Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading 44 mag. 316gr

Picked up an NOE 434-319gr mold a few months back. Cast from my decades old pile of WW they came out at 316gr ready to load after PC. BHN 13.5. Sized in a Lee .430 push thru sizer. Testing was done in a Ruger SBH 5 1/2 Bbl. with a .429 slugged bore. Using a modest load of Unique, my chrono read 1035 fps. Accuracy at 25yds was quite good, able to hit small targets regularly , from a solid rest. Recoil was surprisingly reasonable, with out the wrist torquing of traditional full hose 44 loads. Not trying to say that this " THE" load for the 44 mag. Just giving it as an example of " another " load available for 44 shooters. This appears to me to be a very manageable load, with authority. At this velocity the plain base bullet works well for me. My 44 molds run from 200gr & on up to this 316gr. I realize there are heavier bullets available for the 44, but this is the heaviest I have experimented with. As another note. The load of Unique powder I used in this load will give about 936 loads to a pound of Unique. With the ever rising cost of powder , I believe this delivers a powerful load at a modest cost. IMHO... Hope this may be of some interest to you.

Randy Garret, of Garret Cartridge, came up with a 300+gr@~1000fps - 4" barrel load years ago.
After playing around with various loads for my sw329, I decided Randy was right.
Plenty of "nose to anus" penetration on bear, and a nice recoil profile.

So I'm currently using up my supply of MBC "HAMMER"(goofy imo) 300gr. I run them at 1000fps.

My thinking, this would be a powerful, manageable load for the lighter in weight S&W revolvers. Yet would not best up the revolver ( or your wrists ) with excessive recoil. When you consider the 45 Colt earned it's reputation with a 250 gr bullet at about 750 fps, this 316gr at 1000+ fps is impressive, with its manageable recoil.

My SBH shoots 320 grain cast very well.

I've got a bunch of 320s and 275 hard cast from the old Cast performance bullet company. They shoot well in my Super Blackhawks with several powders at mild loads

That looks a lot like the lee 310 with a larger lube groove and no gas check.

Here is a side by side picture of my home cast Lee 300gr GC,& the NOE 316gr PB. As you can see the nose sections on both bullets are quite similar. Both of these bullets deliver excellent accuracy from my 44 revolvers & rifles. All have 1/20 twist rates. All cast from my scrap wheel weight with a BHN of 13.5. Yes I know my PC looks a bit strange. It is an optical illusion because of the mixture of my PC colors. Surfaces are very smooth , regardless of how they look. After shooting , barrels are lead free.