My first .44 magnum attempts...

I have never encountered a .44 Mag that would not shoot a nice 1-1.5" group at 25 yards off the sandbags with a properly sized 245-250 Keith SWC using 8 Grains of Unique. For a mild loading it is the load by which all other loads are judged.

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/recipedetail.aspx?gtypeid=1&weight=250&shellid=33&bulletid=47

According to Alliant's website, they say Unique's max is 11 Grains and 2400's max is 20 grains. I am sure these can be stretched a bit but only if you have the experience as others have said and are shooting a Redhawk or Blackhawk.

Loading manuals are great for reference and are basically obsolete as soon as they are published. I will always get a recipe from a manual and then check the manufactures website and I am not really surprised when the two don't match up.
 
Sgt.RockRules04 said:
Hi Corsara, a fellow BRRC member here following this post.All these nice Gentleman's suggestions are fine & dandy,however, the first rule of reloading is get yourself a reloading manual.Secondly,cross reference all suggested loads from these fine firearm owners for your own personal safety.Not sure if I remember you mentioning you have been load developing from a particular manual or not.I too have recently purchased a .44mag pistol: Ruger Super Blackhawk stainless 5.5" barrel,absolutely Gorgeous Big Iron! The felt recoil of factory loads is quite overwhelming at times & I have been looking at the high end of .44 special/low end of .44mag loads with a copper jacket.In this range I hope to find the sweet 3/4 recoil of full house .44mag & accuracy that I can live with.The bullet i have chosen is the CamPro copper jacket & the powder is Alliant 2400.PM me if you would like more info. SgtRock
Click to expand...

Hi everyone, I am the thread author.

After a lot of experiments, I think I have settled on the following:

20gr of 2400 behind a 240gr CamPro copper jacket.
9gr of Unique behind a 240gr LSWC.

The reason for the lead bullet of the weaker load is primarily because I stocked up with such bullets before they had the copper jackets in stock, so I need to use them up.

Got a question for you though: can somebody explain to me, the noob here, why do I get such a blinding and sweet muzzle flash from the copper jacket bullets, and virtually no flash but only smoke from lead bullets?
 
Well Sarge, your point about not trusting fellow CGN members has been brought up many times. But anyone who has ever read anything about developement of the 44 magnum cartridge, will have read that Elmer Keith developed the cartridge using Hercules 2400 powder and that he used 22 grains of it with 240-250 grain bullets. Several of us on here have stated this fact. But, if you choose not to accept this fact, because it was stated by ordinary CGN members,so be it.
If you read my earlier post, you will see that I stated it was a hot load and I would not go "one speck heavier."
And Ben, I doubt if the new Alliant 2400 is any faster than the old Hercules 2400, it is just that the loading books have toned down the original load a bit. I also previously stated that I found 21 grains of 2400, or even 20 grains, to have very little less velocity than 22 grains, and a bit lower than 22 was my favourite load.

I have owned and shot, three different Ruger Super Blackhawk 44s and two different S&W 29s. I shot big pistol silouette for a few years. I have the sticker, awarded at a registered shoot, for getting ten consecutive rams at 200 metres, so I must have learned something about the accuracy of the Ruger Super Blackhawk and what loads to feed it.
I did a fair bit of testing for accuracy by resting the gun in a sollid sandbag rest, shooting for groups at 50 and 100 metres. I tested quite a few different powders and loads. As I pointed out, about 21 grains of 2400 was about as good as it got, with full power rated loads. 22 grains was equally as accurate, but a bit harder to hold.
And Sarge, I can tell you one thing about lighter loads. If you want to get a good accurate load at abut 3/4 of full throttle, you will not find it with 2400 powder. With pressure down that much, 2400 does not burn well. As several on here have suggested, go to Unique.
 
H4831 said:
I'll just add a bit, mostly to what has already been said.
Firstly, take it easy. Building up loads in a bolt action rifle is much different to building up loads in a revolver, especially, a S&W revolver. Not meaning to run down your gun, but it does not have the strength of a Ruger revolver.
An overload with a bolt action rifle rifle has a great deal of safety built into it. First, the bolt is stiff. A heavier load and the bolt is hard to open. Load heavier and you may need a solid piece of wood to break the bolt loose, but likely no damage to the rifle.
A revolver does not give you this amount of safety. You could shoot twenty rounds of heavy loads, all is fine. The 21st. could blow the cylinder apart. And don't bother asking me how I know this.
Flattened primers is only a rough guide, as to pressure. Like you have pointed out, one person's flat is another persons normal.
I have used Hercules 2400, the same as Elmer Keith used in developing the 44 mag. His load of 22 grains of that powder is a hot load. That load gave meaureable swelling of the base of the cartridges, where as the (usual) maximum load of H110/W296, 25 grains, did not. I would not go one speck over 22 grains of 2400, whether the old Hercules, or the newer Aliant.
When Winchester brought out their 296 powder, they claimed this was the powder used in their 44 magnum loads. With 250 grain bullets, they show for reloading, 24 grains for jacketed bullet and 25 grains for 250 grain cast bullet.
I would be extremely surprised if any factory loads give more velocity than does either 22 grains of 2400, or 24 grains of either H110, or W296, with a jacketed bullet.
The lube on cast bullets make smoke.
The powders we have listed, 2400 and 296/H110 are the traditional, classic standby powders for full power loads in a 44 magnum.
Click to expand...
Glad to see that warning on the reading of pressure in pistol rounds.
If you reduce a rifle round by ten percent, to work up a load that may be five grains of powder. Five full grains can be the difference between minimum, and maximum loads in a rifle.
In a large handgun, two grains or less can be that ten percent, a tenth of a grain is a substantial amount of powder pressure wise in a handgun.
 
