Which is more versatile? 45colt or 44special?

I am concurring with Sagebrush Burns, it is a toss-up.
The .44 Special and the .45 Colt are kissing cousins in my book.
MHO
Dennis
PS: I looked for someone to concur with, as I was certain there would be one: since curmudgeons and old fart sacks think alike.

I think the 44 mag & 45 Colt are the kissing cousins.. but only when loading for Blackhawks.

Keeping things within Saami specs, well then the 45 & 44 special are closer with the low end nod going to the 44spl. Like comparing the New Vaq to the flat top 44spl. Both fun.

My range loads for both: 7.5 gr Unique... 255gr vs. 240gr...ehhh, really- whats the diff.

The .44 Special and the .45 Colt are kissing cousins in my book.

Click to expand...

May be cousins alright (not sure about the kiss'n though), but the .44spec will always be looking 'up' to its big brother .45 Colt. Close, but never quite be able to fill his shoes so to speak .

Rclark said:

The .44 Special and the .45 Colt are kissing cousins in my book.

Click to expand...

May be cousins alright (not sure about the kiss'n though), but the .44spec will always be looking 'up' to its big brother .45 Colt. Close, but never quite be able to fill his shoes so to speak .

Click to expand...

Agreed ;-)

Good Lord people, all this talk and no discussion of the platform in question??? Fully interchanging discussion of .44Spl and .44Mag? Surely we can do better than that.

In the mid-frame guns like the Colt SAA, New Frontier and Ruger New Vaquero and Blackhawk, the .44Spl has the advantage. It is more efficient and bullets of the same weight can be driven 100-150fps faster than the .45Colt with a greater margin of safety.

In the large frame guns, the whole discussion is moot because there is the .44Mag. In which case, it's pretty much a wash. The .44Mag has a velocity advantage across the board and the .45 is slightly larger in diameter. No critter will tell the difference.

Varminterror said:

3) Equally, that means the 45colt can handle heavier bullets without spiking pressure. The larger diameter also means you can 'hide' extra bullet weight in the diameter and still fit within a max COAL rather than growing deeper into the case or sticking out the end of the cylinder.

Click to expand...

This is not true at all. The .44Mag will sling a bullet of the same weight 200fps faster. A bullet of the same sectional density 200fps faster. The crap about the .45 handling heavier bullets is myth.

jgt said:

Yeah, all it takes is a .45 and about three hundred dollars worth of gunsmithing and you have a gun good as a .44 special any day.

Click to expand...

Not even then. Most .45's have grossly oversized chambers and that is an expensive fix. The .45 suffers from 150yr old ambiguous dimensions. Bullets run from .451" to .454", chambers are oversized and mouths can be as large as .457". My Colt runs .456" and my USPFA runs .457". My Ruger Bisley Vaquero has been fully reamed and tuned and still won't shoot with the .44's. I've had to sell rifles because the chambers were so oversized I got debris in the face with anything but Ruger only loads. If the industry would settle on .480" chambers and .4525" mouths for .451-.452" bullets, the .45 would shine like any other.

Before anybody calls me a .45 hater/.44 fanboy, I just ordered a second Dillon 650 with electric casefeeder for a grand total of $1100........for the .45Colt. The .45Colt is a great cartridge and I love it but I try not to get lost in the romanticism that seems to surround it.

I have more than one of each, and if I had to settle for one or the other, it would be the .44 Special hands down. It's just easier to get good accuracy with any of the many bullet types you can cast for it.

Great information so far, I think I'll make a pot of coffee and make some pop corn. This could take a while.

As much as I love the .45 LC, like the .44 mag and am indifferent to the .44 Special, I gotta agree with ol' CraigC.. :shock:

The .45 should be built to Linebaugh's dimensions, not Ruger's! :roll:

Very subjective and obviously 'opinionated' hell even all the writers over the years don't agree, have their own "favorites"...yes, just like Ford and Chevy, the beat goes on...............
all depends on YOUR likes, affordability, versatility, etc,,,,,,,,,,,,,,yes, "variety may be the spice of life", but I prefer simple, easy and afforable, we are not a glutten, save some for others :roll:

"He who dies with the MOST toys, still dies......" anon 8)

by the way , my preference is the 44 special over the 45 Colt, but I have kept neither.......... :wink:

I think either one will do the job but I can find .45 Colt brass everywhere whereas I don't remember the last time I saw .44 Special brass for sale at my usual haunts.

I was enamored of the .45 ever since seeing one of those big fat 255 grain lead bullets as a young teen, and reading Elmer Keith's "Eyewitness to Six Gun Law" in which the .45 Colt factored prominently in more than a few personal disagreements.

The revival of cowboy action shooting has made it one of the most popular big bores since its original release in 1873.

Most .45's have grossly oversized chambers and that is an expensive fix.

Click to expand...

