Working up a load for 44 mag.

[Bfh_auto]

Really no rhyme or reason. I have 6 or 8 books and they just jump all over the place.

As far as the old 44 special loads Keith and Skeeter bragged about. 250 gr at 1200...... they were well over any spec ever speced. Lol. Had to be.

They were just ^P instead of +P.
I'm not following anyone's advice that brags about blowing up or demolishing guns to find the max loads.

 

[crestoncowboy]

They were just ^P instead of +P.
I'm not following anyone's advice that brags about blowing up or demolishing guns to find the max loads.

Keith did talk about blowing up several guns. I love reading skeeter and he is my favorite gun writer (and probably my favorite to just sit and read of any type of writer) but he definitely pushed some.... questionable loadings. Lol




Yep. That's skeeter. "Generally accepted" by whom. Many a manual has max loads under that for the 44 magnum with some powders. Lol.

. Then for years it seemed we got back to the basics of "if you need more gun, buy more gun. But now we do see "Ruger only" loads and +p+ or "only in guns with maximum case support" lol. Foolish if you ask me. Don't get mad when your Ruger blows up using a load that is clearly over spec. The Ruger may well handle it some (and in my youth i did so and still use some max book loads in my dan Wesson, freedom arms, or Ruger that I won't use in my smith or colt 44s. Not "Ruger only" in the book but max in a book that is higher than some books) but your engine can handle some abuse too. Turn your engine up and run it over rpm or turn your diesel up 200hp... will be fine for a bit..... until it's not. And +p+? If +p means it's too much for your puny gun and your running the risk of blowing your hand up. Adding the second + is just piling it on. Lol.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Keith did talk about blowing up several guns. I love reading skeeter and he is my favorite gun writer (and probably my favorite to just sit and read of any type of writer) but he definitely pushed some.... questionable loadings. Lol

View attachment 1120754


Yep. That's skeeter. "Generally accepted" by whom. Many a manual has max loads under that for the 44 magnum with some powders. Lol.

. Then for years it seemed we got back to the basics of "if you need more gun, buy more gun. But now we do see "Ruger only" loads and +p+ or "only in guns with maximum case support" lol. Foolish if you ask me. Don't get mad when your Ruger blows up using a load that is clearly over spec. The Ruger may well handle it some (and in my youth i did so and still use some max book loads in my dan Wesson, freedom arms, or Ruger that I won't use in my smith or colt 44s. Not "Ruger only" in the book but max in a book that is higher than some books) but your engine can handle some abuse too. Turn your engine up and run it over rpm or turn your diesel up 200hp... will be fine for a bit..... until it's not. And +p+? If +p means it's too much for your puny gun and your running the risk of blowing your hand up. Adding the second + is just piling it on. Lol.

Yup. Some folks are just convinced a better bullet moving faster will still do the job as it passes by the intended target.
A clean miss won’t get you a full freezer.

 

[Bfh_auto]

Keith did talk about blowing up several guns. I love reading skeeter and he is my favorite gun writer (and probably my favorite to just sit and read of any type of writer) but he definitely pushed some.... questionable loadings. Lol

View attachment 1120754


Yep. That's skeeter. "Generally accepted" by whom. Many a manual has max loads under that for the 44 magnum with some powders. Lol.

. Then for years it seemed we got back to the basics of "if you need more gun, buy more gun. But now we do see "Ruger only" loads and +p+ or "only in guns with maximum case support" lol. Foolish if you ask me. Don't get mad when your Ruger blows up using a load that is clearly over spec. The Ruger may well handle it some (and in my youth i did so and still use some max book loads in my dan Wesson, freedom arms, or Ruger that I won't use in my smith or colt 44s. Not "Ruger only" in the book but max in a book that is higher than some books) but your engine can handle some abuse too. Turn your engine up and run it over rpm or turn your diesel up 200hp... will be fine for a bit..... until it's not. And +p+? If +p means it's too much for your puny gun and your running the risk of blowing your hand up. Adding the second + is just piling it on. Lol.

+p+ is kin to the idea of loading it till you have to smack the ejector to remove the brass and backing down. I've blown up one super Blackhawk using medium burn rate powder when the scales lost zero and I didn't catch it. Thankfully I was supposed to be a starting load.
Crazy thing was the charge still looked small in the case. I had never used the powder in 44 before.
Since then I am paranoid about scales getting touched.
That 44 special is better than my 357 loads even with standard pressure loads.

 

[N555]

Loading 44mag with 220gr plated and unique I would start with the "44spl max load" of unique and stop at the 44mag max load for unique under a 220gr cast if you can't find plated data.
Some where in there you ought to be able to find an accurate fun to shoot load below the max.

 

[crestoncowboy]

+p+ is kin to the idea of loading it till you have to smack the ejector to remove the brass and backing down. I've blown up one super Blackhawk using medium burn rate powder when the scales lost zero and I didn't catch it. Thankfully I was supposed to be a starting load.
Crazy thing was the charge still looked small in the case. I had never used the powder in 44 before.
Since then I am paranoid about scales getting touched.
That 44 special is better than my 357 loads even with standard pressure loads.

I did similar in a rifle once. Like you it was a lighter load so the over charged rounds just blew the primer instead of blowing the bolt in my face

I won't use a powder on my progressive presses that doesn't pretty much fill the case. In 44 I load my plinking rounds on single stage since you can double charge with unique and still seat the bullet. Lol. If 24 grains of 296 fit the. 2 charges of 10 gr unique will too