Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 44 Magnum or 45 Colt. Which one would you pick?

The throats on this 45 are perfect.

So is the barrel length!

357:)

The 44 Mag loaded with the simple 250 gr Lyman 429421 at 1100 fps or so. All you will ever need for your deer and hogs.

One of the gun world's oft repeated old wives' tales. Newton's 3rd Law also has an issue with it.

For myself a 44. Just easier to get to a hunting load off the shelf in most any pistol. the 45 can do it no doubt but much more to consider for myself even though I reload.

Perhaps you don't understand Newton's third law. The 45 has 10% more area over which that pressure is acting, and hence at the same pressure as the 44, the 45 is going to have a greater reaction. Conversely, the 45 requires less pressure than the 44 to achieve the same velocity, a proper application of physics not some old wives tale.

I shoot both and love the 45 colt. [I would not give up my 44 mags] The 45 colt goes from mild to wild and seems right at home with either. I very seldom load down with 44's but not the case with my 45 colt. It is right at home with 255 cast at 850 fps. Than again for hunting, I go with max charges of 296 and either a 250 XTP or 325 gr LBT WFN depending on what I am hunting. Maybe it is just a mental thing with me. [loading down a 44 mag that is]

I have both. I haven't shot the 44 in a long time. I have a Ss Ruger Bisley 45 colt with 5.5" barrel - which is close to perfection in my book. I carry this gun alot when I'm hunting, retrieving meat, or plain hunting. When you set both loaded rounds side-side, it becomes readily apparent that the 45 is more cartridge.

FWIW I replaced a 4.5" 44 Ruger SBH with the Bisley. I do it again all day long and twice on Sunday. I've struggled not buying another Bisley 45.............

Well since the .41 Magnum isn't even under consideration and that has been my main revolver cartridge for over 25 years I looked at my favorite guns and asked the question which caliber could be put in these and still have what I have for what I do with them. Between the .44 Magnum and .45 Colt I came up with the same answer I gave a friend who was heavily invested in both .44 and .45 who was getting older and wanted to pare down... .44 Special.

My favorite revolvers are 4" S&W N-frames and the Freedom Arms 97.

I've had several 29s and 629s over the years in .44 Magnum and they are simply unpleasant to shoot. And don't ask why I can shoot a 4" .41 Magnum all day long with mild or wild loads... With a .44 Special I can up the velocity up to 1200 fps if needed and is about all the velocity I can take from a S&W. A slim barreled 629 Mountain Gun or 24-1 to me are just perfect vehicles for a .44 bullet.

In the FA 97 the .44 Special is the ideal round for those guns as the cylinders are short and as such .41, .44 and .45 Colt cast bullets have to be deep seated or chosen with care to not exceed max LOA. Another SA would be a nice Ruger mid-frame flat top .44 Special...

I've had .45 Colt in Ruger, Colt and S&W revolvers and just never did bond with the round. Just sold my last one a few weeks ago and probably won't own another.

So I guess my answer would be .44 Magnum but there wouldn't be much Magnum brass in the house...

Bob

I'd pick the 45 Colt, hands down, every time.

I think most bring up the throat issue with 45's because its obvious there are a lot of Rugers out there.

Don't think for a moment getting a 44 Mag gets you out of throats as small as .427 or as large as .434.

RJM could get some 45 S&W cases for the FA 97.....

Spot on 458Lott

If you're going to quote me please quote the whole thing. I didn't say anything about unequal recoil, I was talking about muzzle pressure.

".45 Colt mostly because it does the same thing as a .44 Magnum at less pressure, about 10kpsi less when both are loaded to the max. I shot .44 Magnums for well over 20 years before it dawned on me that it wasn't the kick that bothered me, it was the concussive muzzle blast. Switched to a .45 Colt and in equal length barrels at equal velocities the difference was notable.

The muzzle pressure is what causes muzzle blast. Since the .45 Colt will start out using less chamber pressure to drive an equal weight bullet to an equal velocity, the muzzle pressure in equal length barrels - colloquially "muzzle blast", is less as well. That was my criteria for preferring the .45.

