Pet Loads For 44 Mag?

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trky chsr

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I will soon be in possession of a S&W M29 and I will be reloading for it. My budget will probably only allow lead bullets for now. Any particularly good bullet weight/powder loads for this calibre? TC
 
I use 23g of 4227 under a Cam-Pro CMJ bullet.

They are great bullets. Jacketed performance for almost cast prices.
Can make a 50 batch of pretty much full power rounds for less then $20.
 
Here is what I have been using:

Light loads: 5.5 grains Titegroup with either 200 grain RNFP or 240 grain SWC
Heavy loads: 20 grains L'il Gun with 240 grain SWC. I use a styrofoam wad cut from meat trays with a 7/16" wad punch between the bullet and powder for this load. I estimate that this is good for about 1200 fps.

Some "standard" loads for the .44 magnum with a 240-250 grain cast SWC include:
-10 grains Unique for a mid-range load of around 1000 fps
-25 grains H110 or W296
-Elmer Keith used 22 grains of 2400, but this should probably be reduced to a maximum of 20-21 grains with current production 2400.
 
Your Model 29 is not the strongest 44 magnum revolver made. Ruger has that catagory tied up, as far as I know, but there may be others as strong that I don't know of.
There has been some stiff loads quoted here on this thread. 25 grains of W296 or H110, is more than most books show, by about 1 grain.
However, the old original load, quoted here, of 22 grains of 2400 appears to be more pressure than the above load.
It was mentioned about the new (Alliant) 2400 being "hotter" than the old (Hercules,) that Elmer Keith used in designing the 44 mag. I don't think there is any noticeable difference between the two makes of 2400.
That old loading of 22 grains of the old 2400 is a HEAVY load. I used that load shooting silhouette, but cut it back a bit, as even at 200 metres I could use the same sight setting with either 21 or 22 grains of 2400.
My advice to the OP would be to not go over 21 grains of 2400, or over 24 grains of W296/H110.
The OP asked about bullets. You do not need jacketed bullets for any load you will use in your 44 mag revolver. You do not even need gas check cast bullets to get full power. Just a medium hard cast, flat base bullet is all that is required.
 
My light loads are 8.0gr WW231 under a 245gr Keith SWC. Heavy loads are 24.0gr H110 under the same bullet. The .44 works great with cast bullets and is a tremendously versatile cartridge when handloaded.


Mark
 
The load for my Vaquero is 20 gr of H-110 under a hard cast 325 gr WFN. If I were still shooting a M-29 I'd reduce that load to 19 grs. The 20 gr load would unhook the mainspring in Pounder's Redhawk, so he dropped back to 19 grs too. Another pal of mine prefers jacketed bullets in his M-29, so I load 300 gr Sierras ahead of 19 grs of H-110 for him.

If I still had my old Dan Wesson, I might even try a slightly heavier load, that was the strongest, most accurate revolver I ever owned.
 
I have shot several 10's of thousands of the 250gr Lyman 429421 over 9.5 gr of either Unique or Hodgdon Universal as well as the 260 gr Lyman "Devastator" gas-checked hollow point. Velocities are somewhere in the 1000-1100 FPS range - you can do a lot with a 250gr .429 bullet at that speed...
 
200 gr cast plinkers over 6gr unique for a really light plinking load.

Ill look up my load for 240gr swc keiths. It with win 231 just dont remember the charge off the top of my head right now. I also have data on a good 310gr cast bullets that is just a monster. Accurate and deadly. Pm if you are really interested and i forget to post again.
 
Gave up mag loads

I gave up loading magnum velocity loads. First, there's no point using mag loads out to 25 yards, and the same loads indoor disturb everyone else. Just like the 44special, the 44 mag can be a very nice target load.
Utilizing todays' excellent fast burning powders, reloading the 44 mag can be very economical too.
With a 240 grain cast bullet behind Alliant's very versatile PROMO powder of 8 grains, you get a very nice medium velocity target load. Will even knock down bowling pins easily.
And why bash your gun with all those hot loads anyway? If you want to fire alot of hot loads, get a Ruger Redhawk or SuperRedhawk.
 
H4831 said:
Your Model 29 is not the strongest 44 magnum revolver made. Ruger has that catagory tied up, as far as I know, but there may be others as strong that I don't know of.
There has been some stiff loads quoted here on this thread. 25 grains of W296 or H110, is more than most books show, by about 1 grain.
However, the old original load, quoted here, of 22 grains of 2400 appears to be more pressure than the above load.
It was mentioned about the new (Alliant) 2400 being "hotter" than the old (Hercules,) that Elmer Keith used in designing the 44 mag. I don't think there is any noticeable difference between the two makes of 2400.
That old loading of 22 grains of the old 2400 is a HEAVY load. I used that load shooting silhouette, but cut it back a bit, as even at 200 metres I could use the same sight setting with either 21 or 22 grains of 2400.
My advice to the OP would be to not go over 21 grains of 2400, or over 24 grains of W296/H110.
The OP asked about bullets. You do not need jacketed bullets for any load you will use in your 44 mag revolver. You do not even need gas check cast bullets to get full power. Just a medium hard cast, flat base bullet is all that is required.
Click to expand...

^^^^ All of what Bruce said ^^^^^^

I've got a Ruger Redhawk....built like a tank. I've run up to 13 grains of Unique in it, but there's no real need for making it that hot unless playing out on the long (200 meter) range. My typical load is 9 grains under a 240 grain home cast semi-wad cutter for 25 to 50 meters. I'll put 10 to 10.5 in it if I know I'm going to play at 100 m. Very easy on the pocketbook running this.
 
23.0 grains of WW-296 and 240 grain nosler soft point copper jacketed for stout but safe and accurate 44 Magnum load.

Using 44 Special brass, 6.4 grains of Red Dot under a cast PB 240 SWC for a warm but very accurate 44 Special handload.
 
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