.44 Special Loads for Blackhawks

[35 Whelen]

Now now 35 don't shoot the messinger, I'm simply answering the question you begged to ask.
"With ballistics such as these, who really needs a .44 Magnum?"
Somebody who wants to shoot a run of the mill factory 240gr bullet at 1200fps or somebody that wants to push the limits of their gun a bit an shoot 300gr bullets at over 1300 fps or maybe somebody who wants to have a legal handgun to hunt deer in the state of Kansas.
Either of these can be accomplished with a Mag and can not with a special.
Personal attacks won't change these facts.

I am so sorry I attacked you personally, offended your senses and hurt your feelings And I didn't intend to make you or anyone else feel bad about themselves or their firearms or in any way insinuate that you or your .44 Magnums are inadequate. You both are very important.

You know well the point I was making with the (rhetorical) question, so there's no need in me elaborating or rehashing. You did see the little winking icon at the end of the question, didn't you?

But like Elmer did with the advent of the 44 mag I don't see any need to push my specials past the Skeeter (7.5 unique) load because 44 magnum chambered guns are avaliable.

Odd. I happen have a Lyman Cast Bullet manual copyrighted 1958 in front of me in which Mr. Keith has a page dedicated to his load "Recommendations" for five cartridges which include the .44 Special AND the .44 Magnum.

With regards to the .44 Special he wrote VERBATIM: "I use 5 grains of Bullseye for light loads or 7.5 grs. of Unique for target. I use 18.5 grains of 2400 in heavy loads in old-style cases. For the new solid-head case use 5.0 grains of Bullseye or 7.5 grains of Unique, but cut the 2400 load to 17.0 grains for the heavy loads with all three .44 Special bullets." He's talking about the 429421, 429422 and 429421 HP bullets. Unless I'm missing something, he's still recommending the loads he has for (at that point) 20 or so years.
I think you may have your "Uncle Elmers" confused.

I checked the Kansas wildlife regulations and Lo and Behold! 1.285" minimum cartridge case length for big game?!? Has NO ONE in the state thought to point out that their regulations prohibit such cartridges the .44 Special, 45 ACP, 45 AR while allowing such powerhouses as the 30 Carbine, 32-20. 38-40 and 44-40?

35W

 

[35 Whelen]

...and by the way, I've definitely settled on the 6.5 gr. of Unique load for day to day carry when doing chores, feeding, etc. It shoots well in all three of my .44 Specials as well as my 1873 rifle from which it runs almost 1100 fps. All that's left is to cast MORE bullets.

35W

 

[murf]

35 whelen,

what diameter are those bullets?

murf

 

[murf]

11 bhn is pretty soft and may expand @ 1200 fps muzzle velocity. deer and bear medicine?

murf

 

[mavracer]

I am so sorry I attacked you personally, offended your senses and hurt your feelings

Oh don't worry you're not bothering me in the least, just trying to help keep facts straight. It's fairly obvious by the fact that you have resorted to rhetoric whos feathers are ruffled.
Not sure if you are aware but copyright would be the year the book was printed but it doesn't mean that the writings are new, the 44 Special excerpt could have been written 20 years earlier and reprinted with permission.

I checked the Kansas wildlife regulations and Lo and Behold! 1.285" minimum cartridge case length for big game?!? Has NO ONE in the state thought to point out that their regulations prohibit such cartridges the .44 Special, 45 ACP, 45 AR while allowing such powerhouses as the 30 Carbine, 32-20. 38-40 and 44-40?

As with most times they try to regulate morality, ethics or integrity you end up with stupid laws. The law also would make it legal to hunt deer with 7.5gr of unique in 44 mag cases and illegal to with the same charge in a special case. even though the Special case would give you a good 50 fps more velocity.
For the record I am actually a big 44 special fan and shoot far more specials than I do mags. My prefered load is a 215gr SWC with 7.0gr of unique. The only reason for 215 instead of 240ish is because it has a very short nose and allows me to load 10 in my trapper length '92 for CAS.

 

[35 Whelen]

murf, those bullets are out of an NOE 429421 Mould. I JUST walked in the house from casting another 250 or so of them. The alloy was wheelweights with a chunk of mostly pure lead tossed in the pot to soften the bullets a bit. I mic'ed a few and they were all .434" and weighed from 259.3 to 260.0. They should set up to right at 11 BHN. I don't know if they'll expand or not. I've just now decided try hunting with a handgun so I have no experience on game.

Here is a collection of several articles on the .44 Special that probably have the info you're after. Brian Pearce wrote a couple of them and has tons of experience with regards to handgun hunting. Somewhere I read in one of his articles where he shot a bull elk @ about 100 yds. with a Colt SA in .44 Special and a 250-ish gr. Keith type SWC. I don't recall the load he was using, but I do remember that the bullet completely penetrated the bull broadside. Given that type performance, surely it work fine on deer and black bear. I bet if you delve through these articles you can find some answers.

