New 44 special, new load

[kelbro]

What's everybody shooting in their Lipseys? I prefer cast but i also have a box of 200gr XTPs that I might shoot up.

I have shot a lot of 44 spl level loads in 44Mag brass in my Bisley Hunter but never loaded 44 spl brass.

I have 429244, 429421, and Lee TL430-240 molds. I would like to shoot up a box of the Lee bullets. They are cast of 50/50 WW/Pb so the BHN is perfect for 44 spl level loads.

 

[Hammerdown77]

What kind of velocity are you looking for, mild or wild or both?

Lots of different powders in different charge weights to get the .44 Special to sing.

Some of my favorites, with a 240 to 250 grain LSWC (the 250 gr. is a Keith style from Magnus Bullet Co.)

Unique, 7.5 grains. mid 900 fps. Skeeter's load. If it won't shoot well with this one, the gun's broke!

Power Pistol 8.5 to 9 grains. 1000 to 1075 or so fps. The "high performance" version of the Skeeter load.

HP-38/W231 6.5 grains (no chrono data, feels similar to the Unique load)

2400 17 grains. This is Elmer's load and a handful out of a mid frame Blackhawk. Close to 1200 fps. Shot some of these today and it is very accurate, and controllable once you get a feel for it.

 

[kelbro]

Great. Thanks. I have Unique, 2400 and HP-38. Also some 4227 that i saw loads listed for in the Lyman cast bullet manual.

Mild to wild. It's all good. I like the feel of factory loads in this pistol. Medium frame Bisley BH Flattop (Lipseys).

This pistol is for pleasure shooting out to 50 yds or so. I was consistently ringing the 150yd gong with it yesterday though.

For really wild, I would just shoot the Bisley SBH Hunter.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

For factory type loads choose a 240gr bullet and 5.2gr of HP-38 or 5.6gr of Universal. These run about 850fps. Or you can drop a 200gr bullet in there for a little more velocity and a little less recoil. Very pleasant to shoot. 8) 8)

...Jimbo

 

[Lee Martin]

Mine sees two loads, both with a 250 gr Keith. 6.0 of Green Dot for light work and 15.0 of 2400 on the higher end.

 

[Larry from Bend]

In my 4 5/8" Flattop I'm loading the folllowing:

255 grain lead WFN with H 2400 = 1050 fps
240 grain JHP with Power Pistol = 1065 fps
200 grain JHP with Power Pistol = 1130 fps

 

[Rclark]

.44Spec = 7.5 grains Unique, 240g SWC, Standard primer. Just doesn't get any better!

That said, my 5 1/2" .44Spec seems to like just about everything I've ran through it so far. Next up will be some GD loads just so I can 'log' the performance . Trying 'new' loads is always fun!

 

[WESHOOT2]

The 44 Special screams to me "HS6. 3N37".

Except I don't load that cartridge any more.....

 

[kelbro]

Shot a few today. 6.5 and 7.0 of Unique shot very well. 7.5 pretty good too. Will do some more testing in that range. Testing is always fun. 6.0 and 6.5 of HP38 shot very well too.

 

[Rclark]

FYI, shot a couple 44Spec Loads tonight after work out of 5 1/2" BH . Though I'd post to give some velocity readings...

6.5g Green Dot, 240g SWC, CCI-300, 999fps Avg, 13 STD, 54 spread (30 shots). Maybe my shooting was off today, but felt the shoots spread out more than the Skeeter load. Vertically though I was dead-on. Will test again to confirm (I'll shoot some skeeter loads back to back with this load). Note skeeter load clocks out at 1030fps out of this gun for comparison.

5.2g Trail Boss, 240g SWC, CCI-300, 756fps Avg, 12 STD, 57 Spread (30 shots). Shot a bit left of bulls eye and maybe a bit high at 15Y. One ragged hole though with a few 'flyers' that I knew I pulled.

 

[kelbro]

Good info. I'm trying a batch of 429421s this weekend. Same 50/50 alloy. Unique and Power Pistol.

