Question on Remington UMC .44 Mag 180gr JSP

[Person]

I picked up a 3" 629-4 a while back and I have not shot it yet due to lack of time. This is my first .44 and I have no experience shooting .44 at all. I am mainly a .357 guy but wanted a .44 to round the collection out.

I decided that I need to get out and shoot it this weekend so I dropped by Walmart to grab a box of .44mag. They had the Remington UMC 180gr so I grabbed a box since I figured it would be a fairly mild load even though it is 180gr.

Well I got back and started looking up info on this load and noticed everyone talking about how brutal it is. So how bad is this stuff going to be out of a 3" 629-4? I am starting to think I should find a different load to try first especially since I have no experience with .44's.

Thanks,

Person

 

[RobertJ.]

I have a 6" 629-4, and if I'm going to shoot factory ammo, the Rem. UMC 180's are my favorite store-bought. Offhand at 50 yards, I have no problem keeping them all in a 6" bull. (and that's with 51 year old eyes and open sights!) At Bi-Mart here in Oregon, they're going for $33, so I buy a couple every now and then just to put away.

I don't have a chrony, so I can't tell you how fast they're going, but they do get my attention, and that's with a 6" barrel. Through your 3", they should be lots of fun! If I were you, I'd give them a try.

 

[off road]

Recoil is subjective. Go shoot some and see what YOU think!

 

[sheriffoconee]

Recoil is subjective. Go shoot some and see what YOU think!

what he said.....sorta like everyone telling Christopher Columbus the earth was flat...try it yourself, you might be surprised....I never found that particular round to be very harsh at all, the light bullet keeps recoil down IMO...however, my Ruger is a lot heavier..

 

[dark star]

i just bought 20 boxes of the UMC 180gr JSP foe $13.99 a box...my FFL said it was old stock and that it had been on the shelf for a while...must have been a long while, cause i ain't seen prices like that in a long while.

I bought every box he had, and put them up for a rainy day

 

[Mod27]

I have shot a couple boxes of this out of my 4" 629. Recoil is pretty substantial, but the flash is what is most remarkable to me about this loading.

Even shooting on a bright sunny day-lots of flame seen.

 

[Person]

Thanks for the info guys. I will give them a try. I would not say I am very recoil sensitive but after shooting some hot .357's I will ussually get a little bit of a flinch. So I am sure these 180gr .44's will give me a bit more of a flinch.

I generally do not have problems with the actual recoil. What bothers me is the slap on the hand or the webbing of my hand.

 

[Mack]

If you can find them .44 Specials are much nicer to shoot.

 

[mod29]

The first time I shot that particular load, I was a bit surprised.
After a few shots, I was muttering to myself. Dang, this load is pretty knarly!
Muzzle blast, fireball, recoil...everything you want in a .44 mag load!
I believe I have only shot that load out of my 6.5" 629-5, but wouldn't hesitate to shoot it out of any good-condition .44 mag pistol. Yeah, it'll get your attention, but then any .44 mag load will do that.

-Jim

 

[mesinge2]

I have the same gun and I use that ammo. I thought the recoil was actually less than the 240 fodder. But then I use 300 grain stuff in mine.

 

[BubbaBlades]

YouTube - ‪.44 magnum S&W Model 29 vs M&M.MOV‬‏

Person,
I have shot the same Remington UMC 180gr out of my 3" 629 with these observations: The load is warm. Not nearly the recoil of the 240 gr gas checks, however there is enough recoil to bother most shooters that are not use to full power magnums. I would suggest that you start out with .44 specials and work up to a hot .44 special load before you start on the .44 magnums. With .44 magnums, a "cowboy" load is usually a step up from a hot .44 special.
In case you have not seen my .44 magnum Youtube shooting video, I have provided a driect link to it at the top of my post. The load that I used is the hottest .44 magnum that I have. In the video, I am holding my camera under my gun so you can get some idea of the recoil.

Mark

 

[Kavinsky]

The remington 180's actually sound like there straight from the dirty harry films probably because there putting out above a 1,100 and strangely the 240 mag techs dont because of that (atleast I think so) and its a 44 magnum theres supposed to be recoil and you've got it in spades with a 3 inch, not the kind of M29 I would recomend for a beginner, minimal would be a 6 or an 8 inch

a better grip than the wood ones would help though, try and go for the pachmayr gripper grips and make sure you warm up with a .22 revolver before firing it, trust me it helps with the big bores and flinching.

 

[Person]

I have a set of Hogue monogrips on it right now. I will probably pick up some X frame grips or another rubber grip that covers the backstrap. That should give me a little relief until I get use to shooting it.

 

[CJR]

I just went with the same 3inch 629 180gr rem combo because the indoor range didnt have 240 gr. Recoil wasnt quite fun, but wasnt horrible either. Lots of flash and noise.
I have a question to others shooting this combo. All my shots were about 4 inches low at 15 yds. I didnt want to adjust sights because 240- 250 gr is what I'm going to be using when I get my reloading bench set up again. Now I have never fired anything except 240 jacketed or 250 cast in any of my .44s. Im thinking the slower heavier bullets should hit higher because of longer time in barrel under recoil, does that sound about right?
I know the best way to find out is try it, but I am curious if anyone has tried different bullet weights and the results until I find time to get to range again.

 

[mesinge2]

I just went with the same 3inch 629 180gr rem combo because the indoor range didnt have 240 gr. Recoil wasnt quite fun, but wasnt horrible either. Lots of flash and noise.
I have a question to others shooting this combo. All my shots were about 4 inches low at 15 yds. I didnt want to adjust sights because 240- 250 gr is what I'm going to be using when I get my reloading bench set up again. Now I have never fired anything except 240 jacketed or 250 cast in any of my .44s. Im thinking the slower heavier bullets should hit higher because of longer time in barrel under recoil, does that sound about right?
I know the best way to find out is try it, but I am curious if anyone has tried different bullet weights and the results until I find time to get to range again.

Sounds about right for the 180s. Also all the 300 grain ammo I have tried has hit higher than my 240 grain loads.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

I absolutely LOVE the Remington loads. If somebody nearby on the line is shooting markedly better than I am, a cylinder full of those has everybody around flinching just as bad as I am.

Out of my 6 inch 29-4, they chrono between 1600 and 1650. That's a STOUT load for me.

Edit: I shoot a 265 grain LSWC at 1300, and while the Rem 180s seem to recoil about the same, I think the heavy blast from the Rem rounds makes it seem much worse.