Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading 44 magnum reduced loads?

You can also get AIDS from water fountains.

You know better, don't spread FUD.

Why would you if you have other powders available? It meters like gravel and you get less for your money since it comes in 12oz cans. I’ve used it successfully for cast plinking loads in rifle cartridges but I don’t think it’s the best tool in the box for handgun loads.

Light loads for .44 Magnum are called .44 Specials. My everyday load for .44 Special is the 250 grain Keith bullet or the 255 grain Thompson bullet with 8 grains of Unique. My hunting load is 17 grains of Alliant 2400 under the same bullets. The hunting load is near magnum class but still just a hot .44 Special. These are loaded in .44 Special brass not magnum.

DO NOT substitute load data for .44 Russian putting it into a .44 Magnum case. The case volume is substantially different.

Go get some different powder, more suitable for lower velocities, and some cast bullets, preferably lighter weight ones. A 175 grain truncated cone flat point, 180, or 200 grain full wadcutter and appropriate powder will get you where you need to be quite easily.

Lastly be careful who you take advice from.

There are a BUNCH of guys who give advice that simply are parrotting, based off of something they read somewhere else, and don't have actual experience in what they are posting. They will look something up online then regurgitate it as if they have done it themselves, which they have not.

You can go over to the castboolitforum and ask around over there for reduced loads in .44 mag brass and you will likely get a decent amount of info to get you started.

I use it in a variety of rds....

Because it's on my bench....bought it long before sleepy joes china flu

Oh...9 oz bottles

OP, with the 240XTP and your W296 (same as H110), 23 to 23.5 grains should be accurate, and also a non-event recoil wise in either of the guns you've listed. If you're looking for something a bit less energetic 12.5 of HS6 is a good load with the 240XTP, running around 1100-1150 fps - this one is a few tenths above the start load for jacketed 240's in Speer #13, and back when I could both see and hold, could keep it on an 8" plate from 60 yards off my hind legs.

None of the 3 powders you've listed are good candidates for reduced loads, especially the 300MP in my experience. At any load level below max it's more than a little bit erratic.

For other less than full throttle 44 data, the June 2006 issue of Handloader had an article that although focused on the M29, featured 3 levels of loads: Light Target, Mid-Range and Max. It's well worth tracking down the back issue.

Found 1000 Large Pistol Primers. Traded a friend 1000 Mag Rifle for them so I am set on bullets, Brass and Primers for a while. Headed out Friday to see if I can round up some Unique as there has been many people suggest that for light loads.

Thanks for all the advice

HeavyBarrel

all loads for .44 Mag have a stated starting point for the powder charge. Many are not safe or reliable if loaded below that point. None of the .44 mag loads are going to hurt you, or be unmanageable.

Unique, in my neighborhood, has not been available. Good luck. I would use it or Bullseye if i could find either.

Meanwhile Red Dot and 700x powders, while data is hard to find (https://www.castpics.net/LoadData/Freebies/RM/Alliant.html), has been working in my special level loads/mag brass for my 44 mag firearms.

I got my first .44 Mag, a Ruger blued 7 1/2" SBH, in the early '70s. For almost 30 years I shot almost full book charges of WW 296 behind my home cast 240 and 250 grain lead bullets.

Then in 2000 I went through a very nasty divorce and my ex stole that pistol and gave it to her then boyfriend. As soon as the divorce was final I bought another 7 1/2" Ruger SBH, this time in Stainless and shortly after that the ex's boyfriend gave me back my blued SBH. Both of those pistols shot well with my WW 296 handloads.

Then a few years ago I decided that I needed a 4" S&W 629, and it quickly became one of my favorite pistols, and the .44 that I shoot the most. Maybe it was me getting older or the shorter barrel of the 629 inspired me to start shooting .44 Specials in it. They became so fun to shoot that I bought a Lee 430240 6 cavity mould and those bullets in front of 6.0 grains of Clays Universal powder is now my "shoot every week" .44 loads.

Like @EddySouthgate posted earlier, "Light loads for .44 Magnum are called .44 Specials."

