The .44 Russian, also known as the .44 S&W Russian, is a black-powder center-fire metallic revolver cartridge developed by

Smith & Wesson Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American firearm manufacturer headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the "Smith & Wesson Revolver Company" in 185 ...

in 1870."44 S&W Russian"
GMDR website 44 Russian article. Accessed February 19, 2008. The .44 Russian design marked the first use of an internally lubricated

bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. Bullets are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax. Bullets are made in various shapes and ...

in modern

firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

.Taffin, J
"Taffin Tests: The .44 Russian"
Sixguns website. Accessed February 19, 2008.

Development history

In the early 1870s, General Alexander Gorloff, the

military attaché A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Oppo ...

assigned to the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., approached Smith & Wesson about the possibility of negotiating a military sales contract for the purchase of a large number of Smith & Wesson Model 3

revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six ...

s for the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian A ...

.Lawman, T
"Smith & Wesson's #3, Colt's Biggest Rival in the Old West"
Sam Hane website. Accessed February 19, 2008. However, Gorloff had some reservations about the standard .44 S&W American chambering of the pistol which, similar to today's .22 long rifle, had an externally lubricated

heeled bullet A heeled bullet is a specific design of bullet where the internal diameter of the barrel is often, but not always, the same diameter as the cartridge case, and the bullet has a step at the rear to allow it to fit inside the case. Heeled bullets ...

. Gorloff correctly recognized that such ammunition tends to pick up debris and contaminants which erode the bore when fired, so a qualification of the purchase contract was that Smith & Wesson develop an internally lubricated version of their .44 round.Venturino, M
"American Legends: Those Fantastic .44s!"
''American Handgunner'', September–October 2005. Accessed February 19, 2008. Smith & Wesson did so by reducing the diameter of the .44 bullet to .429 and adding lubrication grooves to its base. This evolutionary improvement became an archetype, influencing future cartridge designs. With improved firearm metallurgy available, Smith & Wesson increased the bullet weight of the new cartridge to 246

grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

while retaining a heavy 23-grain black-powder propellant charge, which almost equaled that of the .44 American and produced a

muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/ shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately ...

of roughly 750 ft/s. As a result of these changes, the .44 Russian generated a much higher chamber pressure of 12,000 copper units of pressure (CUP) compared to the older .44 American round, which generated only 6,000–8,000 CUP. To prevent the new high-pressure ammunition from being fired in .44 American revolvers with disastrous results, the overall cartridge case length was increased by .06 in to 0.970 in. In addition, the

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an inf ...

design of the No. 3 revolver had to be changed from the straight bored .44 American configuration to a stepped arrangement which was .457 in at the rear of the cylinder to accept the case, and narrower from the case shoulder forward to give a tight fit for the smaller bore .44 Russian bullet.Taffin, J
"The .44 Special Cartridge of the Century? Accurate, Powerful and Reliable, the .44 Special Really Is Special"
''American Handgunner'', September–October 2004. Accessed February 19, 2008. In 1872, while in the US, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich visited the Smith & Wesson factory to review the progress of the Russian order. The American gun maker made him the gift of an engraved presentation Model 3 valued at more than $400 (). The Duke was also feted with a US government–paid buffalo hunting trip with Buffalo Bill Cody and US generals

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close a ...

and George Armstrong Custer, where he was impressed with Cody's adeptness with firearms. Over 131,000 S&W Model 3 revolvers were eventually sold to the Russian Army. In addition to the S&W-made revolvers, Belgian-, Spanish- and German-made copies were adopted by several European countries and were used until the 1920s. The .44 Russian chambering became a hit in the domestic market as well, gaining a reputation as the first American revolver cartridge offering inherent accuracy. In time it set many records, eventually becoming known as an established target round, enabling skilled shooters to achieve groups at ; notable for the time and still impressive today.

Successor designs

The .44 Russian was the parent cartridge for the .44 Special introduced in 1907, which in turn was the parent to the .44 Magnum in 1956.

Current loadings

A number of ammunition companies still manufacture .44 Russian ammunition: *

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Cowboy action ammunition 210 grain lead flat point *

Fiocchi Fiocchi Munizioni (Fiocchi Ammunition) is one of Italy's largest and oldest manufacturers of ammunition. The company's headquarters and main production plant are in Via Santa Barbara in Lecco, Italy. History Fiocchi Munizioni was founded on 3 ...

ammunition 247 grain lead round nose *Ten-X ammunition blank BPC *Ten-X ammunition 200 grain lead round nose and flat point *JMJ Smith Ammo Inc. ammunition 200 grain lead round nose, flat point Additionally, Starline Brass makes new, unprimed cartridge cases in .44 Russian for handloaders.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:44 Russian 1870 introductions Pistol and rifle cartridges Military cartridges Smith & Wesson cartridges

Development history

Successor designs

Current loadings

See also

References

External links