Two New Toys

I had these two revolvers built by Jack Huntington specifically to do some testing between the .44 Mag and the .45 Colt. The .44 is carbon steel and beautifully blued and featers a six-shot oversized cylinder, a Shilen 5 1/2-inch banded barrel and beautiful circasian walnut grips.



The stainless gun is a .45 Colt also with a six-shot oversized cylinder, a 5 1/2-inch banded Shilen barrel, and claro walnut grips.



I have yet to shoot the .44 but will towards the end of this week.

Sweeeet, Max. Jack sure does some nice work.

Very nice!

Beautiful work! Will we get to read about these some time in the near future?

Both revolvers are beautiful! Love those grips.

Hi Karl. Thanks! Yes, my new book has a segment on these two guns. I just finished it so it'll be six months or so -- as far as I know.

Thanks gentlemen!

I look forward to buying a copy and reading it.

Very nice...... someday.

Very nice indeed

Double Trouble - Very Nice Pair !

Cool! What are you looking for with regards to the 44 vs the 45?

NICE

A great looking pair, how do you tell them apart? [just kiddin] By the way what is the name of your new book?

Nice pair, Whit!

"The Gun Digest Book of Big-Game Hunting Revolvers"

Thanks guys!

I ran a penetration test between the two calibers in my first book -- Big-Bore Revolvers -- but this is such a hot topic on gun websites, I decided to do it again, but to eliminate as many variables as possible, so I had two revolvers built with the same length/make/twist barrels, same configuration, same builder, etc.

You will have to read the book to find out the results!

Haven't shot the .44 yet, but hope to tomorrow -- it was tested in a Ransom rest.

Beautiful works of art!

I hope you didn't try them out at the shooting gallery. You almost got me kicked out.

Very, Very NICE!!!!

Haha! No I will take them to a proper range!

When you get tired of that .45 send it to me in Kentucky ,it will have a good home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those are beautiful!

I don't want to talk to you anymore. I have gun envy.

Whit, You`ve out done yourself this time.... Two excellent hunting handguns...............

great looking rigs there. you could put an end to the debate once and for all!

Hahahaha, ya right ;-)

I doubt it but it is fun add fuel!

Buying custom revolvers two at a time? Now how would that be?

How would what be, if I may be so bold to ask? Buying no, having built, yes.

Just being envious, they look like a couple of real beauties.

Hi Whit, Very nice revolvers!

Question: with two same weight bullets, one a .429 and one a .454, with barrel length and pressures the same, will the bigger caliber have a higher velocity?

Your experiment should be quite interesting, and I am sure bullet design will have a lot to do with it, even if same designs are used.

With updated loading data, the 44 is back to being quite the beast, I have found that with equal bullet weights and close to equal velocity (I was running a Super Blackhawk and a 454 Casull), the 44 was exceeding the penetration of the 45 caliber bullet albeit with a slightly smaller wound channel. I was shooting a 320gr in the 44 and a 325gr in the 45. In wet newsprint (a poor medium I know)the 44 made 38" and the 454 made 36". My current Bisley 44 loves the Lee bullet and 300-MP powder. I look forward to your book, and your new pistols are functional works of art!

Congratulations on being the owner of two fine looking handguns. Like the others I look forward to reading about them.

I went further than that and found the same thing. I tested several bullets in both .44Mag and .45Colt, in weights from 300-360gr, shot into Sim-Test ballistic media and found that the .44 consistently out-penetrated the .45 with similar weight bullets.

Still makes a smaller hole.

It would make sense that a smaller diameter projectile would penetrate deeper, due to less resistance, all else being equal. I will take the bigger hole ;-)

Hi Max
Please let us know when your new book is released. I have read your others and can't wait to read this new one.

That depends. A .44 WFN with a .340" meplat penetrated deeper and will make a larger wound channel than a .45 LFN with a .300-.310" meplat. A .45 only makes a larger hole if it has a larger meplat. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. IMHO, the net difference between the two is a wash.

Yeah, but why would anyone with even a little intellectual honesty compare two bullets with unequal meplat percentages?

Thank you! I think it'll be out in less than six months, but I will keep y'all posted. Gary contributed to this one as did some other members here.

To be honest, I don't think most people even think about it. I don't think the average person thinks beyond, ".45 is bigger than .43". Do you really think the average .45 fan realizes that his 260gr Keith bullet is functionally smaller than a 260gr .44 WFN? I'd wager that the overwhelming majority only consider the overall bullet diameter and not the meplat diameter.

The point here being not that the .44 is better than the .45 but that it is not so cut `n dried a subject most .45 fans make it out to be and that there is really very little difference between the two. I think we've already proved that the .44 is a better penetrator, handles heavy bullets just as well (if not better) and is not always functionally smaller.

Now I see, keeping toys hid from the swampy south triangle ain't cool. Looks like Jack hit out of the park again. Congrats buddy.