.44 Magnum vs. .45 Colt Magnumized

[Trooper224]

I remember the .357 Max being the latest thing when I was shooting Silhouette, which was what it was initially designed for. It was all the rage, until it started eating forcing cones and burning out barrels at an accelerated rate. Hipsters think it's cool, but the hipsters don't know what they don't know.

[Baldanders]

I remember the .357 Max being the latest thing when I was shooting Silhouette, which was what it was initially designed for. It was all the rage, until it started eating forcing cones and burning out barrels at an accelerated rate. Hipsters think it's cool, but the hipsters don't know what they don't know.

My interest in the cartridge would be to push 180 grain + pills. My understanding is that the eating top straps and forcing cone issues came with pushing 110-125 grain bullets to crazy velocities.

Academic, anyway, for my purposes--it is too uncommon to fit into my criteria for this thread, and what I want out of a cartridge that is more powerful than the .357 Magnum. I would probably only be likely to get a gun chambered in it if I get a Contender. And if I get a Contender, barrels for quite a few other oddball rounds are certainly a possibility.

[OlongJohnson]

[QUOTE=Baldanders;983414...barrels for quite a few other oddball rounds are certainly a possibility.[/QUOTE]

I went around a couple loops of that last night. I realized that one good thing about having a Contender is you can stop a bunch of bad ideas in their tracks (like altering the chambers in a Blackhawk) by asking yourself, "Would that really be better than just buying a barrel for the Contender?"* You can also think about three or four other cool ideas and wind up right back at an idea you thought was good awhile ago, but not good enough to spend the money on.

*The original form of this question was, "Would that really be better than a turbo Miata?"

[john c]

You already have a Smith 625. You can easily experiment with Level II loads with that cartridge; no need for a .460 Rowland conversion. Get some .45 AR brass and you'll get pretty close to .460 Rowland loads. In a revolver, you're not limited to bullet shapes and weights like in an auto loader. Old time gunwriters loved the 255 Keith bullet in .45 AR.

I don't think you specifically need .460 Rowland brass in a revolver. The .460 Rowland has thicker case walls to compensate for case support issues. That's not a factor in your 625. Plus the .45 AR brass has a lot of extra material.

[OlongJohnson]

https://www.starlinebrass.com/45-auto-rim-brass

[Grizzly]

a dual turbo RX-7?

[LtDave]

If you are ever going to own .45 Colt guns other than the big Rugers, I’d not load any hot .45 Colt ammo unless you have a very well thought out method of keeping your ammo labeled and segregated. Nickle vs brass cases, SWC vs RN bullets, different color boxes, etc. Personally, I have guns that are not capable of handling the hot loads, as well as the Rugers. I won’t load any rounds that I can’t shoot in all my .45s but that’s my personal solution. At this point in my shooting career, I don’t have a need for any .44 or .45 rounds much over 1000 fps anyway.

[BehindBlueI's]

If you are ever going to own .45 Colt guns other than the big Rugers, I’d not load any hot .45 Colt ammo unless you have a very well thought out method of keeping your ammo labeled and segregated..

I don't even own any non-big Rugers and I label mine with a big warning sticker that reads **RUGER ONLY LOADS** even if they aren't really, just in the "+P" range. My thought is if I were to get killed or incapacitated I don't want any of my survivors, or some random schmuck who bought from them, hurting themselves.

[Baldanders]

I went around a couple loops of that last night. I realized that one good thing about having a Contender is you can stop a bunch of bad ideas in their tracks (like altering the chambers in a Blackhawk) by asking yourself, "Would that really be better than just buying a barrel for the Contender?"* You can also think about three or four other cool ideas and wind up right back at an idea you thought was good awhile ago, but not good enough to spend the money on.

*The original form of this question was, "Would that really be better than a turbo Miata?"

Now I'm playing around with the idea of a custom .45 AR barrel.

Or, god forbid, a modifed Circuit Judge. 😨

That plus my existing 625 and my itch is probably scratched. Buffalo Bore makes ammo in the Tier Two range.

ETA: maybe not quite tier two. That's Ok, handloads can fill that niche for me.

[Baldanders]

I don't even own any non-big Rugers and I label mine with a big warning sticker that reads **RUGER ONLY LOADS** even if they aren't really, just in the "+P" range. My thought is if I were to get killed or incapacitated I don't want any of my survivors, or some random schmuck who bought from them, hurting themselves.

I'm starting to think the magnumized AR has an advantage in not fitting .45 Colt guns at all. (I hope) Then when I get a .45 Colt Smith, no worries.