The PMC SWC was very mild recoiling and an accurate round. The first reload, the 240gr LSWC was loaded with Unique, the second was Blue Dot, the third was Power Pistol, and the fourth was American SelectĪs you can see, the Hornady Critical Defense and Glaser Safety Slug performed very well as a defensive round while the others penetrated deep enough that I would consider as hunting rounds. Please click on the chart for a larger version Top row is bare gel, bottom is 3 layers on cloth. Then we did the same SOP with 3 layers of khaki work pants type material.įrom Left to right, Hornady Critical Defense, Glaser Safety Slug, Hornady JHP, PMC SWC, reloads 1-2-3.

Recovered the bullet, measured how deep it penetrated, how much it expanded, and weight retention. With all that in mind, I choose the Charter Arms Bulldog, reviewed here for the ballistic test since it is designed primarily as a self defense handgun.Īs with the previous ballistic tests we shot the rounds over a chronograph into bare ballistic gel. 45 Automatic have very similar ballistics. A heavy slow slug that works great in revolvers that are easily carried, not unlike the. Take a large slower bullet that makes it’s energy with mass more than velocity and it can shine from a shorter barrel. 357 Magnum are excellent cartridges but require longer barrel lengths to really perform. With such short barreled revolvers smaller bullets with high pressure cartridges such as the. Such revolvers are more conducive to carry. It is a shorter round so it can be chambered in smaller, lighter revolvers. 44 Special, though less powerful than the. 44 Special Magnum but Remington choose just. Keith had suggested the round be called the. 44 Remington Magnum, based directly off the. Elmer Keith had a huge part in the development of the. 44 Special was realized and loads that were developed by that crowd are still around today and considered ideal. It was not long and the potential of the. 44 Special trading information with one another. 44 Associates begin to really develop and push the.

44 Associates formed around the end of the 1920s and was made up of such legends such as Charles Allan “Skeeter” Skelton and the famed Elmer Keith. It was not a bad cartridge at all but nothing really new, yet.Ī grouped dubbed the The. 44 Russian using the then new smokeless propellant. With similar ballistics and accuracy of the. 44 Special was nothing special at it’s inception. 44 Russian was introduced in 1907 for the Smith and Wesson New Century Revolver. 44 Smith and Wesson Special ballistic test

Charter arms revolvers for self defense