44 Special or light 44 mag load?

[Kachok]

My brother just bought a 44 magnum revolver and wants me to work up a load so his wife can shoot it too, she wants something potent but not full power 44 mag either. I am kind of limited on my options because the only .429 cal bullets I have are 240gr XTPs and the only handgun powders I have are Blue Dot and Longshot (yes I know they are technically shotgun powders) Consulting my reloading manual 44 Special maxes out at around 750fps with 9gr of Blue Dot and the 44 Mag is pushing 1300fps with it's starting load of 14gr with the same powder. I was hoping to be in between those two for her, can I load the 44 mag down below starting load, say around 10-12gr of Blue Dot or is that simply too low a load density? Any other suggestions that don't involve powders/bullets I cannot find at the moment? I have both 44 mag and 44 Special brass and both standard and magnum primers.

 

[buck460XVR]

The Hornady manual gives a starting load of 11.8 gr of Blue Dot under it's 240gr XTP. Claims this runs about 1100fps outta their 7 1/2 '' ruger test gun. Spose to be about the same as the 9.5 gr load of Unique that I make for the oldest sons 329 Night Guard.

 

[jstein650]

Since you're looking for a MV of somewhere between the two, I say load a light Mag. rather than going hot on the Special. Plus, usually the full length 44 brass will have better accuracy potential. Other than the REALLY slow H110/W296 a low density load will not be a problem, and B'Dot will still fill the bulk of the case.

 

[tomrkba]

BUY THE CORRECT POWDERS!! A pound is only $25 or so.


Light factory 44 Magnum is tough to come by. One of the few loads is 200 grain Speer Gold Dot Short Barrel. Velocity is listed as 1075 FPS. The 44 Special load is listed at 875 FPS.

VERIFY BEFORE USE. Buy the book and double check!!

Book: Metallic Cartridge Reloading, 3ed
(minimum to max loads listed, only lower velocity)

Case: Winchester
Primer: Large pistol
Bullet diameter: .429-.430"
Max case length: 1.285"
Trim to length: 1.280"
Max cart OAL: 1.610"
Min cart OAL: 1.535"


Lead 215 gas checked
11.0 to 13.0 g HS6 @ 1065 from 7.5" Redhawk
5.9 to 6.9 g HP38 @ 832

180 grain jacketed
7.0 to 9.0 IMR700-X @ 1009

225 grain JHP
6.5 to 8.5 g W231 @904

240 g jacketed soft point
5.5 to 7.5 W231 @844
7.0 to 9.0 Bullseye @1019

250 g jsp
6.0 to 7.0 W231 @790

 

[Anmut]

Light 44mag load will give her a nice shooting experience.

 

[Kachok]

Light 44mag load will give her a nice shooting experience.

I think so too, 11.8gr around 1100fps should do just fine I would think, only thing I am worried about now is the 4" ported barrel, I am thinking that will have a fierce blast even with light loads, never shot a ported pistol but I know it makes rifles stupid loud.

 

[jstein650]

Ear muffs and you're fine. A ported barrel will add to experience in any event. (I doubt much for mild .44 loads) Even so, do it at dusk, and she'll feel like a Bad..ss!)

 

[tomrkba]

Speer #13 (page 562)


Max case len: 1.285"
Trim to len: 1.275"
Max cart len: 1.610"
Case: Speer
Primers: CCI 300, 350

240 g .430" LSWC
Cart OAL: 1.605"
Bullseye 5.5-6.0. 828-894
231 6.0-6.5 808-867
Unique 6.5-7.0 720-899
HS-6 8.5-9.5 822-947

 

[murf]

i would take buck460xvrs advise. the xtp bullets are different, so your best bet is with hornady load data. start at 11.8 grains and work up to your 1,000 fps level. using 44 magnum cases, of course.

murf

 

[Kachok]

Sadly I don't have any of those powders and probably won't until the panic dies down a little more, but I would still imagine that the load data would be a little different with my jacketed bullets then with LSWCs. I normally use rather slow burning powders in handguns to prevent the possibility of a double charge hence the Blue Dot and Longshot both are dang near full cases in my 9mm and 40 so double charging would require some hefty compression if it is even possible. Double charging a max load of Blue Dot with a 115gr would be about a 218% compressed load at max length I think I would break something before that would seat.

