Handloading the .44 Special in a Taylor's & Company Cattleman Revolver
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- čas přidán 14. 01. 2021
- In This episode of Handloader TV Jeremiah will showcase the Taylor's & Company Cattleman Standard Finish Revolver chambered in .44 Special. We will cover the Revolver, handloads and share with you the results of our testing.
A well made 44 special revolver truly is “Special “.
I agree in full, it's a great cartridge and very under appreciated! --Jeremiah
A Lovely pistol with great results and great music too! Thanks a kindly, Many Blessings and Good Shootin! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania
Thank you very much for the kind words and the feedback we greatly appreciate it! Good shooting to you and happy Handloading! --Jeremiah
Excellent video! I have been shooting the 44 Special with handloads since 1972.
My fondness for the 44Spl is long standing. There is something rather gentlemanly about the cartridge in my opinion. A good thumper that is gentle on the joints.
The Acme bullets you used are the same as the ones on my bench and my experience with them mirrors yours. Quality, accurate bullets that come in attractive, reusable and quite handy packaging.
Another great video
After shooting it I would have to agree with you it is a great shooter and recoil is very controllable.
I am very glad to hear you have had good experiences with the Acme bullets as well they certainly impressed us. We love the packaging as well!
Thank you for watching and for sharing your experience it is always appreciated!
Taylor's sixguns always attract my attention whenever I see them in a gun shop. Sadly, none has followed me home yet, but that may change. Nice little herd of pronghorns making their way from right to left near the base of that little butte during the Ransom Rest sequence. I'm a big fan of the .44 Special since I first fired one, curiously enough, right around 44 years ago. I even snagged a copy of John Taffin's "Book of the .44" from him (autographed) at a gun show in Boise some years back. Enjoyed your video very much. Cheers.
They really are nice guns, I throughly enjoyed testing with this one Taylor's sent us this one to test and I regret not buying it in all honestly. Indeed we have a resident herd that practically lives on our range. They are always hanging around, we actually had to close the range for a while because a doe gave birth to twins right on the range. We have video of them in our range closed video. It is pretty neat to get to watch them grow up and see them around while we are testing! I think the .44 Special is a very underappreciated cartridge by most people. That is an excellent book, he really did a great job with his series of books! Thank you so much for watching we greatly appreciate it and appreciate the feedback! --Jeremiah
Awesome video as always, you’re the perfect person for these videos!
Thank you very much for the kind words. I must say that I have been overwhelmed with the support and interest in the videos we produce. I am glad people are finding them informative and helpful. - Jeremiah
Great video. I know that it's been up for a couple of years. But I just picked up a 44 special and am liking it as a carry weapon. I'd like to see more on it. Especially in the birdshead configuration.
BTW, videos like this earn my subscription.
Thank you for the kind words and the feedback we greatly appreciate it! I still carry a 45 Colt quite often usually on horseback but the 44 special is no slouch either and a great option! I would love to do more on the 44 special in the future and will certainly take that into consideration. We have a lot of other projects in the works but we'll see what we can do. This video was actually suggested by another viewer so if we get enough folks asking for it we'll bump it up on our to do list.
Thank you for subscribing we greatly appreciate it we pride ourselves in making quality videos that are easy to watch and honest showcasing the results exactly as we get them and not just sharing our thoughts or opinions on the subject. --Jeremiah
Nice work, Nice gun, Nice loads thanks for all the good information
You are most welcome, thank you for watching and for the feedback!
Wow! Great video, I'm a 44 Special lover as well.
Glad you enjoyed the video! Thank you for watching. We were very happy with the performance of both the revolver and the cartridge.
Excellent content and video quality. Due to the number of older, less strong guns out there, most .44 Spl data in manuals is extremely anemic. Glad to have plenty of guns out there that will safely handle the true potential of this great old cartridge.
We are happy to hear you enjoyed it we always appreciate hearing feedback. That is true although there is some data out there for the stronger .44s thank you for watching!
