The
.44 Remington Magnum, or simply
.44 Magnum, is a large-bore
cartridgeA cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...
originally designed for
revolverA revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
s. After introduction, it was quickly adopted for
carbineA carbine , from French carabine, is a longarm similar to but shorter than a rifle or musket. Many carbines are shortened versions of full rifles, firing the same ammunition at a lower velocity due to a shorter barrel length....
s and
rifleA rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
s. Despite the ".44" designation, all guns chambered for the .44 Magnum case, and its parent case, the
.44 SpecialThe .44 Special or .44 S&W Special is a smokeless powder center fire metallic cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1907 as the standard chambering for their New Century revolver, introduced in 1908.-Development history:...
, use bullets of approximately 0.429 in (10.9 mm) diameter.
The .44 Magnum is based on a lengthened
.44 SpecialThe .44 Special or .44 S&W Special is a smokeless powder center fire metallic cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1907 as the standard chambering for their New Century revolver, introduced in 1908.-Development history:...
case, loaded to higher pressures for greater velocity (and thus, energy). The .44 Magnum has since been eclipsed in power by the
.454 CasullThe .454 Casull is a firearm cartridge, developed in 1957 by Dick Casull and Jack Fulmer. It was first announced in November 1959 by Guns & Ammo magazine. The basic design was a lengthened and structurally improved .45 Colt case...
, among others; nevertheless, it has remained one of the most popular commercial large-bore magnum cartridges. When loaded to its maximum and with heavy, deeply penetrating bullets, the .44 Magnum cartridge is suitable for short-range hunting of all North American game—though at the cost of much
recoilRecoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gasses, according to Newton's third law...
and
muzzle flashMuzzle blast is the term used to describe the release of high temperature, high pressure gases expelled from the muzzle of a firearm when it is discharged. Muzzle flash is the term used to describe the visible light of the muzzle blast. The blast and flash are caused by the combustion products of...
, when fired in handguns. In carbines and rifles, these are non-factor.
Origin
The .44 Magnum cartridge was the end result of years of tuned
handloadingHandloading or reloading is the process of loading firearm cartridges or shotgun shells by assembling the individual components , rather than purchasing completely assembled, factory-loaded cartridges...
of the .44 Special. The .44 Special, and other large-bore handgun cartridges, were being loaded with heavy bullets, pushed at higher than normal velocities for better hunting performance. One of these handloaders was
Elmer KeithElmer Keith was an Idaho rancher, firearms enthusiast, and author. Keith was instrumental in the development of the first magnum revolver cartridge, the .357 Magnum, as well as the later .44 Magnum and .41 Magnum cartridges.-Personality and life:Keith's trademarks were his cigars, his ten-gallon...
, a writer and outdoorsman of the 20th Century.
Elmer Keith settled on the .44 Special cartridge as the basis for his experimentation, rather than the larger
.45 ColtThe .45 Colt cartridge is a handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It began as a black powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver, but is offered as a magnum level handgun hunting round in modern usage. This cartridge was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1873 and served as the...
. At the time the selection of .44 caliber projectiles for handloaders was more varied, and the .44 Special case was smaller in diameter than the .45 Colt case. In revolvers of the same size, this meant the .44 caliber revolvers had thicker, and therefore stronger, cylinder walls than the .45. This allowed higher pressures to be used without risk of a burst cylinder.
Keith encouraged
Smith & WessonSmith & Wesson is the largest manufacturer of handguns in the United States. The corporate headquarters is in Springfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1852, Smith & Wesson's pistols and revolvers have become standard issue to police and armed forces throughout the world...
and
RemingtonRemington Arms Company, Inc. was founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington in Ilion, New York, as E. Remington and Sons. It is the oldest company in the United States which still makes its original product, and is the oldest continuously operating manufacturer in North America. It is the only U.S....
to produce a commercial version of this new high pressure loading, and revolvers chambered for it. While S&W produced the first prototype revolver chambered in .44 Magnum, the famous
Model 29The Smith & Wesson Model 29 is a six-shot, double-action revolver chambered for the .44 Magnum cartridge and manufactured by the U.S. company Smith & Wesson...
