Need ammo suggestions for my model 69. For target practice, I'd like to use a 44 special round. A couple of suggestions, please. For Camping, fishing, and backcountry hiking I'd like protection from 4 legged critters. I need a 44 mag round with enough punch, with a well-placed shot, to stop a bear. I don't believe I need the mother of all rounds 300+ gr. but enough to do the job. I want to be able to recover from the recoil to get a second and third shot off. I ordered a Hogue 500 S&W x-frame impact grip that will help. A couple of suggestions on 44 mag ammo. Thanks

I’m in the Colorado mountains at 11,000 ft. When I take a walk I carry either my 69-4.25” or my 629 5” Classic 44. I load either gun with Underwood 220 gr Xtreme Penetrator 44 mag with solid fluted tips.
For the house I load Hornady Critical Defense 44 Special 165 gr FTX. Also use Double Tap 44 Special 240 gr solid cast.
Hope that helps

Winchester Black bear and deer will cover your camping needs. I put about 300 rounds of those on my 69 before I trade it for 629 4". I trade it mainly just to have 6 shots instead of 5 and also be able to use my speed loaders. The Hogue X frame will make the 69 way better to shoot.

Guessing you don't handload.

My M69 changes point of impact significantly with changes in bullet weight and load intensity. Bullet weights 265gr+ land on the moon when sighted in at 25yds with my normal load, a 240gr cast LSWC over 10gr of Herco. That effect would be far more dramatic if I was sighted in with any .44 Special load.

You need to pick a load that's somewhere in between.

Then, there's the bear thing. What kind of bear? Stopping a black bear, is not the same event as stopping grizzly. I was setting up my M69 for grizzly protection last year, and loaded up some 265gr Hornady FP's over a upper end charge of 2400. Recoil was ferocious, to be kind, and POI with the sights all the way to the bottom was still way high for accurate shot placement, even close in. I went back to a 240 Cast over 12 gr of Herco.

In any case, M69 = good, but finding a serious bear load that shoots where you point it may be more of a challenge than shooting the bear. Buy a couple and try them, the real bear stopper stuff takes a fair amount of practice.

When I first purchased my 69 I also grabbed a few boxes of Blazer aluminum cased 240gr jhp’s just to run a few jacketed bullets and smooth things out.

Shooting these I thought ‘man why’s everybody downing these factory stocks?’ Sights were spot on save for wind age a bit.

Then i got around to shooting my hunting loads. Boy Howdy was I wrong about those stocks! A 255gr Keith over a healthy dose of 2400 was Sporty to say the least! Also the rear sight was cranked all the way down and still shot high.

As was said above maybe find one load and stick with it. Otherwise you’ll wear out the elevation screw. Also maybe find better stocks.

Good luck. 🙂

I exclusively use Underwood 240gr JHP's in my 5" 629 "Classic" (full-underlug) .44mag. I think it's a good compromise for the black bears around here and bad 2-legged critters. And when I practice (not often now), I use the same ammo.

If any of this post sounds familiar it is because I cut and pasted it from a reply to a similar thread a couple of weeks ago. But I didn't mention that point of impact is affected by bullet weight as one of the previous posters pointed out. I would sight in for the ammo you might actually need to use and let your practice ammo shoot low.

I bought a model 69 with a 4.25 inch barrel right after they came out and no longer reload. I haven't bought ammo since price went crazy and supply dried up so it will be a while before you can actually buy anything I am talking about here. Prices are pre-pandemic.

For defense against bears I have some 255 grain hard cast ammo from Underwood. I think I paid about $1/round but cannot remember for sure. It shoots well but 1 or 2 cylinders in any one range session is enough for me. Underwood also makes a 300 grain load version rated at the same 1359 fps but it seems like it would be a bit much and shoot high so I stayed with the 255 grain load.

For low power ammo I prefer Magtech's 44 Special with a 240 FMJ bullet. Soft shooting and clean. I was paying about $.54/round when I bought it mail order. For about the same price you can try Georgia Arms 44 magnum cowboy ammo which is a little less powerful and also shoots well. It uses a cast bullet so it is smoky and leaves a lot more residue on the gun but that residue cleans up easily.

In between the 44 Special and full power magnum loads is my favorite ammo for my 69, the 240 grain FMJ 44 Magnum from Georgia Arms. It is rated at 1000 fps which makes it strong enough to be interesting but not punishing. If you are practicing for a time when you might need to use your gun against a 4 legged threat shooting ammo that has some recoil is more realistic and better practice. It used to be priced at $.54/round pre-pandemic.

If someone has not already recommended reloading while I was typing this long reply they probably will. If you are going to be shooting a lot of 44 it saves a lot of money and you can load whatever power you want. But if you just want to practice enough to know you can handle your gun if you need to sticking with factory ammo makes more sense and is a lot less hassle. I shoot enough that I could definitely be saving money if I was still reloading but decided the hassle was not worth it.

I considered doing reloading but the powder is just as difficult to find as ammo now.