700X vs .44 mag.
- Thread starter Rife Ling
- Start date
IMR 700x is among the fastest powders available, in the range of Bullseye and Clays. If you are going to use it, use very light bullets for low velocity loads ONLY.
There are many better, slightly and significantly, slower powders for light loads in 44 Mag.
There are many better, slightly and significantly, slower powders for light loads in 44 Mag.
- Location
- Niagara Region, Ontario. For now
Bullseye between 5-6 grainss for light loads and anywhere from 19-21 grains of 2400 for the magnum loads is what I'm using.
Pudelpointer
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Lethbridge, Alberta
Assuming you are asking about loading for handgun?
I went through this recently and all you usually get is a bunch of advice to use a different powder.
I will give my experience. I bought 1000, what turned out to be not-so-good 240 grain cast bullets sized .429. If you decide to buy cast, try and find them sized to .430 or .431 and you will probably have a lot less leading then I did. The over-size helps keep gas cutting to a minimum. I tried 9.0 to 10.5 grains of 700x and the leading was unbelievable out of my 5.5" revolver.
After much searching and some good advice from CGN'er H4831, I started looking at a reduced load of 700x. I started at 5.0 grains and reduced by .5 grains at a time. I got to 2.0 grains without having one stick in the barrel, but the pressure was so low that the powder was not burning completely and I was get a lot of primer residue back into the cylinder, so now I load 4.5 gr and find it works very well.
IIRC, H4831 found that 1.2 grains was enough to get a 240 cast stuck in his 6 1/2" 44.
Another thing I found was that if I drove those 240 cast with a max load of H110 the leading was almost non-existent.
I have also loaded 240 XTP jacketed with 10 gr of 700x, and they seem fine.
FYI, do not try really low loads with jacketed bullets, but I would say you should be fine down to around 5 grains.
Cheers.
Right on topic again, I see.
I've used 700X in a 44mag in the past. I did it to use up a part can I had sitting on the shelf. I found it didn't do anything that another powder couldn't do better. Not saying it's a bad choice, it just wouldn't be at the top of my list if I were shopping for 44mag powder.
I have a 12 pound can of 700X and use it from time to time in hand gun ammo.
It is a flake powder. Some powder throwers do not like flake. My redding BR thrower will not work with it, but my Lyman 55 does.
It is a very fast powder. This makes it good for light bullet plinker loads and i made some good target grade pistol ammo with it.
As a general purpose powder I prefer someing a bit slower, like VHT320, Unique or IMR7621.
It is a flake powder. Some powder throwers do not like flake. My redding BR thrower will not work with it, but my Lyman 55 does.
It is a very fast powder. This makes it good for light bullet plinker loads and i made some good target grade pistol ammo with it.
As a general purpose powder I prefer someing a bit slower, like VHT320, Unique or IMR7621.
