Loads for 44 Special

[cfullgraf]

I've been having good luck using 700-X with target loads in my 44 Special loads.

Unique is always a good choice.

 

[the Black Spot]

7 gr of unique and a 250 gr cast bullet will shoot through a deer

 

[dwpmusic]

I'm leaning toward Unique.

 

[35 Whelen]

I just traded for a Ruger Blackhawk 44 Special with a 4 5/8 barrel and a Bisley grip. I have purchased most of the reloading tools I think I will need but have yet to reload a single round. I plan to make the 44 my first. I've shot one buck with a 44 Mag equipped with a 2X scope but now I want to address the challenge of taking one with open sights.
If anyone has suggestions for a self defense round and a white-tail hunting load I would appreciate you sharing the recipe with me so I can go shopping.
I chose the Blackhawk because I am guessing it will handle loads hot enough to hunt with.
Thanks.

Congrats on your new .44 Special! I hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy (all of) mine. This is hands-down the easiest handgun cartridge for which to load with accurate loads very easily found.

I've literally used a case of LP primers loading for various .44 Specials. For hunting loads, Unique, Power Pistol and Herco are my first choices and in your revolver you can easily run a 250 +/- gr. cast SWC close to 1100 fps with these powders. One could use slower burning powders, but I never saw the need. I'm a couple of hours north of you and have used .44 Specials to kill deer and a hog up here, mostly with a load running a 255 gr. cast 925-950 fps, and that's always been plenty and I never lost a single head of game, and have killed them out to almost 50 yds. Last year I did use a cast 243 gr. SWCHP running a little over 1100 just because.













For a nice practice load, I like 5.2 grs. of Red Dot and a 248 gr. cast RN. I personally prefer to shoot heavier bullets across the board because it keeps POI's closer.

I've not used my Blackhawk yet for hunting, as I prefer the lighter Uberti's, but it's a delightfully accurate revolver, even with the heavier loads-



I can't understand why everyone wrings their hands and bites their nails when someone loads a .44 Special to pressures higher than that of 100+ year old ammunition. Published data? Just one of many examples-

Loads for an American Classic- Handloading the .44 S&W Special by Brian Pearce

Setting emotions aside and employing some common sense thinking will put things into perspective in regards to loading the .44 Special Blackhawk. This "mid-frame" revolver is also chambered by Ruger in 45 ACP whose SAAMI MAP is 23,000 psi for +P loads (19,000 for non+P). So given that, why couldn't the same revolver could handle 23,000 psi .44 Special loads? Then when you consider that the chamber walls of the .44 Special are thicker than those of the 45 ACP, it's easy to see why 25,000 psi loads are used in the Ruger. I personally have no use for such loads, but they can and are used.

As far as a defense load, I don't know why a hunting load wouldn't work, I mean we're talking about a .44 caliber bullet. In my Charter Arms I carry either a 185 gr. full WC or a 220 gr. cast SWC, although I just bought a mould that will cast a 180 gr. SWCHP.

Enjoy your .44!

35W

 

[Legionnaire]

@Tegun, PM me your email address and I'll send you a couple of Brian Pearce's articles.

 

[748]

Yeah to load 44spl loads at or close to 44spl power unique is all you really need.

I have shot many rounds of 240 JHP with 7.5 grs Unique in the 44 Special and never had a problem.

With a cast, non checked, lubed lead bullet that's almost exactly what I will load.
But for my 44mag short I will drop 9gr of unique, in a 44spl case but that's well beyond 44spl pressure.

 

[375supermag]

Hi...
I ordered a Lipsey's Ruger Flat top Blackhawk in .44Spl the day they were announced.
Over the intervening years , I have shot thousands of rounds through that revolver.
Everyone of them has been a 240gr commercial cast LSWC over 7.5 gr of Unique with a Federal large pistol primer.
The revolver is quite accurate, totally reliable and after all of those rounds it still looks brand new.

I have a couple other .44Spl revolvers,. Taurus DA stainless and a Uberti Cimarron SAA clones. They get the same bullet but with a lesser charge of Unique...no sense in pushing the envelope with somewhat weaker revolvers, just not worth the potential for damage.

