WNC Seabee
Member
I'm just starting reloading for .44 Magnum, have been loading .45 and .38/.357 for years.
I'm finding published data for this cartridge varies greatly form source to source. What do y'all do about that? Obviously, go with the more conservative source and work up from there, check multiple sources to cross-reference, etc.
What I'm wondering is if the "heavier" published loads are safe while the more conservative loads are just being that...conservative.
Case in point...the Speer manual (#13?) shows a range of 5.5grains of W231 as the low end and tops out at 5.8 for the top end (I don't have the book in front of me, but that's close enough for this discussion). For the same powder, the hodgdon.com data center shows 5.5 as the low end and 11 grains for the max. That is close to DOUBLE the max charge listed in the Speer manual. Both charges are for a 240gr LSWC.
Thoughts?
Edit: I'm really not looking for input on loading for .44 Mag specifically, I'm mostly interested in your thoughts on this disparity of published sources....
I'm finding published data for this cartridge varies greatly form source to source. What do y'all do about that? Obviously, go with the more conservative source and work up from there, check multiple sources to cross-reference, etc.
What I'm wondering is if the "heavier" published loads are safe while the more conservative loads are just being that...conservative.
Case in point...the Speer manual (#13?) shows a range of 5.5grains of W231 as the low end and tops out at 5.8 for the top end (I don't have the book in front of me, but that's close enough for this discussion). For the same powder, the hodgdon.com data center shows 5.5 as the low end and 11 grains for the max. That is close to DOUBLE the max charge listed in the Speer manual. Both charges are for a 240gr LSWC.
Thoughts?
Edit: I'm really not looking for input on loading for .44 Mag specifically, I'm mostly interested in your thoughts on this disparity of published sources....
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