I was wondering are the 44 spl and the 45 acp pretty much a close comparable over all? I am talking 44 spl revolver versus 45 acp semi auto for comparison.

It depends upon the loads chosen. Some factory 44 special is pretty much anemic, but with handloads and a strong gun, the 44 special can exceed what most 45 acp autos are designed to handle.

IIRC the .44 special was often loaded up close to .44 magnum loads before there was a .44magnum........ same with the .38/40 vs. the .357magnum.

IIRC the standard 44 spl far exceeds a standard 45 acp. (?)

The old factory load for the .44 Spl was a 246 gr RNL at about 700 f/s actual. That's a long way from 230 @ 850 f/s.

Now, one of the usual hand loads for large frame revolvers is/was a 250 gr. SWC at around 1000 f/s. This is a horse of a distinctly different color, but it certainly isn't/wasn't a standard factory load.

There are a few major manufacturer loads that substantially improve on the old time ballistics.

Question is much too general to answer specifically. With some loads the ballistics of the two cartridges can be virtually identical. With dissimilar loads, there could be great disparity.

As I look at my last sentence, it's no better than the original question.

Okay so lets narrow it down somewhat. Can the two be comparing apples to apples or not even close? Comparable defensive loads for CC of store bought ammo in both calibers. Would they be even close for comparison? A three inch barrel in the 44 and the 45 to make it even more comparable.

I am talking the average gun owner looking to buy a gun for CC. He is going to buy his ammo for CC off the store shelves. Are the two even in the same ball park?

With what you said ,get a 45 acp. Much more factory ammo available and higher performance. If you are a handloader, the 44 special will blow the 45 acp away.

Let's make it a little more interesting and add 45 colt into the mix.

__________________
Why duck?? It's a 9mm!

If one chooses appropriately for the 44 they can be very close. Try a comparison of the Speer .44 Special Gold Dot 200 Gr HP Short barrel with any non Plus P 45 ACP round. The two 45 ACP rounds that I like are the Remington Golden Sabre 185 grain HP Brass jacket Bonded and the Speer Gold dot 45ACP 200 grain Gold Dot hollow point. They are all in the same ball park. That said the short barrel 44 special ammo is hard to come by. I don't shoot it much but when I carry a 3" 44 mag in the woods I load it with that and have the full power 200 grain Gold Dot 44 Mag in my 2 speed loaders. I rarely carry a 45 in the woods. Also, I rarely carry a 44 as a CCW for normal wear in civilization.

Been using both for decades. I will rely on the results in any situation. .429" 240-grain SWC in .44 Special at ~800FPS or .451" 230 RNFP at ~850FPS. Run the numbers any way you like, then tell me about the customer complaints (I doubt there will be many).

With most factory loadings these two cartridges serve very similar purposes. With hand-loaded ammunition the .44 Special may have a little performance edge, but not enough to write home about.

Thank you all. So they basically can sit in the same dugout eating ball park franks. One probably wouldn't really be a bully over the other.
I like both rounds but I seldom carry a 45. For the last few years my carry has been a 3" 44 spl with Hornady critical defense 165gr FTX 900fps.

I seldom buy factory ammo, but I'm sure if you shop around, you can get .44 Special, .45 ACP, and .45 Colt loads that are very similar for defensive or other purposes. Even milder loads would likely be adequate with these large diameter bullets. Keep it simple and avoid the armchair obsessive and academic stuff and you'll be way ahead. Good luck-

Groo her
As most defense ammo is made to FBI spec,[and yes I have a problem with that] it will react the same.....
With similar weights and speeds, both will work similar.
The biggest difference is seen with handloads or gun types [auto vs revolver].
In a revolver, both will throw similar design bullets but the spec will have the edge due to case size...

Do you like moon clips?

I came to choose between a Model 21 and 22. It came down to whether I wanted to hot rod a .44 or stick to factory(ish) .45 loads.

In the end it was .45ACP, for less expensive and more available target ammo as well as wider variety of defense loads, ammo commonality with my auto, and the speed of loading/unloading full moon clips. I can also use 45 Auto Rim brass for +P+ loads that could never end up in my auto. There was no point in getting set up for another cartridge.

They're both excellent cartridges.

45 ACP is little cheaper to feed. That's about the only real difference I can see. All of my 45 ACP brass has been free range pick up. Never found any 44 SPL brass at the range. Because so many people shoot 45 ACP the bullets are pretty cheap. I think the last shipment was about 0.13/pc for 230 FMJ.

I don't load for 44 SPL but I looked up bullets from the same mfg (Speer) and same supplier for 44 SPL. Cost was about 0.19/pc for a basic no frills bullet.

