38/44 vs. 357 Magnum

[David LaPell]

In the last two or three years I have been doing a lot on the .38-44's especially in the Outdoorsman and have dug up every piece of data that I could on them. One of the best articles was the October 2006 article on the .38-44 in Handloader magazine by Brian Pearce. Brian wrote this of the comparison between the .357 and the .38-44's.
"The magnum did feature countersunk chambers, which was a part of the factory high-grade custom package, with no expense being spared. Technically speaking, however, countersunk chambers did not add strength and did any of the magnum's custom features. Likewise the frames of both guns were equally strong. The point being, the strength of the .357 Magnum revolvers and the .38-44 handguns were effectively identical."

I have been working for the last year or so on different loads for my Outdoorsman and I can tell you this gun has taken everything I have thrown at it. My favorite two loads are the 170 grain cast #358429 bullet and 12.5 grains of 2400 in .38 Special +P brass. I ran this load through my chronograph at over 1,200 fps and the other load is a #358156 HP again with 12.5 grains of 2400 at around 1,250 fps. According to the October 2006 article these loads aren't even close to the max for these guns but they are both very accurate even out to 65 yards one handed on shooting sticks. I had thought about buying another .357 Magnum long barrel but this gun meets all my needs.

Here is some more reading on the .38-44.

http://www.guns.com/38-44-outdoorsman-a-handgun-for-hunting-deer-and-rum-runners-433.html

 

[j38]

I picked up an Outdoorsman some years ago that shipped in 1954 and which had been later converted to .357. I only found this out a couple of years ago when I tried a sample .357 round in all my 38/44's - just to check.

Jerry

 

[GLL]

j38:

Thank you for the information on your 1954!

Jerry

 

[BigBill]

OT; Today if i was just getting into revolvers like i did in 1975 I would of skipped over the 357mag and purchased the S&W N frame in 41mag. If i knew then what i know now. Being a 44mag guys for most of my handgun life I just shot my newly purchased S&W M58 in 41mag and its a dream to shoot. Its hotter than my hottest 357mag reload yet handles better than my 44mag. I say this because back in my early days i had no one to tell me about the 41mag. Everyone pushed the 44mag because of dirty harry.

 

[A10]

Thanks for the link, Dave! It was a fascinating read. I am becoming more and more enamoured with the Outdoorsman and its capabilities. I have a 6 1/2" 1956ish Heavy Duty, and I'm thinking it needs a companion piece. Of course, I should probably go with a 1932 model as well, to go along with my 5" Heavy Duty from that time.....this place is going to break me yet!

 

[RKmesa]

Great Thread!!!

I'm glad this one got resurrected. These 38/44 OD's are great guns. As this thread is packed with great info and links to great articles, I thought it could use a copy of the Outdoorsman brochure, so here you go:

... And a couple of photos of my latest OD - recently re-connected with a vintage box.

Thanks for letting me share.