These five bullets cover most of the applications for which a .44 Mag. rifle can be used—from plinking to hunting. The projectiles are (l. to r.): Rim Rock’s 200-grain Cowboy RNFP; Hornady’s 200-grain XTP; Hornady’s 225-grain FTX; Northern Precision’s 250-grain Sabre Star and Speer’s 270-grain DeepCurl soft point.
The author goes on to outline some of the advantages and disadvantages of each bullet.
I’d like an educated take on what he says from experience hunting with this round. Mainly I have .44 magnum from Buffalo Bore, choosing that since it tends to be some of the hottest round on the market (I haven’t tried Underwood, who has a monolithic round for sale).
I tend to think that a .44 magnum out of a lever action rifle would be lethal for eastern whitetail, bear, coyote, and about anything you could find east of the Mississippi.
What have readers taken with the venerable .44 magnum?
Demented old fool, or perhaps just reading from the script put in front of him by his handlers who want to perpetuate fear among idiots who don’t know how to Google muzzle velocity of 5.56mm (3250 FPS with a 20″ barrel and 55 gr.) versus say, 300 Win Mag (3290 FPS with 150 gr.).
I think both bullets did their job very well. I take it the Hornady round would be great for Eastern white tail, while the Buffalo Bore monolithic round would be great for defense against dangerous game.
This round can launch projectiles weighing between 145 grains to 255 grains at higher velocities for an effective range of around 250 yards. The case is slightly tapered to contribute to positive ejection from bolt-action and semi-automatic rifles alike. Winchester’s initial ammunition options included 150 grain (2,350 f.p.s.), 160 grain (2,225 f.p.s.) and 180 grain (2,100 f.p.s.) hunting loads …
I try to step into sporting goods stores frequently to see what ammunition is for sale and what it’s selling for. I noticed in the last two I surveyed (just this week) that there were dozens upon dozens of boxes of 350 Legend. Between the two stores there were multiple hundreds of boxes.
These data points are anecdotal, but they’re still data points nonetheless. It would seem to me that the 350 Legend has staying power. I think the thing that has helped it most of all is that the case is designed to fit inside the AR chamber (something like 2.2″).
Several weeks ago I wrote to Double Tap and asked when 450 SMC was going to be available again, just as I said I would. They responded that they were planning a run of it soon.
Reader Ned happened to stumble on this before I did. They have it in stock now. They don’t show it under available ammunition. You’ll have to go to the search bar and type in ‘450 SMC’.
Remember, you’ll need a stronger recoil spring to shoot this ammunition.
I’ve already bought a box for hunting trips. I recommend that you go to the range and shoot a couple of rounds to get a feel for the additional recoil over .45 ACP. After that, it’s up to you. This is expensive ammunition.
This is a very good and informative interview. By the way, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard this about the 300 Win Mag, freebore and “jump” with factory ammunition.
Tim at MAC does a comprehensive review of the 460 Rowland.
I would suggest that the comparison of personal defense rounds is irrelevant, and I would have expected it to turn out the way it did (it just disintegrates). On the other hand, the penetrator performs wonderfully.
Both the 460 Rowland web site and Brownells has 460 Rowland conversion kits.
Short of a conversion, using just a new recoil spring in a 1911, I like the 450 SMC. But it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the 450 SMC available at Double Tap. I sent them a note to find out why they stopped producing it, and if they intend to start again. I’ll keep you posted on what I find out.
3 years, 3 months ago