If I want more .44caliber power, I have four .44Mag revolvers.

 

[35 Whelen]

I have a couple other .44Spl revolvers,. Taurus DA stainless and a Uberti Cimarron SAA clones. They get the same bullet but with a lesser charge of Unique...no sense in pushing the envelope with somewhat weaker revolvers, just not worth the potential for damage.

If I want more .44caliber power, I have four .44Mag revolvers.

What I said in my earlier post about the mid-frame Ruger .44 Specials applies to Uberti's. Next time you have your Uberti and your Ruger Bisley out together, grab your calipers and measure the cylinder diameters of both. You'll find them near identical. And too, Uberti offers 45 ACP cylinders for their SA's, so we're back to the 23K psi thing. Additionally, ItalIan firearms are proofed at 130% of CIP pressures, so now we're talking close to 30K psi. That Skeeter load isn't going to hurt your Uberti.

35W

 

[200Apples]

35W, thanks for your posts. Great thread, too!

I have been busy with work until last month and since then a .45-70 Marlin 1895, a .44 Mag Marlin 1894 and my Ruger flat top .44 Specials.

I typically shoot my 7.5 grains Unique under a MBW 255 Keith lswc; they measure 975-ish fps from my 4-5/8" Blackhawk. Before I recorded these on a friends LabRadar, I knew they'd not exceed 1000 fps which is the round number I wanted, so I upped Skeeter's favorite .44 Special recipe by two-tenths grain to 7.7 grains Unique. Bingo! All loads were 1000 - 1025 and the recoil actually FEELS better. It's a semi-stout feel, but I like it.

When informally testing this load on inanimate objects (metal trash) left in a designated shooting area, .45 Auto 230 grain ball at 800 fps just makes big dents whereas the 1000 fps 255 grain Keith slug busts on through with authority. That's just 20 grains of projectile but 200 fps faster, plus bullet shape and construction.

I also shoot commercial .44 Mag from a SuperBlackhawk (240 grain sjfp @ 1250+ fps) and while effective it ain't comfortable, so my .44 Magnum loads (both commercial, for the brass and then my handloads) are now used in a neat, 16.5" stainless Marlin 1894 SBL. It's just a big, shoulder-fired pistol. Ok, not really, but hey.

 

[Bill M.]

Why not just buy a .44 Mag. Overload in .44 special just makes no sense to me for hunting.

 

[35 Whelen]

Why not just buy a .44 Mag. Overload in .44 special just makes no sense to me for hunting.

For the same reason people load .38 Specials up instead of buying .357's, load 45 Colts up instead of buying 454 Casull's or 460 S&W's, 45-70's instead of buying 458 Winchesters, etc., etc.

ETA- I've never really understood why people buy .44 Magnums only to shoot .44 Special level loads in them.

35W

 

[Slamfire]

I can't understand why everyone wrings their hands and bites their nails when someone loads a .44 Special to pressures higher than that of 100+ year old ammunition. Published data? Just one of many examples-

You have to know your pistol and it's limitations. I talked to Charter Arms, they saw lots of blown cylinders with Keith loads. The Bulldog is unpleasant to shoot with factory ammo any way, it only weighs 20 ounces.



I do not know why this pistol upsets the cylinder base pin just where it is latched into the frame, but it does with anything faster than 755 fps 240gr loads. I have to use a hammer and a punch to knock the pin out of the frame, and then I had to file it down to get it back in. I wish I knew how to correct this as I don't have an unlimited supply of USFA base pins!



Which is why I jumped to get a Lipsey Ruger 44 Special flat top. That pistol has no problems with a 240 L and 7.5 grains Unique.

I've never really understood why people buy .44 Magnums only to shoot .44 Special level loads in them.

My hands tremble well before I get to 50 rounds of full power 44 Magnum and my flinch is at bucking bronco levels. Sometimes it is just nice to plink away with your 44 Magnum. They all need to be taken out and shot.

Hence, I probably shoot 10 38 Special rounds to one 357 Magnum round.