,
Sturm, RugerSturm, Ruger & Company, Incorporated is a Southport, Connecticut-based firearm manufacturing company, better known by the shortened name Ruger. Sturm, Ruger produces bolt-action, semi-automatic, full-automatic, and single-shot rifles, shotguns, semi-automatic pistols, and single- and double-action...
actually beat S&W to market by several months in 1956 with a .44 Magnum version of the single action
BlackhawkThe Ruger Blackhawk is a 6-shot or 8-shot, single-action revolver manufactured by Sturm, Ruger. It is produced in a variety of finishes, calibers, and barrel lengths.-History:In the early 1950s, Westerns were popular in movies and television...
revolver. The exact reason for this is unclear. One version says a Ruger employee found a cartridge case marked ".44 Remington Magnum" and took it to
Bill RugerWilliam Batterman Ruger partnered with Alexander McCormick Sturm in 1949 to establish Sturm, Ruger & Company. Their first product was the Ruger Standard, the most popular .22 caliber target pistol ever made in the US...
, while another says a Remington employee provided Ruger with early samples of the ammunition.
The .44 Magnum case is slightly longer than the .44 Special case, not because of the need for more room for propellant, but to prevent the far higher pressure cartridge from being chambered in older, weaker .44 Special firearms, thus preventing injuries and possible deaths.
The .44 Magnum was an immediate success, and the direct descendants of the S&W Model 29 and the .44 Magnum Ruger Blackhawks are still in production, and have been joined by numerous other makes and models of .44 Magnum revolvers and even a handful of semi-automatic models, the first being the
.44 AutomagThe .44 Auto Mag pistol is a large caliber semi-automatic pistol. It was designed between 1966 and 1971 by the Auto Mag Corporation to bring .44 magnum power to a semi-automatic pistol....
, produced in the 1960s. The debut of the Clint Eastwood star-vehicle film
Dirty HarryDirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
(1971) prominently featuring the S&W M29 contributed to that model's popularity (as well as the cartridge itself).
Ruger introduced its first long gun, a semi-automatic carbine chambered for the .44 Magnum, in 1959, and Marlin followed soon after with a lever action model 1894 in .44 Magnum. Having a carbine and a handgun chambered in the same caliber is an old tradition; the
.44-40 WinchesterThe .44-40 Winchester, also known as the .44 Winchester, the .44 WCF , and the .44 Largo was introduced in 1873 by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. It was the first centerfire metallic cartridge offered by Winchester,and was brought out as the standard chambering for the new Winchester Model...
was introduced by Winchester in a lever action in 1873, and Colt followed in 1878 with a revolver chambered in the same caliber. The
.38-40 WinchesterThe .38-40 Winchester is actually a .40 caliber cartridge shooting .401 caliber bullets. The cartridge that was introduced by Winchester in 1874 and is derived from their .44-40 Winchester. This cartridge was introduced for rifles, but in its reintroduction for Cowboy Action Shooting it has seen...
and
.32-20 WinchesterThe .32-20 Winchester, also known as the .32 WCF , was the first small-game lever-action cartridge thatWinchester produced. It was initially introduced as a blackpowder cartridge in 1882 for small-game, varmint hunting, and deer. Colt produced a single-action pistol chambered for this cartridge a...
were also available chambered in both carbines and revolvers, allowing the shooter to use one type of ammunition for both firearms.
Although improved modern
alloyAn alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may or may not be homogeneous in distribution, depending on thermal history...
s and manufacturing techniques have allowed even stronger cylinders, leading to larger and more powerful cartridges such as the
.454 CasullThe .454 Casull is a firearm cartridge, developed in 1957 by Dick Casull and Jack Fulmer. It was first announced in November 1959 by Guns & Ammo magazine. The basic design was a lengthened and structurally improved .45 Colt case...
and
.480 RugerThe .480 Ruger is a revolver cartridge, introduced in 2003 by Sturm, Ruger and Hornady. This was the first new cartridge introduced by Ruger, and was at time of introduction the largest diameter production revolver cartridge, at .-Design:...
in revolvers the same size as a .44 Magnum, the .44 Magnum is still considered a top choice today. In 2006, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the .44 Magnum, Ruger introduced a special 50th anniversary Blackhawk revolver, in the "Flattop" style.
Technical specifications
The .44 Magnum delivers a large, heavy bullet with high velocity for a handgun. In its full-powered form, it produces so much recoil and muzzle blast that it is generally considered to be unsuitable for use as a police weapon. Rapid fire is difficult and strenuous on the users' hands, especially for shooters of smaller build or with small hands.
Although marketed as a .44 caliber, the .44 Magnum, and its previous model .44 Special parent, are actually .429-.430 caliber. The .44 designation is a carry over from the early measurements of "heeled" bullets, used in the later 19th century. In those times, bullets were measured on the outside of the cartridge, not the inside of the cartridge. After the .44 S&W Russian was developed, the forefather of the .44 Special and thus the .44 Magnum, the measurement of bullet caliber, was taken from inside of the cartridge. Resulting in .429 caliber. Instead of confusing buyers who were used to .44 caliber revolvers, the original .44 designation was kept for market recognition.
Some gun styles are more comfortable to use when shooting this caliber. Many shooters find the rounded grip shape of the single action better for handling heavy recoil than the grip shape of double-action revolvers, which have a shoulder on top of the grip. Many shooters, consider the ideal type of grip for heavy recoiling guns to be the longer "Bisley" style single action grip, and it can be found on single actions from Ruger (models marked "Bisley") and
Freedom ArmsFreedom Arms is a Freedom, Wyoming-based firearm manufacturing company, known for producing powerful single-action revolvers. The company was founded in 1978 by Wayne Baker and Dick Casull to produce the Mini revolver then later a revolver chambered in Casull's powerful .454 Casull chambering. ...
, as well as many custom makers.
Dual-purpose use
The concept of a dual-purpose handgun/rifle cartridge has been popular since the
Old WestThe American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
, with cartridges like the
.44-40 WinchesterThe .44-40 Winchester, also known as the .44 Winchester, the .44 WCF , and the .44 Largo was introduced in 1873 by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. It was the first centerfire metallic cartridge offered by Winchester,and was brought out as the standard chambering for the new Winchester Model...
, whose "High-Speed" rifle loadings were precursor magnum loads. Other dual-use rounds were the
.32-20 WinchesterThe .32-20 Winchester, also known as the .32 WCF , was the first small-game lever-action cartridge thatWinchester produced. It was initially introduced as a blackpowder cartridge in 1882 for small-game, varmint hunting, and deer. Colt produced a single-action pistol chambered for this cartridge a...
and the
.38-40 WinchesterThe .38-40 Winchester is actually a .40 caliber cartridge shooting .401 caliber bullets. The cartridge that was introduced by Winchester in 1874 and is derived from their .44-40 Winchester. This cartridge was introduced for rifles, but in its reintroduction for Cowboy Action Shooting it has seen...
.
Some past dual-purpose cartridges, like the .44-40 Winchester, gave their manufacturers trouble when people loaded the "High-Speed" versions designed for rifles into handguns. Since the .44 Magnum was designed from the start as a revolver cartridge, such issues are moot, and
SAAMISaami or SAAMI can stand for:*Sami people*Sami languages*Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute...
-compliant ammunition should fire from any handguns or rifles chambered for the .44 Magnum.
As a rifle or carbine cartridge the .44 Magnum is sufficiently powerful for medium-sized game, yet fits easily into a compact, lightweight package. In 1969, Ruger introduced their .44 Carbine, the first .44 Magnum carbine. The
lever-actionLever-action is a type of firearm action which uses a lever located around the trigger guard area, to load fresh cartridges into the chamber of the barrel when the lever is worked. Most lever-action firearms are rifles, but lever-action shotguns and a few pistols have also been made...
Marlin Model 1894The Marlin Model 1894 is a lever-action repeating rifle introduced in 1894 by the Marlin Firearms Company of North Haven, Connecticut. At its introduction the rifle came with a 24-inch barrel and was chambered for a variety of pistol rounds such as .25-20 Winchester, .32-20 Winchester, .38-40, and...
, Ruger Deerfield, and many other firearms are currently available in this caliber. With significantly longer barrels than revolvers, carbines will generate a significantly higher velocity than a revolver loaded with the same ammunition. Tests with various ammunition in the Ruger Deerfield yielded a 100 yard (90 m) velocity of over 1300 ft/s (396.2 m/s) with a 240 gr bullet, comparable to the muzzle velocity out of a revolver. Loads using slow burning powders maximize performance in both short and long barrels, with one published load generating 1500 ft/s (457.2 m/s) from a revolver, and 1625 ft/s (495.3 m/s) from a carbine with a 240 gr bullet.
Suitable game
The .44 Magnum is well-suited for game up to
elkThe Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
size. With precise shot placement and deep penetrating cartridges it has even been used to take the largest of game, including Cape Buffalo. Publisher Robert E. Petersen took a record setting
polar bearThe polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
with a .44 Magnum. It has even been used against
elephantElephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s with success.
In addition to beating the ballistics of the old .44-40 rifle loads, long considered a top deer cartridge, the heavy, flat point bullets typically used in the .44 Magnum have an additional advantage. Tests performed where bullets are shot through light cover, intended to represent twigs and brush, have shown that the high velocity, light weight, thin jacketed, pointed bullets used by most hunting cartridges today are easily deflected by contact with the brush. The ideal bullets for penetrating brush with minimal deflection are heavy, flat point bullets at moderate velocities.
Range
The accuracy of the .44 Magnum is very good, with models from Colt, Smith & Wesson, and Ruger producing bullet groups of 3 to 4 inches (7.5 to 10 cm) at 50 yards, with most ammunition. The limiting factor of the .44 Magnum cartridge is not
terminal ballisticsTerminal ballistics, a sub-field of ballistics, is the study of the behavior of a projectile when it hits its target. It is often referred to as stopping power when dealing with human or other living targets. Terminal ballistics is relevant both for small caliber projectiles as well as for large...
. When fired from a 6" revolver, a typically loaded .44 Magnum 240gr bullet, will have more impact energy at 150yds, than a 246gr .44 Special has at the muzzle, when fired from the same weapon. When loaded with a heavy, non-expanding bullet, the .44 Magnum will easily shoot through large game such as
elkThe Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
and even
bisonMembers of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
. The limiting factor is the bullet's trajectory; the best hunting bullets are heavy, thus, relatively slow, meaning a significant drop-out of trajectory at ranges beyond 100 yards (90 m); with a 50-yard zero, the point of which the "line of sight" and the "bullet trajectory" meet, drop-out at 100 yards is about 2 inches (5 cm), and drop-out at 150 yards (135 m) is more than 8 inches (20 cm); with a 100-yard zero, drop-out at 150 yards is more than 6 inches (15 cm). Experts recommend limiting hunting ranges to 100 yards (91 m) when shooting .44 Magnum cartridges, less if practical accuracy requires it.
In popular culture
While the .44 Magnum was very popular among shooters for many years after its introduction, it did not come to the attention of the general public until 1971 when it was prominently featured in the
Clint EastwoodClinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
star-vehicle "
Dirty HarryDirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
" (and its four sequels), which also used the Smith & Wesson Model 29.
In one of the classic lines in cinema, Eastwood's character "Dirty" Harry Callahan describes his M29 as "the most powerful handgun in the world" in the 1971 film
Dirty HarryDirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
. Although not strictly true (the more powerful
wildcatA wildcat cartridge, or wildcat, is a custom cartridge for which ammunition and firearms are not mass produced. These cartridges are often created in order to optimize a certain performance characteristic of an existing commercial cartridge.Developing and using wildcat cartridges does not...
.454 CasullThe .454 Casull is a firearm cartridge, developed in 1957 by Dick Casull and Jack Fulmer. It was first announced in November 1959 by Guns & Ammo magazine. The basic design was a lengthened and structurally improved .45 Colt case...
was announced in 1959), the .44 Magnum was the most powerful then in production. Demand for the M29 skyrocketed, so much the guns were selling for up to three times suggested retail price.
The .44 Magnum has continued to be associated with Callahan, including the line "Go ahead, make my day" in the 1983 film
Sudden ImpactSudden Impact is a 1983 American crime thriller and the fourth film in the Dirty Harry series, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood...
.
The gun is also used in the film "
Taxi DriverTaxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy...
", in which protagonist
Travis BickleTravis Bickle is a fictional character from the 1976 film Taxi Driver, played by Robert De Niro. He is widely considered one of the most iconic characters in film history, and De Niro earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of him....
(played by Robert DeNiro) buys one off the black market after one of his passengers says that he is going to kill his wife with a .44 Magnum pistol.
Popular
shootersFirst-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
and
role-playing video gameRole-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
s, such as Fallout New Vegas, include the .44 Magnum as a usable weapon.
External links