44Special and 45C....Does One Have an Advantage?

If you want a .44 go for the .44 Mag, which will give you the ability to shoot Specials, too. I would personally choose a .45 Colt/.45 ACP model, which gives you .45 ACP, .45 Schofield, and .45 Colt to choose from, but I reload all three rounds. I have hundreds of rounds of .45 Schofield, which I reload for lightweight plinking rounds.

Cholo said:

BIgMuddy said:

Not trying to make a point here. Just really would like to hear some first hand stories.

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Well, I've only killed one deer with a handgun and it was with a .44 Mag. I've never killed a deer with a .45C. My math says the .44 beat the .45 1 to 0. The clear winner? The .44 Mag.

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+10

Well, I've only killed one deer with a handgun and it was with a .44 Mag. I've never killed a deer with a .45C. My math says the .44 beat the .45 1 to 0. The clear winner? The .44 Mag.

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Have you ever tried to kill a deer with a .45 Colt? A Ruger Blackhawk with .45 Colt ammo loaded to full potential is just as capable of taking a deer as a .44 Mag. The problem is too many people take the figures for Colt SAA level ammo and compare it to .44 Mag. Which makes the .45 Colt look anemic. Which it is not.

No, I don't own a .45 Colt. My post was tongue-in-cheek. It doesn't change the fact that the .44 has still beaten the .45 1-0 :wink:

s4s4u said:

Yes, a whopping 0.015"

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I get .023", but then again who's counting ;-)

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Nope. That's the point I made previously. The bullet diameter makes no difference. The operative dimension here is the meplat. The .45 is .355", the .44 is .340". A difference of 0.015". Thanks for illustrating the fact that most people do not look beyond the bullet diameter.

I have a 310gr .44 bullet here with a meplat larger than both. Making 'this' .44 effectively larger than the .45 bullet mentioned above.

I'm a .45 Colt man, but if I was using a Ruger for hunting, I would have to admit it would be my Redhawk in .44 Mag.

Let me say, I have nothing against the 45colt...I just don't need one as it offers nothing over the 44's and that is the reason that I got out of it. Where I live, there is nothing that stalks these woods, that the 44special will not handily put down...deer, hog or even a black bear. And, if I happen upon a chance to go somewhere else to hunt, the 44mag will do anything the 45colt will. So, I choose to carry the smaller and sweeter (to me) 44special, for most of what I do...but if it won't work, the 44mag certainly will. And, eliminating the colt, simplifies my life with nothing lost in usefulness nor nostalgia...as I have no nostalgic feelings toward the colt, either.

Now, y'all go love on the one that you want.

Personal preference I think in this case (I don't hunt, so no comment on terminal ballistics, etc.). We all either have experience with one or another or both, and are minds get 'set in the their ways'. For, me ... its the .45 Colt . Fits me right down to the ground. just as Jim Luke feels the .44Spec and .44Mag is all he needs/wants. I'll pack a medium frame .45C most of the time in the woods, and if I need more (hasn't come up yet), I'll pack my large frame .45C. From what I read from Taffin, Pearce, Linebaugh, Seyfried, Prosac, etc. (guys with extensive hunting experience), the .45C will handle all I ever need.... So there it is..... That said, I still like to shoot the .44Spec, and .357, .32 (recent), and .22, and sometimes the little brother .429 Mag. Each has a use ... with much overlap. In town, I like the little .44Spec Bulldog for CC.