Powder and primers would be about the same. I could probably use the same powder for both.

So really not a lot of difference even to reload.

You can't shoot a 44 SPL in a 1911 however, but you can shoot 45 APC in a revolver.

__________________
That's just somebody talkin.

IMO the are pretty much equal, especially when the 45 Auto is shot from a revolver like the S&W M625.

The only major difference is, if you don't load your own ammo, there are much more jacketed bullet loads available for the 45 Auto than the 44 Special in commercial ammo. If you don't load your own ammo and don't want to shoot cast bullets to with the 45 Auto.

44 Special
200gr to 246gr bullet, .429/.430" diameter , @750-950 fps

45 ACP
200gr to 230gr bullet, .451/.452" diameter , @800-950 fps

Please don't nitpick the above numbers, they are meant to be an average. I know different weight bullets are use and higher velocities can be generated. Those numbers are just averages with mostly Cast bullets.

__________________
Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I think you have the acCENT on the wrong syllABLE. If you're talking concealed carry, you should focus on the firearm you intend to carry. Can you hit with it? Would you like to be limited to 6 rounds before reloading somehow? The actual cartridge is a subject that's been debated for eons; and will likely continue forever. You want a gun that works for you, irrespective of its chambering.

For concealed carry 45 ACP in a LW 1911. For a field gun I'd take a full size 44 Special particularly since I handload. On animals a 250 grain LSW w a flat nose kills better than the 45 ACP RN or JHP out of a 1911.

I was going to post something similar, but ArchAngelCD has already taken the words out of my mouth.

Factory ammo is going to be very close. 44 Special gets extra points for bullet section because you don't have to worry about feeding from a magazine. 45 gets extra points because the diameter starts slightly larger, generally much cheaper, and more available. If shooting 45 ACP from a revolver the bullet selection is a moot point.

My normal handloads for a modern .44 Special have the 240-250 gr SWC at 950-1000 fps. Also there are numerous defense and other special purpose loadings available from major manufacturers. For real heavy stuff look at Buffalo Bore.

No doubt the best summary and practical answer so far.

They're both pretty much equal in terms of ballistics, but the .45 ACP edges out the .44 Special simply because it's a larger diameter bullet and a pistol cartridge, ergo you're at least going to be able to carry a couple more rounds in a slimmer overall package.

Folks will talk about how the .44 Special can be loaded hotter, but it's kind of a moot point considering that only a .44 Magnum Revolver would be able to safely fire such handloads, and even then you can easily convert many .45 ACP pistols for the more powerful .45 Super loads by simply swapping out a few springs with heavier ones.
Besides, what practical use would overpressure handloads be in either case unless you were planning on hiking in bear country?

Either way though, they're both great cartridges, so it's not like you could go wrong regardless of which you choose.

__________________
Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

I would have to disagree slightly about the "only a 44 magnum revolver part". The N framed 44 special S&W's, various Ruger 44 specials, Rossi 44 special, Taurus 44 specials, and maybe few others can all safely handle hot 44 special loads. I also knew a number of folks that loaded the old Charter Arms guns to "hot 44 special" level, but they were in that "carry a lot and shoot them little" line of thinking. But you have a point about the 45 Super conversions.

The key word here is "safely". When dealing with loads which do not adhere to SAAMI specifications, such as hot .44 Special loads, you simply cannot find a firearm which officially supports or recommends that you shoot such loads, thus placing it within shoot-at-your-own-risk territory.

I know there are a lot of folks here will say that it's completely safe because they've done it before and the gun didn't blow up, but such anecdotal evidence doesn't mean that it's actually safe to do so or that the firearm will hold up indefinitely to a steady diet of such loads. If you ask S&W if it's safe to fire hot .44 Special loads out of their revolvers, would they say yes? If you asked boutique ammo manufacturers if it were safe to shoot their so-called .44 Special "+P" loads out of a .44 Special S&W Revolver, would they say yes? If the answer is no to either, then personally I wouldn't go second-guessing them.

In most cases, ammo loaded beyond SAAMI specifications is typically only approved for either heavy duty revolvers like the Ruger Blackhawk or Redhawk or otherwise Revolvers chambered for a more powerful round with the same dimensions save for OAL like shooting the so-called .45 Long Colt "+P" or "Ruger Only" loads out of a Revolver chambered in .454 Cassul or .460 S&W Magnum. Folks who enjoy blasting .45LC +P out of their Model 25 can disagree with me all they like, but the manufacturers of the guns and ammo alike would side with me on this one.

