.44 Specials from a Blackhawk .44 mag?

[Archangel14]

This may seem like a silly question, but can .44 special loads be fired from a Ruger Blackhawk .44 mag revolver?

The reason I ask is because I am considering a BH in .45 Colt, as I think .44 magnum rounds may be to harsh for me. Yet, .45 Colt load can be loaded a bit more "hot" if I want to do some hog hunting. But my thinking may be moot if I can push .44 special loads through a BH .44 magnum. Also, I can buy factory .44 special ammo that will reach over 1000 fps velocities, which is sufficient to whack medium size hogs. But, I first need to know: can I shoot s

 

[CraigC]

Absolutely!

 

[Archangel14]

Sorry, I hit the post tab before I was finished. My questions remains: can I shoot .44 specials from a BH .44 mag? Thanks.

 

[Jaymo]

Yep. You can also load .44 mag down to .44 special ballistics.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

The same as firing .38 Specials from a .357 Magnum, you can fire .44 Specials in any .44 Magnum. Just be sure to keep the chambers clean. Depending on the individual gun, there may be a loss of accuracy ... or not.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Yup, you can fire 44 Specials in any revolver that is chambered for 44 Magnum. Dimensionally, the only difference between the two cartridges is that the Magnum is roughly 1/10" longer than the Special. This was done specifically so that 44 Magnums cannot be fully chambered in a 44 Special revolver. You can also fire 44 Russians in a revolver chambered for either 44 Mag or 44 Special, it is the grandaddy of both cartridges.

The appeal of many of the new 44 Special revolvers is they are built on a smaller, lighter frame than a Magnum. The cylinder and gun have to be more massive to take the pressure of the 44 Magnum cartridge. Guns that are only chambered for 44 Special do not have to be as heavy as a Magnum.

 

[thunder173]

The one of my several handguns that sees the most use in the woods is a 4 5/8's inch barreled Ruger Super Blackhawk in .44 Magnum. I confess that I probaly use more .44 Specials, or down loaded magnums in it than full load magnums. Works fine for me and I have never had issue doing so.

 

[jimniowa]

I had my SBH cut down to 4.5" for a carry gun in the field shooting .44sp in 240g jhp hand loads. This is also a great back up pistol in AK loaded with 300g xtp's. I consider the 300 g swc in a .44mag in my Ruger 5.5 Redhawk my main pistol to back up a .338 mag for big game. At my age weighted down with 2 pistols and a rifle plus stuff I am not into stalking, also not into escaping.
Jim

 

[rcmodel]

The same as firing .38 Specials from a .357 Magnum,

Or shooting .22 Shorts in a .22 Long Rifle.

Only thing you have to do is clean the chambers when you get done shooting the shorter ..44 Spl rounds in the longer .44 Mag chambers.

rc

 

[BCRider]

BOTH these bigger cartridges beg to be hand loaded simply due to financial reasons. Neither one is particularly cheap to shoot if you have to rely on factory ammo.

And if you reload your own not only do you save a bucket of money..... well, actually you don't. You'll simply end up shooting more for the same money... But anyway, not only can you shoot a lot more for your money but you can experiment and find a few loads for each bullet weight that fits your desire for recoil power and that the gun likes for that little extra accuracy.

Add to this that as I understand these things that .44Spl is scarce enough that it actually costs as much or more than .44Mag. Suddenly setting up a modest cost reloading setup seems like the smart thing to do.

And no excuses. I can show you how you can put together a reloading setup which breaks down and fits in a medium size plastic tote and slips into the closet when not being used. The whole setup won't cost more than $200 initially. And at that price it won't take you a lot of shooting before you've saved that cost compared to factory prices. From that point on you'll be reloading for about 1/4 the cost of factory ammo.