In the interest of safety I need to point out that there is no such thing as “Clays Universal” powder. There is the fast “Clays” and there is the slower “Universal”. Hodgdon originally introduced the latter as “Universal Clays” - a terrible confusing name which greatly increased the risk of less careful reloaders substituting “Universal” load data when using “Clays” powder. The result could easily be an overload with the imaginable consequences - see Hodgdon’s .44 Mag data below. They renamed the powder “Universal” some years ago but as we see here, the risk of confusing the two still exists.

Congrats on the new handguns! The .44 Magnum is probably my favorite cartridge, outside of the .22 LR. Like .22 LRs, I feel one can never have enough .44s.

I've never loaded mine super light, but for more moderate, 1,000-1,200-FPS, loads, I've used a lot of Unique. The problem with Unique is that it will sometimes "bridge" in some powder measures, which gives one case that's about four grains light on powder and then the next one will be about four grains too heavy. This is a disastrous situation if you seat a bullet without catching it. You can help protect from this by closely checking powder levels before seating bullets or better yet, weighing all charges.

For sub-1000 fps loads, I've used some Red Dot and Winchester 231/Hodgdon HP-38, both of which worked well, but you have to be REALLY careful not to double charge a case with these powders because they don't fill the case well. When I was a young guy, I saved up and found a like-new 3-screw Super Blackhawk. My friend, who was a new handloader, picked my gun up off the bench and stuffed his handloads in it, and proceeded to blow the cylinder and top strap off the gun with a double charge of fast burning powder.

For these reasons, I've mostly eliminated using Unique and many other powders and have switched most of my mid-range .44 loads to Power Pistol, which performs similarly to Unique but without the bridging issue. It also fills the cases decently, though, I still weigh charges and do a visual check.

My other advice in addition to your plan of practicing with reduced loads is if you don't have one, get a .22 pistol to practice with in between shooting .44s, which can help alleviate any flinch you may be developing as you learn to shoot .44s. I really love .22 revolvers and semi-autos. An excellent .22 revolver for a low price is the Ruger Wrangler.

You're right. Back in my Skeet shooting competition days 25-30 years ago when the Clays line of shotgun powders came out I loaded "Clays" for 12 Gauge, "Interational Clays" for 20 ga, and "Universal Clays" for 28 ga. I guess I've just stuck with the "Clays Universal" name just like saying "H 4831" or "IMR 4831" when other reloaders simply say "4831." (And yes, I know that there is a difference in burning rates between the different manufacturer's 4831 powders.)

8gr of Unique worked very well. Fired about 18 this evening and loaded another 50. Accuracy seems good and POI is really close at 20 yards as the Hornady factory XTP's. Already able to group a good bit better knowing the gun is not gonna fly out of my hand. Looking forward to getting decent with the gun. Scheduled an accuracy package from Mike Heffron because I am sure I can tighten things up with a trigger job.

Thanks for all the advice. Can someone school me on lead? I had a bad experience years ago with a 357 Mag and some factory lead ammo and been hesitant to mess with it since.

HeavyBarrel

Shooting .44 Special ammo in a revolver chambered for .44 Magnum will eventually result in a ring of fouling that will not allow chambering of Magnum ammo. Much the same as firing .22 Short ammo in a rifle chambered for .22 LR. I shoot .44 Special loads assembled in .44 Magnum brass, my reduced load consists of 7.5gr. of Unique and a lead 200gr. RNFP "cowboy bullet". A load that's accurate, easy on the shooter and the gun, it's been my go to load for more than 25yrs.. Try it, you'll like it.

The load I shot tonight was 8gr of Unique and a 240gr Hornady XTP in 44 Mag brass. they were accurate at 20 yards, more so than me.

HeavyBarrel

The best thing you can do to get started in the right direction with cast bullets is to measure your cylinder throats and slug your bore. You can then determine whether you’re likely to have luck getting lead bullets to shoot based on the bore and throat relationship. And if the throats are good to go it’ll tell you what size bullets you need to order.

If it interests you enough to do some reading on the subject Veral Smith’s book, “Jacketed performance with cast bullets” is a very informative and interesting read.

I agree with gunwizard, on the forming of the carbon ring in the cylinder when using the shorter brass. I always try to use brass designed for the cylinder……whether it be my .357’s, 44 Mags, or my 460 S&W…..I enjoy shooting light loads in all of them, much more than cleaning carbon rings! 😉 memtb

Only of you never clean your chambers. This is a non issue if you occasionally cleand the cylinders.