 

[Typetwelve]

You have to know your pistol and it's limitations. I talked to Charter Arms, they saw lots of blown cylinders with Keith loads. The Bulldog is unpleasant to shoot with factory ammo any way, it only weighs 20 ounces.

View attachment 914078

100%. I load 240g lead projectiles over 5g of Unique for my Bulldog. I like to stay fresh with it, but even factory 44 special loads through it are punishing.

 

[35 Whelen]

I do not know why this pistol upsets the cylinder base pin just where it is latched into the frame, but it does with anything faster than 755 fps 240gr loads. I have to use a hammer and a punch to knock the pin out of the frame, and then I had to file it down to get it back in. I wish I knew how to correct this as I don't have an unlimited supply of USFA base pins!

Some of my Uberti's have done this. The solution is simple- Replace the base pin with a Ruger base pin or a Belt Mountain base pin.

35W

 

[RealGun]

You have to know your pistol and it's limitations. I talked to Charter Arms, they saw lots of blown cylinders with Keith loads. The Bulldog is unpleasant to shoot with factory ammo any way, it only weighs 20 ounces.

View attachment 914078

I do not know why this pistol upsets the cylinder base pin just where it is latched into the frame, but it does with anything faster than 755 fps 240gr loads. I have to use a hammer and a punch to knock the pin out of the frame, and then I had to file it down to get it back in. I wish I knew how to correct this as I don't have an unlimited supply of USFA base pins!

View attachment 914079

Which is why I jumped to get a Lipsey Ruger 44 Special flat top. That pistol has no problems with a 240 L and 7.5 grains Unique.



My hands tremble well before I get to 50 rounds of full power 44 Magnum and my flinch is at bucking bronco levels. Sometimes it is just nice to plink away with your 44 Magnum. They all need to be taken out and shot.

Hence, I probably shoot 10 38 Special rounds to one 357 Magnum round.

Okay, but if like mine, it has a smaller frame than 44 Magnum. I wouldn't get carried away with hot loads.

 

[wild willy]

You have to start somewhere 2400 and Hornady 240 JHP is about as good as any.

 

[ddixie884]

Good thread, I shoot PP and Unique but I am going to look deeper into Herco for the .44spl.......

 

[Barbaroja]

I’m on the same journey friend. I get my flattop in 5.5” model out of lockup next week and I’ve been reading all I can about the cartridge and gun.
These articles should keep your more than busy with your loading. You have chosen a good cartridge to start handloading as even a box of cowboy action loads will run $35 for a box of 50. You will quickly recoup the cost of your initial investment. I’d guess you would be able to load a box for around $5 depending on the bullet loaded.
I started loading for the 41 magnum and got into casting and now my cost is down below $3 per 50 but I suppose the math only works if you plan to shoot a lot. But at nearly the same price as .22lr who wouldn’t want to shoot a lot!?

Have fun, be safe, go slow and double check everything. Only takes one round to blow your gun up or worse.


http://www.goodrichfamilyassoc.org/44_Special_Articles/Brian Pearce on the 44 Special.pdf

http://www.goodrichfamilyassoc.org/44_Special_Articles/Ruger Lipsey 44 Special.pdf

https://www.handloadermagazine.com/44-s-w-special-p

 

[.38 Special]

I am another one who has settled on the Skeeter load of 7.5 grains of Unique with a 250 LSWC. It is quite reasonable on deer and boar sized game - though I might have second thoughts if I ever came across one of those "monster pigs" they show on TV. It also is well within the safe limits of any gun chambered for the Special, with the possible exception of the Bulldogs - with which I have no experience and so cannot comment.

I have played some with very hot loads. Not quite to the level of Keith's old load (at least not in guns chambered for the Special) but close. They certainly are effective, but in the light guns they really kick. I finally decided that it was silly of me to turn the Special into a Magnum when I already have plenty of Magnums.

Lastly, I really enjoy Pearce's work with the cartridge. Seyfried is another very good source. https://www.gunsamerica.com/digest/ross-seyfried-lipseys-ruger-flattop-44-special-bisley-revolvers/