44 mag lead loading question

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Sounds good. Crimping after seating has always just “seemed” like the way to go. But I’ve only loaded lead bullets on a Dillon square deal B for 45acp. Thanks for the reply.
 
Riomouse911 said:
7.0-7.5 gr Unique under a 240 SWC in a .44 Spl. cartridge case is even more light-kicking fun
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I have about 50 cases of 44 spcl a coworker gave me a couple weeks ago. Will give this a try in them. The older I get the more I like light loads. At least in pistols and shotguns. Don’t shoot anything bigger than an ‘06 in rifle but am liking my .243 more all the time. Lol
 
a couple more suggestions: use a non-magnum primer for unique powder (the primer should match the powder not the "magnum" cartridge), and make sure the loaded round fits in your chambers before you get to the range and find out they don't.

luck,

murf
 
murf said:
a couple more suggestions: use a non-magnum primer for unique powder (the primer should match the powder not the "magnum" cartridge), and make sure the loaded round fits in your chambers before you get to the range and find out they don't.
Click to expand...
Thanks murf. The dummy round I made up fits well in all 6 chambers. I am using WLP std/mag primers because I have quite a few of them.I Like Unique in my 45acp and hope my S&W 29 likes it as well.
 
Thanks Walkalong. The pics really help. I’ll load some up this weekend and shoot them next weekend over a chronograph. Will start at 8.0 grains of unique and probably load a ladder batch up to10.0 grains to shoot over the graph. Thanks to everyone for contributing to my requests. Nice to meet y’all.
 
You can also make 44 Specials with your 44 mag by deep-seating the bullet and crimping over the driving band. Just drop your 8 gr of Unique load down to 7 gr. Because of the increased pressure of the smaller powder space your velocities should be close to the same while using less powder (more economical!). Additional benefits of the deep-seating are less recoil, increased consistency and no crud ring at the end of your chambers from using 44 Special brass in magnum chambers.

Using this method you can also use bullets without crimp grooves by deep-seating over the shoulder on SWC or over the ogive on round nose bullets.
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Great tip black mamba. I will try that in the future. The bullets I bought the other day o thought we’re not lubed turned out to be so I won’t be powder coating them. But I have plenty to play with now.
 
Just in case y’all haven’t noticed yet this is my first foray into loading lead bullets in my 44 mag. Wanting to attempt to keep leading to a minimum if I can also. Have only recently read on here about using the correct size bullets in a revolver. Bought 358 bullets from a local small gun store 2 or three weeks ago that mic .429 dia. Only reason I can figure that someone sold these is because they were not the proper size and maybe were leading their bore. Not sure of the manufacturer of them but they are the ones with the red lube on them that is in my first pics. Was originally a box of 500. The ones I bought the other day says they are .430 dia and they are SNS bullets. And that’s about what they mic. Haven’t done any of the tests I have read about pushing the bullets thru the throat to see how they fit. Need to do more research on that.
 
Bullets too small is the number one reason for leading in revolvers. If those .429 bullets are loose in the chamber throats, then about the best way to get some accuracy is to boot them pretty hard with a fast powder so they obturate as quickly as possible before you get flame cutting around the bullet's base.
 
How to check for that? Just drop a bullet into the chamber and see how tight it is going thru the throat?
 
Soooo much to learn. Glad I joined this forum after lurking and reading for quite a while. :)
 
Swing the cylinder out and using your thumb press the bullet into the chambers one at a time from the muzzle end. You want them to go in as straight as possible, so don't force them. They should go in and through with light pressure, but not loose. The looser they are, the worse it is.
 
black mamba said:
Swing the cylinder out and using your thumb press the bullet into the chambers one at a time from the muzzle end. You want them to go in as straight as possible, so don't force them. They should go in and through with light pressure, but not loose. The looser they are, the worse it is.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Great information. I will do that with both bullets I have. Like I said I am new to loading anything other than jacketed bullets in my 44 mag and y’all all are a ton of help.
 
I use 8.5gr of Unique 240gr LSWC, crimp 3/4 of a turn after I get the dummy load seated correctly to just below the crimp grove (the extra turn puts it in the grove). The crimp looks about the same as yours. I use a separate step for crimping on my heavier load plated bullets.
 
Checking the bullets to the throat the ones that mic .429 will just fall thru. The ones from SNS that mic .4295 to .430 will go they easily with just slight pressure. Not sure that isn’t a function of the lube more than anything. Oh well guess I will have to live with it since that is what I have. Will just have to use more kroil and hoppes and brush’s. Maybe I can keep it down enough I won’t have to use a Lewis lead remover. Although that wouldn’t be a bad purchase I don’t think.
 
I started reloading revolver ammo in '69, way pre web. I was using some generic cast lead RN bullets and I seated to the crimp groove. I started with the data sheet from my Lee Loader and assembled about a thousand rounds before I got a manual, quite safely. I now own 7 revolvers that I reload for and I seat the bullets to the crimp groove or cannalure and disregard the book OAL. I Believe the bullet designers located the groove/cannalure in the proper place and they know what they are doing. I believe reloading manual data is what the techs found/used when they loaded some cartridges and for me and my handloads I rarely have matched the revolver cartridge book OAL when I seated bullets to the groove or cannalure...
 
My Lyman book says 10gr min, 11.7 max. They also have AOL's going out to 1.720 - most newer revolvers will be OK - try one and see. Here's a couple of my loads:
240gr Plated HP, 9.3gr Titegroup, 1.570 OAL, Avg velocity 1228, Standard deviation 13
240gr Plated HP. 11.7gr Unique, 1.613 OAL, Avg velocity 1227, Standard deviation 31
200gr Lead RNFP, 10.0gr Unique, 1.570 OAL, Avg vel 1270, SD 25
Lead is inexpensive and accurate, but leads up the bore. Plated bullets are'nt much more expensive and lots easier to clean up after.
 
I seat then crimp with a Redding Profile crimp die. Was surprisingly inexpensive and does a great job of crimping, with a combined roll and taper. With my heavy loads, I increased crimp until they stopped walking. I'm pretty new to reloading, but I've done a lot of reading and I've learned a lot from these guys right here on this forum.
 
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