.44 Special

[JimT]

Going through my .44 Special stuff I ran across a half a box of old balloon-head cartridges that I had loaded a few years back. I don't intend to shoot these anymore, but I like having them loads. These have to be getting close to 90 years old!

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I am sure most of you know what they are, but just in case here is a comparison of a modern solid-head case to a balloon-head case.

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Close-up

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All of these were made by Remington-UMC (UMC is the old Union Metallic Cartridge Co. that Remington took over)

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I loaded them with the Keith SWC over a light charge of Bullseye, even though I do not plan on shooting them anymore.

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I have quite a few balloon-head cases in .45 Colt also. I have them all loaded with black powder. And no I don't shoot them. I quit shooting them some years ago.

[arclight]

Thank you, Jim. You been "the man" for decades, and remain so. Hope all is well with you. God bless.

[gamekeeper]

Interesting

[Bill in Oregon]

Would love to chronograph the balloon-heads loaded with a full and compressed dose of Swiss FFFg, but don’t believe such a load was offered commercially since the Special was a product of the smokeless era. Neat re-discovery Jim, and thanks for sharing it.

[Ray]

A well known gunscribe once obtained some vintage .44 special loads rem. umc loads from circa 1913 and those were loaded with approximately 25 grains of black powder. The good reverend is well acquainted with both the writer and the gunshop owner who sold the writer the cartridges.

The original powder was said to be strikingly similar in grade/appearance/performance characteristics to modern ( ? 2005 ? ) goex fffg.

[Ysabel Kid]

Love the cutaway view. Great way to visualize the difference. Thanks Jim!

[Catshooter]

" I ran across a half a box of old balloon-head cartridges that I had loaded a few years back. These have to be getting close to 90 years old!"

These loads you put up getting onto 90 years ago, just how old are you Jim? And how old were you when you started reloading?

Did you negotiate the sale of UMC to your buddy Elija Remington?

[JimT]

" I ran across a half a box of old balloon-head cartridges that I had loaded a few years back. These have to be getting close to 90 years old!"

These loads you put up getting onto 90 years ago, just how old are you Jim? And how old were you when you started reloading?

Did you negotiate the sale of UMC to your buddy Elija Remington?

I am only 76, still a kid. I have been reloading since my Daddy started teaching me at about 10 years old. I picked up a lot of really old stuff from many of the old-timers that I was blessed to meet when I was younger.

[Sixgun]

Jim,
Those cases are the last of the REM-UMC headstamps which were made until about 1960.....I'd shoot em just for the fun of it..stick em in a 44 mag.....

I've shot tens of thousands of rounds out of balloon head cases and still have many in a lot of calibers. The ones to concern yourself with are the cases made up to the thirties as the corrosive primers will weaken the brass. I had a case head blow off in a '73 original Calvary Colt S.A, which was NOT mine....a 10-15K gun, easily. Luckily, the gun stayed together and only blew open the loading gate. I was using original military 1890 tinned cases loaded up with black......pretending I was at Wounded Knee....

People say the old WRA cases are all balloon head but that's not the case. ....(no pun intended)......Winchester continued to use that head stamp upon until around 1960, after the balloon head went away. W.R.A.C.O. headstamps are all corrosive.

I still have around 100 cases of 30 U.S. (30-40 Krag) cases that are military date stamped to 1909-1911 that I bought NEW, but in the 80's.....never factory loaded but I must have shot each one 25 times with cast at 1600.

But, as you assuredly know, I only wrote the above for others as you already knew this about the corrosive primers.....and about everything else......YOU taught me.---------006

[JimT]

Now I did not teach you, my friend. You have studied, collected, read, and worked at this stuff much more than most.

And Yes, I have some .45 Colt WRA cases that are solid head.

I shoot some of the old balloon-head cases now and again. The last time I remember was when I put down a big red Hereford cow. She had not given me a calf in 3 years and I got tired of feeding her and decided she would feed me and the family. I used my Colt SAA .45 that was made in 1887 and I loaded a balloon-head Rem-UMC case with as much black powder as I could compress in it under the old Lyman 454190 Colt bullet. I put some range cubes on the ground and when she put her head down to get a mouthful I put the bullet in the center of the "X" between her left ear and right eye and left eye and right ear. She never knew what hit her. The bullet exited and went pretty deep into the ground. And she was good eating!

[Sixgun]

Well, good for you on your "cow experience".....I F one up real bad back in the 80's.....my in laws are custom butchers and they use a .22 for regular cows and a 22 magnum for bulls or other big headed cows.....I'm sure you know how it's done....lead the cow up the ramp and through a door into a small triangle in the corner of the kill room with a very large heavy gate holding them in....you get them to look at you and "pop"....you know the rest......

