44 Special / Magnum question

[AAG]

hell everyone. I recently purchased 2 types of ammo at a gun show.
1) Hornady 44 Mag 225 gr FTX (box says 1410 fps out of muzzle)
2) A-Merc 44 Special 240 gr RNL

I own a 29-10 and a 29-2 would these loads be safe in each? I have searched around and seen what you guys use. If you can add here what you guys recommend for both range and self defense in these guns. Thanks for the help!

 

[AAG]

hell everyone. I recently purchased 2 types of ammo at a gun show.
1) Hornady 44 Mag 225 gr FTX (box says 1410 fps out of muzzle)
2) A-Merc 44 Special 240 gr RNL

I own a 29-10 and a 29-2 would these loads be safe in each? I have searched around and seen what you guys use. If you can add here what you guys recommend for both range and self defense in these guns. Thanks for the help!

 

[Wyatt Earp]

Both of those loads are perfectly safe in both your pistols. Both are fine for range use, though the Hornady load is probably a bit expensive to be blasting away with it.

I would recommend neither for self defense. The Hornady load is a hunting load and will have extreme overpenetration and extreme noise and muzzle flash in a home defense scenario.

The round nose .44 Special is not recommended for the opposite reason. A lead round nose bullet will not expand at all and will not make a sufficiently large wound channel to be as effective as modern, expanding jacketed hollow point bullets loaded in the same caliber.

For self defense, the best bet is a modern .44 Special load like Winchester's 200 grain Silvertip, Speer's 200 grain Gold Dot, or Hornady's 180 grain XTP (my choice).

 

[AAG]

thank you Wyatt. This sounds like a silly question but the plastic tip in the HP bullet - is that for extra penetration? expansion? For a minute I thought I might have purchased rifle rounds. The SD rounds you mentioned - have you used them in an older model 29?

 

[Spotteddog]

As Wyatt described. Yes, the plastic insert is designed to allow penetration before expansion. I have used all the rounds of which Wyatt spoke, including the one's you purchased, out of my 29-2 without incident. Expect the heavier bullet/slower FPS loading (.44 Special) to print a bit higher.

 

[Wyatt Earp]

Originally posted by AAG:
The SD rounds you mentioned - have you used them in an older model 29?

Yes, I have used them in a 29-2, 29-3, and 629-4.

Trust me, Smith & Wesson Model 29s, while not as overbuilt as Ruger Redhawks, are ANYTHING but fragile. Don't sweat your ammo selection. Your hands will give out shooting Magnums long before the pistol does.

 

[AAG]

Do any of you guys or know of any that carry magnums, and if so what type, for SD or is the general consensus that that is overkill? Thank you very much for all your input. And yes Wyatt that was my main concern- the way some portray a S&W to other brands they make it sound like hot loads will cause the gun to explode

 

[flop-shank]

There is no such thing as overkill when someone is trying to kill you. I use full power magnum handloads in my 5" 629-1. The only full power .44 magnum factory round I would use is the Federal 180 gr. JHP. Slightly lower powered, accurate and more manageable is the 210 gr. Winchester Silvertip. Wyatt is right that most people are better served with .44 spls. There are also "managed recoil" .44 magnum loads available. My favorite is the Corbon 165 gr. JHP. Speer also makes a 200 gr. Gold Dot Short Barrel load that is worth a look.

 

[44forever]

+1 What flop shank said. I carry silvertips in a 629 5" classic daily. Never have understood the meaning of "overkill". Dead is dead and I intend for it to be him rather than me.

 

[Wyatt Earp]

My concern with .44 Magnums is two fold.

#1 concern is overpenetration. The overwhelming majority of .44 Magnum loads are designed for hunting (as hunting was the primary use that the .44 Mag was designed for). As such, it is almost a certainty that any .44 Mag load will pass through a person regardless of what it hits or what angle it enters the body. This is not good, for obvious reasons.

#2 concern is controllability. Personally, I can do a cylinder dump of Hornady 180 grain Specials as fast as I can pull the trigger at 7 to 10 yards and land all my shots in less than an hand's width area around point of aim. I cannot do that with Magnum loads, though that is not to say that no one can.

It is for those two reasons that my self defense loads for my 29s/629 are .44 S&W Specials.

 

[flop-shank]

Originally posted by 44forever:
+1 What flop shank said. I carry silvertips in a 629 5" classic daily. Never have understood the meaning of "overkill". Dead is dead and I intend for it to be him rather than me.

..........and the faster they are out of the fight, the better.

I went with the .44 mag. because I wanted my belt gun to have as rifle-like performance as possible. I also have a 5" full underlug barrel and it is ported. I set the gun up from the start as part of a system that would use .44 magnum ammo. My 629 originally had a 6" half-lug barrel and magnums weren't controllable with that set up. If someone wants to be effective with full power .44 magnums they must pay their dues with a lot of regular practice.

 

[Wyatt Earp]

Another alternative is a heavy barrel magnum K frame (like the 13, 19, 65, 66) or L frame (581, 681, 586, 686) with 125 grain magnums.

Rifle like external ballistics, a lot more controllable, and a proven fight stopper.

 

[AAG]

Guys all your input was greatly appreciated. What I meant by "overkill" was is it unecessary, more power than needed. I agree with whatever gets the job done when it comes to my family and my safety. Thanks again all.

 

[flop-shank]

Whether the extra power is needed depends on the placement of the shot and sometimes the behavior of the bullet. With excellent shot placement a .22 lr. is all that's needed. More powerful (high muzzle velocity/energy) cartridges and fragmenting/ expanding bullets may allow marginal hits to become good ones. Also, while I doubt muzzle energy plays little if any part of stopping power from a .380, for example, I believe that the more rifle-like a handgun cartridge is, the more it will use energy as a fight stopper.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Flop-shank, on the subject of those Speer Short Barrel Gold Dots, a friend and I revisted the water bottle test last week. Consistently, out of his 4 inch 29 and my 6 inch, the bullets came apart violently, with insufficient penetration. Perhaps the 44 Special load would be able to hold together, but I've lost some of my confidence in the Magnum load.

I've changed to the 210 Silvertips, for now, until I find some other improvement.

 

[flop-shank]

The Silvertip probably hits harder anyway, so if you can handle it, it might be the better load to use. I'll bet (totally SWAG) it's as accurate, if not more accurate too.

 

[kmrcstintn]

big gun defense loads:

Hornady XTP jhp 180gr .44 spl; Winchester Silvertip jhp 200gr .44 spl; Federal lead semiwadcutter hp 200gr .44 spl

managable to shoot, repeat shot capability, accurate, doesn't render you stunned from recoil, muzzle blast, and audible report, same category of big-n-slow that the .45 acp, .45 colt, and .45 gap reside in