Yeah, it’s one of my favorites along with .45 Colt. I read his articles over and over... I should probably get a life, but life without six guns doesn’t sound very appealing.
I think you win the unofficial best comment for this video! I am a huge .45 colt fan as well. Ha ha well we appreciate the support and I must agree with you on a life without sixguns, doesn't sound like much of a life at all!
see, thats ya problem, six guns, 1) you need more than 6 and 2) of those 6 shooters, you need 5 shooters.
@@paulfisher4660 You certainly can't have too many!
@@HandloaderTV ; I'm a bit late here, I just finished watching this particular episode and, I must say, I really enjoyed every minute of it.
I have only four Ruger Single Action Six guns and I want a couple more. I'm definitely going to check out the Taylor's.
Skeeter Skelton, was, and still, one of my favorite Six gun Journalists. I have tried his .44 Special load of 7.5 grs of Unique pushing a 240 gr SWC out of my Ruger .44 Magnum Super Blackhawk and, I thoroughly enjoy this load but, that was back in the day when you could readily buy whatever components you wanted. I will definitely be looking for some of the powders and, bullets you've mentioned here. I've got a quantity of new Starline brass on hand for the .44 and, .41 Special Cartridges.
Thanks for sharing this very interesting and informative video with us.
PS: I'm a new Subscriber to your channel. I appreciate your straight forward presentations.
Stan
@@harrisonmantooth3647 Better late than never we say! We still greatly appreciate you watching and are glad to hear that you enjoyed this episode!
They are certainly worth a look, if you like really slick and smooth running actions be sure to check out their tuned models they are quite impressive and you won't be disappointed!
Skeeter was an exceptional individual and has been a long time favorite of mine as well. It is pretty amazing how uniform our results were across the board with this sixgun. Hopefully we will see those days again where we can buy whatever powder and bullets we like. Starline makes some excellent brass, the .41 magnum is on my to do list hopefully one day we will get around to doing a video on that as well!
Thank you for watching us and for the feedback it is always appreciated and thank you for subscribing we appreciate your support. We do our best to keep it simple and pack as much information into a video while still making it easy to watch! --Jeremiah
Thanks for sharing!
No problem thank you for watching!
Thanks for this information. I think I may be the viewer you referred to in your introduction. I've been a big fan of the. 44 SPL for at least the last 25 years. I have also been a Handloader magazine subscriber since 1992.
I believe so we had a few people request a video on the cartridge it gets hard to keep track sometimes. Thank you very much for all your support. It's because of people like you that we can continue to produce unbiased videos and magazines.
The single action looks nice, I have a Ruger GP100 with a 3” barrel that is also very accurate.
I load 200gr Lee cast and powder coated bullets with varring charges of Red Dot, Titegroup, 2400 and 700X. The 700X loads are my revolvers favorites’ running around 830fps and holding very tight groups at 7 yards.
Thank you for sharing your loads and experience here in the comments section I think that is truly what the comments sections should be all about. A place where folks can come to learn more. Thanks for watching! --Jeremiah
Nice gun and loads thanks for a look into 44 spl
Thank you very much, you are most welcome! Thank you for watching!
Great video, I love.44 Special. I was surprised by the velocity of the 12.5 grain of 2400 load and may have to give it a try. Thanks to Brian Pearce for my favorite all-around .44 Special load: 7.2 grains of Alliant Power Pistol under home cast 250 grain Lyman 429421’s in Starline brass. Gives about 875 from a 4” 24 and has an extreme spread of 10 for 5 shots.
I can honestly say I have a new respect for the cartridge. I was surprised with the velocity and accuracy with that load as well. Brian does excellent work, lots of good information in his articles. Thanks for sharing your personal experience with the cartridge. It's always nice to hear what others are up to. Thank you for watching and for your continued support!
Very good presentation, thanks. My Cimarron .44 spec. Bisley sure profited from this. It seems to prefer the Accurate #5, but will continue to T&E with your powder selection.
