.44 Mag Factory Ammo Reviews

Ok starting a thread comparing different offerings in factory/mass produced .44 Magum ammo.

The main use for .44 ammo for me right now is in a Ruger Super Blackhawk (hunting and recreational plinking). I know each gun handles different loads differently. So some may have good or bad experiences with certain ammo.

The main points about a certain type of ammo that are important to me are accuracy, price, ability to reload the case and managablity of shooting.

So basically if you have experience good or bad with a certain brand post it here.

So here goes:

Hornady 240gr XTP's
Accuracy: Very accurate good groups
Price: $1+ per round
Managability: Recoil level is medium
Reloadable: Yes

So to me these are my pick for hunting ammo due to the accuracy and groups have yet to take a animal with them so that is left open to discussion as to performance. The XTP bullet does have a good reputation. The price and recoil make these less than ideal for plinking.


CCI Blazers 240gr JHP
Accuracy: Hit and miss not very reliable Flyers in every group
Price: $30 for 50rds
Managability: Recoil was low
Reloadable: No Aluminum case

These are low priced rounds and they suffer from less than ideal accuracy. Recoil is low which gives them a plus in the plinking factor as does the price. I would imagine the FPS of the round is slower that would probably hurt bullet performance(expansion). So if you don't reload and want some cheap rounds to play with the Blazers are for you.


Alabama Ammo 240gr Lead RNFP
Accuracy: Nice groups
Price: ???
Managability: Recoil was low
Reloadable: Yes (various headstamps)

I got these from Joe S. in a trade and these are reloaded/remanufactured ammo. These came in a sealed pack so I am counting these are production rounds. The accuraccy and recoil level make these awesome target/plinking rounds. I would like to pick up more of these but don't even know if these guys are still in business. Once I start reloading this is the round I would like to pattern the bulk of my plinking rounds after.


So that is my limited experience with .44 rounds looking forward to hearing ya'lls take on whats out there to be had and the good/bad of the rounds.


I have two boxes of 240gr JSP Winchester White Box waiting in the wings for my next review. I have heard good things on these performance wise and at $33 to $37 per 50 isn't to bad.