That being said, if you're talking about loads which are hot compared to factory loaded ammo which would otherwise still fall within the limitations of SAAMI specs, then that's another story, but I'm used to most folks who speak of "hot .44 Special loads" referring to sub-magnum loads, the likes of which Elmer Keith experimented with leading up to the creation of the .44 Magnum which would stress and eventually damage if not outright destroy anything but the beefiest of .44 Special revolvers.

__________________
Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

No manufacturer supports handloaded ammo either but I do it anyway as that is about all I shoot. There is still room for prudent judgement among some of us. God forbid I pull a little more weight than my one ton truck is rated for. I think I will go load some Keith loads for my n frame 44 special like I have for 40 years��

The comparison of external ballistics, difference in diameters between .429" and .452" and the endless dribble of how much autos are better than revolvers is true, in the fantasy, make-believe worlds the 'gun experts' live in. In the real world the human body can't tell the difference in diameters or velocities between the two cartridges and all the 'auto's are better" hype is pure B.S. The .44 Spl. is a good defense cartridge even in it's slower loadings with non-hollow point ammunition.

True! Handloaded .44Specials topped with Hard Cast "260 Grain Keith's" loaded up to 1100fps outshines anything a .45 ACP and even slightly outdoing the great .45Super can offer.

For a street load I carry .44 Special Speer Gold Dot's that are 200 grain "Flying Ashtrays" loaded to 875fps. They are super accurate in my M24-3. For the woods its 255 grain "Keith's" loaded to a hair over 1,000fps. That still beats almost any .45ACP handload can offer. Basically the Boutique Loads offered from "Underwood" and "Buffalo Bore" and especially true of the just under max loads for the "Handloads" in .44Special are capable and perform to about 85% of what one would ask a .44Magnum will do...

That said... I love .45acp and .44Special as my favorite two calibers with the ACP tied in 2nd place with .44Magnum. All are awesome with good loads and especially the boutique hard cast stuff.

Underwood has a great .45ACP+P Loaded/Topped off with a Hard Cast 255 Grain "Keith" @ 925fps. It's a great Woods Load and cycles great in my 1911's and CZ's chambered in .45ACP and will be great for that role...

To me, I would rather judge shootability, meaning how easy each is to shoot well in a comparison.

So here's an apples-to-apples comparison using two guns/ammo combos I carry interchangeably, depending on the situation:

• .44: Model 69 2.75-inch barrel with Speer .44mag Short Barrel load, which is 200gr Gold Dot at about 1,050 FPS.
• .45: 1911 with 4 inch barrel with Speer +P 200gr Gold Dot at about 980 FPS.

I list the Speer .44mag Short Barrel here because I think most would consider it to be similar to a loaded up .44 Special. So we're talking roughly the same speed with the same weight bullet.

I can tell you that the 1911 is far more shootable in this situation. Maybe it's just the difference between a semi-auto and a revolver, but the recoil is much easier to control for fast follow up shots.

The important thing is to train a lot, so that you're efficient with either one.

For myself the 44 Special hands down. Accuracy, simplicity and ballistics.

Attached Images

	IMG_20190527_180850127.jpg (100.6 KB, 32 views)
	IMG_20190304_175517507 (1).jpg (122.2 KB, 36 views)
	DSC01473.jpg (121.5 KB, 34 views)

__________________
Smith, and Wesson, and Me.

In my opinion they are very close in terms of stopping power, but in penetration at close distances the .45ACP leeds due ti its FMJ configuration!!!,allthis considering factory non +P ammo.
By the way, a guy I new when I lved in Córdoba Argentina), at Cordobas local range 1979 (Tiro Federal de Cordoba) had a 1959 S&W 5" or 6" barrel revolver in .44Special he reloaded his ammo "hot" with lead bullets, it was a "powerhouse" and very accurate up to 25yds!!..He used to "swear" by this gun!!!
Regards
Roberto Renauld

__________________
"Off we go..."

The Smith & Wesson 44 Special vs the Colt 45 ACP.....

Wow, that's a match up for sure right thar !!!

All the old timers knew about those cartridges and the handgun that shoot 'em.

In the 44 Special I'm using a 'Keith' hard cast SWC over a dollop of 2400.
For the 45 acp it's 230 HPs on top of a healty dose of Unique.
In factory loadings is Buffalo Bore 44s and Winchester Ranger 230s HP in 45 acp +Ps

I like both of 'em, so much so, I sometimes carry 'em both....
After fifty years of using both cartridges, I guess that makes me an old timer too




.

__________________
"IN GOD WE TRUST"

This ^^^ with a heavy dose of shot placement (if we’re talking SD ammo).

__________________
Some Might Say.

IMHO- in this case 44spl. vs 45acp. it ain't the gun or the bullet it's the guy behind it.
Jim

You might consider PMC 44 spl. JHP 180 grain @ 980fps