Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading .44 Mag, What are my options?

When i began loading for my recently acquired 629 earlier this year I had about a pound and a half of Unique on the shelf. I'm shooting a couple of times a month and loading 9gr of unique with a 240 keith style from MBC

I've now opened my last bottle of Unique and am looking at finding more.

I dug deep and found a partial bottle of Bullseye. Also picked up some 700X that I intend to use for .38s

At the best supplied LGS today they had multiple bottles of HP38 and 800X

Anybody used these other powders in the .44 with cast bullets?

I've also figured that 9gr of Unique is the sweet spot, but 8gr does almost as well and will produce another hundred rounds from a pound of powder. Never did I believe it would be a concern but there it is...

I've shot the Skeeter Skelton load of 7.5gr. Unique with 200gr RNFP in my .44 Magnum for more than 25 yrs. now. On occasion I step the load up to 9gr.. Years ago I shot Bullseye, don't have any experience with the other powders you mention.

9 gr Unique 240 gr cast is 22kpsi 1100 fps

8.0 gr Bullseye 240 gr cast is 22 kpsi 1050 fps
8.5 gr Bullseye 240 gr cast is 25 kpsi 1100 fps


I run my 29-4 44 mag 240 gr JHP 24 gr H110, 27kpsi 1300 fps.


SAAMI registered max average pressure is 36 kpsi

Nope.


N110 or 2400.


H110/296 at ~22gn is all I need for a 240gn Keith.

I know these are not any of the powders that you inquired about, but I have had good results with 240 gr. Keith style SWCs with 10.2 gr of Universal, 21 gr of 2400, 24 gr H-110, and 10 gr of Titegroup. BTW, the best deal I know of currently for these bullets are from Brazos Bullets https://www.brazosprecision.com/ . Nothing at all wrong with MBC, but Brazos is same quality, a little cheaper, and usually in stock. Also Powder Valley has been having some various powders in stock lately. They might be a good source for you. https://www.powdervalleyinc.com/ Best of luck to you.

I used 9.0 grains of Unique under my “homegrown”:218 grain cast bullets....very accurate and pleasant to shoot in my 629! memtb

Haven’t played with HP38 but 700X and 800X work extremely well in a 41 mag with 215 HCSWC. 700 and 800 you can’t download, but HP38 you can.

Hey Swifty

Does that chart mean that there's only one charge advisable for 700X/800X?

Do they not recommend a slightly lesser starting load?

I used to use 700X in my 44 mags. It works fine but be careful, it’s fast and it doesn’t fill the case so double charges are a possibility. I’d have to go back and check my notes but I know I was using it under 240-250 gr SWCs.

ETA. After looking at the data above I’m positive I wasn’t using anywhere close to 9.5gr, maybe more like 7.5gr. Check an older manual, it’ll likely have starting loads.

Why Hodgdon put a null on start I don’t know.

2006 IMR book where all they listed was max.

I shoot a lot of revolver target loads using 5.0g of Bullseye. It’s a favorite in 44 mag paired with a 240g LRNFP.

231 is rapidly becoming my GO TO powder. I can load everything I load from 9mm to 500JRH with it. It may not be the best at everything but I feel that it will fit in somewhere in about every handgun cartridge.

I recently settled on 10 grains of 231 behind a 240 LSWC. 231 and HP38 are the same powder if I am not mistaken. I don’t have any complaints on the load.

I feel this away about Bullseye.

I've used HP-38/231 and 700X for cast in 32 S&W, 44 Mag, and 45 Colt. In the end I always end up going back to Unique or Trail Boss for cast loads.

I've never gotten very good accuracy with HP-38/231 in anything I've tried it in. I still have most of a pound I bought probably 15 years ago on the shelf because it never ends up getting used beyond test loads with new guns. I was actually just fiddling with it in a new Cimarron 1873 rifle in 45 Colt about a week ago. Several groups of it didn't even keep all the shots on paper at 50 yards.

700x has shot good groups with midrange charges in my 32 and 44, but just terrible in 45 Colt. For some reason I tend to get real bad fliers with it, though, even when I have a great core group.


Blackhorn 209 has produced some fantastic groups in 327 Fed, 44 Mag, and 45 Colt for me, but it's too expensive to really be viable compared to standard powders. You also gotta love cleaning guns if you're gonna use it. It cleans up easy, but it's a filthy shooting powder and it stains brass pretty badly.

