I got my first .44 Mag, a Ruger blued 7 1/2" SBH, in the early '70s. For almost 30 years I shot almost full book charges of WW 296 behind my home cast 240 and 250 grain lead bullets.
Then in 2000 I went through a very nasty divorce and my ex stole that pistol and gave it to her then boyfriend. As soon as the divorce was final I bought another 7 1/2" Ruger SBH, this time in Stainless and shortly after that the ex's boyfriend gave me back my blued SBH. Both of those pistols shot well with my WW 296 handloads.
Then a few years ago I decided that I needed a 4" S&W 629, and it quickly became one of my favorite pistols, and the .44 that I shoot the most. Maybe it was me getting older or the shorter barrel of the 629 inspired me to start shooting .44 Specials in it. They became so fun to shoot that I bought a Lee 430240 6 cavity mould and those bullets in front of 6.0 grains of Clays Universal powder is now my "shoot every week" .44 loads.
Like @EddySouthgate posted earlier, "Light loads for .44 Magnum are called .44 Specials."
