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Thanks to all for the help!

One question I still have is what is considered a "Hot" load for .44? I just started reloading and is a "hot" load the "Max" in the manuals, or when you just cram a case full of H110 and force a bullet in?

I'm leaning towards the Smith, I have a SRH Alaskan so if I wanted to have a 9 foot fireball I could probably do it with that. I'm still reading through all the info provided here.

Don't forget the Dan Wesson pistols. You are not going to find better accuracy in a .44.

7075-T7 wrote:Thanks to all for the help!

One question I still have is what is considered a "Hot" load for .44? I just started reloading and is a "hot" load the "Max" in the manuals, or when you just cram a case full of H110 and force a bullet in?

I'm leaning towards the Smith, I have a SRH Alaskan so if I wanted to have a 9 foot fireball I could probably do it with that. I'm still reading through all the info provided here.

.44 magnums are, by definition, "hot" loads. It is really only a matter of degree. A "standard" load would be a 240 grain bullet going 1150 fps out of a 4" barrel, producing 704.62 ft-lbs of energy. That is already a handful, and to put that into perspective, the best self-defense .40 and .45 loads are generating energies in the low 400 ft-lb range. A 300 grain .44 bullet going 1400 fps out of a 6" barrel is producing an astounding 1305.36 ft-lbs of energy, and a steady diet of that load would probably be the demise of almost any .44 magnum except a Ruger. To put that into perspective, a 62 grain 5.56 NATO rifle bullet going 3000 fps is producing 1238.76 of energy—almost 80 ft-lbs less than the hot .44 load.

Two good sources for you:

http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/defau ... pe=Handgun

http://www.firearmexpertwitness.com/cus ... lcnrg.html

There might be some confusion between S&W N frame and K frame. I've had my 29 for 32 years and it's had almost nothing but hot loads in it. And by hot I mean as max as the books would let me load them, especially when I was younger, I was on an ego trip. Mine is still as tight as when it was new. As far as comfort, I prefer the Smith for sure, and it's a lot smoother action.

I used to have both. I got rid of the Ruger, the trigger was awful. I understood that S&W and Colt use forged frames and Ruger uses cast. I know forged is stronger but I don't how much bigger a cast frame has to be to be as strong as a forged. If the Ruger is just bigger but not stronger, I will take the S&W.