FBINA

Yeah...when 460 and 500 or 50AE is sold out 100%, you know you're knee deep in a panic.

Get yourself a 396. They are well made.
The -1 I have had a lock (only lock gun I have purchased).
But it has the same correct and matching throat and bore dimensions as the 696-1 but with half the weight.
With twice the recoil, and it's a different, snappier, recoil than a magnum in a heavier gun, I can't be sure it's as accurate but it's close.
Good for carry, not so good for cleaning what with that titanium cylinder.
Given a surplus of $ I'd be looking for the original ND (no lock) version along with a 69.
L frame 44's are sweet.

The 44 Special has always been a reloaders .. well .. special!
Elmer gave us that religion among many others.
Having said that I carry factory ammo for SD on the advice of Mr. Ayoob and others from a legal perspective.
That debate rages on but I care to be conservative with regard to that issue.
Speer 200 gr GD is my current carry ammo.
It's easily duplicated for practice given the cost of the boxed stuff.
7 gr. Universal and the Speer bullets do the job.
Not currently available but unless I have to, God Forbid, shoot in anger I won't be using any of that factory ammo up.

I do have a Bulldog and yeah it's kind of a lemon.
Not really worth what I paid for it especially after putting a laser grip on it.
I consider it relatively disposable so the first one I'd use if God Forbid.

As you can see, I kinda like the 3" 44 Special:

Attached Images

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NEMO
"Everything 44"

You can absolutely load .44 spl for use in a magnum revolver, but I don't do that.

Any .44 spl I load goes into my old Hand Ejector. 240 grains at around 750 fps.

Anything hotter, goes only into magnum cases. This prevents me from getting one accidentally into the old hand ejector; it also keeps fouling in the magnum chambers to a minimum.

I put target loads for the magnum revolvers in magnum brass for that same reason.
Never have liked shooting brass shorter than the chamber in any gun.

<rant>
Hornady wants you to shorten 44 mag brass when loading their 225gr FTX bullet.
Forget that.
There are too many millions of easier load combinations for the 44 magnum.
I understand there could be some applications where you might want to try that bullet, but I have never found one.
My carbines work well with a standard 44 mag revolver load and I don't think the potential increase in point blank range is worth the trouble.
No matter what, it's never going to be a long range cartridge.

Consequently Hornady's 265gr FTX loads for the 444 don't excite me either because they shortened the brass
to get those would-be extra long cartridges to load into the side of the Marlins.
A solution to a non-existent problem IMHO.
The regular Hornady 265FP works fine, loads easily, and shoots as far as I ever will.
Another way to look at it is:
Why load a bullet with higher BC and then reduce the velocity 100 fps due to decreased powder capacity?
The 444 is already capacity challenged kinda like the 458WM.
<rant off>

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NEMO
"Everything 44"

Then try a Rossi model 720. Had one now for five years. Good shooter and appears to be tough as nails. Mine with my 624.

Attached Images

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I like it and am currently using it in my 6in M29 as a pillow gun.I

Well not really under a pillow, i have a big wooden lighted headboard with shelves within arms reach, it goes there...and, just because I can. Shoots light as a feather.