Reloading 44 mag question

[5of7]

In my 7-1/2" Redhawk, 25 grs of 296 yielded 1473 fps with a 240 gr. Remington bullet.

24 grs gave up 1407 with the same bullet, on the same outing.

I am of the mind that 1250 fps is a great plenty in the .44 Mg.8)

 

[KnotRight]

5 of 7, I agree with you on the 1250 f/sec unless you are facing a big bear or something is an armor coating. At 1250 that IMHO is something that can be handled without beating up yourself. I was looking at the Hornady loads @ 1300 with a 200 gn XTP.

 

[5of7]

5 of 7, I agree with you on the 1250 f/sec unless you are facing a big bear or something is an armor coating. At 1250 that IMHO is something that can be handled without beating up yourself. I was looking at the Hornady loads @ 1300 with a 200 gn XTP.

I hear you one the bear, but in a case of that kind, I would opt for a heavier bullet even if I had to sacrifice some velocity to make it manageable.

I see the 240 gr. bullet in .429 caliber to be a good bullet in the .44 Special, but not so much in the 44Mg. It is a little heavy for deer or hogs and not heavy enough for larger and toothier critters. For them, I would opt for a hard cast LBT of about 300 grs.

That's just my opinion, I don't have any personal experience with bear to back it up..... As to deer and hogs of 300 lbs. or less, I do have experience and the 200 gr bullet seems to be just fine on those.8)

 

[MapleHill]

I know this is an older post, but I thought I could give a little info. In my Super Redhawk, 7.5" I shoot mostly 240 JHP of various makes, Hornady, Sierra, Nosler, Speer, Remington, etc. With a max, or near max, depending on the book, load of 296 (24gr) my chrony clocked a 1388fps avg. The 200gr Hornady HP/XTP with 27gr of 296 clocked an avg of 1480fps. I have shot deer with the 240s and I can say it hits like Thor's hammer! I get a little more velocity with 2400 (20grs) but it seems to be a bit dirtier. The 296 groups fantastic. I use the same load in my rifles as well (Ruger 44 carbine and Marlin lever) shoots very well. My dad has used this load for 30yrs. Funny how in the older books 24gr was less than max, and now it may be over max?? Anyhow, this is my favorite load and spend many days shooting them and many evenings loading them!! Good Luck!