heavy bullets in 44 special?

[lawboy]

I am planning to experiment with heavy bullets in the 44 Special. I have a mould for 310grain wfn style bullets and plan to start out using these over 6.0grs Unique. Has anyone played with heavy cast bullets in the 44 Special before? Any thoughts?

 

[Harve Curry]

When I bought my 1st Colt SAA 44spl, it came with a few hundred rounds of Keith type SWC bullets, 275gr, loaded over 6gr Unique. I did not like them. Less then 700fps MV. They were good for taking the heads off cotton tail rabbits though. I had an opportunity to shoot a mule deer on the last day when we were leaving camp. Real nice buck broadside at 20-25 yards. Unfortuately a rifle was not handy or it would have been the biggest mule deer I ever got. I hit him in the chest behind the front leg. The big bullet knocked him to his knees and before I could get another round off he ran into a mesquite bosque. Never found any blood or him again.
My personal preference in 44spl size sixguns is 180-200gr bullets, 230gr being the heaviest, jacketed or lead, and whatever weight shoots best groups in the particular gun.

 

[P95Carry]

I plan to cast and load some 300's for 44 mag but would not personally choose this heavy for 44 spl. Much better IM) to stay lighter for that - 250 Keith SWC would be absolute max and better - down around the 200 - I am certain performance and results will be better.

 

[Sharps Shooter]

If you are casting your own bullets and can resist the temptation to use an alloy that's harder than ****, it should work. Although, I'm not sure what those loads would be good for. I've experimented some using 300 - 325 grain cast bullets, pushing them with a light to medium charge of Unique in a .44 Magnum. I've had terrible problems with hard, commercial cast bullets when I tried to use them in that way. They lead up my barrels something awful because they're just too darn hard (I suspect) to obturate (sp?) properly when pressures are that low. However, I've had no leading when using my own heavy cast bullets with the same light to medium charges of Unique. I don't cast my handgun bullets as hard as commercial casters (thumbnail test) and unlike most commercial cast bullets, my own don't have beveled bases. Then again, I'm not sure what a 300 grain cast .44-caliber bullet at less than 800fps is good for. It's kinda fun though.