Reloading .44 special / Russian with Lee dies.

[Dan Forrester]

So yesterday I attempted to reload some mixed brass that included .44 mag, .44 special and .44 Russian. I have only reloaded .44 magnum before and have had good luck with my set of Lee .44 mag dies.

Everything resized as normal and the de-capped and resized empty classes all fit in the chamber of my .44 super Blackhawk.

I expanded the necks as I had done I the past with my .44 mag brass but was unable to with the .44 special and Russian brass. The cases just weren’t long enough to reach the expander bell with either the Special or the Russian.

All I should need to do is purchase a new Lee .44 Russian expander die correct? Something like this:

Lee Powder Through Expander Die 44 Russian

Only Lee dies permit charging the case while expanding the case mouth. Every Lee 3-die Set includes the Powder Through Expanding Die at no extra cost....

www.midwayusa.com

Does anyone know of the .44 mag seating / crimping die will work on the .44 Russian also?

Thanks,

Dan

 

[Englishmn]

Depends on how far the seating stem will crank down. You could measure oal of a loaded cartridge with caliper. Then use the tail of caliper to see if seater will come down enough to bottom of die. Edit will have to allow a little bit for shell holder thickness.

 

[243winxb]

https://support.leeprecision.net/en/knowledgebase

 

[Shivahasagun]

I've loaded .44 Russian with my Lee .44 Russian set.

That chart is saying I can load .44 Spl. with my .44 Russian set? Cool!

 

[SingleActionAndrew]

I've loaded .44 Russian with my Lee .44 Russian set.

That chart is saying I can load .44 Spl. with my .44 Russian set? Cool!

I'm interested to understand if it's saying their 44 dies can load all cartridges, or whether that is and is just the 44 special dies that can also load both 44 mag and rus

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I've loaded .44 Russian with my Lee .44 Russian set.

That chart is saying I can load .44 Spl. with my .44 Russian set? Cool!

I have the .44Spl dies and they will load .44Ru and .44Mag but there's a whole lotta adjusting to do to get from Rus to Mag and back. To paraphrase Chik-Fil-A, "Buy mor dies" - they're cheap and it never hurts to have more.

 

[Riomouse911]

I decap-size-flare and load .44 Spl and .44 Mag with my Lee dies, as @GeoDudeFlorida posted above it requires adjusting the dies up-down depending on the case length and bullet shape.

I do the same with .38 Spl/.357 Mag, .41 Spl/.41 Mag and .45 Colt/.454 Casull as well.

I do load just one caliber per session, as adjusting back and forth can take up way too much time to be worth the efforts.

With extra short .44 Russian cases, you may have to switch to .44 Spl dies. I would try the Spl/mag die at its lowest setting and if it doesn’t work then buy a Spl set specifically for those two rounds.

Good luck

Stay safe.,

 

[Shivahasagun]

I have the .44Spl dies and they will load .44Ru and .44Mag but there's a whole lotta adjusting to do to get from Rus to Mag and back. To paraphrase Chik-Fil-A, "Buy mor dies" - they're cheap and it never hurts to have more.

I don't currently have a .44 gun but I will again eventually.

I do load .357 mag, .38 spl, and .38 Colt short. I only own .357's.

I have a die sets arranged for .357 and another for .38 Colt short. I'm keeping .357 but trying to decide whether to drop .38 spl (and not buy another die set for it) or the Colt Short. But that's another thread.

 

[bihj]

Make a dummy round, you might just answer your own question.

 

[wild willy]

How old are your dies Lee made 44 magnum dies that would not work with shorter cases. I found it out when I bought my 44 special I could expand ok with mine but couldn’t crimp.Same deal with .357 dies loading 38 special.I’d guess that you won’t be able to crimp with the dies you have.

 

[gwpercle]

I've loaded .44 Russian with my Lee .44 Russian set.

That chart is saying I can load .44 Spl. with my .44 Russian set? Cool!

With the 44 Russian dies ... you should , after making a few simple adjustments ... be able to load the slightly longer 44 Special and with a few more adjustments ... be able to load the slightly longer 44 Magnum .

The dies for the shorter Russian Case should be able to do the longer 44 special / 44 magnum ...
check them out and see if the body has enough threads to make the adjutment for the longer / longest 44 Magnum case . I have a hunch ... they will do all three !
Gary

 

[greyling22]

Lee is nice people to call. it might be that you need to get a 44 russian expander to swap in with the 44mag die. you can do a lot swapping expander plugs around. I built a powder through die for 300blackout using a spare 357 die and a 30 carbine expander plug

 

[Hookeye]

Funny, diggin in ammo cans of left over reloading stuff my dad had........

Lyman 7340820
44 Russ/Mag/spec/445 Super Mag
Neck Expand (M) Die.

Think there's another one someplace (he sold reloading stuff at shows).

I use an old Lyman 44 spec/mag die set and it does all I need.
Dunno why one would need a single expand die.

Note: i only load .44 magnum

 

[CraigC]

I know I had to get a .44 Russian die to do .44Colt.