Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Trouble finding the right 44 load.

Another vote for 10 grains of Unique under a good 240-250-grain cast bullet.


Okie John

I use Unique in my practice/plinking loads, 7.5gr. under a 200gr. RNFP lead cowboy bullet. Step it up to 9.0gr. if you want a little more omph, still an enjoyable load to shoot.

You're getting good advice above. 10 grs of Unique has taken a lot of deer for me over the years, as has 21.0 grs of 2400 with both using LP primers. You don't need a magnum primer to light either one, you're just increasing pressures. Deer aren't hard to kill & 10 grs of Unique with a 240-250 gr cast bullet is an easy shooting load.

I did but in error. Just fixed it. Good catch.

I can’t even claim they’re close together on the keyboard….

I’ve used 8.7 grns of Titegroup with 240 grn cast bullets which I’ve chronographed at just over 1,000 fps. It’s a good accurate load with mild recoil.

I wonder how much gnashing of teeth (or rejoicing) is blamed on powders, powder charges, brands/types of bullets, etc. when in reality it's the fit of the ammo that's responsible?

A few suggestions.

One thing to do is to go get a LEE roll crimp die. It will be easy to see the roll crimp on the case, and generally speaking tends to improve accuracy, especially at longer ranges. If it was a .45 Colt, then checking throats may be something to worry about, but in my experience and observation it is rarely an issue with .44 Mags and .44 Specials, unlike the .45 Colt, where it is fairly common to have cylinder throats reamed for uniformity.

You may want to put a red dot on your gun. No matter how you feel about them, they can aid greatly in getting top accuracy out of a handgun. The difference in group sizes between using iron sights and ones used with an RDO equipped gun are substantial. I have had a couple times when I questioned a load that I shot with irons, went back and shot it with an RDO equipped gun and the difference was quite substantial.

The red dot allows you to be far more precise:













As far as the load goes, your 250 or 275 grain cast bullets along with 10 grains of Unique should be a good place to start. That should produce solid accuracy in any decent .44 Magnum.

On the subject of crimping. I have the seating die seat up to crimp at the end of the stroke. Would I be better off to seat, then try crimping separately, before buying another die.

I have a Burris Fastfire 3 with 3moa on it. I agree with all of your points.

I may switch it back over to the S&W 69 and try that for the upcoming deer season.

I ordered some 240xtp just in case.
I'm not to fond of the 300gr loads in that damn Smith.

Crimping separately in a different stage is always a good idea, especially if you are using cast.

It's always best to seat & crimp in two separate steps, you can do it with a 3 die set but it's a real pain changing your dies all the time. Much better to just buy a roll crimp die as Mackay suggested.

For deer, there really is no reason for 300 grain slugs. A good 240-250 grain will sail right through any deer and keep going, with a proper load. Plus the lighter recoil will aid in precise shooting, as I don't know a single person who shoots a harder kicking gun better than one that recoils less.

Keep your loads in the 1000-1200 FPS range and you will be fine.

I would focus on a single powder.

Say Unique, Titegroup, Longshot, or W231/HP-38.

Don't fiddle with trying 3 of one powder and 3 of another.



Pick something like Titegroup, and load it up in 3/10 grain increments from whatever starting point you choose. When you see good groups (not just one, but a few good groups), confirm it. Take a bunch out and validate that your load is indeed a good one and not just one or two good groups.

Great advise.

I would add CFE Pistol into the mix.

The fiddling with powder made me chuckle. I have a friend that showed up with 8 loads of different powders and bullets for his 45 Colt at the range. I just shook my head.

I'll add another vote. 240 WFN from Montana Bullet Works over 10 grains of Unique has been accurate as heck in a pile of 44's.

Make sure your expander die is 3 to 4 thousandths less than bullet diameter . That is very important in preventing bullet jump especially after firing 2 or 3 shots

Op asked the same question in the handgum loading area.
I was called beginner for suggesting the same as you had advised.
Some SheriffJoe dip chit
Anyways some of my Blackhawk cyl have very tight throats.

You may want to put a red dot on your gun. No matter how you feel about them, they can aid greatly in getting top accuracy out of a handgun. The difference in group sizes between using iron sights and ones used with an RDO equipped gun are substantial. I have had a couple times when I questioned a load that I shot with irons, went back and shot it with an RDO equipped gun and the difference was quite substantial.


This is excellent advice. I know we all think we’re deadly marksmen, but when we’re shooting at live stuff, we need to be as precise as we can so we can make clean kills. Optics allow us to hold close and call our shots. Of late I’ve been buying OR autos, which make it easy to use optics, and there’s a lot of holster support for them as well. With irons I can bear down and do fairly well at closer yardages, but there’s always some uncalled flyers. With a red dot on an accurate piece like my .22 Victory, I feel like fuggin’ James Bond (I ain’t!). Just remounted a FF3 on my 620, and I’m pretty sure it will stay there now since I have other carry options (mostly with optics).

I think it's probably a safe assumption that the groove diameter of your barrel will be around .429", but until you find out the throat diameters of the cylinders, we're all just guessing as to why you can't get the accuracy you want. Finding the diameter is as simple as seeing if a bullet of know diameter will drop through the chambers, or even removing the cylinder, placing it on a soft workbench top, and driving a lead bullet through one of the chambers, then measuring it with a micrometer.

I took this buck with a 240gr XTP over 22.5gr of H110 from my 29-2, 12yd shot, He dropped like a rock. Took a doe last year with the same load from roughly the same distance. She ran about 20yds and dropped, her heart was blown apart, she was dead and just didn't know it.

Great buck and 44!

Been shooting 8.5-10.0 grains Unique for 90% of my 44 shooting for twenty-plus years now. Its easy on the gun and shooter, and an easily capable load for anything in the lower 48 that doesn't bite back.