Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles .44 automag....

I recently started reloading..manly because I have a AMT .44 auto mag...I was wondering about OAL according to the manuals it's 1.30 inches..however when I load to that length my pistol jams. now if I shorten the OAL to 1.25 it loads fine but I notice the rounds in the mag slid foward because of recoil..I'm thinking about tring a different bullet.. cast simply wont chamber no matter what I do..I've been using 270 speer gold dots..I've tried 240-250 jsp they jam as well but the 270 sgd have much better accuracy....

Any Ideas??? anyone load for the automag??

Robert...bout ready to sell. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />

I loaded for one ~30 years ago but can`t remember what lenght I loaded to, but do remember I use the Sierra 180gr HP for 95% of my loads with H110 as a powder.

A friend had a .44 Automag when they first came out, and the only way to get brass at the time was to make it and reload for it. He found OAL to be critical to feeding, and also found that some bullets just didn't want to feed well.

Those are really neat pistols, and if it were me, which of course it isn't, I'd experiment with some different bullets to see what the gun wants. Sometimes what the gun wants and what WE want just isn't the same. As I sit here pondering, I think I'd try some Hornady XTP's and see what happened.

If you ever get the loads right, they can be pretty dependable. I believe he had to be a bit scrupulous how he kept it lubed, too, IIRC. IIRC again, I think the op rods had to be clean and well but lightly lubed for proper functioning. IIRC, the fit of the op rods was tight, which was the reason attributed for this necessity.

Hate to post things from memory, since my CRS disease is the only thing I have that's getting stronger, but since you haven't had many replies, thought I'd chime in. The wt. really helps make quicker followup shots, when compared to my Super Blackhawk.

RLB,
I got one of 280's with a 6.5 inch barrel when I was college and loaded for it for two or three years and never really got it to cycle perfectly. It would shoot four or five times in a row then it would fail to feed. I called Joe Desay (sp) of J&G and he put me in touch with Harry Stanford and with his expert advice I was able to alleviate most all of the feeding problems. At the time the CDM (cartrodges de Mexico) a company that had loaded the ammo had stopped loading it. I was able to find only one box of that ammo at that time and it shot really good. I ran out of that brass in a few months. Then I had to resort to making brass, boy was it is a PIA! I had made 250 cases, not even got started good when the reamer got stuck and it broke off. I finely ended up with 400 pieces of brass that I made. I used this brass for about 2,000 shots. I have loaded all of it again, but I have lost about 5% to splits and cracks.

Around 1990 Norma made a run of brass, I bought two boxes. If I had known that it was limited run I would have bought 10 or 15 boxes of it. Now Starline makes it in both brass and nickle plated brass. Both work well.

I put my AutoMag in my valt in 1978 and have not taken it out very much to shoot, except one time when I bought a 10 inch .357 AutoMag barrel for it in 1989. At that time I ordered five boxes of loaded ammo from Beals AutoMag Specialties and that barrel and load shot very well. I even got one nice deer with it in 1991 using the .357 AMP barrel. I have been looking for loading dies for the last five or six years and may just order a set from RCBS and be done with it.

To answer your question, at least for my .44 AutoMag the sweet spot on case length was 1.280, that was with Sierra's 180 JHC and the 240 JHC. Later on when steel silhouette shooting got popular the 240 gr SIL (fmj) was a good shooter, but it was not good for hunting. I remember that there is an equation for loads to cycle reliably. I looked for it for a while in my loading room and could not find it, but it was a long one that ended up with a number from 270,000 to about 300,000 to insure cycle reliably. It was some thing like the weight of the bullet in grains times the velocity times another number, it may be the weight of the gun ounces, over another number to end up with the 270 number. I will be glad to help you, but I have not shot mine in a number of years. I guess I should get it out of the valt and shoot it a few times.
Good shooting!
Marcus.