Why two standards for the 44 mag?

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Macd
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Re: Why two standards for the 44 mag?

Post by Macd »

I went back to the spec for rifles and it is pretty obvious the test barrel was a micro groove Ruger or perhaps Marlin. I also noted a 1in38 twist rate compared to 1in 20 for the pistol. I am guessing Ruger as they were apparently the first to chamber a rifle for the 44 magnum. I was interested to see the barrel specs for a 6 and 8 groove rifle barrels. McGowan uses .429 for both and Pac Nor .429 for their 8 groove. Since standard Ballard and micro groove rifling are two different technologies I am guessing SAAMI felt a standard was required for the latter specific to rifles.
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Re: Why two standards for the 44 mag?

Post by AlaskanGuy »

Macd wrote:I have always understood that commercial ammunition is loaded for both rifle and handgun use to the SAAMI standard which is a MAP of 36,000 PSI or if you prefer 40,000 CUP. (I checked). This only makes safe sense. The first rifle I can remember using the 44 magnum was the Ruger Model 44 Carbine around 1960. Great brush gun if I recall correctly but haven't shot one in decades. In the Contender and other beefed up single shots, like other handgun cartridges, it is usually able to be loaded to more pressure per my Lyman 49th edition. That is all I know.
I got one of them.. love it except for one thing.. the twist rate is just stupid.. has trouble with the heavies... just likes 240g bullets.. i could perhaps really drive some heavier bullets harder in FPS, but just don’t wanna. I would love to have a 20 twist version. I do love the gun though, but I am against being locked into one size as one size dont fit all.. but semi auto 44 mag does fit most no matter what your shoot outta it.. it puts a lot of lead out there in a hurry.
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