.44 Spcl. loads in .44 Mag brass?

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OrangePwrx9

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Planning to try this using some 180 and 200 gr. bullets I have. Hoping to take the sting out of practice with my .44 Mag Contender. I've pretty much gone full-power 240 gr. for my revolvers and 1894 Marlin, but those loads aren't fun in the 10" Contender.

I don't have any .44 Spcl brass, but figure the magnum brass will have the advantage of preventing a crud ring in the chamber. The only question is whether the larger case volume will cause problems.

Is anyone doing this? Is there anything I should watch out for? I see 44 Spcl loads with everything from Bullseye and Red Dot to 2400. Any powders in this range to avoid?
 
There is published data for lighter loads in the 44 mag, but, not very many. When I had mine just used the max 44 special load and never had any issue. If you have a chronograph start with a max special load . Then work up to what velocity is published for that load in special brass. Had a friend that did this all the time. Do not load the lower special loads in magnum brass with jacketed bullets. Have,one stick some time and you will see why. Having a cast bullet stick in the barrel is not a big deal. A few good raps with a dowel pops them out. Clean out any lead if needed and resume shooting. Does tend to disturb other shooters though.
 
Don't know about .44 but .38 loads work fine for me in .357 brass. I can't think of any reason .44 would be different but I may be mistaken. You may need tiny bit more powder to make up for the extra case volume but that is unlikely to be an issue.

I'm sure you are aware of it but with some powders H110/W296 come to mind
you should not reduce the charge.

Sometimes you can have issues (varing velocities) with powder forward powder back with samll charges in large cases.
Walkalong and others have a thread here about this. Some powders are more sensitive some are less sensitive about case position.

I like using the .357 brass for lighter loads so I don't have to readjust things and can switch back and forth at the range without having to clean due to the shorter brass.
 
"...don't have any .44 Spcl brass..." Horrendously expensive and hard to find anyway. Absolutely no fuss loading .44 Mag brass to Special velocities. Just like .38 loads in .357. Work up the load exactly the same way you would if you had sold a kidney and bought .44 Special brass. Starts at $25 per 100 from Midway, but it's ALL on 'No back order.'
 
Try some Trail Boss.I have had good results with 240gr jacketed and LSWC bullets. I like shooting them in my S&W 629-3 Classic with 6 1/2" barrel.
 
I load mine about 2/3 of the way from min to max in the special range in mag cases with a 200gr jhp. It's still enough to go through a deer with bullet just under skin on the far side with good expansion at 50 yards. My barrel is 16" though. I have no clue what my velocity is.
 
SUNRAY AND ORANGE I got a few special cases through the pay it forward thread. From what I can surmise, your not missing anything by not loading specials for use in a mag when you can load special level mag cases. The only thing I intend to do with my special cases is load light for my nephew to hunt with this year with a properly fit carbine stock attached.
 
I fail to see a problem? I've been loading 44 Magnum brass to bottom of the chart (44 Special) velocities for decades - Decades! Never had any sort of mechanical problem while firing off these rounds.

In fact I once used them in PPC! The result? My split times significantly increased; and my overall scores went down - Way down! What important lessons did I learn? I learned that 44 Magnum/Special revolvers do NOT make for ideal EDC combat handguns; and, I also learned that higher PPC scores are best obtained by shooting only soft recoiling, 38 Special wadcutters. :D



NOTE: 180 grain bullets seem a little lightweight to me; and I don't have any load data for them. There is, however, a high degree of similarity between top of the chart 44 Special, and bottom of the chart 44 Magnum 200 + grain bullets. Check your reloading manual(s). Normal muzzle lift during recoil should stabilize any possible variations in velocity for ya.
 
I load reddot in magnum brass, I'll check my load notes when I get home from work and I'll chime back in.

Pleasant shooting loads for sure though.
 
Won't be an issue unless you try to use some slow burning powder that doesn't like empty space such as 296, but i'm not aware of any of them in published SPL loads.

I've done them with Bullseye, Red Dot, and Unique.
 
You will need to increase .44 Special published loads a bit to get the same velocity using .44Mag brass. 6.5 grains of Unique and 240 grain bullet gets about 850 fps, where I have to increase the charge to 7.2 grains in the .44Mag to get the same velocity. I don;t know how your Contender barrel is chambered, but my Encore .44 Mag barrel does not like short brass.
 
Curator is right if your comparing loads shot through the same gun. Most 44 spl velocities I have seen have been through shorter barrels though, so the longer barrel of the contender can easily surpass a heavier load in a shorter barrel.
 
I know what you mean about full power magnum loads in a 10" Contender. I can handle a lot of recoil but those 44 mag loads really sting. I switched to heavy 44 Special loads, Unique, and 240 gr. cast bullets. Don't recall the exact Unique amount without my notes but it was slightly below maximum. Fine accuracy and turns the Contender into a pussy cat instead of a dragon. I have Special cases but have had no problem with this load in magnum brass. I don't hunt anymore so haven't tried this on game but it does fine on paper and steel targets.

