Looking for a soft load.44mag with what I have to work with.

[George]

Yep I'm looking for a soft shooting load for .44magnum. What I have to work with. .44 magnum cases, Keth lead SWC FN 240gr. bullets. Powder IMR X700, Accurate #7 Accurate #9 I never shot a .44 magnum before and would like to work my way up to a moderately hot load. I have shot 357 in a S&W mod 19. I mostly shoot .45acp out of 1911's with out issues with recoil even with hot +p loads.
The gun the .44mags will be shot out of is a Ruger SS SBH short barrel 3 3/4" With a bisley grip.

I have some Factory Remington .44 mags green box 180gr JSP # 23744 also marked #L44MG7 not sure if they may be to hot to start out with..

I don't have a Bible yet. I'm just starting out and been going by what comes with the die sets and Powder manufactures charts I can down load online. Thought it may be wise to ask on this one first.. Thanks! George

 

[Enigma]

First, buy at least two current reloading manuals; I recommend Lyman and Speer, personally, but they're all worth owning. Lyman recommends starting with 18.2 grains of AA #9 for around 1,000 FPS with a 240 grain cast bullet. They don't list data for either of your other two powders for this particular combination. Oh, and always, always verify Internet load data before using it!

Factory ammo is normally loaded to nominal 'full' power - whatever that may be. If you can find any locally, you might want to try a box of .44 Special ammo in your gun first. That will give you a chance to become accustomed to the trigger pull, sights, and recoil.

Lastly, be warned that reloading is an addiction. First you have all that empty brass, just waiting to be loaded. You load it, and it becomes ammo waiting to be fired, then you have all that empty brass again... You get the idea. And welcome to the addiction!

 

[NikA]

Since you have two reasonable Accurate brand powders, I would recommend you download the Accurate powders reloading data from their website. It contains much of the data you would find in other reloading manuals, and should be fully up to date. A "soft" .44 load can be cautiously interpolated using .44 Special and .44 Magnum data.

The Lyman handgun reloading manual is a very economical choice for a first manual, as is the Lee book. You might also look around online and see if you can find a scan of someone else's old reloading manual. There's a lot more information than reloading data in these books.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

The 'start' load for #7 and a 240gr lead bullet is 14.7grain at 1180fps. I would go a little under that, say 14.0grain, and see how you like that. That should still be clean. That would be a moderate load. Most pistol powders can be downloaded about 20% from their Max and still work fine. The exception to that is H-110/W296.

If you want a 'soft' load for the 44mag you will have to get a different powder like Unique or Universal or Trail Boss and look for 'cowboy' data around 800fps.

http://www.accuratepowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/WesternLoadGuide1-2016_Web.pdf

 

[phonejack]

Google John Taffins "Book of the 44". Chapter 43 I believe is the right one.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

A 700X load with almost any cast bullet from around 200 to 250 gr. Will be quite mild. Check the Hodgdons online data for the load info. You are talking Cowboy load levels here.
Sweet ,fun to shoot and accurate loads are easy with the shotgun powders. 700X,800X,Red Dot, Green Dot and others work just fine.

 

[Rclark]

Most pistol powders can be downloaded about 20% from their Max and still work fine

Actually even more than that.... Most powders can be loaded down far enough to stick the bullet in the barrel. Check the .44 Special loads (mid to upper) and work up from them in the .44Mag. You can easily get down to 650fps or so if desired in the .44 Mag. Wide range of loads.

 

[mr surveyor]

AA#7 is my go-to powder for "moderate" loads in .44 mag.... not total powder puff, but they don't have to be loaded out to full fledged magnum loads. If you want powder puff loads, there's nothing better than Trail Boss in my opinion.


jd

 

[George]

I think Lee listed a load for the .44 special load for the x700 I'll have to check on the chart that came with there die set. I seen it someplace. Can I use that load in a .44 magnum case with the 204gr bullet if I use the upper end of the powder scale for that load?

I have downloaded the manufactures date load charts for all the powers I have. plus I have the date that comes with the Lee die sets.. I will look into loading manuals suggested. Powder is hard to get around here. No dealers have pistol powers in stock. I ordered the powers I have now and had a wait of 2 months with shipping and H-MAT. Some great info here I will be looking into it all.. Would me guessing that 14gr of A#7 behind a 240gr lead SWC FN bullet at 1180fps would give me about twice the recoil of a 1911 .45acp? Thanks George

 

[Jimbo357mag]

There is loading data for 240gr lead 44 special with 700x on the Hodgdon/IMR website.
http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol
...so yes you could take the max load and put that in a 44mag case and have a nice soft shooting load. I think 5.0gr - 6.0gr of 700x and a 240gr bullet would be perfect. Keep in mind 9.5gr of 700x is max in the 44mag with a 240gr lead bullet. That gives you lots of room to experiment with.


