What's your favorite .44 Special load?

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Paul B

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Dec 4, 1999
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Tucson, AZ
Seems to me Skeeter Skelton's pet load of 7.5 gr. Unique and Elmer's 240 gr. bullet are mighty popular here. :roll: Yeah, it's my favorite as well only I cast my own bullets and they weigh closer to 250 gr. I also load that same bullet over 10.0 gr. of Unique in q 4 5/8" Super Blackhawk .44 magnum. Seems to be in the same power range as the .44 Spl. load Both loads shoot more accurately than I'm able to do but maybe that a goal to shoot for, no pun intended. :mrgreen: They're also a lot more comfortable to shoot than full power .44 mags. I don't think any of my .44s have seen a jacketed bullet since I bought them with one exception. That was an early new model Super B with 7.5" barrel. I bought it that year because Nevada had just opened up handgun hunting for deer. IIRC, the ammo was Remington 240 gr. jacketed with a scalloped nose on the jacket. I shot a large doe in the shoulder and on autopsy found the jacket imbedded in the near shoulder. The core passed through and exited just behind the off shoulder. The doe made a few steps and died. By the next year I'd obtained a mold for Elmer's bullet (Lyman #429241) and worked up to his 22.0 gr./2400 load. Stout but accurate. I shot a doe in that same area come deer season in almost the exact same manner, in the near should and the bullet punched through the off shoulder and kept on going. I never saw the need for using jacketed bullets in my .44s or .357 mags after that.
Paul B.
 

Paul B

Hunter
Joined
Dec 4, 1999
Messages
2,132
Location
Tucson, AZ
any ruger said:
Boy Unique keeps coming up I hope they never find a powder to replace it. It always seems to be the favorite.

:mrgreen: That's why they call it Unique. Great in most if not all handgun rounds and will work in rifle cartridges as well. Try 5.0 gr. of Unique with a 115 to 120 gr. cast bullet for plinking, practice and small game. I have a mold that's similar to a semiwadcutter made for the 32-20 Win. that I run over that 5.0 gr. load. Smacks the holy living bejabbers out of jack rabbits. I haven't run that load over a chronograph in years but if memory serves that load is in the 1500 FPS range.
Paul B.
 

Paul B

Hunter
Joined
Dec 4, 1999
Messages
2,132
Location
Tucson, AZ
A good load for the Charter Arms Bulldog is the Lee 185 gr. wadcutter over 6.0 gr. of Unique. A friend who had the Bulldog wanted something that had some smack down for a defense load will a bit less than factory loads. The man was about 82 years old at the time. I found that Lee mold at a gun show and gave it a try in his gun. He tried it, liked it, so I loaded him up a couple of boxes.

Speaking about .44 caliber wadcutters, Lyman once made a mold that cast a 245 gr. WC. :shock: If you can find one the # is 429352. It's been discontinued for a very long time. I loaded some up, yes I have that mold in my collection, with 7.0 gr. of Unique and went to run them over the Chrony. First bullet out of that barrel hit one of the posts on the Chrony and one dead chronograph. I still haven't figured that one out. :?: I was shooting over sandbags and my hold was good. I shot the rest on paper and while groups were not particularly spectacular there was no sign of tumbling. The gun was an S&W 624.
Paul B.
 

Rclark

Hunter
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Jan 1, 2009
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Location
Butte, MT
Paul, I have disagree with one of your statements . To match the 7.5g Unique .44 Special load in the .44Mag you only need another grain (8.5g) of powder with the same bullet... Not 10.0g. That what my chrono recorded anyway. That said, 10.0g Unique is my favorite general purpose load for .44Mag. Accurate, shoot all day, yet has a bit more thump in the hand compared to the .44 Special.
 

dwayne

Single-Sixer
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Sep 22, 2013
Messages
285
Location
Eastern Virginia
For the range: Deep seat a 240 gr LSWC ahead of 5.7 grains of W231 (or HP-38). Yields about 850 fps, soft, accurate and fun all day. This is from an open sight 4 5/8" Gallagher with senior citizen eyes …

07345A34-E840-4F3F-BE47-64DE45BD9FE2.jpeg B4A0DADE-B868-4E52-B9E5-F47E5BC993C8.jpeg
 

Bob Wright

Hawkeye
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
7,686
Location
Memphis, TN USA
This was among my favorites:



And this:



As to the powders, I think Winchester 572 and Hodgdon's HS-6 are pretty close, while HP-38 and Winchester 231 are one and the same,

Bob Wright
 

Rclark

Hunter
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Jan 1, 2009
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Butte, MT
Shesh, after that 50 yard target (very very nice), I hardly want to show my .44 Special 5 1/2" flattop target at 15Y shot off hand (two handed) open sights and 25Y group (leaning arm against a post).. But I will. Skeeter Load.
 

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375supermag

Blackhawk
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Messages
553
Hi...
I run two different loads in my .44Spl revolvers.
My go to load is the Skeeter load...7.5gr of Unique with a commercial cast coated LSWC. This gives good power and excellent accuracy in both of my Ruger flat top .44Specials.
My other load is the same bullet with 6.6gr of Unique. This load is used in my Taurus stainless adjustable sighted 44Spl revolver and my Uberti/Cimarron SAA clone in .44Special. Again...this loads gives excellent accuracy and is used to limit wear on those two revolvers as the heavier load tends to loosen the screws on the Taurus and I just want to protect the SAA clone out of an abundance of caution.
 
Joined
Aug 12, 2003
Messages
98
Location
Dryside,WA,USA
RClark,
The groups you posted on Monday are pretty impressive in their own right.
I have a question.
When you compared 7.5 gr. of unique in 44 special brass to 8.5 gr. of unique in magnum brass; both with the same bullet, what kind of numbers did your chronograph yield?
Thank you,
KRuger
 

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