The .44 Bull Dog was an American centerfire

Centerfire ammunition

A centerfire cartridge is a cartridge with a primer located in the center of the cartridge case head. Unlike rimfire cartridges, the primer is a separate and replaceable component....

 revolver

Revolver

A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...

 cartridge

Cartridge (firearms)

A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...

 produced from 1880s until 1930s. No known firearm was chambered exclusively for the .44 Bull Dog cartridge: It was a shorter and less powerful option for use in revolvers chambered for the .44 Webley cartridge (American name of the British .442 Webley

.442 Webley

The .442 Webley is a British centrefire revolver cartridge....

 revolver round). The .44 Bull Dog cartridge was manufactured only in the USA, probably for those bothered by the sharp recoil of the more powerful .44 Webley round in such small guns, or who were particularly cost conscious.*

Webley's British Bulldog

British Bulldog revolver

The British Bull Dog was a popular type of solid-frame pocket revolver introduced by Philip Webley & Son of Birmingham, England in 1872 and subsequently copied by gunmakers in Continental Europe and the United States. It featured a barrel and was chambered for five .44 Short Rimfire, .442 Webley,...

 revolver was a popular and widely copied self-defense or "pocket" gun (so named for being designed early 1870s to be carried in a pocket. Today such guns might be a known as a snubnose

Snubnosed revolver

A snubnosed revolver has a barrel length of less than three inches. It was a popular type of firearm with undercover police officers due to its compact size and ease of handling...

 or carry gun).

A black powder round, the .44 Bull Dog, as manufactured by firms such as Winchester

Winchester Repeating Arms Company

The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American maker of repeating firearms, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The Winchester brand is today used under license by two subsidiaries of the Herstal Group, Fabrique Nationale of Belgium and the Browning Arms Company of Morgan, Utah.-...

, used a 168-170 grain bullet

Bullet

A bullet is a projectile propelled by a firearm, sling, or air gun. Bullets do not normally contain explosives, but damage the intended target by impact and penetration...

 and 15 grains powder, compared to a 200-230 grain bullet and 17-20 grains powder for the parent .44 Webley round. It proved a great deal better than contemporary rimfire rounds, being in a class with the .41 Short Colt. However, by modern standards, the .44 Bull Dog was an extremely marginal round, not really suitable for anything but point-blank range, which is how it normally would have been used.

*Typically, in the late 19th century U.S., a box of .44 Bull Dog cartridges cost $0.68c for 50 rounds, compared to $0.90c for 50 of the longer .44 Webley round. The .44 Bull Dog and .44 Webley cartridges continued to be commercially offered in the U.S. until 1938 or 1939.

Sources

• Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber. ".44 Bull Dog", in Cartridges of the World, pp. 170 & 177. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. ISBN 0-695-80326-3.
• ______ and _____. ".25 (6.35mm) Automatic Pisto", in Cartridges of the World, p. 149. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. ISBN 0-695-80326-3.
• Dowell, William Chipchase. The Webley Story. Kirkland, WA: Commonwealth Heritage Foundation, 1987.
• Ficken, Homer R.. Webley's The British Bull Dog Revolver, Serial Numbering and Variations". Retrieved on 2011-04-03.