Best .44 special defense load?

E.Williams

My friend came by a little earlier to show me a Charter Armss .44 special he bought today.He asked me whast I knew about these guns and this caliber and I told him notta but I could find out.The gun seems to be of fair quality other than what seems like a stiff trigger so I told him it should be fine for what he has in mind.So my question is what is the best defense .44 special coming out of a C.A Bulldog?JHP?Or should it be something else for such a slow round from such a short barrel?Thanks in advance fellas.



Eric S. Williams

punchie

I use Triton Quik-Shok in my S&W24

AN ARMED SOCIETY IS A POLITE SOCIETY

Tailgunner1954

I keep my 10 1/2" 44mag loaded with UMC 44spl LRN's, and my wifes 3" 44spl loaded with Winchester's Silvertip HP's

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Some guys like a mag full of lead, I still prefer one round to the head.

offeror

I first bought a Charter Bulldog .44 Pug with pocket hammer back in the 80s. Winchester Silvertips were available for it then too, and that was my favorite load. I recently re-acquired one in matte stainless, and went looking for loads. I found snakeshot from CCI, the hot Glaser Safety Slug semi-frangible defense rounds, and the amazing CorBon 165 gr. rounds that go out at a blazing 1150 feet per second.

Now, I realize that we are talking a small frame, but tough, little .44 snubbie. So I e-mailed Charter, listing the rounds I had purchased, and asked for their blessing to shoot these rounds in the gun. I got e-mail back stating that all the rounds I had mentioned were okay for the gun, but not to shoot any high-pressure +P type loads. I would have thought the Corbon would have been nixed, and I still wouldn't shoot a lot of Corbon now, but there you have it from the horse's mouth.

You may shoot any good manufactured non+P load in it, supposedly including the hot Corbon, if your hand can stand it. I think the Winchester Silvertips would make a great defense load. This gun will hurt the web of your hand after a certain amount of shooting. This can be mitigated with the heavier Pachmayr grips available for it, but then the gun becomes a surprisingly larger piece. So I continue to use the compact sized Charter factory grippers (with the fingergrooves) on mine.

They are good guns at a good value price. Tell him to keep an eye on the frame screws, and use a bit of loctite under the screw head if one loosens. Otherwise, they are a good quality, unique, American made .44, with some kick, but fun to shoot, and easy to carry anywhere because they are easily the smallest .44 handgun on the market, even today, much smaller than the Rossi .44 SP and very well de-horned, too.

So, in summary, use any good factory .44 load. According to Charter, it's made to handle all the standard loadings.

As far as what it's like as a caliber, it's about equal to the .45 ACP, which ain't bad, brother. This wasn't always true, as this round used to be underpowered because manufacturers feared its being used in the old cowboy style .44s and blowing up the guns. So they were loading down around 700 to 750 feet per second. But now there are basically two categories of .44 ammo, as I understand it -- the cowboy plain lead loads and the modern defense loads described above. I love these little guns. They are a great hideout, backup, and utility trail gun. And if you ever need it, you won't care if the web of your hand hurts a little afterward.

- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Edited by - offeror on 07/28/2002 14:21:20

homer4

Winchester silvertips are my prefered load. My 'dog' is the 3" tube, SS pocket hammer with pachmyrs. Shoots great! Not a tremendous rise at all.

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