Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 180gr Cast HP – Proven Defense Load

Description

The Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 180gr Cast HP exists for a specific owner: someone who keeps a 44 Magnum for defence against people rather than animals. Everything about it follows from that. The bullet is light for the calibre, cast at a medium hardness with a hollow nose, and driven to 1550 fps so it opens fast and stops inside rather than sailing through.

• Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 180gr Cast HP Overview
• Anti-Personnel 44 Magnum Ammo Ballistics
• Why The 180 Grain Cast Hollow Point Bullet Opens So Fast
• Specifications
• Guns That Take This Fast Expanding Self Defense Revolver Load

Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 180gr Cast HP Overview

Buffalo Bore item 4H is their Anti-Personnel 44 Magnum load. A 180 grain medium cast hollow point with a plain base runs a nominal 1550 fps for about 960 ft-lbs. Twenty rounds per box.

Buffalo Bore chronographed it at 1545 fps from a 5.5 inch Ruger Super Blackhawk, 1505 fps from a 5.5 inch Ruger Redhawk and 1417 fps from a four inch Smith & Wesson Model 329. From rifles the numbers climb sharply: 1935 fps from a 16.5 inch Marlin 1894 and 1987 fps from an 18.5 inch Marlin.

That rifle figure is worth pausing on. At 1987 fps a 180 grain bullet carries about 1578 ft-lbs, which turns a 44 Magnum carbine into something quite different from the handgun it shares a cartridge with.

Buffalo Bore is unusually direct about who each load is for, and the Anti-Personnel name is not marketing. The company builds most of its catalogue around penetration; this small corner of it is built around the opposite, and knowing which you are buying matters.

Anti-Personnel 44 Magnum Ammo Ballistics

At 1550 fps a 180 grain bullet produces about 960 ft-lbs, from grains times velocity squared divided by 450437. That is very close to what the standard 240 grain 44 Magnum load makes, achieved with a bullet a quarter lighter moving considerably faster.

Recoil drops noticeably as a result. Buffalo Bore points out that the light for calibre bullet weight reduces felt recoil and speeds up follow up shots, which is the entire argument for a lighter bullet in a defensive context.

Even the four inch Model 329 turns in 1417 fps, worth about 803 ft-lbs. A short barrelled alloy framed revolver gives up less with this load than with the heavy slow ones.

Trajectory is flatter than the heavy loads too. At 1550 fps the 180 grain cast hollow point bullet shoots close to point of aim further out, which helps if your revolver has fixed sights regulated for a standard load.

Why The 180 Grain Cast Hollow Point Bullet Opens So Fast

Cast bullet hardness is the lever Buffalo Bore is pulling here. A hard cast bullet at 18 to 22 BHN acts like a solid and penetrates enormously. Cast at a medium hardness with a hollow nose, the same shape behaves like a very aggressive expanding bullet instead.

At 1550 fps the cavity fills on impact, the nose folds back and the bullet opens wide and quickly. Penetration is deliberately moderate, which is what you want when there may be a wall and a neighbour behind the thing you are shooting at.

The plain base is part of the design rather than a cost saving. A gas check is there to stop a bare lead base from smearing at high velocity; at these speeds and with this alloy Buffalo Bore judged one unnecessary, and the bullet is lubricated to keep the bore clean without it.

Against animals this is the wrong choice and Buffalo Bore says so. A bear or a hog needs penetration through heavy bone, and a fast expanding self defense revolver load is built to do the opposite.

There is one more practical advantage to a lighter bullet: muzzle rise settles faster. Combined with the reduced recoil impulse, that is why anti-personnel 44 Magnum ammo in this weight gets back on target quicker than a 240 or 300 grain load ever will.

The whole package is coherent: a 180 grain cast hollow point bullet, medium alloy, plain base, moving fast enough to open every time.

Specifications

Guns That Take This Fast Expanding Self Defense Revolver Load

Buffalo Bore tested this load in the Ruger Super Blackhawk and Redhawk, the Smith & Wesson Model 329 and the Marlin 1894, which covers the range from alloy framed carry revolver to lever gun. It is standard pressure 44 Magnum and suits any sound firearm in the chambering.

The 329 result matters most for anyone carrying a lightweight 44. At 26 ounces that revolver punishes the shooter with heavy loads, and a light for caliber 44 Magnum ammunition option makes it genuinely shootable.

In a Marlin 1894 or a Rossi 92 the cartridge feeds well and the velocity gain is dramatic. If you keep a 44 carbine for home defence, this is a sensible thing to keep in it.

If you use a 44 Magnum revolver for home defence, consider hearing protection realistically. Any 44 fired indoors is deafening, and this load is no exception to that.

Light For Caliber 44 Magnum Ammunition Availability

This Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 180gr Cast HP is in stock and ships from our Collegeville, Pennsylvania shop. MAG5 Firearms is a family owned FFL dealer, and orders of this light for caliber 44 Magnum ammunition normally leave within one business day.

The jacketed version of the same idea is the Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 180gr JHP. For a heavier all purpose bullet see the Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 240gr JHP, and for animal defence the Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 255gr Hard Cast Keith penetrates far deeper. Tested velocities are published by Buffalo Bore Ammunition.