The only reason for 215 instead of 240ish is because it has a very short nose and allows me to load 10 in my trapper length '92 for CAS.

Oh? This loaded over 4.0 grs. of Red Dot is the one I use for my CAS loads.

35W

 

[mavracer]

I noticed in Pearce's article he puts the L frame Smiths (296,396,696) in the 25K catagory. While the cylinder will certainly stand up to 25k the forcing cone won't take that kind of abuse and Smith is out of barrels.

 

[murf]

get ya some gallon jug fulla water and find out. bet they expand.

.434" diameter should fill those chamber throats (mine are all .432").

oh, i subscribe to handloader magazine. best there is for this kind of stuff.

mavracer, totally agree with you not wanting to abuse an out-of-production smith and wesson. the blackhawk can take the stout loads, so no worries.

murf

 

[murf]

well, i painted the rear sight of my 44spl blackhawk.

first i painted the whole bottom half way up the notch. couldn't see squat when i held the gun up. the rear sight fuzzed out to a white glob. no way to align front and back sights.

then i scrubbed that off and painted the top half on either side of the notch. that worked very well! for some reason, my eyes could align the top of the front sight even with the bottom of the paint on the rear sight.

anyway, the shooting results are in the fourth picture. i included more pics for comparison of the effects of bullet weight and velocity on point of impact.

murf

p.s. caution: the 300 grain load listed in the pictures below is above sammi limits for the 44 special. use at your own risk.

 

[murf]

35 whelen,

i'm not going to mess around with painting my rear sight on this particular gun. my 300 grain load shoots high and my 250 grain load shoots high. the only load to shoot low enough for the sights is the 200 grain load.

i need a taller front sight.

murf

 

[35 Whelen]

murf,
Thanks for the range report. I enjoy actual photos as it helps put thing into perspective. Have you chrono'ed any of your loads? If so, I'd like to see how they run, especially the 300 gr. load.
Like I mentioned in a previous post, you might try removing the rear sight and taking some metal off the rear underside of it. I removed just .010" using a small belt sander and it made a pretty good difference by lowering the POI at 25 and 50 yds. That portion of the sight can't be seen so you can't even tell the metal has been removed and if memory serves, it allowed the rear sight to go down another 3 clicks. At 25 yds. each click is .75", so 3 clicks would lower you POI over 2" which would help a little at least.

Yesterday I shot my Flat Top some more at 50 and 100 and tried my 200 yd. steel target which is a 22" white circle with a 13" black bull to simulate an across the course offhand High Power target. I found that I needed to elevate the front sight to a point about half way between the top of the front sight and where the serrations at the beginning of the ramp begin. What I did was use a caliper to determine the mid point between these two areas then take a three cornered needle file and lightly file the finish off the middle serration which made a shiny, easy to see line across the front sight. When I shot the pistol I could easily use the top of the front sight to put it at the proper point on the target while aligning the shiny serration with the top of the rear sight and the shiny line didn't interfere with sight alignment when using the sight normally.

By the time I got to this point in shooting yesterday, I'd fired close to 100 rounds and my eyes were really tired, but it was no real trick to keep 3 of 5 shots on the 200 yd target and sometimes I'd go 4 for 5. I was using the Skeeter load, by the way. I had three of the 17.0 gr. of 2400 load left from previous shooting and put two of those into the target. There's about 250 - 300 fps difference in those two loads and while it wouldn't seem possible, a fella can really tell it by the audibal difference in time of flight from the muzzle to striking the target! I have no intention of ever shooting game at that range, but it's fun to be able to hit targets that far away.

Another thing I'm struggling with because I've never done just tons of handgun shooting, is grip consistency. If I make the slightest adjustment in grip pressure my 50 yd groups go from 2.5" to 5 or 6". Very frustrating, but I'm working on it!

35W

 

[murf]

chrony readings are on the targets. the 300 grain load is just under 1000 fps.

the further the target the greater the bullet drop. my 45lc is dead on at 100 yards with the 265gn lswc bullet (1000 fps). i have to aim three feet low to hit the target using the 325 grain lbt bullet (1275 fps).

practicing consistency is the only way to improve accuracy. i use a firm handshake grip on most all my long-range pistols. also, most important is follow through. that has to be the same every shot (don't fight the recoil). confidence is the key.

shooting at distance, i can almost put the gun back in my holster before the bullet hits the steel.

semi-wadcutter bullets work best at long distances. they stay accurate past 50 yards. those 250grain keith bullets are the best in my 44 special.

murf