Heavy weight 44 special load

[xtratoy]

I have a few hundred .431 300 grain lead bullets. Does anyone have a tested load in that weight for a 44 Special? The closest I have seem is a 260 grain bullet with 7.5 grains of Unique. I am shooting a Ruger GP100 in 44 special.

 

[s4s4u]

Bottom line is, you run out of case capacity for a safe load due to the reduced case length. You might be able to send a bullet through the tube, but velocity will be lacking and there is a significant chance of sticking one in the barrel.

 

[Cholo]

Look at your forcing cone. How far do you want to push it?

 

[xtratoy]

Look at your forcing cone. How far do you want to push it?

Wasn't looking for a hot load. I know the forcing cone is thin. I'll just forget about trying this. Thanks for the input and advice. I have asked this question years ago on various gun forums and never had gotten replies so this drives a final nail in the coffin for this idea.

 

[Neon Vernon]

I've only seen one 300 gr load for the Special, it used a bullet no longer produced and ran at 25k pressure.

Is your bullet the Magma type with the short nose? Those were originally intended for the 444 Marlin, not ideal even in magnum brass.

 

[xtratoy]

I would post a picture but I won't be home for several weeks. Thanks for that information.

 

[41Dude]

This link has a couple of heavy bullet (300+ weight) loads at the bottom of page.
I have used his Longshot data with my 240 grain bullets with happy results.
Good source of info.

https://www.handloadermagazine.com/44-s-w-special-p

 

[xtratoy]

Interesting... thanks for that. As Cholo mentioned, The forcing cones on the GP100 44 special are visibly thin. I don't know that there has been actual issues because of that, but maybe there has been.

 

[Neon Vernon]

This link has a couple of heavy bullet (300+ weight) loads at the bottom of page.
I have used his Longshot data with my 240 grain bullets with happy results.
Good source of info.

https://www.handloadermagazine.com/44-s-w-special-p

That's a good article, but again, those are 25k loads. He doesn't mention the GP100-44 but does state that those loads are not suitable for the S&W 396 and 696. I would put the GP100 in the same category and for the same reason.

Im aware of a couple GP44's that have cracked, even GP's in 357 have cracked a forcing cone on occasion.

 

[41Dude]

I went and found my old Laser Cast book. .44 special and Magnum data.
They do not answer your specific question but might be handy if you want to try other ideas.