Now, all The .45 Colt revolvers I have are Ruger, and my experience is exactly the opposite. Every one (that's EVERY one) has had undersized throats {edited} to one degree or another. Easy fix to proper size. I can't tell the difference 'accuracy' wise between the .44Spec/.44Mag (.429), or .45 Colt (.451). But I suppose, each of us has different experiences to 'make an argument' out of it . Shoot what you prefer. Mine is .45 Colt without even looking back. We can be an opinionated bunch (and have a 'lot' of references to back up our opinion/experience :lol: ) .

I don't remember the last time I saw .44 Special brass for sale at my usual haunts.

Click to expand...

As for .44Special brass, just put your name on the waiting list with Star-line brass. Works for me, and 500, 1000, or more is on its way in a few weeks to a couple of months.... Just plan ahead.

Undersize throats you mean? :?

Most .45 chambers/charge holes are pretty sloppy that I know of...Mine are .486"+ :x

45 Colt for me, like others have said mild to wild. Bigger, heavier bullets rule the day in my eyes. A 4" RH in 45 colt is almost perfect for SD.

Thanks Bucks ... brain freeze I guess ... Corrected to throats....

I prefer the .45 Colt, also. The only .44 I own is an 1851 Navy, reproduction, Cap & Ball revolver. :shock:

As somebody back up the thread pointed out, in a medium-framed gun .44 Special has the edge over .45 Colt. It takes a large-framed gun to get the most out of the .45 Colt's versatility...and the "Ruger Only" magnum-level .45 Colt loads for large-frame Blackhawks would batter apart a Peacemaker/New Vaq or similarly-sized revolver in short order.

For me, the choice wasn't between .44 SPL and .45 Colt; it was between .357 and .44 SPL in a medium-framed gun (three Flattop Blackhawks, in my case: a 50th Anniversary .357; a Lipsey's .44 SPL and a Lipsey's Bisley .44 SPL). I find that for my purposes, .44 Special does everything a .357 will, but is much more pleasant to shoot.

If I want to shoot big-bore, magnum-level loads in either .44 or .45 - and with my skinny girly wrists, I don't, particularly - I'll step up to a large-framed gun.

ProfessorWes said:

As somebody back up the thread pointed out, in a medium-framed gun .44 Special has the edge over .45 Colt. It takes a large-framed gun to get the most out of the .45 Colt's versatility...and the "Ruger Only" magnum-level .45 Colt loads for large-frame Blackhawks would batter apart a Peacemaker/New Vaq or similarly-sized revolver in short order.

For me, the choice wasn't between .44 SPL and .45 Colt; it was between .357 and .44 SPL in a medium-framed gun (three Flattop Blackhawks, in my case: a 50th Anniversary .357; a Lipsey's .44 SPL and a Lipsey's Bisley .44 SPL). I find that for my purposes, .44 Special does everything a .357 will, but is much more pleasant to shoot.

If I want to shoot big-bore, magnum-level loads in either .44 or .45 - and with my skinny girly wrists, I don't, particularly - I'll step up to a large-framed gun.

Click to expand...

In a medium frame gun you probably won't be running your .44 Spl hot either, so I think it is a moot point. But, I may be wrong. If both cartridges are kept at mild levels, I still feel the .45 Colt has advantages of the .429 Spl.

I don't have a 44 magnum. I don't have a large frame 45 Colt anymore, either. Both are on the midframe Ruger... a 44 flat top Bisley and a Colt Montado. I run a 250 grain SWC to 1000 fps in 44 Special and a 265 wfn to 1000 fps in the Montado.

I figure if I need more power than either of those, I'm moving up to 480 Ruger.

Rclark said:

Now, all The .45 Colt revolvers I have are Ruger, and my experience is exactly the opposite.

Click to expand...

I was talking about the chambers, not the throats. Anything but a Freedom Arms and later domestic USFA is going to have oversized chambers. Rugers can have throats that are over or undersized. The .44's don't typically suffer from any of this.

In 15yrs of enjoying the cartridge, I've never had any issues finding brass.

MaxP said:

In a medium frame gun you probably won't be running your .44 Spl hot either, so I think it is a moot point.

Click to expand...

Why not? Not moot at all. That's a lot of the point, that you can run 1200fps in the .44Spl without issue but the .45 must be kept to 1050-1100fps. Pearce has even provided data for a 307gr at 1050fps.

CraigC said:

Rclark said:

Now, all The .45 Colt revolvers I have are Ruger, and my experience is exactly the opposite.

Click to expand...

I was talking about the chambers, not the throats. Anything but a Freedom Arms and later domestic USFA is going to have oversized chambers. Rugers can have throats that are over or undersized. The .44's don't typically suffer from any of this.

In 15yrs of enjoying the cartridge, I've never had any issues finding brass.

MaxP said:

In a medium frame gun you probably won't be running your .44 Spl hot either, so I think it is a moot point.

Click to expand...

Why not? Not moot at all. That's a lot of the point, that you can run 1200fps in the .44Spl without issue but the .45 must be kept to 1050-1100fps. Pearce has even provided data for a 307gr at 1050fps.

Click to expand...

Wow, 1,200 fps is hot! :mrgreen: I know it's all relative......

Still a smaller diameter and typically lighter weight bullet. Make mine a .45.........

Craig, rebuttal?? :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: