How Effective is the .44 Magnum?

[Uni-Vibe]

No.

There is no handgun round that liquifies internals. .44 mag is no more effective on bad guys than any other service-grade caliber. They all make holes that cause death by exsanguination. 9mm does the same thing. Hit the vitals, they croak. Miss the vitals, they don't.

Different story with 1000 pound brown bears. There, you need much more penetration to get to the vitals.

[LoneStarM1A]

No.

There is no handgun round that liquifies internals. .44 mag is no more effective on bad guys than any other service-grade caliber. They all make holes that cause death by exsanguination. 9mm does the same thing. Hit the vitals, they croak. Miss the vitals, they don't.

Different story with 1000 pound brown bears. There, you need much more penetration to get to the vitals.

Yes I know, I'm not claiming that it's "more effective on bad guys than any other service grade caliber", but in a situation where you are potentially facing both threats (or have one gun like me, I can't afford to immediately buy a whole arsenal having just moved to AK) would you rather have a 9mm when facing a brown bear or have the .44 magnum when facing an armed human?

I realize .44 is bad for a gunfight against armed attackers compared to 9mm in the same way that 7.62x51 is usually worse than 5.56x45. Hell, large brown bears have been killed up here with 5.45x39 and 9mm.

https://www.outdoorhub.com/news/2013...ar-with-ak-74/
https://www.americanhunter.org/artic...th-9mm-pistol/

[Uni-Vibe]

This is a false choice.

For bad guys, load 44 spl. This is a 240 grain bullet at about 800 fps. It's a 45 ACP equivalent. I handload, so I'd load a 240 grain hardcast swc at about 900 or 1000 fps.

For large bears, push that same bullet to around 1300, or use a factory equivalent.

[Todd.K]

The 300gr XTP or 225gr Barnes were the best all purpose loads. The 240gr XTP was the acceptable second place.

I think you are fine just running the 240gr, or switch to the Barnes if it's available for the lower recoil. I think your choice should weigh your percieved threat vs ability to shoot the heavy hard cast well.

[jesuvuah]

44 is most likely more effective then 22lr.

Sent from my moto e5 (XT1920DL) using Tapatalk

[Uni-Vibe]

44 is most likely more effective then 22lr.

Sent from my moto e5 (XT1920DL) using Tapatalk

Yes
The small calibers lack penetration to get to the vitals.

But a .44 mag is no more effective than 9mm, because both have similar penetration in people.

[daddyusmaximus]

.44 Mag is a caliber that is in the transitional range between service caliber handgun loads with minimal stretch effects and rifle calibers with substantial TC damage, as in some cases .44 Mag generates a sufficiently large temporary cavity to damage susceptible inelastic tissues. Hopefully you have read: https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=19930. As noted, my .44 Mag general purpose load of choice is the Hornady 300 gr XTP. Another transitional caliber where TC is beginning to be a significant mechanism of wounding is the .30 Carbine when using good quality expanding ammunition like the Barnes 110 gr XPB, Rem 110 gr JSP, and Speer 110 gr Gold Dot.

This must be some secret squirrel stuff. I no have permission to view thread...

[daddyusmaximus]

Carbine or pistol; what barrel length?

.44 Mag in a RDS equipped 16" lever carbine is quite effective at stopping anything in the lower 48 states...

This is very similar to what I have done to build a combat cowboy carbine...
I had a 24" rifle cut to 17".



I would feel confident facing any bad guy or any beast on the continent with it.

[nincomp]

This must be some secret squirrel stuff. I no have permission to view thread...

What? Geez, I bet you don't know the secret handshake either.

Actually, the reason you can't use the link is just because it is so old. That quote is from a 2011 post near the beginning of this thread.

[AKDoug]

What? Geez, I bet you don't know the secret handshake either.

Actually, the reason you can't use the link is just because it is so old. That quote is from a 2011 post near the beginning of this thread.

Most old posts show up fine. I don't remember the details, but I think it has to do with a disagreement between DocGKR and the management of this board. Most, if not all of DocGKR's data is gone.