.44 Mag load for reduced muzzle flash

[riverdog]

Tried my new 629-6 with 3" barrel today and it felt fine, very nice OOTB trigger. When I slowed down it seemed to be fairly accurate. I shot two loads advertised as 240gr@1250fps, Remington and Miwall (which used Win brass). Neither one seemed particularly harsh to me. A third load I shot was some Pro-Load "Tactical Lite", advertised as 200@1050 using Speers 200 gr Gold Dot designed for the .44 Spl. Its recoil didn't seem to be that much less than the 240@1250 ammo and the muzzle flash was also about the same (largeish fireball from my perspective). Maybe it was reduced from the side, but from where I stood, they were the same. All-in-all, I liked it, but I need to reduce the size of that flash.

I'm thinking about having some 200 gr Gold Dots or XTP's loaded up at 1000 FPS and select a powder which will reduce the muzzle flash. I was disappointed in the Pro-Load's muzzle-flash, it was much more than I expected, maybe due to the 3" barrel.

Any suggestions on a powder charge to push a 200 gr JHP to 1000 FPS from a 3" barrel and with a reduced flash? Am I asking or expecting too much? Thanks.

 

[WESHOOT2]

I CAN'T SEE YOU..........

Big hole, short tube.

Gonna flash.

Reducing flash? Hmmmm............yeah, maybe I got some ideas, but the SAD TRUTH is you won't know until tested through YOUR gun.

 

[Bottom Gun]

I've loaded 200 gr jacketed bullets for .44 mag using 12.0 and 13.0 gr of Unique. Never bothered to put them through a chrono so I don't know what they will score but I suspect they will be close to your velocity range. The muzzle flash from my 3" was much less than with some other powders like 2400 or H110. You'll still get a certain amount of flash though.

Use caution and start low and work up to these gradually since these loads are on the hot side.

 

[riverdog]

Thanks for the input. The more I thought about this the more I came to think that WESHOOT2 is correct, it's going to flash, the tube is too short to get a complete burn with most powders. I don't know enough about how these powders react with very reduced charge levels.

If I forgot about trying to reduce the flash and just wanted a clean 200 gr JHP load at 1000 what's the best way to go/start. I guess I'm looking at all that room between the .44 Special and the Magnum and trying to replicate the Pro Load Tactical Lite. My Hornady reloading info shows a hue gap which would be really nice to exploit with a 3" barrel.

 

[Phil in Seattle]

Not Blue Dot that's for sure.

My notes don't say anything about excessive flash usinga maximum charge (per he Hornady Fifth Edition Manual)of Accurate Arms #5 under a Hornady 200gr XTP in 44 special out of a 4" barrel.

I don't think that Unique is a very flashy powder, that might be worth a try. Heck, I'll try it in a couple of weeks.

 

[Big_R]

I have found that Accurate Arms #5 and #9 in my .44 mag and .357 mag's produce a lot less flash than factory loads. They also seem to burn cleaner too. One of my .357's is a Ruger SP101 with a 2.5" barrel. Factory loads are blinding. My reloads are not nearly as bad.

Ryan

 

[riverdog]

What would 10 gr of AA#5 do with a 200 gr JHP? How would that powder charge work with a 240?

 

[Phil in Seattle]

<<What would 10 gr of AA#5 do with a 200 gr JHP? How would that powder charge work with a 240?>>

10gr of AA#5 is over the maximum charge listed for 44 special w/ 200gr bullet in both my Hornady Manual (200gr XTP)(9.5grs AA#5) and Accurate Arms manual (200gr Nosler JHP)(8.0grs AA#5)

It's well under the starting load of 14.2 in my Accurate Arms manual (200 gr Nosler) and it's not a listed powder by Hornady.

You're working in the range of overloaded 44 Special or very light 44 magnums and documentation is scarce.

 

[riverdog]

Phil, Definitely -- the lack of documentation for the area between where .44 Special stops and .44 Magnum begins brought me here.

With Magnum cases, is there any reason 10 gr of AA#5 with a 200 or 240 gr JHP wouldn't be safe? I came up with this load by extrapolating the .44 Special load and shooting for 1000FPS. I'm hoping this will still be far below the .44 Magnum's CUP limits.

This question may be better posed to the folks at AA ...
Edit: From the folks at Accurate Arms: 9.2 gr of AA#5 with a 200 gr JHP and MAGNUM cases is good for about 1000 FPS. Increasing to 10 gr of AA#5 will yield about 1080FPS. MAGNUM cases only. These will exceed SAAMI limits for the .44 Special but are far under the MAGNUM limits.

I think I'll start with 9.2 gr.

 

[redneck2]

Just talked to a 44 Mag shooter

at the shop today. This guy loads and shoots a LOT (he brought 4 different 44's today)

anyway, he used to use H-110 and HS-6

he's switching to Lil-Gun..says it is super clean and very low flash

 

[WESHOOT2]

SNOWBLIND

And I was gonna suggest Universal Clays

 

[Zak Smith]

Don't the Vihtavuori powders have less flash than most other powders?

-z

 

[riverdog]

Weshoot2,
How large a charge were you thinking? ~6 gr of Clays?

 

[WESHOOT2]

LARGE n HEAVY, TOO

No.

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More.............

Error: I posted 45 Colt data.
Want 44 Magnum data.

See, why one should ALWAYS confirm and reconfirm load data; we (I) make mistakes.

 

[riverdog]

Ya but ...

I don't have a Speer manual, but what velocity does the 8.4 gr powder charge yield? My (wild ***) guess is that it exceeds the 1000FPS I'm looking for. I've heard good things about Universal Clays though so I may look for another reloading manual. The Hodgdon website doesn't list Clays for the .44 Mag.

 

[WESHOOT2]

WAIT! STOP! .429" vs (WRONG) .452"

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In 44 Magnum try starting at 7.0g UC.

 

[riverdog]

Thanks, that sounds like it will work Still need to buy an up-to-date manual though.