What were you thinking of re-barreling it too? I have a 77/44, but I have not considered re-barreling it. Although, the 357/44 Bain and Davis is an interesting option.
When they had everything in stock back in the day, they probably sold 20000 pieces of 44mag for every 480 Ruger case. I'd wager that even the 500 S&W Mag is more popular than our pet 480.
Yeah, trying to keep up on all the different military loads is darn near impossible. I only remember it because I read about it by chance the other day. :D
There is a 52 grain 5.56x45 NATO load, it's called M995. It's a black tip AP round. It was probably from the days when the M16's had a 1-12" twist barrel (just a guess, I could be wrong).
At my dr's office they always have the "are you sad" questionnaire thingie in the packet of busywork they give while waiting on the dr (who's late, again). I have never filled it out. They haven't said anything about it yet.
Some of my favorites are Win 231/HP38 (same powder, different brands) for the pretty light loads, It's economical, and makes accurate loads. HS6 is good for between full power mag loads from H110 / Win 296 and light loads with Win 231/HP38 loads.
I have a P90DC. Some may find it clunky/chonky but it fits my had so well, especially with the Hogue fingergrip grip. I shoot a lot of SRH's and GP100's, so from my point of view, the P90DC is svelte in comparison. Eventually, I'd like to get the 9mm equivalent to the P90DC.
I have a great light 44 mag load that I use. 200 grain lead truncated cone, over 7.5 grains of Win231, I gotta try this tip up/tip down thing with my Garmin Xero. See if I can record a difference.