44 special - Hodgdon 700-X - .430" - 1.450" - start - 4.3gr - 811fps - 11,700 CUP - max - 4.9gr - 869fps - 13,800 CUP

...as far as recoil goes I can't say for sure but my guess would be that a 14.0gr of #7 and a 240gr lead bullet in your 44mag gun would give you about 1.5X the recoil of a 1911.

 

[mikld]

I never shot a .44 magnum before and would like to work my way up to a moderately hot load

Good thinking, but how do you know? You shoot a .357 Magnum and a 45 ACP, neither known to be "soft shooters". Try some factory ammo, and even some .44 Special ammo, you may not notice the recoil...

FWIW; When I got my first .44 Magnum, I had a case of "Magnumitus". I enjoyed shooting full magnum loads (and being noticed by the other shooteres at the range. Huge boom shook the building, dust on the floor blown away for 30', and the gun pointed at the ceiling. :shock: ). Since then I've "grown up" a bit and quietened down my reloads quite a bit. I have reloaded my .44s (5 of them) with round balls of 123 gr. and a dusting of Bullseye to 265 gr. cast T-Rex killers over hefty loads WC820.

You could use .44 Special loads in Magnum brass for some pretty mild loads, and mebbe even starting loads of Magnum levels will be mild enough...

 

[Paul B]

The late Elmer Keith is well known for his 22.0 gr. H2400* load in the .44 Magnum. I've only seen this in print one time in an earlier Lyman manual where Elmer stated that his practice load for the .44 was 5.0 gr. of Bullseye and his 240 gr. cast bullet. :shock: He stated that at 25 yards it hit to the same point of impact as his full power load. Just something to think about as frankly, not counting some later versions, the S&W M29.629 are rather fragile in their clockwork. My 629 has been back to S&W twice and is now semi-retired.
Another late gun writer, one Skeeter Skelton like 7.5 gr. of Unique in .44 Spl. brass in the S&W M24. It's a great load in my S&W 624. (Both guns are .44 Spl.) I've used that same load in .44 Mag. brass and it's a fairly mild and accurate load. Kick it up another grain or two and it will come close to Skeeter's load in power.
I reserve Elmer's hot A2400* load for use in Ruger Blackhawks and Redhawks.

* H2400 refers to 2400 that was made by Hercules. A2400 is the current version made by Alliant. Based on results in my handguns, I've reduced Elmer's load by two full grains. I think A2400 is slightly faster burning than the original Hercules powder.
Paul B.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

...those Remington 180gr JSP's will give you plenty of smoke and flame out the front of a 3-3/4" barrel.

 

[Mobuck]

I bought AA#9 to use in moderate 44 mag loads vs the top end loads required by H110, 296, and the like.

 

[gramps]

Several years ago I loaded up a bunch of 22 grs of A-2400 under 240gr JSP. It cured my need for Super magnum loads. You really need to hold on tight! I believe Keith used it elephant hunting? I think my RedHawk , and my wrists are better off with my load of 19.5 grs of A-2400 under the 240 gr lswc I now use. . Good luck.
gramps

 

[Biggfoot44]

Well, Elmer K did write that his 22gr load had the same POI as the 246gr .44spl factory loads. Presumably that 5.0gr Bullseye load would also have similar POI. Along the same lines, with my ported 2.75in, the Federal 200gr LHP.44spl has similar POI as generic 240 jhp .44mag.

Meanwhile back with the OP, if he is comfortable with .357mag and .45acp, he would probably be happy with "medium" level .44mag ( or thr ballistically similar hot .44spl). Think 240 - ish at 900-1000 fps.

 

[TX Nimrod]

Alliant's current maximum charge of 2400 behind a 240-grain JHP is 21.0 grains, just one grain behind Elmer's load.


.

 

[Rodfac]

I concur that current production 2400 is faster than that used years ago by Keith and others. Keith's famous load (22.0 gr of 2400 behind a 240 gr LSWC) is a lot hotter in my testing than what he found. I reduce mine by 2.0 grains and get the same velocity.

Rod

 

[mikld]

Does anyone have any info on how many guns Kieth blew up? :roll:

 

[Rclark]

From memory, I only remember one. A .45 Colt revolver. Wasn't long he moved to the .44 Special for use and testing.

I've tested up to 20.0g 2400 under 240g SWC for 1333fps. I felt 19.0g shot better for me at 1265fps. This was out of 6 1/2" BH flattop. I've no need for this load though nor do I like to continually punish myself, so my general load is 10g Unique under 240g SWC for around 1100fps which I can shoot all day. I've also liked in the past the 8.5g Unique under 240g SWC to match the .44 Special Skeeter load.... But now that I have .44 Special revolvers, I just moved up to the 10g load for the Magnum.