Old .44 Magnum Brass

[beagle]

For the last two days, I've been sorting through my stash of .44 Mag brass...4 -.50 cans of it. Lot of surprises in there. In the last can, I ran into a batch of .44 Mag Norma Re headstamps. Got that in a trade for a M29 Smith in the early 60s. Gun came with a cigar box of .44 ammo and brass. In the mix was two 20 round boxes of Norma ammo for the old Ruger semi-auto carbine. Clearly stated on the box, "Not for Handguns". I fired it anyway and it was warm. This is that brass.
Went to the city dump and we lined up three cast off refrigerators side to side and popped them from the side. Completely penetrated two, one side of the third and made a huge dent on the other wall trying to get out. For a youngster, this was impressive. Brought back old memories and I was amazed that I had held on to this brass for 50 something years./beagle

[Bazoo]

That's neat. Thanks for sharing. Pictures of the old stuff?

[curiousgeorge]

Hi John
I really enjoy your posts. Had a similar situation back in the summer sorting out 6 gallon jars of old 38 spl brass. A lot of old and maybe not odd but interesting head stamps like Super-Vel, MPD, Master, Norma, Speer, S&W, & others I can't remember now. When I started loading back in the 70's for my Ruger Security Six 357 mag brass was scarce and expensive when you found any, but 38 spl brass was everywhere.

And to my shame considering how close I am to you, I've never made it over to visit. If this Covid crap ever clears up I'll send you a pm and maybe we can meet at the gas station there in town for a cup of coffee.

Thanks for sharing your stories.
Steve

[dale2242]

When I bought my first 44 magnum in the early 60s I bought Norma Re brass.
I still have most of it.

[leadeye]

Bought my first 44 in the 70s, still shooting some of that brass.

[cabezaverde]

What does the "Re" mean?

[beagle]

The Re was put on there to mean it was reloadable. One of Norma's things back in the old days./beagle

What does the "Re" mean?

[beagle]

You're on. Bring guns, have a small range on the place and we can burn powder. I'll make the coffee. When the weather gets warm. Preparing to get me a titanium knee right after Christmas so I'll be down for a while./beagle

Hi John
I really enjoy your posts. Had a similar situation back in the summer sorting out 6 gallon jars of old 38 spl brass. A lot of old and maybe not odd but interesting head stamps like Super-Vel, MPD, Master, Norma, Speer, S&W, & others I can't remember now. When I started loading back in the 70's for my Ruger Security Six 357 mag brass was scarce and expensive when you found any, but 38 spl brass was everywhere.

And to my shame considering how close I am to you, I've never made it over to visit. If this Covid crap ever clears up I'll send you a pm and maybe we can meet at the gas station there in town for a cup of coffee.

Thanks for sharing your stories.
Steve

[BigAlofPa.]

Wishing you a good recovery Beagle. Im still slowly coming along after my quadriceps reattachment. Im starting week 2 of P.T. Driving some short distances finally.

[dogrunner]

For the last two days, I've been sorting through my stash of .44 Mag brass...4 -.50 cans of it. Lot of surprises in there. In the last can, I ran into a batch of .44 Mag Norma Re headstamps. Got that in a trade for a M29 Smith in the early 60s. Gun came with a cigar box of .44 ammo and brass. In the mix was two 20 round boxes of Norma ammo for the old Ruger semi-auto carbine. Clearly stated on the box, "Not for Handguns". I fired it anyway and it was warm. This is that brass.
Went to the city dump and we lined up three cast off refrigerators side to side and popped them from the side. Completely penetrated two, one side of the third and made a huge dent on the other wall trying to get out. For a youngster, this was impressive. Brought back old memories and I was amazed that I had held on to this brass for 50 something years./beagle

You brought back some memories with this post! While in Alaska in the early '60's I carried a 7.5" Ruger with that Norma stuff in it religiously.......the bullets were a very wide meplat exposed lead with a nickled jacket....least it looked nickled....stuff was very hot and my purpose was primarily as last ditch bear medicine. Never used it for such, but I can assure you that it dropped a cow caribou with some authority.

When I returned to Florida I picked up two boxes of the re stamped new empty cases that I am STILL using today...........great stuff.....haven't seen or heard of any on the market in years.............as I recall, that Alaska stuff came in 20 round boxes.

[flint45]

I am still reloading some of my Norma .44 mag brass it’s good stuff I have got the little 20 rnd. boxes. I stopped counting how many times I reloaded it.

[roysha]

You brought back some memories with this post! While in Alaska in the early '60's I carried a 7.5" Ruger with that Norma stuff in it religiously.......the bullets were a very wide meplat exposed lead with a nickled jacket....least it looked nickled....stuff was very hot and my purpose was primarily as last ditch bear medicine. Never used it for such, but I can assure you that it dropped a cow caribou with some authority.

When I returned to Florida I picked up two boxes of the re stamped new empty cases that I am STILL using today...........great stuff.....haven't seen or heard of any on the market in years.............as I recall, that Alaska stuff came in 20 round boxes.

I believe that bullet to which you refer was called Tri-Clad. It was a Norma innovation and consisted of a jacket with a gilding metal outside, mild steel, then another layer of gilding metal around a lead core.

I bought my first 44 MAG in 1965, a Super Blackhawk, which my wife later claimed for herself and I decided I preferred the 29 S&W. I shot literally 10s of thousands of rounds through my 29 and then through my 2 629s over the years and am still loading and shooting the brass from my original purchase. Of course I have added a great lot of brass to the pile but for the first few years it was load during the week and shoot on Sunday. I had only about 150 or so cases and brass was a bit tough to come by at that time. I was shooting the Keith 429421 bullet with a charge of H-240, which to this day I consider the BEST 44 MAG power ever made. I bought every bit of it I could find when Hodgon discontinued it and it is all long gone. In all that time I doubt I have thrown away more than a couple of dozen cases due to split mouth. I'm positive some of those cases have been loaded at least 30 times. LOVE my 44 MAG!!!

[FISH4BUGS]

The one thing that triggered memories was your visit to the dump to shoot.
In my case it was to shoot rats with a .22
It is sad to know that there is a whole generation that will never experience the sheer fun of shooting rats...as many as you want to shoot.
...and you are doing a public service to boot!
...OR simply going to the dump to shoot anything and everything....like old refrigerators, TVs cars, etc.
Ah.....the good old days!