44 russian vs 44 magnum power

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Hey everyone

I cant find a simple answer, only grain differences for reloading etc..
But in general, how much less powerful is a factory 44russian round vs
modern 44mag? And for bonus question, how does it stack up vs 45acp and 41c?
Looking to buy to an antique revolver for bushwhacking and bear protection (
As well just fun to shoot), And theres many documented cases of success against bears with 44mag, so
Wondering if the 44russian is even close to it? Thanks
 
My old 'Cartridges of the World' book shows:-
.44 S & W Russian duplicate factory equivalent load to be a 246gr. bullet, over 3.6gr. Bullseye for m.v of 700fps. with m.e. of 265lbs. with no barrel length given.
Maximum reload shown is 246gr. bullet, over 8.0gr. Unique for m.v. of 900fps. with m.e. of 447lbs..
compared to:-
.44 Remington Magnum factory 240gr. loads from Remington, Winchester, PMC and a couple of others to be around m.v. of 1470fps. with m.e. of around 1150lbs. from 6 1/2" barrels.

So, a considerable difference.
 
.44 Russian is a popgun compared with a .44Mag. .45ACP is more powerful. .41Colt is probably similar.
.44 Russian would be an excellent bear protection round, as long as you are hiking with someone else. When the bear attacks, shoot your companion in the leg, and make your escape.
 
44 Russian and 44 Special were very similar in ballistics when 44 Special first came out. 44 special was S&W's attempt to bring the 44 Russian into the smokeless powder era. Since then the 44 special has gotten more powerful but not near what 44 mag can do. So you can safely say that the 44 Russian is half as powerful as a 44 mag but good luck finding a 44 mag antique status revolver. 44 special would be as close as you could get.
 
freemanriveradventures said:
44 Russian and 44 Special were very similar in ballistics when 44 Special first came out. 44 special was S&W's attempt to bring the 44 Russian into the smokeless powder era. Since then the 44 special has gotten more powerful but not near what 44 mag can do. So you can safely say that the 44 Russian is half as powerful as a 44 mag but good luck finding a 44 mag antique status revolver. 44 special would be as close as you could get.
Click to expand...

No where near half as powerful
 
The .44 Russian was the father of the .44 special and grandfather of the .44 mag. . The .44R was one of the most accurate rounds of its time, but obviously not near as powerful as the Magnum, still deadly for it's time. Theodore Rosevelt and Annie Oakley plus many more sharp shooters of the time owned the Smith and Wesson pistols in .44 Russian.
 
gutinater said:
No where near half as powerful
Click to expand...


Maybe half-as-powerful compared to the .44 Russian's later loadings and the .44 Special's earlier loadings; maybe .... :yingyang:




But certainly not compared to the .44 Special loadings that were being pushed to pre-.44 Magnum levels.... :wave:




And reloaders should be aware that .44 Russian "recipes" for modern incarnations of older .44 Russian firearms may well be "too hot" for things like the original top-break .44 Russian S&W's.... :canadaFlag:
 
44 Russian

14,500 psi max - 246 grain lead - 750 FPS - 310 ftlb of energy

44 magnum

36,000 psi max - 240 JHP Cor-bon - 1,475 FPS - 1160 ftlb of energy

44 mag has closer to 4x the power with this example. I wouldn’t want to get shot with either round but I know which one I would want to be shooting at a bear for example. There is a cgn’er with an antique SAA converted to 357 magnum...modern barrel and cylinder. that’s still a little too scary for me with an old pre modern steel frame
 
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Get yourself a big old Montenegrin gasser revolver.
It shoots a 310 grain 11.sumthin mm bullet , when that fails to kill your bear
you've got something substantial to beat it with.
 
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