44 May be Special. But Not for Defense!

[DocGKR]

Almost all properly designed expanding projectiles upset in the first 1-3" of travel through tissue.

[JAH 3rd]

With the current state of affairs, I wouldn't carry ammo not loaded by Federal, CCI/Speer, or Hornady. I used to carry Winchester, but they've joined Remington in a race to the bottom in ammo QC.

Underwood, Double Tap, Cor-Bon, and those other boutique manufacturers? If you want to carry that for self-defense, knock yourself out, but I ain't.

One afternoon I was shooting the above referenced pistol with Remington Golden Saber 230gr ammo. This ammo is suppose to have a sealed case mouth and primer. So when the slide locked open on the last shot, there was what appeared to be an O-ring laying on the magazine follower. It was about the size of the primer, rubbery (flexible), very thin with a neutral color. Never seen anything like that before. Nor is there a part in this pistol that looks like this. My only thought so far is that somehow there may have been excess sealant around that primer that worked loose and ended up on the top of the follower. I showed it to another shooter on the range and he was equally perplexed.

[jetfire]

True enough.

So why pay a premium for defensive ammo that doesn't expand when one can probably get equal performance from less expensive target ammo that's probably just as effective?


Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Welcome to "why smart people carry full wadcutters in their small revolvers"

[Tokarev]

Welcome to "why smart people carry full wadcutters in their small revolvers"

Yes but is that really the best the ammunition manufacturers can provide? Should a full wadcutter really be the "gold standard" for defensive revolver ammo?

Market forces dictate everything so maybe the commercial interest in a "modern" 44 Special just isn't there. Still, it would seem Hornady is on the right track with the Critical Defense load. It needs more mass and/or higher velocity to give it the penetration it needs.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

[Tamara]

Yes but is that really the best the ammunition manufacturers can provide? Should a full wadcutter really be the "gold standard" for defensive revolver ammo?

If a bullet will poke a hole clean through a dude at pistol velocities, what more could it do?

[jetfire]

If a bullet will poke a hole clean through a dude at pistol velocities, what more could it do?

Blow him up into a shower of sparks?

[Joe in PNG]

If a bullet will poke a hole clean through a dude at pistol velocities, what more could it do?

Make him fly back dramatically into a bunch of rubbish? That's what Inspector Callahan's .44 Mag does to badguys!
(and yes, [/SARC])

[JAD]

Yes but is that really the best the ammunition manufacturers can provide? Should a full wadcutter really be the "gold standard" for defensive revolver ammo?

Market forces dictate everything so maybe the commercial interest in a "modern" 44 Special just isn't there. Still, it would seem Hornady is on the right track with the Critical Defense load. It needs more mass and/or higher velocity to give it the penetration it needs.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

If market forces dictated everything, the 44spl wouldn’t exist.

[Duelist]

If a bullet will poke a hole clean through a dude at pistol velocities, what more could it do?

Crush the enemy’s vertebrae, leave his women lamenting, and burn his fields.


With one shot.

[revchuck38]

When I bought my M21-4, I also bought two boxes of the Thunder Ranch load that Black Hills made up for it, a 250-grain LSWC at ~750 fps. I saved one box of it because reasons. The more I think of it, I may just bust that box open and load the gun and speedloaders with it instead of the GDs the next time I carry it.