 

[Vulcan Bob]

So far just about anything I stuff in all of mine shoots right good! My standard load's is a 240gr LSWC with 7.0gr of Unique and a 240gr Hornady XTP with 7.5gr of unique or 13.5 of 2400. I have three flat tops and one Vaquero and they all shoot very well, Ruger should list these as target gun's!

 

[kelbro]

This pistol seems to like 7.0 Unique with both the Lee TL SWC and the 429421 so I think that's where I'll tune.

Shot the 8.5 and 9.0 of Power Pistol today. That 9.0 load is rather 'snappy'

 

[Rclark]

I did the same thing today... 9.0g is snappy but very manageable... and got some data for your enjoyment:

.44Spec BH, 5 1/2" barrel

8.5g Power Pistol, 240g SWC, CCI-300, 1057fps avg, 9 std, 35 spread (34 shots)

9.0g Power Pistol, 240g SWC, CCI-300, 1112fps avg, 13 std, 46 spread (30 shots) . Note that I actually shot 36 rounds for the test. The other six clocked out at 1200+!!!! (1207, 1216, 1247, 1225, 1248, 1234) so I ignored them for the data. What does this mean? Ragged edge of Power Pistol?

Both loads were very accurate. One ragged hole at 15Y.

I will be loading the 8.5g load again as I like it. Matches the Skeeter load exactly on my chrono! Power Pistol seems cleaner too.

 

[Hammerdown77]

I did the same thing today... 9.0g is snappy but very manageable... and got some data for your enjoyment:

.44Spec BH, 5 1/2" barrel

8.5g Power Pistol, 240g SWC, CCI-300, 1057fps avg, 9 std, 35 spread (34 shots)

9.0g Power Pistol, 240g SWC, CCI-300, 1112fps avg, 13 std, 46 spread (30 shots) . Note that I actually shot 36 rounds for the test. The other six clocked out at 1200+!!!! (1207, 1216, 1247, 1225, 1248, 1234) so I ignored them for the data. What does this mean? Ragged edge of Power Pistol?

That's weird for the 9.0 grain test. I was shooting 9 grains today. Seems like the last time I chrono'd it, I was averaging low 1100s, consistently. Been awhile since I've chrono'd that load,though.

Your 8.5 grain results mimic mine almost exactly. Same barrel length and bullet.

8.5 is my go-to. I wanted to shoot 9 today just because I'd forgotten what it was like.

Now, 17 grains of 2400 under a 250 is "snappy".

 

[kelbro]

My 'wrist chrono' would agree that the 8.5gr PP load is about the same as the 7.5gr Unique load. My bullets drop right around 260gr with the 50/50 alloy. I don't see any difference in the clean up between the two but with the lube that I use(Felix lube), clean up is seldom a concern. I use Winchester brass and WLP primers and what I consider a light crimp (about 1/2 turn after the die contacts the mouth of the case).

More testing tomorrow. I usually don't drag the chrono out until I find a really accurate load.

 

[Rclark]

Well, all my 'new' loads now get chronographed. This tells me two things ... how consistent the load is (spread, and STD Deviation) and what pressures (velocity) I am working with for further testing attempts.

This is as far as I go with Power Pistol. 8.5g under 240g bullet looks like a great load (in my revolver) and as I said before matches up very closely with the Skeeter load for velocity and accuracy. Spread is good as well as STD Deviation. Note that my rear sight is screwed all the way down and the Skeeter load shoots dead on. Normal .44Spec loads shoot high. So I look for loads that 'match up'.

 

[Hammerdown77]

Tried PP in your .45 Colt yet, Rclark? I use around 9 to 9.5 grains for a standard, high 800, 900 fps load with a 250-ish grain bullet.

One benefit of using 9 grains in the .44 Special is I can just immediately switch over to .45 Colt without having to adjust the powder measure

 

[kelbro]

Well, all my 'new' loads now get chronographed. This tells me two things ... how consistent the load is (spread, and STD Deviation) and what pressures (velocity) I am working with for further testing attempts.

My open sight handgun shooting is not good enough to discern a difference I go by the target and then a couple of follow-ups to ensure that it wasn't just one of my rare good days.

 

[Rclark]

Tried PP in your .45 Colt yet, Rclark?

