Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Has Brian Pearce published loads for the GP100 .44 Specials?

Well, this is interesting. I just went and read the Handloading article from August 2005 and Pearce specifically lists the S&W 696 and 396 as being among the revolvers suitable for 25kpsi loads.

Page 40-41: "The third category (25,000 psi) includes Smith & Wesson...Model 696 and 396 Titanium"

Darn. Guess we will have to wait another 12 years to get a long term verdict on the GP100...

Yes, I agree not only in not finding the limit of strength but also philosophically.

The thing I like about the .44 Special and that Brian repeats over and over in his articles is the efficacy of a good 250 SWC at a moderate 1000ish fps. He starts off this latest article by relating how he shot an elk with a 7.5" Colt New Frontier using a 429421 pushed to 1200 fps, but in the 2005 article (and others) mentions how a moderately loaded .44 Spl. has much lower recoil and blast while maintaining plenty of power.

When I had my two Flattop .44's I loaded the 429421 up to 16.0 grains of 2400 and they were a lot friskier than I cared for. I never even tried for Elmer's 17.0 grain load. 15.0 grains was established a nice working max which was about as much recoil as I wanted to handle in those guns, but it's always nice to know there is that extra safety margin or a little more oomph if one really feels the need for it. And if one really needs it then one should follow the advice I've seen a time or two, 'just get a .44 Magnum".

My search here is not so much to see how far one can take these GP100's before they blow up but is as much academic as anything else. Just trying to get a feel for how much "extra oomph" is built into these things. I would suspect that in the 5" models at least a 250 grain bullet approaching 1200 fps is doable without danger but not something to do as a steady diet.

The more I shoot the 44spl, the more I've settled on two loads: a 250gr Keith (Lyman 429421) at 750fps and the same bullet at 1000fps. The former load is a great every-day plinking load, the latter is a hunting load. If I need more I'll reach for a 44 Magnum or 45 Colt.

I suspect when I get my GP100 44spl it'll see the 250gr Keith at 750fps almost exclusively.

FWIW, I found my chronographed data for the 4 5/8" Flattop in a post back in November 2011.

"The Keith load is 17.5 grains of 2400 under his 250 cast 429421. I have a 4 5/8" .44 Flattop and worked up from 14 to 16 grains and got good accuracy at each level, this was using that same 429421 bullet. Only chronographed them once but got the following results:
14.0 2400 - 977 fps
15.0 2400 - 1058 fps
16.0 2400 - 1126 fps

As you can see, 14.0 to 15.0 grains gives a decent mid to upper mid-range velocity. I never went above 16.0 as recoil got to be more than what I bought a .44 Special for.

Looking back over my targets, if I had to really recommend one level it would be 15.0 grains as those groups were a bit better overall than at 14 grains and velocity and recoil still was acceptable for extended shooting.

Extrapolating those velocities it looks like 17.0/2400 would hit close on or at 1200 fps, but recoil even in the Bisley SA grip would be objectionable to say the least.




Oh well, gotta work with a new 38-55 for a while so playing with a new .44 revolver is something for the future. So many guns, so little time...

I've been playing with the Lyman 429421 250gr in my new Ruger Bisley 44 Mag. A fun load I'm shooting with good results is 5.0gr Unique in the 44 Russian case. I'll chrono it when the weather gets a little better, but it should be in the 750 fps ballpark, and shoots great. I'm able to keep them in 3-4" at 25 yards, standing.

My Lyman 49th edition shows the 429421 in the Russian with 4.6 gr Unique giving 736 fps at 11,100 CUP.


Three rounds of the Russian beside three rounds of 44 mag,

I wish to heck that ya'll would shut to hell up about these things!

As a new fan of the 44spcl you're making it awful hard to save for lightweight Commander!

I think over the years Mr. Pearce has changed his mind. On page 21 of the December 2014 issue of Handloader, he states that in the L-frame .44 Specials, pressures should not exceed 18,000 psi. This being due to the thin barrel breech or forcing cone.

Your post in the other thread (98.2%) was interesting, about how the forcing cone of the GP100 does not extend out as much. Perhaps Ruger studied the 696 and saw the limitations there, so is using the frame to reinforce the forcing cone? I notice on the Smith 69 that the cone barely extends beyond the frame.



All speculation now, like talking about football teams before the game, and I'm sure we'll have an answer one way or the other in due time, but it's still fun to speculate about.

I have a 3" 431 in stainless that i have considered selling to fund a GP 100, but i just can't quite make myself do it.

Any more word or data on this subject?

I just picked up a GP100 in 44 Special. 5" barrel.

I've ran my standard 44 Special (Smith 24-3) load through the same (GP/5 incher ) and would not hesitate to run it to 25psi load level, if needed.

It's usually not needed and the NOE 275 Keith (that generally weighs 280 with wheelweight metal) and 8 grs.CFE Pistol is about as much bucking that size gun or a tapered barrel Smith 24 will allow before eating on parts of your hand.

For those that care, Brian Pearce also published data in the August-September 2005 edition of Handloader.

Thank you! I'm looking at 250's at 1,100. Just wanted to make sure.

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