.44 Russian

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adam12

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Any problem shooting this in a .44 Special revolver? It seems like there's a lot of space for that bullet to jump from the cylinder into the barrel!
 

bogus bill

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It should be okay. Colt had some that said .44 Russian or S&W .44 specials engraved on the barrel.
 

bogus bill

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I think he was saying amen to my post. Shooting the russian in a special is like shooting a .38 special in a .357 mag. I own seven various .44 specials. But why would you want to? Unless you have a supply of it some one gave you or whatever.
 

WIL TERRY

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Have shot tens of thousands of 44RUSSIAN cartridges in all my 44SPL sixguns. It is superbly accurate in all of 'em. The 44RUSSIAN cartridge with a Keith 429421 seated in it is a thing of beauty. Actually I've come to prefer the Keith-Russian-900fps load to the same in the 44SPL. And NO...it is not like the 38/357 usage. IF you gotta ask why you do not get it.
And so it goes...
 
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Granbury, TX. USA
I was talking about this very thing with a buddy of mine recently.

I sold him one of my .44 mag. revolvers and we were discussing the use of .44spl. & .44 Russ. for use in said revolver.

One of the issues that popped up was accuracy of the shorter round in the longer chamber.

We have both, so far, shot ONLY 44 mags through it.

I've shot .45 Colt through a .454 casull (Raging Bull 5 inch 5 shot) revolver I gifted to my Dad for Christmas a few years ago. Accuracy didn't suffer at all.

I imagine this would work the same way.
 

adam12

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My dream is to get a nice open-top Colt revolver in .44 Russian. Problem is I have so many dreams It's not so easy getting to all of them!
 

Hondo44

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adam12 said:
Any problem shooting this in a .44 Special revolver? It seems like there's a lot of space for that bullet to jump from the cylinder into the barrel!

If there was a lot of space for the bullet to jump from the cyl to the barrel, it would be a problem. But that's not the case, the bullet jump is from the case neck to the chamber throat. So unless you have oversize chamber throats, they align the bullet with the barrel just like they do from a 44 Special cartridge.

For more efficient combustion with low and moderate handloads, I also shoot many 44 Russian and 44 Colt in my 13 .44 Special revolvers of different makes; Ruger, Colt, USFA, S&W and American Derringer. I see no difference in accuracy between the Specials and the shorter cartridges. Nor shooing Specials in 44 Magnums.
 

Hondo44

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adam12 said:
My dream is to get a nice open-top Colt revolver in .44 Russian. Problem is I have so many dreams It's not so easy getting to all of them!

I have two Cimarron Open Tops chambered in 44 Colt, both with navy grips; one 4 3/4" and one 5 1/2". I also shoot my 44 Russian loads in them. I don't have any more fun guns to shoot than those.

As soon as two friends handled them, they both bought them: one in 45 Colt, Navy grip and 4 3/4" barrel, the other bought two in 44 Spl with Army grip and 7 1/2" barrels.

Very nice guns, especially for the price.
 

adam12

Single-Sixer
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May 26, 2014
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My answer came in this month's American Rifleman on the very last page. Elmer Keith's Colt SAA in which he shot a whole bunch of .44 special AND .44 Russian. If it was good enough for the master................
 

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