You are very welcome glad to hear you enjoyed the video and are putting the loads to good use! I tried to pick less common powders to help folks out since powder is rather hard to come by these days! --Jeremiah
I like the 44 special also colt saa like the skeeter load and for my Ruger 44 special I like Brian Pierces load 9 grains of power pistol both loads with Keith bullets
It is really hard to beat the skeeter load and those Keith bullets provide exceptional all around performance. Brian is a master Handloader and has some excellent loads and knowledge to share for sure! Thank you for watching and sharing your experience it is always appreciated!
The 44 special is a grand old cartridge. Very versatile.
I agree in full it is a great cartridge and certainly one of my favorites! Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
The Ubertis have really good polish and blue with decent color case. They are extremely accurate if you can see the sights..... sometimes... with glaring sun? not so easy. Mine shot 9" low so I took a tiny bit off the front sight.. and it was great!
I agree, they do make a pretty nice gun especially for the price! I haven't had any major issues with the sights, there are better options for sure but they are not traditional either. I was grateful to see how well this one was zeroed from the factory. Thanks for watching! --Jeremiah
My deep cover self defense gun is my charter arms bulldog pug 2.5" bbl blued revolver with the hammer spur ground off by the factory. I paid only 2 hundred for it from a seller on the internet. I cast a 240 gr lead bullet molded with a MIHEC (slovenian machinist) penta shaped hollow point over 5 grains of unique powder in starline cases and a winchester lp primer. It is accurate and the recoil I can live with in the light revolver. A increase to 6 grains takes the fun out of the gun as it lets you know in recoil. My target gun is a Ruger Blackhawk .44 Spcl. Bisley model 5.5" bbl in blued revolver. I load 6.2 grains of Unique over the same bullet as the bulldog. The heavier gun handles the recoil well and it is a joy to shoot and produced excellent accuracy for me. I never bothered with a .44 Magnum as I really do not need the power and recoil to punch paper or ring steel gongs. I do have a Ruger Super Redhawk Toklat model in 454 Casull by Wild West guns here in Las Vegas. This is their Wolverine custom revolver that started out as a standard Ruger but has been tweeked and modified. It also had a cut cylinder that accepts moon clips and I can utilize .45 ACP in it for plinking work. It also handles .45 Colt ammo as well as the raucous 454 Casull ammo. The barrel was cut down to 5 inches and ported. A full action and trigger job came with it along with some lightening cuts on the frame and barrel and a nice stainless steel finish and excellent sights and scope rings that fit onto the cut outs on the frame. I will not sell either of these 3 revolvers ever as I enjoy them too much.
I must admit I have never been a big fan of the .44 Special until this video it really changed my personal bias against this cartridge. I think there is a lot of merit to having a dedicated .44 Special revolver. I appreciate your sharing your experience here and taking the time to write such a comment. It is always nice to hear what others are using and what they like. Thanks for watching!
You are correct; I probably need a BFR in .475 Linebaugh.
Those are very nice guns I have always wanted to get my grubby mitts on one of those!
Nice one. Thanks for another great video. Fantastic backdrop during the range session - is that Montana?
Also l really appreciate your tidy and organised reloading set up, easy to see the products and l'm also getting ideas for my own set up.
Stay safe, cheers
Thank you very much, our camera man does an outstanding job 2nd to none in our opinion. Believe it or not we are located in Northern Arizona. Our range is about 25 minutes from the office. It's a lot of work keeping the bench that tidy but we think it's worth it and important for the videos. Thank you for watching and for the feedback it is greatly appreciated. You as well and have a great day!
Except for the grips, that Taylor's looks like a dead ringer for my full-size Vaquero in .44 mag. And it's funny (or maybe not), but that is the best-feeling, most natural holding gun I own, and I wouldn't hesitate to use it for my home gun. Where were the sights viewing when you shot those groups? Center of target, higher or lower? I ask because I found the front sight to be ridiculously tall, causing the groups to be several inches lower than where I was holding. Also, I usually shoot my groups at 25 yards, and sometimes 50. But it surely does open them up. I'll try 15 yards and see if I come close to yours.