But if some prefers the .44, go for it, it's one of the all time great handgun chamberings. Never let an internet forum or anything else dissuade anyone from choosing whatever they like best for whatever reason they like it.

Ruger's 45 Colt cylinders generally are in need of correction, especially to shoot cast bullets. However, that's a pretty inexpensive fix and there are several reputable guys doing it. I had the Cylinder Smith do my Redhawk before he retired. I need to have my recently acquired Bisley done.

Despite the Ruger 45's needing some throat work, I would still choose a 45 Colt over the 44 Magnum for the reason several have posted previously. Same weight bullets at less pressure and a bigger hammer. Nothing wrong with the 44, I have two of them and two 45's but I just like the 45 better when we're talking big bore magnum performance.

45 colt for me, I had two Super BlackHawks in 44 and a 29 and I have moved on to a 45 LC 5.5" bisley.

Its basically what others have said. I can shoot a cast load at 1100fps with pleasure. No blast or concussion like a 44 mag. I started with heavy bullets but now have moved back down to matching loads a wfn 265 for hunting and a 255 for fun and practice. Both shoot to the same POI. Based upon a small sample even the 265 is more than enough on deer. If I felt the need to go for elk/moose with the Bisley I could back up to the heavy bullet.

If I ever thought I needed more than what a 45 colt could do I wouldn't look for more velocity, but more bore size and bullet, probably one of those 480's that they just made.

BTW haveing the cylinder reamed was cheap and easy and made a difference with my bisley.

RJM,
With your obvious experience, knowledge, and abilities, I hesitate to question anything you say about handguns; but your statement about there not being much 44 magnum brass used when loading for a Smith Mountain Gun (44 mag) brings out a question. Why would you not just download the magnum brass to the velocity you choose. I have always felt, maybe wrongfully so, that accuracy from a 44 mag cylinder would be better using the longer brass. No argument intended here; I'm just inquiring as to the reason.

You almost had it. Stick to the part about the .45's greater area multiplied by the lower PSI equaling the total pressure of the .44 Mag. Compare the bolt thrust and hoop stress between the two cartridges.

PSI alone is a single variable and only tells part of the story.

Blah blah blah. Why not just repost the entire outdated Linebaugh article? Sorry but it's not quite so cut & dried as .45 Kool Aid drinkers would have us believe.

I've been shooting a matched pair of custom 4 5/8" Ruger Bisleys for 15yrs, one a .44 and the other a .45 and I'll be damned if I can tell a difference in recoil or muzzle blast. IMHO, this bullshit about less pressure is just wishful thinking. It yields the shooter nothing. If you think there's a difference, you're probably not using comparable loads.

No one ever mentions that the .45 uses 10% more powder to do it.

As far as which is a bigger hammer, it depends. EVERYONE always assumes that the .45 really is always bigger. It depends on the bullet. No one ever mentions meplat diameter. With cast bullets, the only dimension that matters is meplat diameter. If a 330gr .44 and a 325gr .45 have the same meplat diameter, then the .45 has no advantage whatsoever. Except that the .44 penetrates a little better. I tested a 335gr .45 with a meplat diameter of .345 and a 310gr .44 with a massive .370 meplat and they penetrated the same. In that case, the .44 is decidedly a bigger hammer. A 355gr .44Mag with .340" meplat greatly outpenetrated that 335gr .45 load (by 40%).

As I already said, the two are all but interchangeable and no amount of fanboism, fairy dust or wishful thinking will change that.

I guess you never bothered to load the .44 to similar levels? This is exactly what I'm talking about. Folks shoot reduced loads in the .45Colt, compare them to 1400fps loads in the .44Mag and conclude that the .45 is a milder cartridge but still a "bigger hammer". You're comparing 20,000psi to 40,000psi. A ~260gr 1100fps is safe for a Colt SAA.



Yeah, unless they're oversized. Virtually all .45's have oversized chambers and chamber mouths can go either way.

Usually more like 6000-8000psi.