Well, one day I just came back from hunting, made a casual visit to the butcher shop and I had a Smith 1950 Target 44 spl. loaded with Elmers load in a shoulder holster......They were ready to kill a crazy Charley when I asked, "can I shoot it?"....well, the crazy
cow kept moving and was very excitable most likely from smelling blood from the previous killing. I too, held on the imaginary "x" and pulled the trigger just as it moved.......right above the eye.....it broke down the gate like it was bamboo and proceeded to tear the shop up and four of use were racing out the door .....I mean racing.....

I have a nephew who is fearless and he grabbed a .22 rifle and jumped up on a table and waited for the right shot and finished it good.....I still have the Saeco 260 grain bullet that was found in her neck....could be reloaded again....Lyman #2 alloy.....

Needless to say, that was the last time they let me "attempt" it.

Thanks Jim as I am self taught mostly through reading, experimenting, and having the good fortune of obtaining some of the finest from Winchester & Colt....plus a few Marlins, Smiths, and Ruger..... ---006

[JimT]

That's how I learn still. Reading. Experimenting. And when I find something that works I stick with it. Loading .44 Specials today.

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.30 Caliber Ammo Can full ... Keith 250 gr. SWC ... 16.5 gr. 2400

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USFA .44 Special

[stretch]

Another grand old caliber.

The 44 Special is still very, very capable.

-Stretch

[Old Savage]

Best actual pistol caliber from about 700 - 1200 fps.

[Scrumbag]

I have loaded some modern 44 special and read about Elmer Keith dropping down his original hot 44 hunting loads from ~18.0gr of 2400 to 17.0gr when he stopped using balloon head cases. The illustration is helpful.

I'm currently looking to develop a 44 Special load to use some "Thomson" type 255gr SWCGC as I came into some at a discount for my lever action. Sadly loading these bullets in .44 mag for my rifle means they hang up and don't go through the action cleanly.

So, used .44 + P data from hand loader and came up with these (Actually these loads with the crimping groove where it is are not a lot shorter than some manuals listed 44 mag loads).



So have a ladder from 15.2 - 16.7 gr of 2400 to shoot in those guys.

I suppose I could trim some 44 mag brass down a bit to be closer to max cyclable length but will see how well the Special load works.

[AmBraCol]

I came across the baggie of 45 Colt balloon head brass you gave me a while back. Need to dig it out next time we're up north and combine it with some FFFg and a 454190 slug on top, then box up and label properly. Someday I might get my mitts on a Colt type sixgun and it'd be cool to have appropriate ammo for it. Need to figure on some more appropriate lube than what I had on hand. Anyway, good idea on leaving them loaded appropriately.

[AmBraCol]

Well, good for you on your "cow experience".....I F one up real bad back in the 80's.....my in laws are custom butchers and they use a .22 for regular cows and a 22 magnum for bulls or other big headed cows.....I'm sure you know how it's done....lead the cow up the ramp and through a door into a small triangle in the corner of the kill room with a very large heavy gate holding them in....you get them to look at you and "pop"....you know the rest......

Well, one day I just came back from hunting, made a casual visit to the butcher shop and I had a Smith 1950 Target 44 spl. loaded with Elmers load in a shoulder holster......They were ready to kill a crazy Charley when I asked, "can I shoot it?"....well, the crazy
cow kept moving and was very excitable most likely from smelling blood from the previous killing. I too, held on the imaginary "x" and pulled the trigger just as it moved.......right above the eye.....it broke down the gate like it was bamboo and proceeded to tear the shop up and four of use were racing out the door .....I mean racing.....

I have a nephew who is fearless and he grabbed a .22 rifle and jumped up on a table and waited for the right shot and finished it good.....I still have the Saeco 260 grain bullet that was found in her neck....could be reloaded again....Lyman #2 alloy.....

Needless to say, that was the last time they let me "attempt" it.

Thanks Jim as I am self taught mostly through reading, experimenting, and having the good fortune of obtaining some of the finest from Winchester & Colt....plus a few Marlins, Smiths, and Ruger..... ---006

Your cow experience reminds me of how I learned to always completely load the sixgun when putting down a critter. The neighbors were going to butcher a small pig and I offered to "do the honors". I took over a few CCI MiniMags and put one in his Taurus revolver. Walked over to the pen where the pig was and she looked at me through the fence on one side of the corner post. I aimed, she moved her head to look at me from the other side of the corner post, so I adjusted my aim. This happened a couple of times but overconfidence ignores such things. As I finished squeezing off the shot she started to move her head gain and the bullet went into the side of her skull instead of centered as it should have been. She started squealing and spinning around on the ground and I'd nothing more in the gun, had to open it and quickly push a few more rounds in (thankfully I'd at least brought several with me) and managed to get a good angle and finished her off.