I too am a big fan of the Ruger Vaquero, they are very nice sixguns and I have a matched set in .45 Colt that I would love to showcase in the video. Neither have never been fired though and I am a bit hesitant to fire them but I know it'll happen sooner or later! In comparing the two guns I would say the Ruger has a little bit larger frame and more grip surface when compared to the Taylor's other than that they are similar. when working the action the Rugers I have seem to be a little smoother but if you get the tuned model which is not featured in this video the Taylor's tuned sixguns are significantly smoother than the Ruger action.
As for the hold it was a dead center hold with this gun in order to print those groups at 15 yards. All the left to right and up and down is simply from changing loads the point of impact was not adjusted from load to load. I like shooting groups at 25-50 yards as well. We settled on 15 yards simply because it is easier on us for filming purposes and the less accurate guns we have tested can sometimes get a little wild when shooting groups at 25 yards. I would love to do some longer rage testing in the future though I just need to pick a distance or distances to further test and verify good loads. I would love to hear your results from 15 yard groups when you test it! best of luck to you and good shooting! Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
Great video. I have two Uberti .44 Special's, 4 3/4" and 5 1/2" and wouldn't take for either of them.
Anyone else notice the herd of antelope in the background while he was firing the first load?
Thank you very glad to hear you enjoyed the episode! It is a great cartridge!
Ha ha we were wondering when someone was going to comment on them. They hang out all the time on our range, I guess they don't mind the gunfire. We of course were shooting a different direction in spite of what the camera angle may look like and have a great backstop. If you watch our range closed video you will see 2 fawns that were born right on our range and that is the same herd in the background in this video. Thanks so much for watching!
The gods of war:
Elmer Keith
Jeff Cooper
Indeed two legends in their own respects. Thanks for watching!
T and C just a middle man for Uberti so more 💰 can be charged...but very nice looking firearms...!!
Thought you were going to load a few cases for us showing sizing,priming,crimping...😢
no complaint just curious but do you measure groups from center to center orhow do you measure thanks
Great question I measure them from center to center, or I will measure edge to edge and subtract the bullet diameter from that measurement. In a perfect world those measurements should be the same. Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment! --Jeremiah
Informative video. I've used .44 Special as my Cowboy Action caliber since 1998.
I'm surprised you only shot 5 rounds out of each 6-shooter. I understand the reasoning behind doing that, but shooting from a Ransom Rest is not the same as from a holster. No safety issue is involved.
Instead, you missed the chance to find out if all 6 cylinders shoot to the same point of aim. It's always possible that 1 cylinder (or more) in a revolver is not as accurate as the others. Knowing that means you can always use the inaccurate cylinder as the empty one.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the video and thank you for the feedback. We always shoot 5 shot groups so that way they are comparable from video to video. We also make sure to not use the same 5 chambers as we test we usually mark the chambers so that way we are sure to use all of them throughout our testing. We did not notice any unusual discrepancies from one chamber to the next. We also usually measure the chambers using a brownells range rod. You bring up a very good point though and perhaps we should have stated all that in the video and perhaps even showed us measuring the cylinder. Thank you for watching!
Yes excellent point as the older 44s has looser tolerances than modern manufactured firearms.
6:47 A herd of Pronghorn walking across?
Indeed we have a resident herd that practically lives near the range, they know it is safe and we keep the coyotes and other critters that eat them away. I guess they don't mind the gunfire. We of course were shooting a different direction in spite of what the camera angle may look like and have a great backstop. If you watch our range closed video you will see 2 fawns that were born right on our range and that is the same herd in the background in this video. Thanks so much for watching!
