44 magnum plinkers with Win231 ???

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Shak3s1977

Shak3s1977

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Just curious if anyone has ever loaded 240gr lead bullets with Win 231? I'm currently running 7.0gr of Unique, and they are extremely fun plinkers in my Ruger Alaskan. I'm using Accurate #9 for my full house loads.

Unfortunately I don't have a ton of Unique left, and was planning on keeping it for my 9mm+p loads. Anyone use this combo in 44 magnum?
 
Shak3s1977 said:
Yeah that's why I was looking at it. My book shows 5.5-11gr with 800fps-1300fps. I figured with that much room to play with, I should be able to match my Unique loads. Plus I can actually find 231.
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The Accurate and Ramshot powders have been most available recently. I like No.5 in the Special and No.7 in the Magnum for light target loads. When it’s available again look at W244 as well. It’s a low-graphite version of W231 and has mostly been less expensive than 231.
 
Using 44 magnum brass. 240 - 265gr lead, 5.5 to 6.5gr WW231/HP38 (depending on vel wanted), seated to .44 special OAL and crimped over the front drive band. 6.5gr Chronos just under 900 fps in a 4" m69 - 5.5gr about 150 fps less. Deep seat, case mouth slightly above front drive band and crimp as needed. I've shot thousands of these with excellent results.

FWIW,

Paul
 
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paul105 said:
Using 44 magnum brass. 240 - 265gr lead, 5.5 to 6.5gr WW231/HP38 (depending on vel wanted), seated to .44 special OAL and crimped over the front drive band. 6.5gr Chronos just under 900 fps in a 4" m69 - 5.5gr about 150 fps less. Deep seat, case mouth slightly above front drive band and crimp as needed.
Click to expand...

This. All day, every day, and 100 times on Sunday, if you have that many primers.
 
Buck13 said:
This. All day, every day, and 100 times on Sunday, if you have that many primers.
Click to expand...

I'm set real good on primers. I wish I would have bought a few more pounds of powder, mainly Unique and 2400.

GeoDudeFlorida said:
The Accurate and Ramshot powders have been most available recently. I like No.5 in the Special and No.7 in the Magnum for light target loads. When it’s available again look at W244 as well. It’s a low-graphite version of W231 and has mostly been less expensive than 231.
Click to expand...


I do have a couple pounds of #5. There isn't any load data for 44 magnum for #5. There is 44 special loads with #5. I wonder if I could load a 44 special load, but use my 44 magnum brass? Not sure if #5 is a case sensitive powder though.

paul105 said:
Using 44 magnum brass. 240 - 265gr lead, 5.5 to 6.5gr WW231/HP38 (depending on vel wanted), seated to .44 special OAL and crimped over the front drive band. 6.5gr Chronos just under 900 fps in a 4" m69 - 5.5gr about 150 fps less. Deep seat, case mouth slightly above front drive band and crimp as needed. I've shot thousands of these with excellent results.

FWIW,

Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. That's about where I want to be velocity wise.
 
“I do have a couple pounds of #5. There isn't any load data for 44 magnum for #5. There is 44 special loads with #5. I wonder if I could load a 44 special load, but use my 44 magnum brass? Not sure if #5 is a case sensitive powder though.”

The Max load with that data is a good place to start. Work up from there.
 
Shak3s1977 said:
Not sure if #5 is a case sensitive powder though.
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It definitely can't read the headstamp, if that's what you mean. ;)

In the absence of any actual measurements of the case volume, I'd assume the Magnum case contains more brass in the head/web, so wcwhitey's suggestion to simply start with the Special max seems sound. The extra metal in the case may make up part of the difference in volume, so you'll probably be only slightly below Special SAAMI pressure with that. Since you have a factor of 2.4 between Special and Magnum pressure limits, you've got a fair amount of room to run. Going up a couple of steps a third or half a grain at a time seems pretty safe. Being reckless, I'd probably simply start by adding half a grain (or I'd start at Special max but use a magnum primer), load a couple dozen of those, and shoot them to see if I was happy with the results, but starting at the Special max doesn't make you a chicken! And if you like the look of the target, what's a few extra FPS one way or another?
 
Buck13 said:
It definitely can't read the headstamp, if that's what you mean. ;)

In the absence of any actual measurements of the case volume, I'd assume the Magnum case contains more brass in the head/web, so wcwhitey's suggestion to simply start with the Special max seems sound. The extra metal in the case may make up part of the difference in volume, so you'll probably be only slightly below Special SAAMI pressure with that. Since you have a factor of 2.4 between Special and Magnum pressure limits, you've got a fair amount of room to run. Going up a couple of steps a third or half a grain at a time seems pretty safe. Being reckless, I'd probably simply start by adding half a grain (or I'd start at Special max but use a magnum primer), load a couple dozen of those, and shoot them to see if I was happy with the results, but starting at the Special max doesn't make you a chicken! And if you like the look of the target, what's a few extra FPS one way or another?
Click to expand...

Given the same bullet the interior space being greater in the Magnum VS Special will reduce the pressure of the max special load. That may just be a sweet load. It may need to be worked up slightly but the only way to find out is to try. Case sensitivity will decrease accuracy and standard deviation but it will not increase overall pressure. Bottom line of the published data is less than 15,500 with the special load the extra case capacity of the Magnum brass will reduce that. The trick is to work up slightly until the round becomes accurate and efficient. It may take 1/2 to a full grain to get it back to the same pressure level as the published special load. But the max published special load in a magnum case will not be unsafe. It’s just a matter of wether it’s a good combo or not. That powder may plain old suck in that environment or it may be great. Give it a try.
 
#5 is NOT case sensitive, but you'll get greater accuracy and consistency if you deep-seat the bullets to roughly 44 Special OAL. With a SWC you want the top of the driving band about 7-8 thousandths below the case mouth, then roll crimp. With a round nose, just see a slight amount of case mouth above the start of the ogive, then roll crimp. This photo shows a round crimped in the crimp groove on the right, and deep-seated over the ogive on the left. Usually about .08-.10" difference in OAL.

ZGq1RHe.jpg
 
sparkyv said:
Interesting...can the same be said of other powder/projectile combos of light 44Spcl loads in 44 Mag cases?
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Don’t know about “light” .44spl loads in a magnum case but the old Skeeter load of 7.5gr Unique under a 240gr LSWC in a .44mag case is a comfortable load with some power. Skeeter used to load that in a .44spl!:eek:
 
sparkyv said:
can the same be said of other powder/projectile combos of light 44Spcl loads in 44 Mag cases?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I deep-seat just about all loads that aren't full on hunting loads. Deep-seating bullets not only reduces the powder space (more consistent, more accurate, more economical), but also reduces misalignment and runout of the bullet entering the barrel while increasing bullet pull for more consistent velocities. There are reasons that revolver target loads with wadcutters have almost all the bullet inside the case.
 
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