44 S&W in a 44 mag S&W pistol

[Bad Water Bill]

I havent cast, loaded, shot a 44 cal pistol since I sold a Herters 44 mag in 1970. It was a great gun but I wasnt happy with the full house loads that were availabe. Had no source of downloading such as we have here. The other day my son came home with a S&W 44 mag. He was told NEVER to use 44 S&W brass in the mag as there is major head space difference. Is there any truth here or did someone want to sell the surplus mag shells he has? BWB:castmine:

[BD]

There is no headspace issue in any rimmed revolver cartridge. They headspace on the rim. However, using shorter cases in any revolver for extended periods can lead to a fouling ring from the end of the shorter case to the start of the chamber throat. If left to build up this crud ring can prevent the longer cases from chambering and it could conceivably raise pressures if you crammed the longer casings in there.
BD

[44man]

The .44 mag is just a longer .44 special case. The rims are exactly the same. I can't tell you how many specials went through my S&W's. Just have to clean the chambers often.

[9.3X62AL]

Having not bought either 44 Magnum or 44 Special factory loads for a while, I can't swear to this--but there was not much price difference between 44 Mag and 44 Special last time I saw them and paid attention. I suspect that your info source--if a gunshop clerk--probably didn't want to hassle getting 44 Special loads. They aren't nearly as widespread as the Magnum ammo is.

I recall another thread here recently dealing with this same concept--Special loads causing unspeakable damage to a Magnum cylinder/revolver. We need to make a concerted effort to find the guy/gal who is telling people this disinformation, and return him/her to their rightful place of residence--because that village is missing their idiot.

[454PB]

This is probably the thread you refer to, Al.

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=17874

As an aside, I said in that original post that I quit shooting .38's in .357's, but I have since done it again. I bought a pile (over 600 rounds) of .38 special handloaded ammo. The recipe was written on each box, but being the trusting guy I am, I decided to shoot it up in my least valuable .357 Magnum. The ammo was loaded with a copper plated bullet, I think they are Berry Bullets. The very first cylinder full had two misfires the first two tries. I thought I was really going to have a mess. Repeated hammer falls failed to set them off. I fired the rest of that cylinder and another 200 rounds without incident. Not very accurate in my Taurus model 66, but they stayed in 3" at 25 yards.

When I got home, I did a thorough cleaning of the cylinder and had very little crud built up behind the cylinder throats. Had they been cast boolits, I think it would have been worse.

[Dale53]

As many of you here have indicated, I have shot thousands of .38's (mostly wadcutter loads) in various .357 magnums. I have not had ANY erosion problems. I DO make a point to clean the cylinder of "end of case mouth" fouling before firing full load .357's for obvious reasons (possible pressure problems).

However, I DO believe that if you shoot a good deal of HEAVY .38 special loads in the .357 you COULD have an erosion problem (as a for instance: Elmer Keith type .38-44 loads). However, since .357 mag cases are readily available I have always used them for heavy loads in .357's. I just believe that is the prudent thing to do.

Dale53

[44man]

I have only found one problem shooting short cases in magnums, .38 in .357, special in .44 and .480 in my .475. I just don't seem to get the accuracy I want except for plinking. It's like there is not enough velocity to match the rifling.
But then again, the same accuracy problems occur when I load light in the full size brass too so I don't blame the short brass. They sure are fun to shoot out to 50 yd's though. I get kind of crazy about accuracy with my hunting loads and will work on a load forever. For just banging around loads, can shooting or plate shooting, the light loads are great. I just have to learn that at close range they are very accurate and to stop trying to shoot them over the horizon. I do shoot them at steel at 100 yd's, I just use the ram or a larger plate.
I also wonder if it just isn't the boolits I use for the light loads. They are lighter and different then I use for hunting and are not as accurate as my heavy boolits even when loaded up.
So after all this rambling, I still don't know what I am talking about because I never work with light loads. I just throw some Unique or 231 in the cases and seat any old boolit.
I guess what I am beating around the bush to say is, if you have short loads, shoot them! They won't hurt a thing and are a lot of fun.

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
I have shot 10,000+ .38 sp. in both rugers & S&W 375 mags. no problems.
I have shot 100's of .44sp. in 44mag, no problem.
I have shot 38 long colt in 357mags, no prob.
I have even been able to shot .38 S&W in some 357 mags.
DON'T KNOW ABOUT .44 S&W IN A 44 MAG. AS I HAVE NEVER FOUND ONE YET, DON'T KNOW ABOUT 44 RUSSIAN FOR SAME REASON.

[44man]

He is just talking about the .44 S&W special.

[Bad Water Bill]

44-man You are correct AGAIN. I would like to thank all of you for your help and knowledge shared here. Thats what makes this such a great site. BWB

[26Charlie]

Back in the impecunious days of college, I had two guns - a .22 Histandard and a .44 Magnum Ruger Blackhawk flattop. I had about 100 .44 Mag brass and the same amount of .44 Special. Used over and over, when one would crack at the mouth I would trim it back - Mags got trimmed to .44 Special, Specials got trimmed to .44 Russian. I USED LOADS APPROPRIATE TO EACH - simply because I didn't want to produce any load that would damage a gun of the correct caliber if it got used in one, even though I shot them all in my .44 Mag.
.44 Mag loads were a 250 gr. Keith SWC with 21.0 gr. 2400.
.44 Special loads were that bullet or the 235 gr Keith HP with 7.5 gr. UNIQUE.
.44 Russian loads were a 200 gr. RN with 5.0 gr. 5066 (about like Red Dot).

There are two other cartridges, obsolete, which are too small in diameter, the .44 S&W American for the break-open revolver before the Russian, and the .44 Colt for the cartridge conversion models of the cap & ball revolvers. These fired heel bullets. The Russians liked S&W's design, but wanted the case larger in diameter to make the bullet an inside-lubricated design instead of a heel design (the .22 LR is a heel bullet). Brass for these, if you could find it, would be antique and cost a fortune.