I have over a dozen 44s and it's Ling been my favorite handgun round. I've had 2 anacondas since the 90s a 4" and a 6" and also bought a smith mtn gun back then. I carried the mtn gun bow hunting and anytime in bear area for a dozen years before getting a 329 pd in 2005 or so. My bear carry load was a 310g wfn lazercast at 1200 fps from the 4" guns. It was alot to handle especially in the 329pd.
As I've gotten older and have a disease that's damaged my joints I've stepped it down a bit. In the 44 I go 270g gold dot over n105 at about 1100 fps. Still fairly warm but I'm often in grizzly areas.
I've also started using my 45 colts more. I have a stainless mtn gun 45 that's just like my mtn 44 and a Blackhawk 5.5" convertible. I'm loading 250 xtps or a 252g swc that I cast with a lee mold and powder coat. I'm using Longshot or be86 but am going to vv 3n37 or 3n38 with the cast soon.
I've really found the 45 colts more enjoyable than the 44s lately. It seems like I can get a good mid range load like the 250s at 1050 with less pressure and blast than my similar 44 loads. Although my 270g 44 load at 1100 is marginally hotter and not a fair comparison.
It seems like even my 240g swc cast 44 loads that run 1080 in my 44s seem more blasts than my 45 colt loads.
I also really like the wide flat profile of my 252g Lee 45 mold. Despite my love of 44s these days I've really been wanting a lipseys exclusive stainless Blackhawk convertible 45 with the 4&5/8" barrel on the medium size flattop frame. That's my current dream gun.
At 36 ounces it seems like it would be easy to carry and more shootable than my 329pd. I'd load it with the 252 swc cast from my lee mold at about 1050. At least until I got a 4 or 6 cavity mold in something similar to replace it. The lee 252 only comes in a 2 cavity.
Bb
