44 Magnum Reloading for Revolvers and Rifle- Advice Welcomed

[Jimbo357mag]

Bullseye a medium burner? Must be a "comic" book! :lol: :lol: :lol:

I didn't say Bullseye was a medium powder. I said between Bullseye and AA #9. That means powders that fall between those two MIGHT be considered medium burn rate powders.

 

[Donaldjr1969]

IME W231, Universal, Power Pistol, HS6; these (in order from 'faster' to 'slower') are what I use for 'mediums'.

I get great results using 15.0g HS6 with a 240g jacketed bullet and 14.5g HS6 with a 255g LSWC in my SRH.

 

[mikld]

A couple thoughts; H110 and W296 are Magnum powders used for Magnum loads. For lighter loads use a different powder. I use a lot of 2400, Blue Dot, and Unique for my Magnum loads. I have found a pretty good, accurate, fun to shoot load using a near max. load of Trail Boss under a 265 gr. Ranch Dog bullet.

Slugging your barrels is almost a necessity for shooting lead and sizing for the largest may work it there isn't too much difference (my 4, .44 Magnum revolvers have groove diameters of .429"-.4305" and my Puma has a .432" barrel, so I size as per gun). I like the .44 Magnum and have been reloading and casting for it for 'bout 21 years, everything from 125 gr. balls to 300 gr. wadcutters...

 

[Skalkaho Slim]

If your 96/44 is like mine, it will not like to chamber those SWC's with sharp shoulders. They get caught up on the (lack of) feed ramp.

I was using those same Oregon trail/lazer cast 240's you were talking about.

Most all I use is H110 and Blue Dot in 44 mag.

I have both a 96/44 and SBH. You're gonna have to experiment, plain and simple.

 

[federali]

For most shooting with the .44 Magnum, simply load to .44 Special velocities. I use a 240 grain Keith semi-wadcutter over 8 grains of unique for a load that speaks with a little authority yet is very pleasant to shoot. However, I use this load in my Ruger Super Black hawk rather than my Deerstalker which doesn't like semi-wads.

 

[willk]

For hunting we go a bit different. We use a heavy charge of IMR 4227 behind a WFN 250 grain plain base cast bullet. Charge weights are middle range of most loading tables. We use this in both our Marlin 1894 and the two Ruger Super Blackhawk Hunters that we use for hunting. Works great and we have killed deer with this load. They die quick.

We regularly use Unique for reduced loads. We have a middle load of 10.8 grains that we use with both a 255 grain Keith bullet and a 240 grain Rainier coated bullet. Both shoot fine in both the rifle and all of our .44 handguns. (but the Keith bullet does not like to load in the rifle) For light loads we back off a couple of grains of Unique on both bullets, but primarily shoot this in the handguns.

Accuracy from the rifle is a non issue, we take our shots close as we have a good stand. If we were after long range shots, we would use our .308 or our .243 scoped rifles.

I have no problem with WW296 and use it in a number of different rounds (including .44 Magnum) Just have had great luck with IMR 4227

 

[willk]

For hunting we go a bit different. We use a heavy charge of IMR 4227 behind a WFN 250 grain plain base cast bullet. Charge weights are middle range of most loading tables. We use this in both our Marlin 1894 and the two Ruger Super Blackhawk Hunters that we use for hunting. Works great and we have killed deer with this load. They die quick.

Worked this afternoon, filled one of my antler less tags. Good meat for the pot. Deer died real quick. Made about three steps hit the ground to never move again.

 

[volshooter]

Worked up a 290gr WFP hard cast over 21.5 grs. of WW296 for my SBH years ago. It gives as best as I can remember 1550fps from the SBH. I am looking for a lever action to go along with it. No leading at all in the SBH.

Any thoughts as to how this load might do from a rifle?

 

[WESHOOT2]

Faster.

 

[chefrob1]

been working on a single load that would work for my 9'' SRH and my 96/44 and this weekend i went out and got some to fly over the crony....

SRH
2400 @ 18gr /sierra 250 fpj - avg @ 1281 fps
2400 @ 18gr /nos 240 jhp - avg @ 1255 fps
blue dot @ 14.4gr /sierra 250 fpj - avg @ 1313 fps

96/44
2400 @ 18gr /sierra 250 fpj - avg @ 1506 fps
2400 @ 18gr /nos 240 jhp - avg @1502 fps
blue dot @ 14.4gr /sierra 250 fpj - avg @ 1513 fps

 

[Blammer308]

8-10gr of Unique with any 240 -250gr bullet at size of .430 and you should have no problems.


cheap plinkers and actually good for hunting.

of course I really like 2400

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and one killed with the Ruger M77/44mag

Yep, head shot at 175 yds.

and two of these three others killed by the same rifle and the 250gr cast bullet

these were also taken at 150-175yds
basically, a cast bullet will be just as effective out of any of your platforms as the jacketed ones. The difference? Cost of shooting. You'll be able to practice and shoot a LOT more using cast bullets.

for the 296 or the 110, just use the loading manual's info even when using cast bullets.
if you are serious about cast I would recommend you head over to castboolits.com and check out their website, lots of good info for reading and learning. It will answer a lot of questions that will allow you to shoot cast effectively and cheaply in your 44mag.

 

[Blammer308]

as an aside the odd laying deer was killed with a 444marlin and cast bullets.

 

[GasGuzzler]

I like the heck out of 14.5-ish grains of 2400 for weenie loads in the 1300 FPS range on .357 158 cast.