BTW, I normally use 38 Special brass in 357s and 44 Special brass in my Model 29 and Contender. I have never seen that 'crud ring' people mention. It might happen after hundreds, maybe thousands, of shots but any regular cleaning schedule would prevent it.

Jeff
 
Try this one:
240 LSWC over 5.2 grains of Bullseye in 44 Magnum cases.
Use CCI large pistol magnum primers. No substitutes.
Chronos 780 FPS out of my 4" S&W Model 29.
Very mild and incredibly accurate.
 
.44 Spcl. loads in .44 Mag brass?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Planning to try this using some 180 and 200 gr. bullets I have. Hoping to take the sting out of practice with my .44 Mag Contender. I've pretty much gone full-power 240 gr. for my revolvers and 1894 Marlin, but those loads aren't fun in the 10" Contender.

I don't have any .44 Spcl brass, but figure the magnum brass will have the advantage of preventing a crud ring in the chamber. The only question is whether the larger case volume will cause problems.

Is anyone doing this? Is there anything I should watch out for? I see 44 Spcl loads with everything from Bullseye and Red Dot to 2400. Any powders in this range to avoid?
Click to expand...

Have you already tried minimum loads for 44 Magnum? You need a baseline different than simply finding your "full power" revolver and rifle load to be too heavy. Trying to use loads for 44 Spl proven only informally is too great a leap IMO.
 
OrangePwrx9 said:
Planning to try this using some 180 and 200 gr. bullets I have. Hoping to take the sting out of practice with my .44 Mag Contender. I've pretty much gone full-power 240 gr. for my revolvers and 1894 Marlin, but those loads aren't fun in the 10" Contender.

I don't have any .44 Spcl brass, but figure the magnum brass will have the advantage of preventing a crud ring in the chamber. The only question is whether the larger case volume will cause problems.

Is anyone doing this? Is there anything I should watch out for? I see 44 Spcl loads with everything from Bullseye and Red Dot to 2400. Any powders in this range to avoid?
Click to expand...
I never shoot any of those lite bullets in the 44's, but what I have found with the 240's you have to use just a bit more powder than the 44 special case uses to get the same accuracy.
I use mostly unique for those type of loads, 7.5 grs in 44 sp cases and 8.5 in 44 mag cases.
 
Bullseye is one powder that simply does not need magnum primers. It burns very consistently off a regular primer in any load density I've read about or shot from super light poofy cowboy loads up to .357Mag loads. Not sure why you're saying "no substitutes" taroman. If you found that for some reason the Magnum primers aided in getting better accuracy that's great. But they are not needed just to make decent ammo with Bullseye.

On the other hand some powders don't ignite all that consistently unless they DO have magnum primers and that can lead to wide variations in muzzle velocity and poor accuracy. H110/W296 is one such powder that I've used.

Orange', I wanted a little less power so I went with a lower end Magnum load. Something that delivers a 200gn cast at around 1000fps. It's stronger than a .44Spl like load but still light enough to shoot all day. And like you I find that full house magnums leave the hand shaking and shocky after a couple of cylinders worth even from my big and heavy SBH. So a lower power but still fun to shoot round worked for me.

It'll likely also come down to finding a load which the gun likes for accuracy. So don't ignore that in your quest for a softer kicking load. After all what's a Contender all about if it's not about accuracy?
 
I checked my log book, I've been using 6.6gr reddot under a 200gr plated RNFP.
It's a easy shooting load in my snubby even. even easier in my carbine!
 
I checked my log, and I was using 5.5gr Bullseye or 6.5gr unique under 240gr swc for my indoor match loads. I believe those were Speer soft lead bullets though.
 
Avoid ?

Any of the spherical high charge powders like lilgun, h110, and 2400

My pet load for 200 gr plinkers is 6 grs of unique, or 5.5 grs of w231- the 231 is handy as I don't need to reset my powder measures after loading 45 acp.

For accuracy though, 8 grs of unique under a hardcast 240 swc has been nice in every 44 I've shot it in.

3.5 to 4 grs of unique under a Soft 240 is a great load for full length rifles with suppressors, so I have no doubt it'd work well in a 10" contender, although you might laugh, it's a real pip squeak !
 
No problem with fast to medium burn rate powders, which is all you'll find for the .44Spl. You'll just need more of it to get the same velocity.


Horrendously expensive and hard to find anyway.
Click to expand...
Oh please. It costs the same as .44Mag brass and is usually just as plentiful. Buy 500rds one time and you're set for a very long time. :rolleyes:

Actually Graf's has .44Spl brass right now and no .44Mag brass.
 
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