800x works great in a 44 mag. You get very good speed with much fewer grains than say h110, or pp300mp, enforcer or other slow burners. The problem is that 800x meters terribly. You have to weigh each charge individually to get any consistency. It's got large round flakes that are like trying to meter corn flakes.

It's too bad they can't reformulated 800x into a smaller flake size or something that meters better. It's a great burn rate for many handgun rounds especially 10mm. I personally won't buy it again because I won't weigh each charge. I get close to it with powders that meter like Longshot or BE-86.

Bb

800x has been discontinued. I was looking for more, and just found out the other day.

Universal is a good substitute for Unique. Generally cleaner too

AA5 has worked for me. Unique is my main powder.

Blue Dot seems to have fallen out of favor, but 15.0 grains, a WLP, and a 200 grain XTP has been a good load in my S&W 629 for many years. Blue Dot may be an available powder when you go looking. HP38 is nearly identical to WIN231, I would buy either for light loads with lead bullets. Most of my data is for 300 grain bullets (lead and jacketed), but I do have two loads using a 240 XTP; 23.0 H110/WIN WLP and 18.5 grains 2400/CCI300 (both loads shot in a NM SBH). Powder availability really drives load choice nowadays.

I had actually forgotten about Blue Dot... hadn't heard that one mentioned in a long time. I never fiddled with it myself, but I know my old man used to run it in 44 plinkers quite a bit back in the day for his Redhawk.

BKS:

In 2019, I sat next to Clint Smith at dinner during a Thunder Ranch class, and we talked guns and reloading for 90 minutes. He told me for simplicity's sake he uses 231 for most of his handguns, and he is a big fan of .44 Magnum, .45 Colt, and .45 ACP. Made me feel good about my choice of 231 for the bulk of my handgun reloading.

Use it with 240 Nosler Sport. IIRC 14gr ??? Have to check that. Works well with 158 jacketed in .357 as well.

Yep, 14.0 and some at max 15.0. A little smut, not bad. .357 load is 10.0. Easy shooting.

10.0grs of 231/HP38 and a 180gr XTP will get you about 1050-1100 fps out of a 3” 629-6. Clean, easy shooting, and low flash. Since that bullet starts to expand at 750fps I think it could be. Good combination

I believe the real load Skeeter promoted was a 240-250 429421 and 7.5 Unique in the 44 Special.

You could pick up an 8 pd keg of H110 from Powder Valley while they have it in stock

That IS the true Skeeter load. .44 Special, not the Magnum.

If you can find any Accurate #5, it is a tick slower than Unique and meters a lot smoother. I get really good accuracy with a Lyman 429421 in my 629 with no powder fouling whatsoever. I have seen this powder recently at my LGS. Accutate #7 (Blue Dot neighborhood) works for stiffer loads and is a bit faster than 2400, but there is no 2400 in the western hemisphere!

Universal

Titegroup

HS-6

Trailboss

H110

All on the bench for 44's.....357's & 45 Colt's

Oh

Bluedot also

I’d agree with this - also somewhat dirty but it’ll give you the speed you need. Old school but it’ll work. I think my load was 12gr with a 240 in my 629 - but check for yourself to make certain.

The fastest burning powder I have used in my S&W 629-3 (4" bbl), with a 260 grain plain base home cast bullet (wheel weight alloy) is Green Dot.

I don't have a standard load yet, as I picked up a bunch of powder from a known (trusted) reloader, and he had several open bottles of powders to play with (before settling on "one load). All the following worked fine for me. I normally stay below 1100 fps, and more typically load for 900-1000 fps ( "moderate" loads).

Powders tried in my S&W 629-3 (4" bbl ) include:

Green Dot
Unique
Herco
Power Pistol
Blue Dot
800x

Green Dot was a nice surprise. There wasn't a lot of info on Green Dot and the 44 mag online, but I did find one reference that it was a secret accuracy powder of Hercules' technicians for light-moderate 44 mag loads. Don't have the load handy, but it was supposed to be around 875-900 fps (no chrono), with 260 grain cast bullets.

I'm glad Green Dot worked well in my pistol, as there was one partial 1 lb can, and two unopened 8 lb jugs of it.

Hp38 is essentially the same as W231. My take is that they are faster burning than Green Dot. You may want to give HP38 a whirl, since you can find it locally.