Does anyone have experience with Black Powder and the 444? I would be interested in loading info for the 265 gr. WFNGC Beartooth bullet.

Not being smart... but why?

Michael

SOME ONE WROTE AN ARTICLE ON LOADING the 444 with BP and heavy bullets some years ago they were also shooting round ball etc. as a survival gun etc.! I don't remember which Mag. , but the rifle shot well with everything ! JAGG

I havent ever tried it but I would think a guy could pretty much just fill the case with bp and not have to worry about pressure, just a guess though.
If your looking for a reduced load, which is what I expect you would get with black powder, I think I would just cut back on some smokeless powder instead, its not as messy.

I have tried BP with the 30-30 - I don't have any rifles that use straight-walled cases. I found it to be better than you might expect. I got good accuracy and very consistent velocities. After about ten shots, the fouling prevented a cartridge from chambering fully, so I had to brush the bore out. Other than that, clean-up was not bad at all.
I simply filled a case about half way up the neck so the powder would be compressed when a bullet was seated, then weighed that charge and used that weight to fill the rest of the cases. I used a 170 gc cast bullet.
For your application, I think a card or fiber wad stuck to the bottom of the bullet with a dab of lube would be helpful. I didn't have that option in the 30-30. Use a powder charge that will be slightly compressed and a magnum primer. Give it a whirl and let us know what happens!

IF it shoots and I own it, have tried BP in it. Usually doesn't do too well, but soomer or later teh urge to make the attempt comes over me and I give it a try.

THe 444 does better than most modern rounds...but the micro groove rifling doesn't take too kindly to the fouling and accuracy goest to pot pretty quickly. Depending on whose BP and what grade, looking at between 1150 and 1250fps with a 240gr. cast bullet. Better than nothing, and if worst comes to worst, can make BP.

Not being smart... but why?

Michael


Ranch Dog,

Sometimes in the Spring of the year I just get an urge to try something different.

BTW, Ribbonstone, I shoot a Winchester Big Bore so I don't have the micro groove problem.

Also been thinking of working up a load of swaged 45 cal round balls. Got an old Digest that gives the particulars. Three round balls in the boiler room at 50 to 80 yards might be something to look into, or so the article says. These were loaded with smokeless powder.

Ranch Dog,

Sometimes in the Spring of the year I just get an urge to try something different.

BTW, Ribbonstone, I shoot a Winchester Big Bore so I don't have the micro groove problem.

Also been thinking of working up a load of swaged 45 cal round balls. Got an old Digest that gives the particulars. Three round balls in the boiler room at 50 to 80 yards might be something to look into, or so the article says. These were loaded with smokeless powder.

Have that Handloader's Digest and have tried the loads. The vel. for his BP loads is pretty close to real life speeds (although BP has more variety today).

Even in mocro grooved barrels, it would soot well if swabbed out every other round. Not just that BP is messy, but unlike calibers designed for BP, it's hard to get bullets in .429" that have the deep wide lube grooves needed to carry enough BP lube.

The round ball loads worked well enough; I didn't have a real good use for that load, but it did perform about as advertized. How you isolate one ball from the other does change the spread of the ball...just lubed, they tend to weld together, if seperated by lube and a thin cardboard wad they tend to spread a bit more (actually, make a kind of vertical line in my case).
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When PMC sold their "UltraMag" ammo (an all copper bullet with a hole bored straight though it so it looked like a tube, pushed by a plastic wad) pulled some and loaded them in the .444. Very light weight and I don't know what the upper limit of vbelocity would have been; I chickened out at 2950fps