Fellas, I have sort of asked this question over at sixgunner.com, too, but have any of you found it easier to get fine accuracy out of a Ruger in .44 Magnum vs. a similar Ruger in .45 Colt? I have, over the years, but I was wondering if it was just me.

Bill,

I doubt that either cartridge is more accurate than the other. More properly I should state that there are not accurate cartridges but only accurate guns. Your experience( mine and others as well) is most likely a function of the .44 mag being a cartridge of more modern design and manufacturing tolerences. Therefore revolvers in .44 mag are manufactured with a better cylinder throat to forcing cone to bore relationship. Whereas revolvers in .45 Colt of recent manufacture usually have grossly undersized cylinder throats that open up into cavernous forcing cones. In effect the bullet is immediately swaged down before it enters the bore and becomes a loose fit for the rest of its ride.
I have one Ruger Bisley .45 Colt that out of the box had .447" cylinder throats and the forcing cone measured about .454". Standard .452" bullets just weren't going to work with this combination. After having the cylinder throats honed to .453" things got a little better, but the forcing cone is still a little to big.

David is right......if the throats are properly sized, both cartridges are capable of excellent/similar accurary from a factory Ruger.

Lee Martin
www.singleactions.com

The 44 russian was considered the most accurate of its time and the 44 special the most accurate of its time so I would go to the 44mag. To compare the two though you would set up two identical carefully machined single shot pistols and test various loads. On a practical basis in wheel guns I'd say they are equal.

My Bisley 44 shoots better than my blackhawk 45. I used to have a SuperRedhawk 44 but it shot worse than the Blackhawk 45. I traded it. My 357Max Silver Seville beats them all hands down.
lar.

Thanks for the thoughts, fellas. I realize that there is virtually no difference in the h=inherent accuracy of the two cartridges. It just seems that Ruger usually gets chamber mouths/throats/bore dimensions right on their .44s, and still often gets them wrong on the .45s. That's my theory as to why their .44s have shot better for me OUT OF THE BOX than their .45s.

Bill/Oregon,

I would have to say that you are correct in you opinion on throat dimensions comparing the 44 Mag to the 45 Colt. Instead of a good .4525" throat, my Ruger Colts measure in the .449" to .450" range, very tight.

Dispite this though, I find they group right with my Riger 44's.

I think if the Colt had the correct throats they would out shoot the 44's.

I feel that most shooters do not load the 45 Colt to its most accurate loading levels. The Colt is a big capacity case, couple this with a relatively light 250-255 gr bullet and there is alot of air in the case with most shooters loads.

Now take a 300 gr or 325 gr bullet with either H-110, W-296 or H-LilGun and we get good +100% load density loads just like the top 44 Mag loads. Here is where the 45 shines in both accuracy and power.

It is because of loads like these that I carry the 45 over the 44 on the trail. My everyday load in the 300 gr Speer Uni-Core SP driven to 1200 fps using H-110. My heavy load uses the 355gr hard cast from Beartooth bullet driven to 1150 with the same powder. These velocities are out of a 4 5/8" barrel.

My vote goes to the 45 but its just one vote for sure.

Good Shooting!!!

50

Fifty: Thanks for your comments. I found a limited edition stainless Bisley with 5.5-inch barrel in .44 for a darned good price, so I went that way. I agree the .45 has the edge when loaded to its potential, but the .44 is mighty close behind when loaded with a heavy cast slug on top of a case full of H110 or 296.

I concure with DavidReed.

My FA .45 is increadibly more accurate than my .44 vequerio.

Weapon design/quality is very important.