Pistol recipes vs: carbine

Steve H said:

How would you adjust (if at all) a reload recipe for a pistol if the load was going to be used in a carbine ? 20" asking for 357 and 44 mag

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Use the slowest burning powder listed in both and work backwards through the burn rates until you find a powder that's fast enough for your handguns and slow enough for your carbines. It's a game of compromises finding one load for both. In a 20" .357Mag carbine barrel, powders in the range of H110/W296, IMR 4227, Acc. No.9 and Alliant 2400 are going to give the best performance but if your revolver has less than a 4" barrel you're more likely to end up with unburned powder and poor performance from that list. What are the pistols?

Something you just have to experiment with
for your own individual firearms.
JMHO- I keep my handgun rounds separate
from my rifle rounds since they're loaded
accordingly and each was worked up for
the individual firearm.

The manuals I have also have separate
marked data lists for rifles and handguns.
I'd check that for sure

Good Luck

For my common revolver/carbine rounds, 357, 44 Mag, and 45 Colt, I have two approaches. First, for 357 Mag and 44 Mag, I've found for hot, jacketed bullets, H110 is the best for ammo that will be used in both a revolver and a carbine. Just my .02. It works well and has been the goto for many folks for heavy magnum revolver loads for years....but it's also slow enough that you see a pretty significant gain in a carbine, and H110 will really take advantage of that longer barrel. So when I load for jacketed bullets, I run the same load in 357 and 44 Mag for both my revolvers, and my carbines. 45 Colt is a different animal, at traditional Colt pressures. In that case, the normal suspects in the fast pistol powder department....while you gain in accuracy and a slight gain in velocity for the longer barrel.....you really aren't taking advantage of it. But I for one am not a huge fan of "Ruger Only" in my Colt revolvers (though most of them will handle it), that's why I own 44 Mag revolvers. When I shoot my 45 Colt revolvers, I'm shooting classic 45 Colt loads. I'll shoot those in my carbine too...but sometimes, sometimes......I like a little hotter load in the carbine, and I'll use "Ruger Only" and T/C load data in it.....which often takes advantage of slower powders and will really shine in a carbine. Both my kids have taken elk with revolver cartridges in a carbine. My daugher using a 44 Magnum Deer Stalker, and my Son using a Winchester Model 94 in 45 Colt. The Deer Stalker was loaded with my standard 240 gr JSP over 23.5 grains of H110, and my son's Model 94 in 45 Colt was using T/C data, but I don't remember the powder, under a 300 jsp.

I reload 9MM, 45ACP, 40 S&W, 357Mag, 44Mag for both pistols and carbines. I shoot the same loads in them working up in the pistols then testing the loads in my carbines.If the loads shot well in the pistol they shoot great in the carbines. Don't have to worry about keeping them separate or geting them mixed up. If you bought factory ammo you'd shoot them in both. Now if you have special bullets etc. that you want to test in either I might work up a load for just one gun.

K.I.S.S. I only have 2 hand gun cartridge carbines, a 44 Magnum and a 45 ACP. Since the guns were designed around handgun cartridges I started with loads I use in my handguns. I found that a good load for my handguns is usually good in a carbine but the longer barrel gives higher velocities, but I normally don't chase velocity for my handloads. For my 44 Magnum Puma I developed loads that work well in my 3, 44 revolvers too. In "theory" slower powders will work better (?), but my magnum handgun loads usually use powders in the "slower for cartridge" group (WC820, 2400, AA 9, etc.). Of course there are loads that excell in a particular gun, but I know if I just grab a box of 44 Magnum handloads, they will work well in any gun I plan on shooting...

My 45 ACP carbine (High Point) feeds, fires, and is accurate with any thing that fits in the magazine. I often use my "JIC" Bullseye load over a plain 230 FMJ and get -2" @ 25 yds. consistently...

("JIC" is Just I Case, aka SHTF, EOTWAWKI, Bug Out Grab and Run ammo. It works well in all my guns chambered for the cartridge; 9mm, 45 ACP an 38 Special and 30-06 Garand).

4227 is really to slow for me in a pistol. I'm working this same problem and so far I'm at 2400. My last stop.is true blue or blue dot. I just got my carbine yesterday so I'll keep playing. Your pistol barrel length will be the limiting factor in a compromise load. Mine is only 4".

As some of the others mentioned, I move to a slower pistol powder, all else being equal. Currently, my favorite is IMR4227, but I've used 2400 and W296, vs my standard big bore pistol powder Unique. Unique will get the job done in a carbine or rifle barrel, but if you are looking for max velocity... a slower powder is your best bet.

I don't do a lot of adjustment, other than I tend to fire heavier loads much more in the rifle. I have a Henry single shot and 2x .357 revolvers. The handguns are a bit unpleasant to fire with full power .357. The rifle I can shoot all day with full house loads. That being said, I fire a lot of "mid" loads in both. HS-6, Unique, Power pistol all push 158 hardcast in both types of firearms. .38 heavy/.357 mid power is my go to for plinking and using up random stuff, especially in the low-recoiling rifle platform. It just seems to eat about any mid-speed powder pushing a 158 cast with very acceptable accuracy.

I do have some dedicated revolver loads with HP-38 and a cast bullet. Classic .38 loads. They are effective in the rifle as well, but I prefer a little more OOMPA in this platform because...why not?

Charlie98 said:

Unique will get the job done in a carbine or rifle barrel, but if you are looking for max velocity... a slower powder is your best bet.

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Yup this exactly. There’s not many jobs Unique can’t get done but for a specific application, use a specific recipe. I guess it depends on what your goal is.

I have a Marlin 1894C and a Miroku Winchester 1873, both in 357 Magnum. I generally shoot only full power loads in them.

The loads are developed in my 357 Magnum revolvers and checked in the rifles.

My powder of choice is W296/H110 with 158 grain jacketed hollow points.

I do load lighter loads for the revolvers using powders such as Unique, Accurate #5, or W231 and some kind of cast bullets but these are rarely fired in the rifles. My Marlin has micro groove rifling and I never gotten cast bullets to shoot as well as jacketed.