What's your favorite .44 Special load?

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Mus408

Hunter
Joined
Apr 30, 2011
Messages
2,333
Location
Va.
The only .44 Special revolver I have is my CA Bulldog but I have a new Bisley Blackhawk flat top .44 Special coming soon. This one will get a lot of range time and I am working up some various loads to try.
First up is the 240 gr. Keith type SWC powder coated from MB loaded over 7 or 7.5 gr. of Unique.
This bullet works great in my .44 Mag SBH and Henry Carbine rifle.
Other loads to follow soon.
 

Rclark

Hunter
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
3,533
Location
Butte, MT
7.5g Unique under 240g SWC. I tested a lot of .44 Special loads and most all of them were good/excellent. So while I have plenty to chose from, none stood out as a 'this is THE load'. So back to the Skeeter load as I have plenty of Unique. Note I don't load this in my little Bulldog . It gets 6.0g of Unique under 240g SWC as my CC load.
 

The Norseman

Blackhawk
Joined
Dec 5, 2009
Messages
521
Location
Black Hills of South Dakota
The reload I've been using is my current go to plinking 44 S&W
Special reload; .431dia. 240gr Lead SWC Semi Wad Cutter or
RNFP round nose flat point works also. 5.0grs Alliant RED DOT.
5.0grs Alliant Red Dot, S&B LP primer
Brass is Win, or R-P.
Crimp is what I call medium roll crimp.
FPS approximately just under 800?
Bullets tumble lubed with Ben's Liquid Lube,
for Lead free barrel performance.
Primers no where near flat.

The thing about Red Dot is it has enough bulk, that it is easy
to visually see a double charge. Also if you were to over charge
it fills the case. I'm a single stage, small batch reloader anyway.

Other powders I've used and like are; Bullseye, Unique, American Select,
and Long Shot (not much info out there on this one), and Trail Boss.

Good luck and always think safety.
 

tsubaki

Single-Sixer
Joined
Mar 3, 2013
Messages
413
Location
Savannah
My original load for the purposes of self defense and to get the 180gr XTP to expand with my 3" barrel was 9.0gr of Unique getting 985fps.
At the time there was no data to support that load but later Sierra and a couple of others published data using up to 9.1gr.
My current load is a powder coated cast 240gr SWC (243gr actual) with 12.0gr of 2400 and CCI350 primer getting 835fps from the 3" barrel.
 

sixshot

Buckeye
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
1,835
Location
soda springs, idaho
I've killed several deer with 7.5 grs of Unique & the Keith bullet but my everyday summer time load is 5.5 grs of 231 with the same bullet for ground squirrels, badgers rock chucks, etc. very accurate, easy shooting load. I use the same powder charge, 5.5 grs of 231 & a 243 gr HP in my 3" S&W 696 for all critters including Utah fishermen!

Dick
 

Mus408

Hunter
Joined
Apr 30, 2011
Messages
2,333
Location
Va.
Enjoying reading these .44 Special loads!
I have some 200 gr. Xtreme bullets that I have used for my CA Bulldog and will load up a batch
for the new .44 Bisley BH. Might start with 8 gr. of Unique. Had used them with 10 gr. of Unique when loaded for .44 Magnum with my S&W M69 and SBH.
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2006
Messages
9,810
Location
Woodbury, Tn
I love Dick's logic! I use 14.5 grs of 2400 under 240 gr LSWC or WFN in my CA Bulldog for everyday carry around the farm. Lyman's has a max of 13.3 grs 2400, but the brass came out covered in soot. I slowly upped the amount of powder. I stopped at 15, due to excessive recoil, and loss of accuracy. Bumped back down to 14.5, which is the cats meow in my gun. Elmer Keith went up to 18.5 :shock:
gramps
 

rangerbob

Buckeye
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
1,240
I usually load 5.5 gr. of TrailBoss with a 240 SWC for my M24's, M69, and all of my Rugers. It's not the stoutest load on the planet, but fun to shoot, accurate, and economical to load for paper punching and banging steel. Bob!! :D
 

Mus408

Hunter
Joined
Apr 30, 2011
Messages
2,333
Location
Va.
Not a .44 Special load....but I came up with a great load for low level Magnum that I shoot mostly in my S&W 69.
Was at the range yesterday ventilating a new burn barrel with that revolver and load of a 230 gr. SWC/GC bullet Lyman 429215 loaded over 9.0 gr. of Unique.
3 DA pulls of the trigger from 10 yds. delivered a ragged 1.5 inch hole!

Might try that bullet in my soon to come Bisley Flat Top with the 7.5 Skeeter load.
 

wdr2

Bearcat
Joined
Nov 24, 2009
Messages
54
Location
IdahoFalls, ID
I mostly use:
8.0gr Power Pistol, Miha's 250gr 432640 PB HP, FedSP, Starline Brass.
1000fps out of my 5.5in Bisley FT, ES 12fps.
 

Bob Wright

Hawkeye
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
7,686
Location
Memphis, TN USA
I'm shooting a 240 gr. coated SWC (Missouri Bullet Co.) with 8.0 grs. of HS-6. Velocity runs around 925 f.p.s. Accuracy is superb.

Bob Wright
 

Rclark

Hunter
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
3,533
Location
Butte, MT
7.5g Unique under standard 240g SWC. { hmmmmm looks like I repeated my self some how ... and only in two pages :roll: }
 

sixshot

Buckeye
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
1,835
Location
soda springs, idaho
I've probably taken 15 deer, both muley's & white tails using that Skeeter load of 7.5 grs of Unique but my bullets weigh 250 grs. I've used 3 different 44 specials, a 4 5/8" Blackhawk, a 5 1/2" Bisley & a very special 7 1/2" Bisley. Velocity varies & about half of the bullets were powder coated, all of them were cast.

Dick
 
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