Learned a few things, amongst which are, if you're going to put a pig down it helps to have a bowl of feed to get their attention and keep them immobile. Always load the magazine on a repeater instead of assuming you'll be able to finish with one shot.

So far I've never had a critter come through the gate at me though! That must have been all kinds of fun!

[JimT]

This has nothing to do with .44 Specials but when Sixgun related his experience with a cow, it reminded me of a friend and a 250 pound pig. He had raised the pig for butchering and when it was ready he loaded it into his old work truck which was an old Milk Truck. He had it roaming around in the back of the truck as he drove to the butchers. When he got there and they were ready, he smacked it in the head with a 4 pound hammer. This p-d off the pig who proceeded to squeal as loud as it could in indignation and run around and around and around inside the milk truck. During its running around it stomped my friend a couple times, ran over top of him several times and generally beat him up until the butcher came out with a .22 rifle and with one well-placed shot ended the pigs stampede. Everyone except my friend had a great laugh. He had to have his ribs taped up for quite some time.

[Grizz]

would it work to put your special loads into mag brass? or do you have a special only chamber?

does that bullet have a rounded ogive? i had problems with a cast bullet in a different caliber that was cranky in both a winchester and marlin, and switching to a truncated cone solved the issue.

grizz

[Walt]

In my Marlins, I switched to Lyman 429667 and 452664 cast bullets for my .44 and .45 calibers respectively. They are a RNFP design with a short nose and a large meplat that Dave Scovill finds "as good as if not even better than LBT WFN designs". They cycle perfectly in my guns.

[AmBraCol]

This has nothing to do with .44 Specials but when Sixgun related his experience with a cow, it reminded me of a friend and a 250 pound pig. He had raised the pig for butchering and when it was ready he loaded it into his old work truck which was an old Milk Truck. He had it roaming around in the back of the truck as he drove to the butchers. When he got there and they were ready, he smacked it in the head with a 4 pound hammer. This p-d off the pig who proceeded to squeal as loud as it could in indignation and run around and around and around inside the milk truck. During its running around it stomped my friend a couple times, ran over top of him several times and generally beat him up until the butcher came out with a .22 rifle and with one well-placed shot ended the pigs stampede. Everyone except my friend had a great laugh. He had to have his ribs taped up for quite some time.

Over the years I've used knives, machetes, a hammer and a piece of rebar (not all at the same time) to put "finis" to various and sundry critters. All that in the non-firearm methods column. I'd FAR rather use a good (or even marginal) firearm to put them down than the other options there are. Other than that one pig mentioned above I've never had an issue when using a firearm to dispatch a critter. The other methods leave a lot to be desired. Oh, the rebar I used to put down a pig that someone else started to attempt to put down with the same instrument. They had NO idea what they were doing except in the most general way "I wanna slaughter this pig". After watching him mess around, poking the pig everywhere EXCEPT the heart, I said "Give it here.", took the piece of rebar and slid it into the coronary muscle on the first attempt, putting an end to the horrendous squealing. If you're going to put down a critter it behooves you to understand their anatomy!

[Sixgun]

The "shot to the head" does not kill them, it only knocks em out so the butcher can cut the throat while heart continues to beat to get the blood out of the body. On pigs, my inlaws don't shoot them......they put a chain around a leg and hoist it up and then cut the throat......I've seen it and the squealing will leave the faint hearted with nightmares.......Personally, I have no idea how a butcher plies his trade......

My FIL, who has since gone to his reward 40 years ago would kill cattle and pigs like I would start up my tractor.....if he saw human blood, even from a small cut, it would send him into the heebie-jeebies.---006

[Scrumbag]

would it work to put your special loads into mag brass? or do you have a special only chamber?

does that bullet have a rounded ogive? i had problems with a cast bullet in a different caliber that was cranky in both a winchester and marlin, and switching to a truncated cone solved the issue.

grizz

Got a good deal on 1,000 of the SWC hence finding a way to shoot them

[Scrumbag]

In my Marlins, I switched to Lyman 429667 and 452664 cast bullets for my .44 and .45 calibers respectively. They are a RNFP design with a short nose and a large meplat that Dave Scovill finds "as good as if not even better than LBT WFN designs". They cycle perfectly in my guns.

I am a fan of RNFP usually but as I said, got 1,000 of these Thompson type bullets for a great price

[Scrumbag]

Well folks,

Shot the .44 Special 255gr RNFP out of the lever action, some decent results. Probably the best was:



16.5 also shot not bad and will try that again with a magnum primer.

Scrummy

[Bill in Oregon]

Well, that turned out well.

[Scrumbag]

Well, that turned out well.

Thanks. Going to try that load again and the 16.5gr load with a mag primer.

Scrummy