My 1st 44 specials!

[MrPhil]

Loaded and shot my first 44 specials today. Used PMC brass, Winchester Large Pistol primers, 4.5 gr of Bullseye, and a 240 gr Ranier plated HP. They shot really nicely. Grouped well at 25 yards (max distance at the range) with a very acceptable recoil. Will try a little lighter next week.
The PMC brass is $40/1000 at the range. Seems pretty good.
Any suggestions, comments, questions welcome.

 

[Paul "Fitz" Jones]

44 Special load

My favorite load is similiar to yours with the same weight bullet and 5.2 gr WW231. I like the 231 as I feel that the spherical powder meters more accurately and can give the best possible grouping in a test with a rest.

John Paul

 

[Reloader]

4.0 grains of Titegroupoes as well, and burns cleaner.

 

[Johnny Guest]

Great price on the brass!

IIRC, Star Line gets near $100 per thousand for .44 Special brass - - - hat was the price for the last .45 Colt cases I bought.

I only have a hundred or so PMC .44 Spl cases, but they seem to work very well.

What kinda .44 Spl revolver are you using?

I used to load a lot of 240 LSWCs for my Super Blackhawk and a Colt New Service - - - Mostly Unique and H. Universal powder, but my loads would be a bit much for, say, a Charter Bulldog.

Best,
Johnny

 

[MrPhil]

A friend is turning some of his guns into scuba gear. I helped him "convert" a 6-year-old S&W 629-4, 6.5". It is a really nice shooter, but my hands can't take much more than 50 rounds of full-on .44 mag. So, if I want to shoot it alot (and I want to), it will be .44 specials. I'm working up a round to use for some real casual competition at the local range. Most shoot 1911's, but a few of us shoot revolvers. No magnum loads allowed. Nothing more than 50'. I have a bunch of Bullseye because I got a good deal on 8 pounds. So, 38 and 44 spc will be Bullseye for the indefinite future.
So . . . the gun can take some hot loads. Tell me about your stout loads.

 

[mec]

I've used that charge and a couple of different cast bullets in my 6.5" and it is massively accurate. with the 225 grain rnfp, it does about 830 fps and I believe about the same with the 240 . Lately. I've shot quite a few with the carge dropped to 3.5 which lands in the high 700 to 800 fps range. this is more like the original 246 grain load out of my gun. Accuracy with a variety of 225-250 grain cast bullets is very good.

 

[444]

I have been loading 15 grains of 2400 behind a 240 grain cast bullet. This is a super accurate load in my 4" Model 29. I had that gun "shoot loose". I sent it to Jack Weigand and he fixed it up; it is a masterpiece now. Very, very accurate. I decided to stick with .44 Special loads and load them in .44 Special cases so I dont' shoot one of my SBH blockbuster loads by accident. This is really the only load I tried, it shot so well I stuck with it. I have a group hanging on my loading bench that I shot with this load using my pickup fender as a rest. It is one ragged hole at 25 yards (large hole, maybe 2"). This isn't a light load by any means, but I like it.

 

[jsalcedo]

240 grain keith style with 4.3 grains of hodgdon clays.

Clean and accurate

 

[444]

Of course as soon as I read this thread I had to load up the car and go shootin. I took my 3" Model 629. Miraculously, I found that I had zero .44 Specials loaded. So, I shot two boxes of factory "cowboy loads" that someone gave me. Not very exciting. Had fun though.

jsalcedo: I am going to have to try that recipe. I want to start playing around with Clays. I bought a pound of it the other day, got home and realized that I had another pound from the last time I got this idea. I was going to try it in .38 Special and .45 ACP but I guess .44 Special is now on the list. Maybe I should have bought a keg of it.

 

[Johnny Guest]

Warm-To-Hot .44 Special Loads

CAUTION: The following post includes loading data beyond currently published maximums for this cartridge. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Neither the writer, The High Road, nor the staff of THR assume any liability for any damage or injury resulting from use of this information.

My favorite for many years was a 240 to 250 gr. LSWC bullet over 7.5 gr. of Unique. I've shot thousands of these through S&W 1926 and 1950 models, Colt SAA and New Service .44 Specials, (not to mention several .44 magnums) with no apparent ill effects. I got this load directly from the writings of Elmer Keith and later Skeeter Skelton. In recent years I have read some actual pressure testing information on this, and it is really on up there in the p.s.i. and C.U.P. figures.

The one time I fired a few of these loads in a Charter Arms Bulldog, and instantly learned that this was Not a Good Idea.

Another good load for longer barrels, in the same pressure range and slightly higher velocity: same bullets with 18 gr. of 2400 with CCI magnum primers. This was a barn burner in a 7-1/2" bbl Colt SAA.

Again, these are high pressure loads. Do not use them in lighter revolvers.

Best of luck,
Johnny

 

[MrPhil]

4 gr of Bullseye is NOT enough!

I loaded down from 4.5 to 4.0 grains of Bullseye behind a 240 gr plated HP. Not enough. They don't go BANG, they go "puh". At 25 yards I can hear 'em fall to the ground after hitting the back stop. If the target doesn't have a good piece of cardboard behind it, they tear a flap in the paper. I thought I was missing the target about half the time. Reeled the target in and found some of the "holes" closed up by a flap. These eyes can't see a flap at 25 yards. On the plus side, they group pretty well and have minimum recoil. On the negative, they don't seal the cylinder very well so cases and cylinder were pretty sooty. So . . . it'll be back to 4.5 gr.

Johnny G, my old Speer #11 shows a max of 6.3 of Unique, and 5.2 of Bullseye. I'll start with 5.2 and work up. Probably to the 6 to 6.5 range. Thanks for the data.

Phil

 

[444]

jsalcedo

I loaded up a couple hundred .44 Specials using Clays, but I went with 4.0 grains. This was the load on the website. Nice load. Seemed clean. I didn't shoot a lot of them last night but will continue testing.

 

[Gewehr98]

Johnny Guest, I'm gonna go out on a limb here...

And assume that those loads you posted won't be too comfortable in my 3" Model 696, right? I just want a good load, somewhere above Cowboy, that will get along with the 5-shot .44 Special L-Frame. And I'm partial to the accuracy of the 240gr Keith Semi-wadcutter, I've seen what it can do in a Model 29.

 

[Johnny Guest]

Gew 98, that'd be a pretty safe assumption - - -


I really don't recall the spec'd weight of the 3" Charter Bulldog .44, but it was too dang light for those loads! Just checked and see the 396 goes about 18 oz, and the SCS&W notes that the warning "Max Bullet 200 Grain" is shown on the barrel.

Granted, if I owned a 396, I'd just flat have to try out the 240 gr bullets, but I'd power them pretty gently. Not really worried about a full scale KaBOOM, but it's such a darned BOTHER to have the cases back right off the bullets. I'd probably experiment along the lines mentioned above by MrPhil.

Best,
Johnny