Loading 44 Special vs 44 Magnum

[Amistad]

Friends, one of my favorite wheelies is my SuperBlackhawk 44 Mag. I love to hear the big boom, and I actually enjoy the relatively stout recoil. And especially the big ball of fire! I've put several hundred rounds through it since I obtained it. These have mostly been Hornady 200 gr HP/XTP bullets that I've put together. They work nicely.

This morning in my reloading stuff I ran across some Speer "Gold Dot HP" 200 gr (4427) bullets. When I put one of these side-by-side with the Hornady bullet, they are virtual twins. My question is this: On the outside of the Speer box in two places, is printed "44 Special" and there is no mention of "44 Magnum." Is there any reason that I shouldn't be able to load these bullets as 44 Magnum? Any help is appreciated!

Amistad

 

[WIL TERRY]

THEY are not meant for the velocities the 44MAG cartridge is capable of. THINK....
And so it goes...

 

[tsubaki]

I was unaware Speer made those for that purpose, glad to see it!
Years ago I changed to XTP's for that very purpose of getting low velocity expansion in 44spl.

Speers test results:
http://www.speer-bullets.com/pdf/reloadingsupplementaldata/44_200gd.pdf

 

[Amistad]

Folks, I really appreciate the replies. But I'm even more confused about this issue now. If I'm reading it correctly, the loading bulletin info in the link from Speer (thanks a bunch for that link!), indicates that this exact same Speer 4427 bullet is shown being used as a 44 Special, or as a 44 Magnum. Any other thoughts are welcomed.

Amistad

 

[NikA]

The bullet is indeed designed to expand at lower velocities. It is loaded by Speer in the Gold Dot .44S and .44M short barrel rounds. If you look at the load data provided, the maximum .44M velocities are in the 1150 fps range. Above that, the bullet probably overexpands and fragments. A more typical velocity for a 200gr bullet in .44M would be ~1400 fps.

 

[wizofwas]

The others are not wrong about the Gold Dot being designed for lower velocities. But it can be used in the 44 Mag. as well. (See tsubak'si link to Speer's test results.) Also, a 200 gr. projectile is a standard weight for a 44 Special. So Speer probably just labeled the box 200 gr. 44 Spec. instead of 200 gr. 44 cal.

 

[sixshot]

There is some misinformation about the 200 gr. Speer, it really is a bullet designed for the 44 special & works great in that application. Wil Terry is very well versed in this, trust me. Pushing it to high velocity in the 44 magnum can cause problems, best to use a heavier constructed bullet.

Dick

 

[Amistad]

Again, many thanks for the replies. While I now see and understand that it is indeed possible to use these bullets in 44 Magnum loading, I ask myself "Is there any compelling reason to load them like that?" I think I'll just load them all as 44 Special, and then purchase a couple boxes of Hornady HP/XTP for the more powerful/higher velocity 44 Magnum rounds...

Amistad