I want a soft .44 Mag load for a carbine!

[RainDodger]

Ok, I've got a Browning B-92 (lever action) in .44 Magnum. Both the rifle and .44 Magnum hand loading are new to me. I want to put together a nice, soft shooting load that makes the rifle fun to shoot. A full house .44 Mag load through this light rifle really says "hello!" to your shoulder.

Powder that I've got handy is primarily H-110 (296), Accurate #7, and Unique. The only boooolits I've got right now are 200 grain or 180 grain Hornady XTPs. My quandary is, there are some relatively light Unique loads listed, but they're for pistol and not rifle - all the rifle loads with my powders show significantly hotter loads than the pistol loads, as starting loads.

I know that the pistol loads will generally work in rifles, but the large disparity between starting loads bugs me. Unique is listed with a nice starting load for pistol, but it's not listed at all for rifle - probably due to the burn rate. Is the down-side of a soft pistol load just going to end up being sub-par accuracy?

Anybody out there have any pet .44 Magnum loads with any of those powders that are nice and soft, that even the wife will enjoy? Remember, we're talking a 20" barreled rifle and not a S&W Model 29!

I'd appreciate any High Road wisdom! Thanks.

 

[Macchina]

Anything that works in a revolver will work in the rifle. Try the Unique load!
All I ever shoot through my Marlin 1894 is full power H110 loads under 240g XTPs.

 

[Macchina]

Remember that though the barrels are a different length, the cartridge is the same and that is where the magic is happening.

There's not a huge difference between a 6" .44 revolver and a 20" .44 rifle (same cartridge, different length barrels). Velocity will be better, but not by magnitudes.

There is a much more significant difference between a 20" .22 short rifle and a 20" .220 Swift rifle (same barrel, huge velocity delta).

 

[ArtP]

I've actually similar question, with a twist. I own a Marlin 1894 in 44 mag and I'd like to plink with it with plated bullets. I don't know what to use and where to keep the velocity. Any help?

I don't find the recoil to be an issue, just trying to escape the cost of 240 grain XTP's for plinking.

I too have 296/110/unique/power pistol.

 

[hartcreek]

You can NOT use 296/110 for reduced loads. 296/110 does not work well when an air pocket is in the cartridge. Loads with 296/110 will give more recoil if you try and use it for reduced charges. There are writeups all over the web about NOT using 296/110 for reduced loads. The powder works fine for full magnum loads.

Use Unique for reduced loads......as for less expensive bullets cast them.

 

[Walkalong]

My quandary is, there are some relatively light Unique loads listed, but they're for pistol and not rifle

They are in the pistol section, but will work just fine in the carbine. If you have some Unique it will work just fine, and actually very well, for reduced loads in .44 Mag.

 

[buck460XVR]

Anything that works in a revolver will work in the rifle. Try the Unique load!

Yes and No. I suggest you stick to loads that produce more than 850 FPS in a revolver to avoid a stuck bullet in a rifle/carbine. This is the main reason most manuals do not give info for fast burning powders in powder puff loads to be used in them. Unique works very well in both my .357 and .44 carbines for reduced recoil loads, but I personally would not go with a faster powder than that.

 

[Salmoneye]

Low level lever gun loads:

http://www.gmdr.com/lever/lowveldata.htm

 

[RainDodger]

All good information - thanks, guys. Especially to hartcreek about not using reduced loads with 110/296. Of course I'd never go lower than a manual suggests but still, that's good to know. There's a Unique load that's around 1300 FPS that I think I'll try. That's a pistol velocity that's listed, but I'd guess it will reduce felt recoil quite a bit.

ArtP... I'm not sure what the problem is. If you have plated bullets, I'd load them up and shoot them. Personally I'd keep them on the slower side of jacketed stuff, but they're not going to lead like non-jacketed bullets would.

As always Walkalong, I pretty much agree with you. I'll load some up with Unique and give them a try. 1300 FPS out of a pistol is likely still going to be more out of the carbine and I'm sure there's no danger of any stuck booooolits at that speed. I haven't used Unique for about 20 years in anything, but I've got 2 pounds of it. Time to use it!

 

[Salmoneye]

I've actually similar question, with a twist. I own a Marlin 1894 in 44 mag and I'd like to plink with it with plated bullets. I don't know what to use and where to keep the velocity. Any help?

I don't find the recoil to be an issue, just trying to escape the cost of 240 grain XTP's for plinking.

I too have 296/110/unique/power pistol.

The issue with .44 Mag in rifles, is that the bore and groove are not the same as .44 mag in pistols...

This is the only cartridge like this in the SAAMI specs...

Pistol has a groove diameter spec of .429", while the rifle is spec'd at .431"...

Thus, if you are planning on loading cast for your rifle, it needs to be a minimum of .432" to get good results...

My 1894 will not fire .429" jacketed bullets with any reliable accuracy...

Change that bullet to a Hornady that all come in at .430", and it comes into it's own...But it still wants at least .432" cast, and .433" is better...

 

[ArchAngelCD]

My quandary is, there are some relatively light Unique loads listed, but they're for pistol and not rifle -

Have you ever seen a box of factory .44 Magnum ammo marked specifically for a handgun or a rifle? If you look at the charges they are usually the same in both load data sections. Usually the only difference is the velocities because of the different barrel lengths. If you loon at the Hodgdon site they list a max charge of 24.0gr H110 under a 240gr Nosler bullet for both rifle and handgun data. Pressures are the same, only the velocities are different.

 

[CraigC]

Unique works very well in rifles and still yields a hefty velocity gain, about 300fps for my favorite 10.0gr load.

There's not a huge difference between a 6" .44 revolver and a 20" .44 rifle (same cartridge, different length barrels). Velocity will be better, but not by magnitudes.

I would call a 400fps difference significant. That's enough to extend its effective range by 50yds, which is 50%. Fifty percent is significant.

Thus, if you are planning on loading cast for your rifle, it needs to be a minimum of .432" to get good results...

I haven't found this to be the case at all. My 1894S shoots .429's into an inch or less at 100yds and my Cowboy does as well at 50yds with .430" cast bullets.

 

[Salmoneye]

I haven't found this to be the case at all. My 1894S shoots .429's into an inch or less at 100yds and my Cowboy does as well at 50yds with .430" cast bullets.

Then you are almost 'Unique'

You are only the 2nd person in 30 years that I have heard say their 1894 will shoot cast .431" or smaller...

Have you ever slugged your bore?

 

[Mad Chemist]

Use Unique. Anything North of 7.0 grains with a std 240gr LSW should work. You should be able to step this up to 10.0gr and it will still feel relatively soft when shot from a rifle.

 

[RainDodger]

I took your advice. I put together 100 rounds with Unique. 50 that should be be real soft, and 50 a teeny bit (scientific term) hotter.

I haven't shot Unique in years. I imagine it's just as dirty as it always was. I seem to recall it was dirtier than most other powders. Oh, well. Cleaning is it's own kind of fun I guess!

Thanks a lot everyone.