44 Special Ammunition

[Capellan]

Anyone seen any good deals for 44 Special ammunition online? Seems like everywhere I go either doesn't carry it or has a very limited supply.

For the price per round on those, does anyone have any experience reloading 44 Special? Any issues with it?

 

[phonejack]

Easy to reload for, you can use 44mag dies. You can reload it with a lead bullet that will actually "do something" when it gets there

 

[Jim Puke]

One of the very easiest to load for...once you find some brass.

Also, you can load it to do about anything that you might want to do with a handgun.

 

[Capellan]

Easy enough for someone with little firearms knowledge/experience?

I was talking to a local gun shop owner who said reloading would be around $120 starting cost for the basic equipment, and that would take rounds down to around $0.30 a piece compared to almost $1.00. Does that sound about right?

 

[Jim Puke]

Easy enough for someone with little firearms knowledge/experience?

I was talking to a local gun shop owner who said reloading would be around $120 starting cost for the basic equipment, and that would take rounds down to around $0.30 a piece compared to almost $1.00. Does that sound about right?

If you will use cast (solid lead) bullets, you can load them for about .15 if using your brass.

I cast all of my bullets and use my brass, costs run about .07 each at the present time.

 

[dwayne]

I load a lot of pistol calibers using my own cast bullets and the 44 Special is my favorite -- hand down. It can be adjusted to do just about anything from light target loads to very effective hunting loads for mid-sized (whitetail) game.

 

[Jim Puke]

I load a lot of pistol calibers using my own cast bullets and the 44 Special is my favorite -- hand down. It can be adjusted to do just about anything from light target loads to very effective hunting loads for mid-sized (whitetail) game.

Works for 50-75yd elk gun, also.

 

[BlackEagle]

If you're thinking about starting to reload the 44 Special is a great one to start with!

 

[Cholo]

I've been reloading the .44 Special since '82. Georgia Arms has affordable .44 Specials and their quality is excellent. I prefer a heavier bullet loaded a bit hotter myself.

http://georgia-arms.com/44special.aspx

 

[Capellan]

I've been reloading the .44 Special since '82. Georgia Arms has affordable .44 Specials and their quality is excellent. I prefer a heavier bullet loaded a bit hotter myself.

http://georgia-arms.com/44special.aspx

Thanks for the link. Any idea how those would compare to what I use now, Winchester 240 grain cowboy action lead flat nose? They both show the same velocity, so would the Georgia Arms have a lighter load for the lighter bullet?

Depending on shipping costs they definitely have a more attractive price compared to 44.99 around here for a box of 50.

 

[Jim Puke]

Cholo is right about Ga Arms ammo...top notch and I shot thousands of rounds of it in the 80's...still buy a couple of calibers that I shoot a little but do not reload. The ammo and shipping prices are about as good as you will find and quality is as good as you will find.

 

[mikld]

Get a copy of The ABCs of Reloading (if you don't wanna buy, check your library). Read it and you'll get an idea of what reloading entails. You'll see what needs to be done, how to do it, and why. Also you'll find out what reloading equipment suits your reloading needs.

I started with a $10.00 Lee Loader, 1 pound of Bullseye, 100 CCI primers, some generic cast lead bullets, my brass was 75% range pick-ups, and I already had a mallet. Good for my shooting at that time (1969 and owned one centerfire gun) and worked quite well for me for several months before I decided I liked reloading and bought a scale, then a bench press/dies and started my library.

 

[Mobuck]

"Easy to reload for, you can use 44mag dies."
Real 44 mag dies won't crimp Special cases.

 

[WIL TERRY]

READ !!!

SIXGUNS by KEITH

SINGLE ACTION SIXGUNS by TAFFIN

Buy ALL the loading manuals you can lay hands upon.

IT has been handloaded by American shooters for 110 years now or so.

READ !

WHAT a glorious journey you are just starting upon. Do not short shrift it.

 

[Capellan]

Got my 44 Special in from Georgia Arms and I'm happy with it, especially at that price (about half what I can find around here, if it's ever in stock). Thanks for the tip.

I'm keeping the brass too, in case I do decide to reload.

 

[6gun]

Easy enough for someone with little firearms knowledge/experience?

I was talking to a local gun shop owner who said reloading would be around $120 starting cost for the basic equipment, and that would take rounds down to around $0.30 a piece compared to almost $1.00. Does that sound about right?

If you will use cast (solid lead) bullets, you can load them for about .15 if using your brass.

I cast all of my bullets and use my brass, costs run about .07 each at the present time.

You must be reloading with some very old stock if your loading at .07-.15 with current prices of powder, primers, and bullets, .30 using cast lead would be more realistic.

 

[Cholo]

You must be reloading with some very old stock if your loading at .07-.15 with current prices of powder, primers, and bullets, .30 using cast lead would be more realistic.

Using new Starline .44 Special brass, my 1st loads come out to be about $.41 per load IF you have a # of Unique for about $30 and use 7.5 grs. Figuring the brass is already paid for after the 1st loading, I come out with about $.19 +/- cents per load. Mine are less because I bought an 8# jug of it for $120 OTD a few years ago.

It was figured using Penn's 240 SWC's in bulk while maxing out a flat rate shipping carton, CCI LP primers, Starline brass, and Unique. To compare what Jim Luke posted, the lead comes out to be a little under $.12 cents per in my rounds.

I think you can do well under $.30 cents per round in today's market without casting your own. YMMV...

 

[Jim Puke]

You must be reloading with some very old stock if your loading at .07-.15 with current prices of powder, primers, and bullets, .30 using cast lead would be more realistic.

Price buying bullets...

Georgia Arms 900 bullets delivered $105.00

1 pound of Unique or HS-6 (will load 900rds + of 44 special ammo) 30.00

900 choice of primers ($33.00 per 1000 or $3.30 per 100) 29.70

For a total price of $164.70 for 900rds or 18.3 cents per round

I was off on my 15 cents figure by 3.3 cents per round or $33 per 1000, but that is still a far cry from 30 cents per round.

As for my rounds using my cast bullets...

My components are not old stock...the last powder I bought was less than $30 per pound and the last primers I bought (2 months ago) were $31.00 per 1000...I shoot bullets that I cast and they cost me 1 cent per round (it is 5yr old lead :lol: ) that puts me at a total of $71 per 1000 or 7.1 cents per round.

Of course, the above prices are figured using my brass...that with my 950fps loads, will be good for MANY loadings.

Using cholo's figure of 12 cents per round for lead, subtracted from his 19 cents +/- per round...puts his cost of 7 cents for powder and primer, nearly identical to mine...and my cast bullets cost me 1 cent each using wheel weights that cost me nearly nothing at the time they were bought or given to me.

 

[6gun]

So why are you doing 900 at a time rather than 1000? your getting your primers way cheaper than I am, last box was over $40 with tax, and cast bullets have been costing me about $65 + tax per 500 for 240 gr. I do 44 mag. rather than 44 spl. so I'm using more powder also, I figure .25-.30 for my rounds, I could knock the price down a little if I used 200gr. bullets but I prefer 240 gr.

 

[Jim Puke]

So why are you doing 900 at a time rather than 1000? your getting your primers way cheaper than I am, last box was over $40 with tax, and cast bullets have been costing me about $65 + tax per 500 for 240 gr. I do 44 mag. rather than 44 spl. so I'm using more powder also, I figure .25-.30 for my rounds, I could knock the price down a little if I used 200gr. bullets but I prefer 240 gr.

Georgia arms does not have 44 bullets by the 1000...it is $90 per 900 240gr plus $15 shipping and I just used that figure for the powder and primers.

Here is the link to Ga Arms and they are great bullets and I shot a truck load of them before I started casting several years ago. Also, there would be no tax for you as you are out of state...so that would cover half of the shipping.