I have the Cimmaron in 4 3/4" in 44 spl which you have to order. I run 250 grain powder coat or HT coat cast bullets that I cast at around 800 fps. Load uses A#5 and is not hot but that gun? it shoots as good or better than even my 1911's
You have a very similar gun to what we have here then! I appreciate you sharing your load data with us it is always nice to hear what others are doing. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
@@HandloaderTV LOL... it is really great to me to see relatively young guys like yourself are so into this and have a place to shoot. When I was your age I had a VERY limited budget and no internet existed and... the amount of products available was almost nothing. I started reloading with a 'Tong tool' for 38 spl but it got the job done. Now? I can buy literally THOUSANDS of tools and powders etc I have like 25 molds I have collected over the years but in 74? I had one mold single cavity for 250 SWC 44... I melted lead over a camp stove and used a spoon to dip.. and yes.... I realize this sounds like old guy who walked 3 miles uphill in the snow both ways to go to school but it is true. I be Mike can tell you about how little money and tools we had back then.... Hey! that might make a good article.
@@doranmaxwell1755 I am just glad that so many great and knowledge folks were willing to teach me along the way it has been quite a journey and I have only just begun. I can relate to the money difficulty for sure I just sit and stare at the online stores hoping for sales and for prices to come down or me to actually save my pennies long enough to purchase the said product. That is partly why our videos are so far spaced out. I love hearing about that I started casting bullets over a camp stove as well, I did have a Ladel that was passed down by my dad thankfully eventually I found his Lee melting furnace and have been steadily increasing my production, molds and tools ever since. I enjoy hearing stories from the past and knowing what things were like back then and that is partly why we did a series with Mike Venturino. He is a wealth of knowledge that I would love to see preserved and available for the next generation. --Jeremiah
@@HandloaderTV LOL... a lot of the stuff I learned is pretty much useless today. or just common knowledge which is fine with me. What I have learned is that the latest and greatest tool is not always worth the money. I have spent thousands on stuff I no longer use or was never useful. When I teach new people I try to get em into it the cheapest way possible so they avoid expensive mistakes.
How many clicks? Is it the most accurate Colt 1873 reproduction? Thanks!
It's 3 clicks on cocking the hammer if memory serves me correct. I don't know if I'd say it's the most accurate but it's very good in terms of copying the single action. There is very little differences and most I consider to be minor differences. Thanks for watching and great questions! --Jeremiah
@HandloaderTV
Thank you, my friend.
@@HandloaderTV
Anything on 44-40 WCF?
@@bustabass9025 Great question, we have been trying to get Taylor's to send us one but so far have been unable to get our hands on one but it is in the works! Hopefully last quarter of 2024 if everything goes right. --Jeremiah
@@HandloaderTV
Great! That's one I definitely will be waiting for! 👍🏿
iam looking for 7.62x45 czech ammo
Finding ammo is certainly challenging at this time! I wish I had some info on that for you these days I just don't know where you could find it in stock for a reasonable price.
I like 7 gr of Unique, 240 gr bullet cast.
Sounds like a good load to me! Thanks for sharing that with us, I feel that it adds a lot of value to the comments section! --Jeremiah
I have watched this a of 6/26/2022 so my comments are not timely. 15 yards! No! Not when using a ransom rest. Minimum of 25 yards and 50 would be better. This round is famous for its accuracy and to not test it at a reasonable hunting distance was a disservice to the viewers. Your choice of bullets was good as the 44 special really shines with good lead bullets. Otherwise, the presentation was good using the ransom rest.
No worries I still do my best to read and respond to every one of these sometimes it takes me a while to get around to and every now and then a few fall through the cracks but I still do my best! There is a reason we settled on 15 Yards, everything we test handgun wise is at 15 yards, This makes all of our videos directly comparable. It greatly speeds up production. After each load is shot, we have to replace the target sometimes we test hundreds of loads. It also allows for minimum effects of the wind on the bullet many times when we are shooting and trying to film we are fighting the wind. While This may not be ideal it also offers us other options. Provided there is enough interest we can always test good loads at 25 or 50 yards. In my experience though a good load at 15 yards is a good load at 50 or even 100 yards. My current Javelina load for .45 ACP was tested at 15 yards, confirmed at 50 offhand and I harvested a Javelina at 85 Yards with a single shot using that load. So I wouldn't discount the testing simply because it's at 15 yards. And it allows everything to be directly comparable from video to video. I appreciate the kind words and that otherwise you liked the presentation. Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment!! --Jeremiah
@@HandloaderTV Thanks for the quick reply. Maybe I'm just old and grew up in a different time, when slow fire was done one handed at fifty yards and timed and rapid fire was done at twenty-five. As to the wind the only round I ever experienced significant wind issues with was the 32 S&W Long. But I will surrender to modern times. Once again thanks for the reply.