H4831 have you tired 4227 in .44Mag and if so what have been your experiences? I am about to start work on developing loads for the .44Mag in a Rossi with a 1 - 30 twist.

My powder choices are:

4227
2400
Win 296

Boolit will be the Lyman 428429 and the Lyman Devestator

Take Care

Bob
 
Canuck44 said, "H4831 have you tired 4227 in .44Mag and if so what have been your experiences? I am about to start work on developing loads for the .44Mag in a Rossi with a 1 - 30 twist."

Hi,
No, I personally haven't used 4227 in the 44 mag.
However, a good friend of mine whom I know well (I should know him well, we have been shooting together at the same club for over 40 years) is a walking encyclopedia on calibres, loads, bullets and shooting in general. He has poured bullets in more calibres and types than most people have ever seen. He also went from pouring bullets to swaging them.
Just the other day I went to see him for information on the 44 magnum. He currently has five, 44 magnum rifles. He has a scope on a Remington 788 in 44 magnum and that is the rifle he tests the calibre on for accuracy.
He swages a 44 bullet weighing 280 grains which he says is super accurate in that rifle. He told me the only powder he uses anymore in the 44 magnum is 4227.
I consider his judgement to be a high reccommendation for 4227 in the 44 mag!
That 1 in 30 inch twist should be great for the 44 mag. 1 in 36 is too slow for heavier bullets.
 
19.5 IMR 4227 and a 240 cactus plains boolit or handcast wheelwight w/lee dies and alox lube have been good to me in my s&w .44mag although it is in a 10 5/8 inch barrel.
for some lite plinkers I went to 19gr 4227 with 200 gr hardcast. Have not tried these for accuracy yet. YMMV
 
I get 1540 fps with 24.5gr h110 behind a cactus plains hardcast 240 swc. That's from my 10.5" Super Blackhawk, though. Not sure if you want to feed that one to your S&W. I decided on that load after a lot of thought and reading, especially of H4831's posts (thank you very much ;)). I would have gone with the 25gr load, but I figured this way I have a margin of error for metering.

The Cactus Plains bullets don't give the slightest hint of leading in either my 44 or my 45's (including a glock :eek:), which leads me to believe they use a fairly decent lube, and must be pretty consistantly sized.
 
H4831 said:
Well Sarge, your point about not trusting fellow CGN members has been brought up many times. But anyone who has ever read anything about developement of the 44 magnum cartridge, will have read that Elmer Keith developed the cartridge using Hercules 2400 powder and that he used 22 grains of it with 240-250 grain bullets. Several of us on here have stated this fact. But, if you choose not to accept this fact, because it was stated by ordinary CGN members,so be it.
If you read my earlier post, you will see that I stated it was a hot load and I would not go "one speck heavier."
And Ben, I doubt if the new Alliant 2400 is any faster than the old Hercules 2400, it is just that the loading books have toned down the original load a bit. I also previously stated that I found 21 grains of 2400, or even 20 grains, to have very little less velocity than 22 grains, and a bit lower than 22 was my favourite load.

I have owned and shot, three different Ruger Super Blackhawk 44s and two different S&W 29s. I shot big pistol silouette for a few years. I have the sticker, awarded at a registered shoot, for getting ten consecutive rams at 200 metres, so I must have learned something about the accuracy of the Ruger Super Blackhawk and what loads to feed it.
I did a fair bit of testing for accuracy by resting the gun in a sollid sandbag rest, shooting for groups at 50 and 100 metres. I tested quite a few different powders and loads. As I pointed out, about 21 grains of 2400 was about as good as it got, with full power rated loads. 22 grains was equally as accurate, but a bit harder to hold.
And Sarge, I can tell you one thing about lighter loads. If you want to get a good accurate load at abut 3/4 of full throttle, you will not find it with 2400 powder. With pressure down that much, 2400 does not burn well. As several on here have suggested, go to Unique.
Click to expand...

Hello H4831,Ya well, thanks for the info,just trying to steer a professed newbie in the right direction using a reloading manual.Nobody ever really knows who they are talking to on-line, do they? Everyone on CGN is helpful & generous and I do appreciate all suggestions & info given.We should all err on the side of caution in reloading. SgtRock
 
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