[gravelyctry]

Need a little help, as I've reloaded for a year, but am far from experienced. I got a great deal, I think, on about 250 bullets. The bullets are .430" diameter, 240 grain, jacketed flat points that I want to reload for my .44 mag. I've got Nosler and Hornady's reloading manuals, and they don't have any reloading info for such a bullet, and I also checked Hodgdon's database, and they don't have any info on that bullet. Should I just use the reload information for something close to these bullets, or did I just waste some money? I don't want to do anything stupid and hurt my guns or worse, me. Thanks, Neil

[Walkalong]

Use load info for other 240 Gr. JHP's and you will be fine. Just don't start at the top of the data. Load a few in the middle and try them. Work up from there. As long as you are not up at the top of the data a change in bullet brand is no real big deal unless it is some specialty bullet. As long as it is a copper jacketed JHP of the proper size and weight, such as you describe, you will be fine using data for other copper jacketed JHP's of the same weight. :)

[Ol` Joe]

Is this the bullet?
http://www.speer-bullets.com/ballistics/bullet_detail.aspx?id=193
Speer should be able to help with bullet specific data if you call or e-mail them.

[NuJudge]

Can I suggest you think in terms of what influences pressures in the .44 Mag? Weight, diameter, case capacity, jacket thickness, and other things.

First, actually weigh and Mic a lot of the bullets, to make sure they are 240 grains and .430".

Second, look at where the cannelure is on your bullet, and how much bullet is below that cannelure; the more there is below the cannelure the higher pressures will be with a given powder charge. Find some other known bullet with the same dimensions, and proceed conservatively.

CDD

[gravelyctry]

The entire bullet is jacketed, and flat point. There also isn't a cannelure on the bullets.

I did weigh them and mic them to make sure they were 240 grain and .430 dia.

Right now I'm not sure what the c.o.l. should be, and what charges to use. Is there any way to figure those things out? Thanks for the help, Neil

[gravelyctry]

I was just looking at Midway, and the bullets look an awful lot like the Rainier 240 grain flat point bullets, although those bullets are only .429 dia.

[NuJudge]

This means you will have a very deep seated bullet. With most .44 Mag loads you will have to crimp, not just to prevent pull-forward of the other 5 bullets in a 6 shooter, but for efficient combustion of any of the usual powders. My experience is that neck tension alone in .44 Mag cartridges is not enough for either need.

I have no experience with, but have seen some discussion recently of using non-traditional powders in the .44 Mag, such as WW-231. Perhaps they do not need as much crimp for combustion purposes, and (if enough lower in recoil velocity) perhaps not as much to prevent bullet pull-forward.

It might be a good idea to study bullet protrusion into the .44 Magnum case, and try to relate it to cartridge internal capacity for .44 Special cases with a known bullet of that weight, then start with .44 Special loads and work up. I have not done anything like this, and would probably do such work up in a Contender or Encore type pistol. I would also probably do so with a flexible, forgiving powder such as Unique, that appears to me to have less need of a strong crimp to achieve clean[er] burning.

CDD

[Walkalong]

Sounds like you have plated bullets.

I shoot Raniers 240 Gr. FP and HP in .44 Mag with a Taper Crimp using a Redding taper crimp die. I shoot them at around 85% or so of jacketed data. AA #9 works well for this and does not need a heavy crimp to burn well. Blue Dot works well for medium power plinking loads with the Raniers. For full power loads I have been using the Magtech jacketed soft point & AA #9 with good success.

[gravelyctry]

Walkalong, what do you use for overall length of the cartridge? Also, kind of a dumb question, but are the c.o.l. numbers listed in the reloading data the max. or min. lengths? Thanks, Neil

[Walkalong]

I used 1.570 O.A.L.

Your max O.A.L. you can use is limited by your chamber. How long you can load it for a revolver and not have it stick out the front of the cylinder. You will want to leave at least a little room here in case they "pull out" just a hair when shooting. How long you can load it for an auto and still chamber OK.

On cannelured bullets obviously that determines your O.A.L. If you load a shorter O.A.L. than the load book says using the same bullet you will reach top pressures with less powder. I don't shoot the plated bullets at full throttle in the .44 Mag so it is not a big deal on pressure.

[win71]

Sounds like the bullets I bought at Huntington’s (RCBS) in bulk about 20 years ago. Everything above the base was copper jacket. I think they were used for silhouette shooting then. We loaded them the same as any other 240 gr. soft point. They were rock busters and fairly accurate.