@@lawrencehudson9939 No problem I try to reply quick provided I am not working on the next video. Nothing wrong with testing at 25 or 50 yards, just not ideal for our situation. Hindsight being 20/20 I wish we would have selected 25 yards for all of our testing and then done 50-100 for follow up testing and long range testing surprisingly enough there has not been a lot of interest in long range testing. I would love to do more of that in the future. We get pretty bad winds some times as high as 50 MPH with gusts up to 65. It has blown shingles right off of my house! We try not to shoot in those conditions but sometimes preliminary testing must be conducted in order to get these videos out in time. I appreciate you understanding and taking the time to watch and comment!! It really helps us provide content that our viewers like and I would be all for some long range load testing so far you are 1 of 2 folks who have even mentioned it! Thanks again --Jeremiah
@@HandloaderTV Thanks.
@@lawrencehudson9939 You are very welcome!! --Jeremiah
Those are NOT traditional sights. Those are the new style squared sights that the sass gamers pushed on the spaghetti gun makers.
This is nothing but a "Commercial" for the revolver. So "perfect" and not even tuned.
No "Skeeter" Load.
Please note that 3:06 Jeremiah stated that it has a "traditional fixed front sight" which is correct, nothing about the rear sight being traditional, the rear sights changed quite a bit depending on generation and model on the original colts.
We strive to provide honest and trustworthy reviews along with reliable and accurate information. The gun could have felt gritty, it did not, the gun could have shot poorly, it did not, and the gun could have had poor fit and finish, it did not. If you watch our other videos you will see we show the results as they are and we try to present a just the facts approach we report you decide. If you feel that this is a "commercial" for the revolver I would urge you to look at the facts and reconsider your evaluation. Our main goal here is to educate the viewer and provide good data for those who are interested. We are not sponsored by anyone nor do we take any advertising revenue for any of our videos. I assure you it was not our intention to make a "commercial" when we made this video.
As for there being no "Skeeter load" at 5:50 it was stated that components were difficult to source and there is a smaller variety of loads then what we normally have.
I appreciate you taking the time to watch the video and to comment we do appreciate the feedback. Have a great rest of your day!
@@HandloaderTV Sorry, when the fixed sights are shown, the front sight is "squared off" .
Every 1st gen Colt I've shot has a tapered front sight. Tapered from bottom to top, my 2nd and 3rd gen have those same front sight. And the Taylor revolver has a Very Wide front blade and very Wide rear notch. I've never seen a Colt, even those made in this century with completely squared sights. Not even the Colt Cowboy had sights like those shown.
Sorry , Guys
Have a great rest of your day.
@@walksfletcher That is true it has less slope than some of the single action Army colt revolvers. I assure you though that there were many different sight options and even variations. Again I am just talking about the front sight and it was never stated that the sights are identical to the Colts just that the front sight is a "traditional front sight" which Is true. I too have several First Generation Colt revolvers with the slope you describe but I also have seen many with nearly identical sights to the Taylor's & Company Revolver we have here. I am unable to post pictures in the comments however, I can post a link to an article that Mike Venturino wrote on the Colt single action Army pay careful attention to the photos and you can find a 2nd generation Colt with a nearly identical front sight to the Taylor's and it is a 2nd generation colt. I will paste the link below. I appreciate that we can have this discussion and hopefully help each other learn new things, I mean no disrespect in my comments and hopefully it comes across as nothing less than cordial. We strive to get things correct in all of our videos and perform lots of research before we produce these videos to ensure they are right. If they are wrong we would be more than happy to recognize that and correct it. As we are here to help others learn and the last thing we want is to spread false information or create false internet rumors.
www.handloadermagazine.com/colt-s-single-ation-army