I follow Paul's YouTube channel.......excellent education....good guy.

 

44 MAG cartridge is neither high velocity nor high energy but it kills well because those wide bullets produce large holes and deadly wound channels, especially the hollow tips. But it does it's best work at about 100 yards or less. In contrast, 30-30 shoots much flatter and will produce kill shots well beyond 100 yards. I've loaded the 125 grain Sierra spitzer bullet and toppled antelope at the extended distance of about 225 yards. For the hunter who needs to make an occasional long shot, 30-30 is the better choice. But for many hunters, the 44 MAG does quite well indeed at common forest distances.

TR

 

Ditto, I also follow Paul on YT. He has several good videos. I particulalry liked his 38 vs 357 video.

 

Entertaining video. Had the results I expected. Been interesting to see a comparison of impact at 100 yards.

DEP

 

Good video,thanks for posting.

 

I would have liked to see 2 vs 2 hits on the meat targets. I am not sure why you would shoot 2 30-30 and then 5 44's and do the comparison. Good video anyways!

 

Most of these "tests" or comparison's are not very well done and at best offer support for a theory. As experiments you can tear them apart pretty easily. I mentioned a 100 yard test because pistol cartridges lose velocity pretty fast. My 38-55 can be loaded to the same ballistics pretty much as a 44 magnum. It uses the same bullet weights. If you look at the charts it also will give about 50 yards over the 44 mag. Higher sectional density with the same weight bullet.

In his book Cartridges of the World, Barnes made a comment that the hot loaded 44-40 at about 1700 fps was far better than the 30-30. Yet looking at what was tested that may not be true. Shooting cement blocks doesn't prove a lot to me. Heavy bullets tend ot perform better in general on stuff like that due to the fact that most of the bullet shatters. I generally don't try to shoot through a cement block to et a deer.

DEP

 

Thanks for calling them "cement blocks" because that is what they are and not "cinder blocks" Cinder blocks were made from coal cinders in northeast Pa. many years ago. I watched that video a few days ago and I tend to agree .44 = 100 yard rifle.

 

He seemed to get carried away on calling the 44mag a 42 cal. Trying to impress us I guess. We call the 30cals that because somewhere down the line they decided to name calibers after the hole drilled, before they rifled the barrel, figure rifling for jacketed bullets about .004 deep and you get 308 diameter bullets. BUT, pistol calibers like the 44 started to get named after case diameter. Best example is the 38 special. When cartridges started taking over they were converting cap and ball revolvers to cartridge guns. A Colt Navy or 36 Army had a cylinder that took a 380 ball. To convert they had cartridges similar to our 22 LR in which you had a heel to fit in the case and the bullet diameter the same as the case. Worked very well for these conversions Even when they started to make different cartridges like the various 38's we see where you have a more traditional cartridge, the 38 cal moniker stuck. The "44" revolvers were actually 45's taking a 454 ball. The case dimension of the 44 mag is about 456. But the revolvers were called 44's so the name 44 for a variety of cartridges stuck when they started loading them normally. Europeans use the diameter of the bullet for their designations with the exception of the English which use our system. My 303 brit is supposed to have a 311 bullet. .004 rifling added on to a 303 diameter hole gives you the 311.

As an old English playwright said "A big ado about nothing"

They sell both locally and the Cinder blocks are lighter weight. I had a old Brown Bess musket that I played with. It took a 715 round ball that weighed over 500 grains. When I went to match one time, they provided a few gongs for people to plink at. I loaded the old Bess with 90 to 100 grains of powder which may have given 900 fps. People would walk up to the gongs with various heavy loads in their smaller caliber rifles and get a kick out of how they would swing. I shot one of those gongs and wrapped the chain twice where another pulled out of the ground. That big heavy slow round ball would not shatter like the faster rifles were doing. When you looked at the base of the gongs you would find only fragments except for the ball from the Bess which were large discs (some fragmenting) . More energy was retained due to the sheer mass of the ball and the slower velocity. The rifles probably did as much damage to live tissue as the old Bess but on solid objects it was better. The cement block test showed that the lighter 30-30 bullets shattered more on cement and nothing more.

DEP

 

I only shoot wild hogs and am not concerned about harvesting meat. Have one of each cal, both marlins. "Brush" or "scrub" environments where 9 out of 10 shots are under 80 yards for me the compact 1894 in 44 magnum with 10 rounds, open sites, rifle spec 44 Magnum reloads is the rifle for the job. In more open country the 30-30 with a 2-7 scope gets me out to 165 yards with confidence. Personally I find the 125 grain pills inferior to 165 to 170 grain projectiles for pigs. So I am promoting one of each a 44 and a 30-30 cal...... If you are shooting deer my observations may not be relevant.

 

I have .44 Magnum 1894 rifles, but in order to make an 'educated' judgment on the accuracy of that video,
I think I need to get myself a Marlin in 30-30! :biggrin:

 

That is interesting information. I didn't know that they even made cinder blocks any more. There was a subdivision in the Endicott New York area called Cinder City. You are absolutely right about the caliber confusion.

 

Thanks for sharing the video.

 

Later rifling methods like the microgoove are shallower and the .004 I used is not a standard but does kind of show where some of the designations came from. That and simplicity. I also think marketing or psychology seemed to come in. Cartridge's names seem to be catchy, like 30-30. The 250-3000 Savage became the 250 Savage. 30-30 stuck over 30WCF. 44-40 is commonly used over 44WCF. Also to look at the 44's In the lead bullet days rifling was deeper and the land to land in a 44 shot from a 45 groove to groove is in the 44's and it was easier just to say 44 than 442 or what ever.


Calling the 44 mag a 42 is also incorrect as the bullets are 43 caliber and when fired will have grooves that when measured might be 42 but the bullet itself comes out at 43. In a Marlin generally when slugged the slugs measure 431 as would the bullets. Just for the record the .311 32's were named also based on the 38's. The 32 Cap and ball pistols were 32 caliber and a few cartridges were made with heeled bullets such that the bullets were true 32's. They again evolved into the current 311 when loaded as today. The cap and ball cartridge conversions they sell today for the 36 do not work well because the bullets are too small. Some used hollow based bullets as in the old 41 Colt but the best are those loaded with same diameter heeled bullets like the 22LR.

DP