General 44 special ammo question

[Bob79]

I notice some companies put "smith & wesson" or "remington" and "cowboy" before the word SPECIAL when labeling their ammo. Are any of these OK as long as it indicates SPECIAL on there?

I understand that you can't use anything MAGNUM in a SPECIAL gun, so thats not a problem. I got a 44 special on the way & want to make sure I understand this 100%.

-Thanks

 

[Onmilo]

At one time only Remington and Winchester were making the .44 special ammunition.
246 round nose lead bullet at about 750 feet per second.
Remington use the lable the end flap
REMINGTON
.44 Special

Winchester used
WINCHESTER/WESTERN
.44 S&W Special

The loads were all but identical.

Today there are a myraid of loadings in this caliber and as long as you choose ammunition that says .44 Special you will be fine.

"Cowboy Loads" are very lightly loaded target grade cartridges that are used in Cowboy Action Shooting Matches. Hope this helps.

 

[FPrice]

The word "Cowboy" usually indicates a load that has been developed for SASS (Single-Action Shooting Society) Cowboy shooting. Generally a 200 to 240 grain lead bullet at around 750 fps with a flat-nose design (for use in tubular rifle magazines). It is a mild .44 Special load.

 

[ted murphy]

The cowboy loads are fun shooters.

FWIW, .44 special is pretty much a reloader's caliber as the factory loads are so expensive.

Ted

 

[P. Plainsman]

Another reason: nobody seems to make factory FMJ ammo in .44 Special.

I use only jacketed bullets for practice, so I've concluded I'll have to take up handloading once I get a .44.

There are a few fully jacketed/plated flat point .44 bullets available from Midway USA, and of course there's a wide array of JHPs (which are more expensive).

 

[Bullet Bob]

I wanted to expound a little on onmilo's answer - you'll see it listed as Smith & Wesson .44 Special, or S&W .44 Special, because they (Smith & Wesson) developed the round and gun in the very early 1900's, and patented them. This also applies to .38 S&W Special, S&W .357 mag, S&W .44 Mag, and S&W .500 mag - busy little beavers, aren't they? .45 ACP is short for .45 Automatic Colt Pistol; and so on and so on.