I was over at ballistics by the inch comparing which rifle to take camping in bear country, at 12 inch barrel the fast 357 and slow heavy 44mag have the same muzzle energy. Is that right? I know velocity is important but the big 44 lets in more light while the 357 would travel deeper... Can't decide
Mares leg muzzle energy
- Thread starter bandit86
- Start date
Muzzle energy does not tell the whole story regarding killing power. The formula is slanted in favour of velocity E= Mass times velocity squared. The .221 Fireball with a 50 grain bullet has 996 ft.lbs. of energy at the muzzle and the old .38/55 with a 255 grain bullet has 987 ft.lbs. of muzzle energy. The energy levels would suggest that the .221 hits harder but what would you rather swat a bear with?
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
X2
You need to use better bullets in your .44. Try a hard cast 325 WFN over 20 grs of H-110, that's my bear load. In terms of energy, the 325 gr load produces something in the 1000 fp range, but that number doesn't convey this slug's terminal performance on a live target.
I have both, the Chiappa 357 cycles ten times nicer and more reliably. The rossi 44 is an alright range toy or farm tool, I did spend hours going over the action to clean it and deburr it it was as smooth as broken glass. The loading gate had such a sharp edge on it it scored the case while loading and my brother had a case split (1of20) and the rest had deep gouges in the case. While it performs much better now I don't "feel" it as reliable (probably is) as a rifle I never had problems with.
