The .44 Smith & Wesson Special, also commonly known as .44 S&W Special, .44 Special, .44 Spl, .44 Spc, (pronounced "forty-four special"), or 10.9x29mmR is a

smokeless powder Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal d ...

center fire metallic revolver cartridge developed by

Smith & Wesson Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American firearm manufacturer headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts ( Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachuset ...

in 1907 as the standard chambering for their New Century

revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six ...

, introduced in 1908.Hawks, C
"The .44 S&W Special"
Chuck Hawks website. Accessed February 25, 2008.

Development

On the late 19th century American frontier, large .44- and .45-caliber cartridges were considered the epitome of

handgun A handgun is a short-barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stem ...

ammunition for self-protection, home defense, and hunting. Black-powder rounds such as the .44 American, .44 Russian, .44 Colt, .44-40 Winchester, .45 Schofield, and

.45 Colt The .45 Colt (11.43×33mmR), is a rimmed, straight-walled, handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It was originally a black-powder revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a ...

enjoyed a well-earned reputation for effective terminal ballistics, accuracy, and reliability.Taffin, J
"Sixguns Beyond The .44 Magnum"
Sixguns.com Web site. Accessed February 25, 2008. At the start of the 20th century, Smith & Wesson decided to celebrate by introducing a brand new revolver design which they called the New Century.Taffin, J
"The .44 special cartridge of the century? Accurate, powerful and reliable, the .44 special really is special"
American Handgunner, September–Oct, 2004. Accessed February 25, 2008. Smith & Wesson wished to pair their new revolver design with a worthy new ammunition chambering. At the time, smokeless powder was state of the art in ammunition technology. Older black-powder ammunition was in the process of being converted to smokeless. Smith & Wesson's popular .44 Russian cartridge had established a reputation for superb accuracy and was a renowned target load, and they decided to use an improved smokeless powder version as the basis for the new round. Due to the lower

energy density In physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of kn ...

of the early semi-smokeless powders, prior efforts to convert the .44 Russian to smokeless had produced less than stellar ballistic performance. Smith & Wesson addressed this issue by lengthening the .44 Russian cartridge case by and increasing the powder capacity by . The resulting design, which S&W called the .44 Special, had a case length of .

Ballistics

Unfortunately the

ballistics Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight o ...

of the new cartridge merely duplicated the bullet @ statistics of the .44 Russian, when the powder capacity of its case would have supported performance rivaling that of the .45 Colt and close to the .44-40. Nevertheless, the .44 Special retained its progenitor's reputation for accuracy. The

SAAMI The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI, pronounced "Sammy") is an association of American manufacturers Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment Equipment most commonly ...

maximum pressure standard for the .44 S&W special is .

The .44 Associates

Almost from its introduction, firearms enthusiasts and cartridge handloaders saw that the potential of the .44 Special chambering was far from being realized and by the end of the 1920s were loading it to much higher velocities than factory standards. Led by articles in firearms periodicals penned by gun writers such as

Elmer Keith Elmer Merrifield Keith (March 8, 1899 – February 12, 1984) was an American rancher, firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries ...

and Skeeter Skelton, a loose cadre of enthusiastic fans who called themselves the ".44 Associates" formed. Trading information such as .44 Special handloading data and tips regarding the conversion of revolvers to .44

caliber In guns, particularly firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated i ...

, they promulgated the belief espoused by many firearms authorities and experts that the .44 Special chambering is one of the best overall in the handguns.Skelton, C
"The .44 Special - A Reappraisal"
Shooting Times Magazine August 1966. Accessed February 25, 2008.

Elmer Keith and his Magnums

, one of the most famous and popular firearms related authors at the time, developed a number of classical heavy handloads for the .44 Special; many are still highly regarded today.Taffin, J
"Taffin Tests: The .44 Special"
Sixguns.com website. Accessed February 25, 2008. He also championed the concept of higher powered big-bore revolvers with Smith & Wesson and

Remington Arms Remington Arms Company, LLC was an American manufacturer of firearms and ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable we ...

, eventually leading to the development of the .357 Magnum, .41 Magnum, and .44 Magnum. Keith's suggested designation for the proposed .44 caliber round was the ".44 Special Magnum," but when Remington Arms developed the cartridge they chose to name it the .44 Remington Magnum. Nonetheless, the new cartridge was developed directly from the .44 Special design by simply lengthening the older case by .125 inch. Remington's stated rationale for the making of this change was to preclude higher pressured Magnum loads from being chambered in .44 Special revolvers.

Usage and loadings

The hype and excitement surrounding the introduction of the .44 Magnum in the mid-1950s eclipsed the .44 Special, causing it to fall in popularity with firearms manufacturers. They offered fewer models chambered for .44 Special for several years. Recently the .44 Special has experienced something of a resurgence, since many firearms enthusiasts have realized that the heavy recoil of the Magnum round is "too much pistol" for many applications, and the heavier and more bulky revolvers chambered for it are not as convenient to carry. Another factor fueling the .44 Special's comeback is its ability to fit in the longer chambers of the .44 Magnum revolvers, much like the .38 Special fits in the longer chambers of the .357 Magnum. This makes the .44 Special cartridge an attractive alternative for reduced velocity target shooting and

plinking Plinking refers to informal target shooting done for pleasure, typically at non-standard targets such as tin cans, logs, bottles, or any other homemade or naturally occurring target. Practice In contrast to shooting done at established targ ...

. The popularity of cowboy action shooting has also helped pique interest in the .44 Special, motivating manufacturers to offer modern and reproduction firearms chambered for this classic cartridge. A variety of factory ammunition loadings are available in .44 Special, including bullet weights of at various velocity levels. Special high performance terminal ballistic loads are also offered, such as the Hornady JHP,

Winchester Winchester is a cathedral city in Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; ...

Silvertip JHP, Speer Gold Dot JHP, Federal LHP, Cor-Bon JHP, and various other jacketed hollow point and soft point designs.Cassill, M
"Feeding the Gunblast Bulldog - A Study in Terminal Ballistics"
Gunblast website. Accessed February 25, 2008.

References

External links

Ballistics By The Inch .44 Special results
{{DEFAULTSORT:44 Special Pistol and rifle cartridges Smith & Wesson cartridges