All of the factory hardcast bullets I have held in my hand were less than 1000 fps. In 2001 I shot a nice 350 pound black bear with Federal hardcast at 960 fps from a Marlin rifle off the side of a tree when hunting with dogs. The bear's head hit his chest and he never moved on the ground and gave his moan. When the bear was hung up at the check station blood came out of that bear like you turned on your garden hose.I shot a black bear in the ribs for a complete pass through from a 45 Colt caliber Marlin with 300 grain Corbon LFN. I shoot for the shoulder but hit the ribs so that is hard to compare and this was rifles and not handguns. My son stuck his 444 to the bears head and that stopped the fight.
I have 4 Ruger Bisley 45 colt customs, 1 custom 45 Colt Birds head, and 1 Bisley Uberti CCH 45 colt in my safe. It boils down to choice. I am a fan of the old west thus 45 colt. I am not a group shooter and I like to shoot rocks, dirt clogs, sticks, stumps, things floating in my pond, and those types of targets and I like to see them disappear. I hunt black bear yearly with a Marlin lever 45 colt and a Ruger 45 colt sidearm. Hardcast bullets in both. A good wide meplat hardcast with adequate velocity will do the job in either of the three calibers discussed.
One thing I do find interesting about Linebaugh's 30 year old article is that his opinion from on game experience on griz or brown bear about not needing all of the extra velocity for a complete pass through with hardcast bullets. Seems like he stated 1150 fps was more than adequate. I don't think we could ever visually tell the impact difference between on game performance between 44 mag or 45 colt. If not a pass through I guess you could check the wound cavity. I don't think the 100 or 200 fps will matter at all.
I have a lightweight Ruger custom 44 mag and a Rossi 720 44 special I like a lot also.
I know Randy Garrett sold his business but if his website garrettcartridge.com is still up his tests on wet newspaper and his explanations of meplat and penetration are very informative. Garrett's tests strengthen the argument of big meplat slow bullets as being more effective with on game performance. And of course Garrett chose 44 mag and 45/70. Very interesting info on 45/70 on ALL of African dangerous game.
My experience after many years of guiding wild hog hunts and seeing many black bears shot since 2001 nothing I have seen has been more effective than big caliber, fat, and slow bullets. I have seen all caliber handguns on hogs and everything on black bear except handguns. Our Okefenokee back bears are not small.
Sorry to get off on rifles in handgun calibers a little but I see on game performance as relevant. And me thinks some folks just like to aggravate heck out of others and enjoy doing it. Who am I to say anyone is wrong? Buy and shoot what you like.

Don't you just love a good argument?
Everyone knows how a 250 gr. cast bullet going 1,000 fps is going to bounce off a bear while almost any .44 special load will make a complete pass through, yes/no?

Chuck 100 yd said:

Don't you just love a good argument?
Everyone knows how a 250 gr. cast bullet going 1,000 fps is going to bounce off a bear while almost any .44 special load will make a complete pass through, yes/no?

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Yeah, no kidding....and the OP was asking about a back up gun for pigs. :roll: .

DGW

A S&W 69 should be considered. I'd also like to know where in Texas these feral hogs are crawling all over you in daylight?

Just know, the 44 is Special, a 45 Colt ain't.

Since I am well versed in 45LC, 43 mag and 44 unspecial, I'd like to play with the time honored .44 WCF for awhile.

Color me eccentric... 8)

Bucks Owin said:

Since I am well versed in 45LC, 43 mag and 44 unspecial, I'd like to play with the time honored .44 WCF for awhile.

Color me eccentric... 8)

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I can sorta relate.
I've often thought that if I was just begining today (instead of eons ago), I'd like to work with a 38-40 revolver and carbine for a while.

DGW

LuckenbachTexas said:

A S&W 69 should be considered. I'd also like to know where in Texas these feral hogs are crawling all over you in daylight?

Just know, the 44 is Special, a 45 Colt ain't.

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Fifteen miles south of Rocksprings, Tx I killed eleven hogs one night, in about 30 seconds. I hit the herd with a Chevy Cavalier :shock: at 40 MPH EVEN THOUGH I INITIALLY braked.
gramps

gramps, and you killed with a what?

Bucks Owin said:

MaxP said:

Wasn't the OP asking about the .44 Special and the .45 Colt? How did big brother .44 Magnum get dragged into this discussion??

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Reread the opening post...

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Because a bunch of 45-not-Colt- loaded to TIER III, boys want to pretend that the 45 Colt is more powerful than the 44 Magnum.