Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Need .44 Load Suggestions

Unique aint that dirty.

For my full power loads, I use 240 XTP and 24.0 H110. This is a very popular load combo. I shoot this through a Super Blackhawk, Super Redhawk and T/C Contender.

My plinking loads for the SBH is a Rainer (now out of business) 240 bullet with 10.0 Unique. Nice load to shoot.

henry there is a difference between jacketed and lead bullets based upon the increased resistence of jacketed bullets going through the barrel.
i have and do powder coat these days, and basically use the load data for cast bullets.

Copper jacket bullets create more friction than lead bullets as they go though the barrel therefore creating more pressure.

I've had good luck with 10 grains of Unique under a 240-grain SWC. Accurate enough for rabbits, powerful enough for deer. 7 grains of 231 is also a good bet.


Okie John

8.5 gr CFE Pistol, 250-265 Keith SWC.

20.5 gr. 2400 for a bit more oomph.

Years ago I used a 4" 629 when shooting a combat training course. All I needed was "bang" and some holes close to where the gun pointed ... beyond that, the less recoil the better. 5.0 grains of Green Dot under a 250 grain cast bullet worked well. Came out the end of the barrel, made holes in paper, didn't beat me up.

Lot of people like somewhere around 8-9 grains of Unique .. a little warmer but pretty pleasant.

For a while I shot 17.0 to 18.0 grains of 2400 under my 240-ish grain cast bullets ... std primers, magnum cases. This more or less matched Elmer Keith's heavy .44 special load. That heavy special / light magnum "load zone" is pretty useful.

Today I have other guns, I don't have much need for light loads in my .44 magnum. The only thing I've shot in them in the past 3-5 years has been 24 grains of Win 296 under 250 grain SWC. I use Winchester Large Pistol primers in this load. It is a little peppy in my short Ruger, a lot peppy in my S&W 329PD.

With jacketed bullets, I've never really worked with lighter loads, need velocity for expansion. I've looked for accuracy with max or very near max loads. The best load, across many guns, I've ever come up with, is 240 grain Sierra JHC, WW brass, Fed 155 primer, and 24.7 grains of Win 296. I don't shoot jacketed bullets much now but if I did, I'd start out about 23.5 and work up. I have gone as high as 25 with the Hornady 240 in a Redhawk, but I wouldn't enjoy shooting them in the S&W and I don't think I'd want to subject my gun to the abuse.

I do not like max loads of 2400. It can be a little spooky with some load data.

My experience too, with modern Unique. Some old truisms die a slow death.

Thanks to all for the replies.

Seems like everything was covered in past replies. I would also recommend Unique 8-10 grains under the coated bullets. You won't find data for coated bullets, but they behave much like uncoated cast bullets. Just a bit less friction in my experience, so equivalent loads will give you a hair less pressure and a hair more velocity than regular lubed cast bullets, and a LOT more velocity than jacketed bullets. I use cast data, and adjust accordingly. Fairly hard, flat-nosed, coated cast bullets will do an immense amount of work even at moderate speed. You'll find a load between 8 and 10 grains of Unique that shoots well, if the bullets match your cylinder throats fairly closely.

As far as the Hornady 240 XTP, they don't need speed, but do a fine job at twice what you can get out of that 4" revolver. IF you are a glutton for recoil and muzzle blast (and most of us are, at times), the 23-24gr of H110/296 is a great load. It has been accurate for me in several guns and platforms with the Hornady and other 240 gr jacketed bullets. IF you aren't looking for that sort of thing, but want a good working load, look toward powders like Blue Dot or Long Shot or Power Pistol. Data can be found online. I have used all of these to excellent effect out of various 44's, both short and long.

The best jacketed bullet in 240gr weight I've used for killing stuff is the Nosler 240 JHP. I've only ever recovered them in the ground beyond what was shot, and they always end up gloriously expanded, doing remarkable damage, even with no bone hit.

If you shoot a lot of ammo loaded in .44 Special brass in your S&W 69, you're likely to get some carbon buildup ahead of the case and it could be harder to load full length .44 Magnum rounds into the cylinder. That happened to me when I was shooting ammo loaded in .44 Special brass in my S&W 329PD, so now I only use .44 Magnum brass for all of the ammo that I load for that revolver and the carbon build up is no longer an issue.

I'd also recommend that you consider sending your S&W 69 to Ahlman's in Morristown, MN, to be turned and to have the forcing cone reamed. The $70 that they charge for an "action job" tune up is one of the best values anywhere and the $15 that they charge to ream the forcing cone eliminates the possibility of lead shaving. I send all of my "shooter" revolvers to Ahlman's for those 2 jobs and haven't met anyone yet who had that work done and didn't think that it was money well spent.

www.ahlmans.com

$35 for reaming of forcing cone...(?).

You're right, $35, not $15, but still a great value.

And Unique is cheap!

As for the Smith 69, shooting 44 special rounds in to are problematic. Accuracy is fine, hardly any recoil, but them the cases stick and don't eject easily. I believe that some of the powder gets between the case and cylinder gumming things up. I can shoot 5 rounds of special, and have to hit the rod several times up get the cases out, then reload with magnum and it runs slick as a whistle. 50 rounds of magnum are ok at the range, but I get something like mild tennis elbow later on. The answer is some kind of low power loads in a magnum case, of course.

Well covered but I will add if you want to run bullets over 1100fps shoot jacketed not lead/coated.

Why? I've been shooting them in the 1300-1400 fps range, some up around 1700 fps, 50K to 75K of them, over the past 3+ decades. Please enlighten me! I would sure hate to have a problem for 35 years and not notice it.

Tom

I have to back up a little on short guns. 4-1/2 to 5" will be fine. I am only concerned with shorter.
Hard lead will be shot at full velocity so there is no limit.

After decades of abusing myself and my revolvers with max loads of 296 and jacketed bullets, I have relearned, yet again, that a decent hard cast bullet at 800-900 fps tends to be accurate, punches all the way through deer, and is a heck of a lot easier on both me and the hardware.
However, the accuracy I got with a max load of 296 and 180 gr Sierras used to permit me to place a group in the top, or bottom, half of a sheet of notebook paper at a hundred yards out of -2 Model 29's with 6" barrels. My eyes (and probably other body parts) are no longer up to this task.

Your mileage may vary.