The Charming .44 Special
A 5” barreled Ruger GP-100 and custom GP-100 by Ken Kelly
of Mag-Na-Port are fine double action .44 Specials!
While the .45 Colt is my favorite cartridge, the .44 Special holds a dear spot in my heart. Granted, the .45 Colt has more history and versatility with handloads, but the .44 Special is perfect for about 90% of any daily task. The remaining 10%? It can be accomplished too … in capable hands. So, what is the mystical attraction to the .44 Special?
Tank’s Alan Harton 3-screw conversion from .357 to .44 Special
was a classic Skeeter Skelton conversion.
Balance
The .44 Special has the perfect balance of bullet weight, velocity and performance in what is the most famous of handloads, the Skeeter load. For you reprobates lacking the load data, it’s a 250 grain Lyman/Ideal 429421 bullet (designed by Elmer, no less) loaded over 7.5 grains of Unique powder (Elmer’s load shared to Skeeter). Velocity runs over 900 fps from most guns, or about as much as a man can stand for a day of shooting at rocks across a canyon.
It’s got plenty of punch to penetrate a standing deer, broadside, at reasonable distances, as well as taking care of any man-sized problems. It’s no .44 Magnum, that’s for sure! But that’s wherein its charm lies. It gets the job done without all the unnecessary recoil, blast and powder necessary to cause such a knuckle bashing ruckus. No sir, the .44 Special gets the job done with the minimal amount of energy needed to accomplish its task. And we like that, much the same way a lazy man knows the easiest way to complete a task.
It’s usually after much contemplation to these conclusions when the .44 Special worms its way into the sixgunners heart, making him realize it is the perfect packing caliber. The guns chambered for it are surely easier to pack than full-sized magnum wheelguns necessary for the bigger calibers. Again, this adds to the charm of the .44 Special. Some ask, “why have a designated gun chambered in .44 Special when I can shoot them out of my .44 Magnum?”
It’s for the same reason you shoot .44 Specials out of your magnum handgun — comfort. Why pack a heavier gun? The Ruger mid-sized frame guns are perfect for the .44 Special, while being noticeably lighter than their big magnum brothers.
The Lipsey’s plow handle Blackhawk .44 Special mid-frames were long awaited by sixgunners.
Lipsey’s Liberation
Lipsey’s, the gun distributor in Baton Rouge, finally made the grail gun possible. When Bill Ruger brought out the flat top .357 in 1955, Ruger stated the .44 Special and .45 Colt would follow shortly. Bill surprised us all by releasing the flat top Blackhawk in .44 Magnum in a slightly bigger framed gun. The mid-framed .44 Special never came to fruition.
Fast forward to 2009 and Jason Cloessner of Lipsey’s. He managed to convince Ruger to finally make .44 Specials on mid-sized frames on the New Model platform. It didn’t matter, hardcore sixgunners were ecstatic! Lipsey’s has ordered several runs since, and the guns still sell out quickly with every run. Charmed? You bet!
Colt New Frontier in .44 Special combined with floral carved leather by
Simply Rugged’s Rick Gittlein conjures memories of Skeeter and Elmer.
The Main Influencers
Sixgunners know Elmer abandoned his .45 Colt after blowing the cylinder on his Colt SAA with his heavy handloads. He zeroed in on the .44 Special because of its thicker cylinder chamber walls. Now he had a caliber capable of handling his heavy experimental loads. He came up with a load capable of driving his 250- grain bullet 1,200 fps.
Elmer carried and wrote of this load for years until Remington, in partnership with S&W, released the .44 Magnum in 1955/56. Remington wisely extended case length by 1/10th of an inch to prevent the high-pressure magnum load from being used in older .44 Special chambered guns.
Skeeter Skelton is probably responsible for more .44 Special handguns being sold than anyone with his wonderful stories and articles about the cartridge.
Whenever a sixgunner straps a .44 Special on, it magically transforms them to the life and times of Dobe Grant, Skeeter and the Turkey Track ranch. As wonderful and nostalgic as that sounds, the .44 Special is still a potent cartridge for the majority of work required for those toting a revolver.
The .44 Magnum and .44 Special, both with .44 Keith bullets,
in this case H&G 503 by MP Molds
Loads
The famous “Skeeter” load mentioned earlier was actually given to Skeeter by Elmer Keith when Skeeter started writing. Reader’s affection for Skeeter made his name synonymous with the load. Speer 200 grain HP Gold Dot factory loads, as well as Black Hills HoneyBadger ammo are worthy self-defense loads.
For field work, Skeeter’s load is hard to beat while loading 200- grain cast bullets over 5.5 grains of 231 makes a pleasant plinker/target load going around 750 fps.
Wrap Up
Those having .44 Special guns are in the know of the charms and results the cartridge provides. They grew up reading the writings of Elmer, Skeeter and John Taffin. There’s no more explanation needed after the testimony of such experienced sixgun men.
Whenever the lunacy of today’s world has you feeling antsy, go strap on your .44 Special rig. Its charm, history and worthiness allow escape, if only momentarily, making everything appear normal. While relishing the cartridge that “just makes sense” and the men who thought so highly of it, the charm of the .44 Special will become obvious indeed.