 

[jstein650]

that's why I stuck with your first OP. you'll do fine w/B'Dot. one of my favorite powders in less than balls-to the-walls loads in the .44
but don't ask me.

 

[the Black Spot]

I have shot 10 gr of bluedot with a 310 gr cast bullet in a SBH. Minimum recoil, i would think it would be less with a 240 gr.

 

[Kachok]

I let her try the 11.8gr loads today and to my surprise she wanted to shoot the heavier loads, ended up settling on 13-14gr as her favorite range, turns out that small frame Taurus handles recoil much better then I was expecting for such a small 44 Mag. Blue dot was not too bad in the muzzle blast department either considering the short ported barrel. Lots of fun shooting that little big bore revolver, we burned up all the 44 I had.

 

[1KPerDay]

cool.

 

[roninrlm]

I would rather shoot a 44 spl in than down load a .44 mag. Just too much open space on a light 44 Mag load. It would be safer to load a light .44 spl than a light .44 mag.

Ronin

 

[35 Whelen]

Here's an article with a Blue Dot load for the .44 Special that runs a 250 gr. SWC over 1100. Here's another that has a few Blue Dot loads.

I personally have gone up to 11.5 grs. of BD with a 260 gr. cast SWC in one of my Colt clones. Going from memory it ran somewhere over 1000 fps out of the 4 5/8" barrel. That should just about do what you want.

35W

 

[Kachok]

BTW it shot fine with the 11.8gr of Blue Dot, no failure to fire or any other issues, though we all shot better with the 13-14gr but we were shooting freehand so that could be some sort of placebo effect. For a small frame revolver that was remarkably easy to handle 44 mag I am impressed.

 

[doc540]

5.5 Win231 in .44 Mag

 

[cfullgraf]

I have are Blue Dot and Longshot (yes I know they are technically shotgun powders)
.

Most shotgun powders work very well in handguns so while they might be called "shotgun" powders, they are quite versatile. I load lots of Unique in handgun and 20 gauge and 28 gauge shot shells. W296 gets used in 410 bore shot shells, 357 Magnum, 300 BLK, and a few others.

Generally, light 44 Special loads can be used in a 44 Magnum revolver. If you use 44 Magnum cases, the powder charges need to be a little larger to account for the larger internal case volume. The published load data should guide you.

Hope this helps.

 

[Kachok]

I do find it funny that shotgun powders often outperform powders supposedly designed for pistols. When doing my homework I found that Longshot and Blue Dot simply pushed 147gr 9mm and 180gr 40 cal faster then their pistol powder counterparts. I have also used some magnum powders in standard rifles with exceptional results. RL22 is one very slow burning magnum powder but I have found it to be THE powder for 140gr 6.5x55, there is not even a close second in my book.

 

[MovedWest]

Green dot is kinda the sleeper powder for low recoil 44 mag IMHO. Unique is good for consistency on medium loads. Either work great in both 44 mag or special. I am nearly completely turned off blue dot with one exception for Winchester 210gr STHPs.

Good luck and be safe.

-MW

 

[Texan Scott]

Trail Boss. It's MADE for this. A full case of powder in a straight cased, lead bullet loaded round at 'cowboy action' velocities.

http://www.imrpowder.com/data/handgun/trailboss-feb2005.php

 

[35 Whelen]

Trail Boss does work well for this applicattion, but no better than any other pistol/shotgun powder. One thing to remember with TB is you're paying extra $$$ for "insurance" that you don't double-charge a case.

35W