Old Model Flattop 44…

[contender1]

"Point of order. The original flat top Blackhawk 44s were built on the large frame - I have three of them. Beefy revolvers, they are about the same age as the early Smith 44 Magnums, but, I think, hardier as are most single actions over same size swing out double actions. The Super Blackhawk was built on the same frame, but with a new design rear adjustable sight. I prefer the early XR3 grip frame to the longer Super frame.

Elmer Keith has written that Ruger brought out the original 44 on the 357 frame, but blew it up in testing. Thus the big frame came into existence. "

I apologize for my errors. I was thinking about the early test guns & such,, and typed before really thinking things through. I made a mistake & Neuses is correct. The only frame dimensions that changed from the FT 44's to the Super Blackhawks was the rear sight area,, which the Super got the protected ears.

I should have slowed down & thought before I typed my earlier response.

Like the picture sixshot has shared,, I have a .44 blown up frame. I use it as a teaching tool. (No,, I didn't blow it up,,, I purchased the scrap frame as a tool)

That said,, no matter how good it's built,, metal can get stressed if worked harder than it's designed. And while I own a few FT 44's as well as a few OM 44 Supers,, I generally use medium to milder loads in all of them.
Why?
I've found the sweet spot for accuracy for each gun, and use that as my guide. I tend to shy away from "loudenkickinboomer" max loads. As I mentioned in my earlier post,, I want the guns to outlast me & my grandkids. I experiment with different loads & such to find accurate loads. Accuracy trumps everything else. And if I find a hotter load to be the most accurate,, I study it,, and try & find a different powder & bullet combo that produces the same (or better) accuracy without going to to tier loads.

[Char-Gar]

I have owned and shot one 44 Magnum revolver or another (DA and SA) since about 1964. I have two right now, a 5" Smith 629 and an OM Ruger SBH. I like the round allot feeling it be superior, at least for my uses, to any other big bore revolver.

In all these years, I have not shot more than 200 full house loads though the lot of them. I use loads in the 850-950 fps range. I get easy shooting loads that will kill anything I need to kill, give long revolver life and is easy on my hand and wrist to boot.

[sixshot]

Char-Gar, I was 2 years behind you in 1966 in Sherman, Texas. But my first one was a 4" model 57 S&W, the 44 magnum came a few months later. Being a young guy in the military I had to shoot everything hot, at least at first, it took me a few years to realize those big bullets didn't have to outrun the jets I was working on to get the job done.

Dick

[Thumbcocker]

I used to load .44 magnum around 900-1000 fps but when Ruger made the new flat top. 44 specials I found midpower nirvana.

Now it is a simple rule magnum guns get magnum loads; special guns get special loads. Thumbcocker gets more guns. I love the symmetry if it.

[rintinglen]

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

I got my first 44 in 79 or 80, and immediately set to producing the hottest loads that Lyman recommended. And immediately, I learned that those things KICK. But I was young and sturdy, and I shot up several hundred Speer and Sierra 240 grain JSP's, before I got a mold and started casting 44-250 KT boolits. At the same time, I dropped the load to Keith's recommended level, and it was a little better, but leaded. Skeeter Skelton came to my rescue. In one of his articles, he recommended 8.5 grains of Unique with the 429-421 in magnum brass. That has been my primary load ever since. I have shot at least 10 of those for every full bore magnum load and now that I am creeping--my wife says galloping-into my dotage. I applaud those who are wiser than I was whose wrists are not aching every time they wake up.

[Char-Gar]

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

I got my first 44 in 79 or 80, and immediately set to producing the hottest loads that Lyman recommended. And immediately, I learned that those things KICK. But I was young and sturdy, and I shot up several hundred Speer and Sierra 240 grain JSP's, before I got a mold and started casting 44-250 KT boolits. At the same time, I dropped the load to Keith's recommended level, and it was a little better, but leaded. Skeeter Skelton came to my rescue. In one of his articles, he recommended 8.5 grains of Unique with the 429-421 in magnum brass. That has been my primary load ever since. I have shot at least 10 of those for every full bore magnum load and now that I am creeping--my wife says galloping-into my dotage. I applaud those who are wiser than I was whose wrists are not aching every time they wake up.

I have seen John Taffin's X-Rays of his hands and wrists. That will make a believer out you. He will also warn younger shooters away from shooting the big boomers for kicks and giggles. However people seldom listen and learn. By the time, they learn for themselves, the damage is done. I also know quite a few runners, who now have had to replace both knees and both hips. The human body does have it's design limitations. Adrenaline can be a dangerous drug, just like the kind you snort or shoot into the veins.

[murf205]

sixshot is right about the critters being just as dead and I liked 'em hot myself up until the time "Authur" found is way into my hands and wrist. Will your Ruger stand the pressure? Sure, enjoy the ride while you are able to handle it. Here is what I like about loading 44's down a bit. These are from my 4" 629 that I opened the cylinder throats to .431 form a tight .429. It is just as accurate with a 310 ge Lee GC boolit and 20.5 grs of H110 for 1230 fps--but it hurts.Attachment 300136Attachment 300137Attachment 300138

[yeahbub]

Thank you, Larry, for your clarification of the issue and having run the load in your test equipment. I commonly run that 21gr of 2400 under the lyman 429215 (220gr lubed w/GC cast of 1:1 WW:lead from my mold) and many deer have been taken over the years with that load. These days I have switched to faster powders and backed off to 1000 - 1200fps with that boolit, not for the sake of the revolver strength, rather because my hands have taken a dislike to the pounding. Even with the reduction, I never successfully recovered one from a deer - they all went through. Still, though, the occasional cylinder-full of "heavy duty" brings smiles of remembrance.

I remember the old box of REM-UMC factory 240gr lead SWC that I got with it when I bought the Ruger SBH. Fierce! I was at an indoor range in OKC on my first outing and wasn't prepared for the dropped ceiling tiles to jump around so much when I cracked off a round. Neither were the other shooters who were looking on in wonderment approaching my own. Those things spanked my hands to the point where I had to take a break between shots for the tingling to go away and that square-backed trigger guard wasn't helping either. The fellow I bought it from told me it was the only box of ammo he'd bought and I remember wondering why only eight rounds had been fired. Mystery solved - he couldn't stand it either. Probably why I got such a good price on it. Handloads fixed all that.

[Larry Gibson]

yeahbub

Back in '70 when I got a Hawes Western marshal 44 magnum I got 2 boxes of ammo with it, a box of those same Rem-UMC 240 gr and a box of Norma 240 Jacketed 44 magnums. Wow, is about all I can say too. Didn't have a chronograph then but I loaded those 100 cases shortly with Keith's 22 gr 2400 under a Lyman 250 gr 429421. Keith's load seemed very mild mannered and comfortable......

[murf205]

Those factory loads were advertised at 1500+ fps and for once, I believe the factory was not fuging on the numbers. I still have a box of Super Vel 240 gr in my ammo collection and THAT'S where they are going to stay.

[yeahbub]

I remember being grateful that the SBH is amply strong and I had confidence that delicacy was not an issue. That REM-UMC ammo must have made a lasting impression to be so well-remembered after so many years. Had I not had handloading experience and believed the .44 Mag was always going to be like this, I too might have thought "Gun for sale." If some were still available, it would be interesting to do a pressure and velocity test to see what pressures they actually develop. I had read that early magnum loadings didn't "spare the ponies" and were run flat out, some developing pressures north of 40kpsi.