.44 Special vs .45 Colt: The Gentleman's Big Bores

Two cartridges, one temperament

Put a .44 Special and a .45 Colt side by side on the counter and most people can't tell you which is which without reading the headstamp. Both are straight-walled, rimmed, heavy-bulleted and slow. Both were built for a world of lead bullets and big cylinders. Neither was designed to impress a chronograph.

That shared temperament is exactly why people love them. A big, heavy bullet moving at modest speed gives you a deep, flat boom and a recoil impulse that rolls rather than snaps. In a steel revolver of decent weight, both are pleasant to shoot for a long afternoon. The differences are in history, in the guns you can buy, and in what each cartridge can grow into.

Where each came from

.45 Colt: the Army's cartridge

The .45 Colt is the elder by a generation. Colt and the Union Metallic Cartridge Company developed it as a black-powder round for the new Colt Single Action Army, and the U.S. Army accepted it in 1873. The original Army load was a stout one, a 255-grain lead bullet at roughly 850 to 900 feet per second, and it kicked hard enough that the Army later toned it down to around 800.

It has an awkward bit of history, too. The Army also bought the Smith & Wesson Schofield, whose cylinder was too short for the Colt round, and for a while ordnance shipped the shorter .45 Schofield to everybody. That's one common explanation for why shooters still say ".45 Long Colt", a name that never appeared on a box from Colt. There was never a ".45 Short Colt". Whatever you call it, the cartridge outlived the cavalry, the frontier and most of the guns built for it.

.44 Special: the one that grew up

Smith & Wesson created the .44 Special in 1907 and introduced it in 1908 as the chambering for its big New Century revolver. It is a lengthened .44 Russian, a hair longer to hold a little more powder, and it was never a hot cartridge from the factory.

Handloaders saw potential. By the late 1920s enthusiasts were pushing it well past factory velocities, and writer Elmer Keith became the cartridge's loudest champion. His experiments pointed straight at the .44 Remington Magnum, which arrived in 1956 as a .44 Special case lengthened by about an eighth of an inch. That extra length is deliberate: it keeps a high-pressure magnum round from chambering in an older, weaker .44 Special gun.

The magnum nearly killed its parent. Then cowboy action shooting, and shooters who wanted a softer big bore, gave the .44 Special a second life.

Side by side

The pressure numbers tell the main story. Both cartridges are low-pressure rounds, and neither is anywhere near the .44 Magnum's 36,000 psi ceiling. The .45 Colt's rim is notably narrow, a holdover from its early days, which is one reason the cartridge was slow to appear in rifles. Modern cases have a proper extractor groove, so it's a non-issue in a revolver.

The guns decide it

For most people, the cartridge question is really a revolver question. Which guns do you want to own?

Where .44 Special shines: compact big bores and magnum flexibility

The .44 Special's slightly smaller case lets designers build five-shot big bores on surprisingly small frames. The Charter Arms Bulldog is the poster child. Ammunition Depot's listing for the standard stainless model shows five rounds, a 2.5-inch barrel and 21 ounces, which is very light for anything with a .44 on the barrel. It's the gun our Bulldog and .44 Special piece argues for.

The other .44 Special advantage is quiet but large: every .44 Magnum revolver fires it. Own a 629, a Super Redhawk or a Super Blackhawk and you already own a .44 Special. You can shoot it gently for practice and keep magnum loads for the field. That kind of flexibility is why .44 Special loads are such a sensible first box for a new magnum owner.

Ruger has also chambered the five-shot GP100 for .44 Special, and a few SAA-style guns come in it, such as the Cimarron Bad Boy listed in Ammunition Depot's revolver catalog.

Where .45 Colt shines: single actions and selection

If you picture a cowboy revolver, you are picturing a .45 Colt. The Colt Single Action Army, the reproductions from Uberti, Pietta and others, the Ruger Vaquero and Blackhawk: the cartridge is part of their identity. Ruger's Blackhawk in .45 Colt, for example, is a 7.5-inch, six-shot, 42-ounce single action according to Ammunition Depot's listing, adjustable sights and all.

The .45 Colt also turns up in double actions. Ammunition Depot's revolver catalog lists .45 Colt versions of the current Colt Anaconda alongside the .44 Magnum ones, plus Smith & Wesson's Model 25 Classic and Charter's Bulldog XL. And it's the "45" in the .410-shotshell revolvers like the Taurus Judge and S&W Governor, which we cover in our Governor review.

About heavy "Ruger-only" loads

Search the .45 Colt online and you'll run into talk of "Ruger-only" loads. Some reloading manuals have printed a separate, higher-pressure section for the .45 Colt, intended only for strong modern large-frame revolvers such as the Ruger Blackhawk, Redhawk and the original large-frame Vaquero. Those loads are not for Colt SAA reproductions, which have thinner cylinder walls, and they are not for the smaller-framed New Vaquero either.

We are not going to print any of those recipes, and you should treat them as a specialist handloader's topic, not a reason to buy a cartridge. For factory ammunition, the rule is simple: if the box is standard .45 Colt, it is meant to be safe in any sound gun chambered for it. If the box carries special warnings about which revolvers it's for, read them and believe them.

The .44 Special doesn't have this split personality. When a .44 shooter wants more, he buys .44 Magnum and a gun built for it.

Shooting and feeding them

At the range, both feel similar in a gun of similar weight: a deliberate push with plenty of muzzle rise and a big, satisfying report. Heavier guns make them gentle; a 21-ounce Bulldog makes either one lively. If recoil is your concern, pick the gun first and the cartridge second. Our big-bore recoil guide covers grip and stance.

Ammunition is where the .45 Colt has a quiet edge. At Ammunition Depot, the .45 Long Colt ammo category ran to a few dozen listings when we looked, from cowboy loads such as Magtech Cowboy Action 250-grain lead flat nose to Remington's Performance WheelGun 250-grain round nose. The .44 Special category is smaller, around twenty listings when we checked, with options like HSM Cowboy Action 240-grain semi-wadcutter.

Two practical notes:

• .44 Magnum owners can buy either .44. If your local shelf is empty of .44 Special, a .44 Magnum gun can still shoot magnums. A .44 Special-only gun can't return the favor.
• Cowboy loads are the gentle end. Lead flat-nose cowboy loads in either caliber are made for steel targets at match distances. They are pleasant and easy on old-style guns.

Which one should you buy?

• You want a single action that looks like 1873: .45 Colt. It's the original, and the selection of guns and cowboy ammo is deeper.
• You want a compact big-bore double action: .44 Special in a Bulldog-type revolver.
• You want one gun that can be mild or wild: a .44 Magnum revolver fed .44 Special most of the time.
• You want a double action that also takes .410 shotshells: that's the .45 Colt's territory, via the Judge and Governor.
• You already shoot cowboy rifles: match the rifle. Sharing one cartridge between rifle and revolver is the oldest convenience in the game.

Editorial note: This is an independent editorial overview built from manufacturer specifications, retailer listings and published sources. We have not performed hands-on testing of the products discussed, and nothing here is a performance guarantee. Verify specifications, compatibility and the law where you live.

Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links to Ammunition Depot. We may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial choices are not influenced by commissions. Check current price, stock and specifications directly with the retailer.