Link to cast bullets available...
http://georgia-arms.com/lead%20bullets.pdf

Link to homepage...
http://georgia-arms.com/ammunition.aspx

 

[6gun]

Thanks, I'll check them out, I find that very odd they sell in a lot of 900 first time I've ever heard of a bullet maker doing that.

 

[Cholo]

6gun, I'd max out a flat rate box with the shipping charge I was willing to pay. It didn't matter if it was 900 or 1,800. For me, it never came out an even #.

 

[6gun]

Georgia arms don't seem to have my .430 round nose flat point in 240gr. that's to bad.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

When figuring the cost of brass when reloading why would you not pro-rate the cost of the brass over it's lifetime?

 

[Cholo]

Actually, you would. I was just making a point. IIRC, I bought 500 of the "Callshot" Starline brass for $105 delivered, or $.21 cents each. I have .357 brass that I've loaded over 20x's, most, not all, of them mid to low range. I believe I could get 21 loadings, if not more, shooting 950-1,000 fps +/- loads out of the .44 Special brass. That adds $.01 per round to my above figure making it the least expensive component of reloads. Buying once fired brass cuts it even more, obviously.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Actually, you would. I was just making a point. IIRC, I bought 500 of the "Callshot" Starline brass for $105 delivered, or $.21 cents each. I have .357 brass that I've loaded over 20x's, most, not all, of them mid to low range. I believe I could get 21 loadings, if not more, shooting 950-1,000 fps +/- loads out of the .44 Special brass. That adds $.01 per round to my above figure making it the least expensive component of reloads. Buying once fired brass cuts it even more, obviously.

Yeah, that's pretty amazing, 1 or 2 cents per loading for the brass. ...and if you shoot factory ammo once in a while you get the brass for free. Now if we all got bullet traps we could cut our bullet costs down to almost nothing as well.

 

[6gun]

Then add your time in for making the rounds and making your own bullets even at min. wage your rounds are costing $3 or $4 each by the time your done. :lol:

And then there is travel time, gas to buy to go look for components that are not easy to find right now, how many gallons of gas did you burn up looking for a pound of powder? , might drive to several shops and still not find any, or shipping costs or hazmat fee's it all ads up.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Then add your time in for making the rounds and making your own bullets even at min. wage your rounds are costing $3 or $4 each by the time your done. :lol:

And then there is travel time, gas to buy to go look for components that are not easy to find right now, how many gallons of gas did you burn up looking for a pound of powder? , might drive to several shops and still not find any, or shipping costs or hazmat fee's it all ads up.

I don't figure labor because it's a hobby and the work is done in my spare time. Fuel costs are zero because I buy online and the shipping costs are just added in. It still comes out very cheap to reload ammo over factory plus I get exactly the loads I want. I haven't figured the cost lately but when I did it was about 20 cents a round or roughly half of the best price I could find for factory loaded ammo.

 

[Jim Puke]

Then add your time in for making the rounds and making your own bullets even at min. wage your rounds are costing $3 or $4 each by the time your done. :lol:

I do this rather than watching TV...which I am not paid to do, either.

And then there is travel time, gas to buy to go look for components that are not easy to find right now, how many gallons of gas did you burn up looking for a pound of powder? , might drive to several shops and still not find any, or shipping costs or hazmat fee's it all ads up.

I make NO special trips searching for components...that is what the phone is used for. Also, I make no special to pickup components...they are gotten when I am in the area, doing other things.

 

[Jim Puke]

Then add your time in for making the rounds and making your own bullets even at min. wage your rounds are costing $3 or $4 each by the time your done. :lol:

I do this rather than watching TV...which I am not paid to do, either.

And then there is travel time, gas to buy to go look for components that are not easy to find right now, how many gallons of gas did you burn up looking for a pound of powder? , might drive to several shops and still not find any, or shipping costs or hazmat fee's it all ads up.

I make NO special trips searching for components...that is what the phone is used for. Also, I make no special trips to pickup components...they are gotten when I am in the area, doing other things.