Yes I did (5/7/11). 5 1/2" Barrelled BH I got the following: 8.5 (918fps), 9.0 (972fps), and 9.5 (1016fps) under 255g SWC. My notes say accuracy wise I didn't see any difference (no better/no worse) between Green Dot or Unique loads to date. HS-6 also shoots well in this BH. I've been trying different powders to get a feel for them. I like Unique, but if we have another 'run' on powders, I'd like to have some 'choices' .

t it wasn't just one of my rare good days.

Lol. Know what you mean...

 

[kelbro]

Well the Skeeter load is still top dog. Stepped up some Power Pistol loads today and they shot pretty well but the 7.5gr Unique was the best in this pistol.

I would go ahead and drag the chrono out but the Forest Service currently has a ban on shooting due to the fires out here.

 

[Larry from Bend]

It was interesting to me that although with a 240 grain JHP, both 9 grains of PP and 16 grains of H2400 gave similiar velocities (around 1060 fps); when I switched to 255 grain WFN bullets with those same powder charges, H2400 still clocked 1050 but PP dropped to 996 fps. It was like PP was "running out of gas".

PP is still my favorite for 240 grains and under. It's certainly economical. When I run out of H 2400 and go to Alliant 2400 I guess I'll have to do this all over.

 

[Rclark]

PP is still my favorite for 240 grains and under. It's certainly economical.

Well, speaking of economical, for about the same velocities (240g SWC) in .44Spec:

8.5g Power Pistol 1050
7.5g Unique 1050
6.5g Green Dot. 999 (could bump up a little to match)

The Unique is still my favorite load.

 

[Hammerdown77]

PP is still my favorite for 240 grains and under. It's certainly economical.

Well, speaking of economical, for about the same velocities (240g SWC) in .44Spec:

8.5g Power Pistol 1050
7.5g Unique 1050
6.5g Green Dot. 999 (could bump up a little to match)

The Unique is still my favorite load.

Your 7.5g Unique load is almost 100 fps faster than what I recorded, for the same barrel length (5.5", right?)

 

[Rclark]

Yep. I measured over two sessions One session was 1050, another session was 1030. New bottles of Unique (not the old stuff). CCI-300 primers if that makes a difference. I shoot 24-30 rounds for average.

 

[Bucks Owin]

Well, all my 'new' loads now get chronographed. This tells me two things ... how consistent the load is (spread, and STD Deviation) and what pressures (velocity) I am working with for further testing attempts.

Same here. I shoot for group through the chrono for info gleaned as I'm checking accuracy. I'm generally able to at least stay on a playing card @ 25 yds from the bench, even on a "bad day", so if 10 test loads can't stay on that card, the load gets tinkered with some more...(or abandoned entirely in some cases)

 

[Lee Martin]

PP is still my favorite for 240 grains and under. It's certainly economical.

Well, speaking of economical, for about the same velocities (240g SWC) in .44Spec:

8.5g Power Pistol 1050
7.5g Unique 1050
6.5g Green Dot. 999 (could bump up a little to match)

The Unique is still my favorite load.

How was accuracy with the Green Dot load? All of my Specials love 6.0 - 6.5 of it under a 250 grain Keith.

 

[Rclark]

Lee, my notes say the GD load seemed not as accurate as the 7.5g Unique load. But I didn't do a test back to back. Might have been a bad day. I did note I wanted to 'retest' for accuracy. Next time I am out with it, I'll bring a box of Unique loads so I can test back to back.... Then I'll know for sure as I am not an expert by any means... Wish I could put in a ransom rest and take the human element out of testing a load....

 

[Bucks Owin]

Lee, my notes say the GD load seemed not as accurate as the 7.5g Unique load. But I didn't do a test back to back. Might have been a bad day. I did note I wanted to 'retest' for accuracy. Next time I am out with it, I'll bring a box of Unique loads so I can test back to back.... Then I'll know for sure as I am not an expert by any means... Wish I could put in a ransom rest and take the human element out of testing a load....

You and me both pard! :lol:

As to Green Dot, I think I've said before somewhere, excuse if so, but I've had good results in .44 mag and .45LC for accurate midrange type loads. Small and steady SD/ES too... :wink: