light load for 44 mag!!!
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Careful FT. Rounds at that speed could not make it out the barrel. My lapping loads when firelapping a barrel are not much slower than that and they stick in the 20 inch marlin 1894. Now that is a 240 gr bullets but it is lead. Jacketed rounds take more omph to get out the barrel. If you don't mind sticking a few and working up, you may be able to get a cast load to work at that velocity but I doubt a jacketed round will work for ya.
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Old days.
Probably better powders today, but was looking for a load like you describe for a revolver, Had 240gr. SWCs and Red Dot on hand.
Used 4 gr. of Red Dot and seated the 240SWC UPSIDE DOWN until they looked like WC's(crimped into the last lube groove so about 1/8" of bullet stuck out of the case). Idea was to suck up as much of the case volume as possible to get the mini-powder charge to burn right without using fillers.
A 500fps load isn't for long range, but these shot well enough on a 25yard indoor range to keep me totally entertained.
Probably better powders today, but was looking for a load like you describe for a revolver, Had 240gr. SWCs and Red Dot on hand.
Used 4 gr. of Red Dot and seated the 240SWC UPSIDE DOWN until they looked like WC's(crimped into the last lube groove so about 1/8" of bullet stuck out of the case). Idea was to suck up as much of the case volume as possible to get the mini-powder charge to burn right without using fillers.
A 500fps load isn't for long range, but these shot well enough on a 25yard indoor range to keep me totally entertained.
I once loaded 430 RB's on top of 2-3 grains Unique that chronoed at bout 500-600 fps. Nice and quiet for shooting varmits in town.
Didn't sound anything like a gunshot from a 7.5" bbl Ruger Super Blackhawk.Try the factory Remington 44 specials with the 246 gr. lead round nosed bullets. These clock about 700 fps.
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I've been having good results with HS-6 and 240 grain bullets both cast and jacketed. It burns clean and with light charges my 11 year old son shoots them well I use .44 special data and add 1 grain to compensate for the extra tenth of an inch in the .44 magnum case
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I use 180 grain full wadcutters in mine with 4 grains of Trail Boss. I hover closer to the low end of 200 grain data because all the lead is in the case with these. Penn Bullet has the wadcutters. I'm not sure how fast they go, but they are very easy to shoot, quiet and quite accurate.
Uncle,
Do they lead at that velocity? I've been thinking about trying those bullets but was afraid being hard cast and running them slow they would lead up my rifling.
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I've had no problems in my model 29. I've run them a bit faster with unique and had no trouble there.
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I would say to start with 3.5 grs. Bullseye..That should get you about the fps your looking for...45APC target load @ 200grs--4.0 grs of Bullseye gets you about 650 fps. Never tried it so make sure the bullet come out of the barrel.I'm sure it will in a handgun.. Never did say what size barrel you are using..
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Thnaks all; I am using a 4" barrel, and cast bullets...from the way it sounds, light 44 Special loads (as a starting point) with a fast burner like Bullseye or Red Dot may get the job done. Was hoping someone had specifics, but you all put me in the ballpark. I will load something up and try them out this weekend, and see what transpires.
I found a .44 magnum load that is lower than the max. load for .44 special (the tables overlap in terms of powder charge). That's exactly what I was looking for, too. It's from the most recent Hornady manual. By the way, don't use special data in a magnum case -- you might get away with it (like I said, in my manual the charts overlap somewhat), but you might not due to the difference in case size.
From memory, it's a 240 gr. lead SWC over 5.7 gr. of Unique. Look in the Hornady manual to verify this, though; I'm 3/4 of a continent away from my books right now.
I cast my own bullets and wanted to make a load using the magnum brass that felt like shooting the shorter specials (I hate the ring from using shorter brass). As I recall, I was ECSTATIC about this load after I tested it. I put 10 rounds through a ragged hole at 25 yards (from a sandbag), and the recoil was very pleasant. When I get home I'm going to load a ton more.
This was through a 4" model 29. I've shot about 300 of them through the gun so far and no leading.
From memory, it's a 240 gr. lead SWC over 5.7 gr. of Unique. Look in the Hornady manual to verify this, though; I'm 3/4 of a continent away from my books right now.
I cast my own bullets and wanted to make a load using the magnum brass that felt like shooting the shorter specials (I hate the ring from using shorter brass). As I recall, I was ECSTATIC about this load after I tested it. I put 10 rounds through a ragged hole at 25 yards (from a sandbag), and the recoil was very pleasant. When I get home I'm going to load a ton more.
This was through a 4" model 29. I've shot about 300 of them through the gun so far and no leading.
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Mac266; Thanks! I did some digging through some of my old manuals and you are correct about overlap. In an old Lyman manual that I had, it shows 4.0 grains of Bullseye for a starting load in the 44 mag with 215/232 cast bullets....I am using 200 grain casts and will start at 4.0 and see where it leads.....should be interesting.
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I use only .44mag. cases, no carbon ring, no confusion. My metal dinger, mean 'ol balloon, and target load is 6.0gr. of Trail Boss and a 200gr. RNFP thru a Taurus 44 with a 4" barrel. trail Boss really is bulky, takes up a lot of case volume. the guys with Quickload told me this load is about 750fps.
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Flat top,
I use a 200gn full wadcutter in a 44 mag case, seated flush with the case mouth. The bullet is an old mould from Lee and is the 208 WC. Other wadcutter designs can be had but mostly in the form of moulds. Not many cast bullet manufacturers make 44 wadcutters.
I cast them myself and used Lee's tumble lube. The load I settled on was 3.2gns of 700X and shot them in my 5.5" Redhawk two years running in Centerfire class Bullseye competition at our local club.
Now we have Trailboss powder. I've not used it as a substitute for this load but would be my first choice in developing a light load.
Check with Hodgdon powder for other applications for the Trailboss powder at the following link
http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Trail-Boss-data.pdf
Todd
I use a 200gn full wadcutter in a 44 mag case, seated flush with the case mouth. The bullet is an old mould from Lee and is the 208 WC. Other wadcutter designs can be had but mostly in the form of moulds. Not many cast bullet manufacturers make 44 wadcutters.
I cast them myself and used Lee's tumble lube. The load I settled on was 3.2gns of 700X and shot them in my 5.5" Redhawk two years running in Centerfire class Bullseye competition at our local club.
Now we have Trailboss powder. I've not used it as a substitute for this load but would be my first choice in developing a light load.
Check with Hodgdon powder for other applications for the Trailboss powder at the following link
http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Trail-Boss-data.pdf
Todd
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