The .44 Remington Magnum is a U.S. rimmed centerfire revolver cartridge developed from heavy .44 Special handloading and commercialized through Remington ammunition and Smith & Wesson revolvers. Smith & Wesson and specialist histories tie the program to Elmer Keith's pressure for a stronger .44-caliber handgun round, while C.I.P. lists the standardized cartridge at 32.64 mm case length, 40.89 mm overall length, and 2800 bar Pmax.
Current commercial loads cover practice, defensive, backcountry, and hunting use with 180-grain to 240-grain bullets.
| Load | Bullet | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Remington UMC Handgun | 180-grain jacketed soft point | High-volume target shooting at 1610 fps. |
| Federal Personal Defense HST | 230-grain HST jacketed hollow point | Personal-defense load listed at 1085 fps. |
| Remington High Terminal Performance | 240-grain jacketed soft point | Personal protection or handgun hunting at 1180 fps. |
| Remington Core-Lokt Handgun | 240-grain Core-Lokt hollow point | Big-game handgun hunting at 1220 fps. |
| Hornady Backcountry Defense | 240-grain DGH | Backcountry sidearm load listed at 1620 fps from an 8-inch test barrel. |
The .44 Remington Magnum grew out of attempts to move beyond normal .44 Special performance in a stronger large-frame revolver. Rock Island Auction and American Rifleman both describe the Remington/Smith & Wesson commercial cartridge as following Elmer Keith's high-pressure .44 Special work, while C.I.P. shows the magnum case as longer and much higher-pressure than .44 S&W Special.
The cataloged parent relationship is .44 S&W Special, whose C.I.P. case length is 29.46 mm versus 32.64 mm for .44 Remington Magnum.
SAAMI uses 44 Rem Mag as the abbreviated name; C.I.P. lists 44 Magnum and 44 Mag. as alternative names.
Current Smith & Wesson and Ruger product pages list .44 Magnum / 44 Rem Mag revolvers, including Model 29 and Redhawk-family examples.
.44 Remington Magnum development used the .44 Special case family as the starting point for a longer, higher-pressure commercial magnum revolver cartridge.
| Compatible item | Item type | Compatibility evidence |
|---|---|---|
 | Parent revolver cartridge | C.I.P. lists .44 S&W Special with a 29.46 mm case and 1000 bar Pmax, compared with .44 Remington Magnum's longer 32.64 mm case and 2800 bar Pmax. Sources: 44 S&W Special - C.I.P., 44 Magnum - C.I.P. |
Federal lists 44 Remington Magnum among its popular handgun calibers, while current Smith & Wesson and Ruger pages show representative revolver chamberings.
| Compatible item | Item type | Compatibility evidence |
|---|---|---|
 | Handgun and pistol platform | Federal lists 44 Remington Magnum among its popular handgun calibers; Smith & Wesson lists Model 29 revolvers in 44 Magnum, and Ruger lists Redhawk-family revolvers in 44 Rem Mag. Sources: Shop products in Handgun today | Federal Premium, Revolvers | Smith & Wesson, Ruger Redhawk Double-Action Revolver Models |
Elmer Keith and other .44-caliber experimenters pursued heavier, higher-performance .44 Special loads before a commercial .44 Magnum cartridge existed.
Smith & Wesson describes the .44 Magnum revolver as a 1955 development made at Keith's urging; American Rifleman places the first completed .44 Magnum revolvers at the end of 1955 and January 1956.
Specialist accounts place the public debut of Remington .44 Magnum ammunition and Smith & Wesson's new large-frame revolver in January 1956.
Smith & Wesson's early .44 Magnum revolver line became the Model 29 after the company's model-number system was adopted.
C.I.P. lists the .44 Remington Magnum tabulation date as December 14, 1986, with a later 2020 revision and the alternative names 44 Magnum and 44 Mag.
