What 180gr 44 Magnum round would you recommend?

[44forever]

My $.02 - Take a look at Federal's .44 Special 200 grain LSWC-HP. With a pistol as light as the 329, controlability will be at a premiem.

 

[BUFF]

I carried the Remington 180 gr. JHP load in my 6 inch Model 629 on duty for about a month once. The gun wore Pachmayr Grippers. I had been shooting bowling pin matches with it, and felt it to be controllable in the 6 inch gun. I thought recoil was sharper/faster but less than factory 240 grainers.

I think I'd carry a hot .44 Special in my M-329, too. Good advice.

 

[Wyatt Earp]

Originally posted by 44forever:
My $.02 - Take a look at Federal's .44 Special 200 grain LSWC-HP. With a pistol as light as the 329, controlability will be at a premiem.

+1

Add Hornady 180 grain XTP and Speer 200 grain Gold Dot to the .44 Special list.

 

[kmrcstintn]

Remington UMC 180gr semijacketed softpoint .44 mag is what I chose for my 629 PowerPort; for whatever reason, when I am shooting out to 50 yards (offhand, single action, open sights) I get smaller and more consistent groups than with stuff like Federal American Eagle 240gr sjhp and Hornady XTP 240gr jhp; it is readily available at WalMart, Bass Pro Shop, Gander Mountain, and a few mom-n-pop shops in my area

I use MasterCast remanufactured 240gr lead semiwadcutter .44 mag for volume practice since it is downloaded and costs less than factory new stuff; I like Hornady XTP 300gr jhp, but they aren't stocked in my area on a regular basis; I have shot Ultramax new manufatured 240gr lead semiwadcutter with consistency, but again they aren't stocked in my area on a regular basis;

 

[Groo01]

Groo here
I would go with a heaver bullet at a lower
speed.
The problem with the 180's is that the
kick is very quick, a heaver bullet at a
reduced speed will push more that snap.
A 240 to 250 gr swc and between 1000 to 1200fps
from a 4in will handle most problems we
will have [except a big bear,mad moose etc]
and will be lower on the kick scale.
Note this is what Keith [hats off please]
wanted when he got the 44mag from Rem.

 

[Littledragon777]

While I have not shot the 180s in that light of a pistol I have shot more of them than I can count out of my Super Redhawk. I don't mind the sharp kick of the Remington factory loads . I have shot a bunch of the 240 grain factory loads and agree the recoil may even be more than the 180s but it is percieved more as a push the the sharp crack you feel with the lighter bullet. Once again shot placement is king and if you can not place more than one shot into your target where it counts when it counts all the power in the world doesn't mean a whole lot. I just finished up loading a couple hundred rounds with the Honady 180 xtps, time to have some fun.

 

[roundgunner]

My .02.
I use Speer 200gr 44mag gold dot short bbl in my3 inch 629. It is very controllable at 975 fps and I think 200,000 power factor will do everything I want/need. I have some 44 spl 200gr gold dot also, they crono at 750 fps. That is a real ***** cat in the 629.