The evolution of the .44 Magnum

I don't have much confidence in the idea that we humans evolved from pond scum but I know for certain that firearms and ammunition have evolved through the ages to give us the wonderful products we use today. I want to tell you the story of how we have gotten the guns and cartridges we have today, describing the advancements made that have resulted in the products we use today, one gun and/or one cartridge at a time. This column will do that with the .44 Magnum cartridge.

I will begin with the immediate predecessors to the revolvers we have today. They were the Colt and Smith & Wesson "cap and ball" single action revolvers.

Powder was poured into the cylinder chambers, then a round lead ball was placed on the opening where the powder was and a ram rod mounted on the bottom of the barrel was used to force the lead ball into the cylinder chamber on top of the powder charge. Grease of one kind or another was then smeared across the front of the cylinder face to prevent sparks from jumping from one cylinder chamber to another. A "percussion cap" was then placed onto the nipple at the rear of that cylinder chamber. As the hammer of the revolver was cocked, the cylinder turned bringing that cylinder chamber and percussion cap under the hammer. When the trigger was pulled, the hammer would fall onto the percussion cap sending sparks into the cylinder chamber where the powder and round ball had been placed, thus firing the revolver much like it is done today.

You will notice the powder, the "bullet" and the "primer" were all separate pieces. There was no "self contained cartridge" to be placed into the cylinder like we use today. There was no "bored through cylinder" to place a cartridge into, if we had one.

The American Civil war delayed the progress in developing the bored through cylinder. But a self-contained cartridge had been developed for the Henry lever action rifle and was used during the Civil War. In 1870 Smith & Wesson (S&W) brought out the first revolver having a bored through cylinder (from initial manufacturing) chambered for the .44 caliber rim fired, self contained cartridge that had been developed for the Henry and Winchester lever action rifles. Note, Colt and Remington had converted some previously "cap and ball" revolvers into bored through cylinder revolvers before 1870.

The US army almost immediately ordered 1,000 of the new revolvers but specified the cartridge had to be "center fired" not rim fired. This cartridge became the .44 S&W.

You can imagine how much faster a revolver can be loaded using the new self-contained cartridge compared to the previous method of loading the cap and ball revolvers.

Also note the revolvers were still single action. The double action revolver was still about 70 years away.

To be continued...

Philip is a retired Air Force officer where he was an intelligence analyst. He is also a retired law enforcement officer. He has an undergrad degree in criminal justice as well as a master's that is heavily weighted in criminal justice. He has had, in his words, "a love affair" with firearms all his adult life. He also teaches concealed carry classes.