Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 44 Caliber in AR

Has a 44 caliber ever been tried in an AR? Say a 44 Socom, or a 44 Bushmaster. Seems it would have ballistics similar to the Marlin 444. Ligher bullets like 240 or 265 grain would be faster than a 45 caliber 300 Gr.

Seems like it would be more powerful than the 44 mag and with the pointed bullets might have a 200 yard rifle.

Any thoughts on this? Or has it ever been tried?

The .44 Auto Mag cartridge could probably be made to work in an AR if somebody had the money, time and interest to try it. Everything about it would be expensive.

sounds like a stupid idea to me.

No, but my 450 Bushmaster firing the 290 gr Barnes tipped boat tail TMZ muzzle loader bullets at 2200 fps will get ya there with room/power to spare.

Gunner

I reload for 44 mag. So I would have the bullets. I would think they would be a little faster than the 458 or 450 which might have better downrange accuracy beyone 100 yards. I have a friend who killed a 9 pointer with a 44 mag Ruger carbine at 192 yards. He was a teenager, but he aimed about a foot high. He hit it and his dad was with him and couldn't believe it. Anyways, a 444 has more accurace at the 200 yard range and I thought out of an AR with a fat shell, it might work as good or better than the other two. Haven't thought about the 44 auto mag.

I don't recall seeing too many pointy .44 bullets, most are designed with flat points, either for a lever gun, or handgun. Hornady I guess has both 225gr and 265gr FTX semi-pointed soft-tipped bullets, in .430 diameter.

IIRC the .44 Automag is based on the .308 case, so it would be better suited to the AR10. I think a .358 Winchester in the big AR would be a pretty fierce thumper

The .458 SOCOM would be interesting, as I could switch bullets between it, and a .45-70 #1

I shot two whitetail deer does this year with my 458 socom. One at 217 yards and the other at 157 yards. Both dropped in their tracks and were hit with the hornady 325 grain FTX bullets. I reload for the .44 too but aint looking to screw with my 458 socom. Love that rifle.

45 bullets come WAY lighter than 300 grains FWIW.

I understadn you load for 44 and have the stuff already etc...

I went through a period in my life I tried to keep it down to a few calibers, only a few powders and even to the point that shotgun and pistol rounds all used same powder and so on.

Twas a loosing battle....

Of course necking the socom to 429 would work as would the bushy I bet.... custom reamer, and custom dies. Reamer couple hundred. Dies same. You'd be in about 500 bucks deep not counting the barrel itself just to start with... that 500 can buy a lot of supplies IMHO.

Sounds like the "Thumper" rifle Jeff Cooper thought would be best with which to equip a significant percentage of our soldiers.

"Cooper wanted to design a rifle for soldiers who were not primarily shooters, such as tank crews. The main need is for something compact and decisive to 200 yards. In his book "To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth" (if you haven't read it, do so) he described "Thumper", a semi-auto firing .44 AutoMag rounds, with an 11" barrel, folding stock, iron sights and 20 round magazine. There have been several faltering attempts to actually build it, but apparently nobody has actually followed through on the project (that such a short-barreled rifle would be subject to a $200 transfer tax and tight BATF regulation is likely a discouraging factor)."

- ctdonath at The Firing Line

I believe Tony Rumore from Tromix has built both.44mag and .44 auto mag AR15s. IIRC they were very low production items and never sold well. This is all from memory and reading his posts at other sites.

advntrjnky

Heck I have a 458 socom and a 50 beowulf and I would probably still by one..(44mag) Would I need it.... No.. But be cool as hell

I know it's not 44MAG, but it'd be easier to build a 45ACP based AR firing .460 Rowland. Greater or equal to 44mag energy, simple mag workings with Grease gun or UZI mags, platform is already there and standardized magazines.

http://460rowland.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aHyN52jNI0&feature=player_embedded

a guy named Ronald Williams makes a gas operated .45acp that has had some very good reviews....IMHO that would be the way to go to wring out some extra performance from those cartridges.

advntrjnky