Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 2400 and the .44 Spl

I may be asking for the impossible, but I thought I'd put this out to gain the experience of others.

I've a Flattop .44 Spl, 4 5/8. It loves Power Pistol and 250 grain Mt. Baldy Keith style bullets at around 900 fps. But...

I've a large supply of 2400, recent manufacture. I'd like to use it with the 250 grain Keiths, but don't want a magnum load. I do like the fact that 2400 fills the case well, avoiding the potential hazard of a double charge. I tried the max load from the Lyman manual and it shot ok, but quite a bit of shot to shot variation. It's a mild load, and I'm aware I'm probably not pushing the 2400 hard enough to reach its sweet spot.

Is there a good "middle ground" 2400 load for this caliber/bullet that shoots clean and performs consistently without getting to the near magnum levels of, say, the old Keith load? Or is 2400 just the wrong powder for my needs?

Try Unique. 2400 is a great powder for heavy loads in the 44spl, it isn't the best choice for mid-range loads.

Yep, 2400 is better for fast/near max loads in the Flattop. In mine, 16 grains gives 1050 fps with A Bitterroot 250 LFNGC. For lighter/medium loads I use Power Pistol. If filling the case is important to you, you might look into Trail Boss, which some like in the 44 Special.

Ditto. Not the best choice for medium loads in the 850-900 fps range.

But 2400 does have a nice feature in that you can load it down some and it will maintain its accuracy. I have seen this across the .357, .41 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum and .45 Colt.

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.

I tend to be like the OP in that if I have a lot of one kind of powder I'll work up a load for it and use it even if it isn't exactly optimum. Otherwise I end up with umpteen 3/4 full cans of powder.

A couple of things about 2400. The old 2400 was a bit slower burning than the new stuff. So beware of using the older data. In the .44 Magnum, there is a two grain difference.
Second, standard pistol primers apparently are alot more consistant than magnum pistol primers when using 2400 in the .44 Magnum. So this may be the case with the .44 Special, I don't know. You might try them and see. E

Man I wish I would have run across one of those stainless Flattops...

Also, I use 16gr of 2400 as the max load for my 44spls, as the old Keith load of 17.5 was developed with the older 2400.

I load a LOT of different powders in the .44 Special, but not 2400. So my only contribution here is that standard primers are correct for 2400. At lower than optimum pressures, 2400 will leave some unburnt flakes behind. Some shooters think using magnum primers will fix this, but it is an unwise idea. The real result is that you'll get a short spike of high pressure that doesn't increase velocity much or at all, but definitely does erase any margin of safety in case/gun strength. Such a primer switch can spike pressures by 10,000 psi - and in a cartridge rated for 15,000 or so, that is eye-watering.

This is 100% true. I even use standard primers in the .44 mag with 296.
Primers are so very important.

I have to dissent about standard primers with H110/W296. They may apparently work fine with heavy bullets in warm weather, but with lighter bullets or cooler weather, you might get a complete squib, a hangfire - or a catastrophic overpressure.

That's one powder where the maker makes it absolutely clear about primer choice, and they say magnums ONLY. I'd believe them.

+1

Green dot is commonly used for shotshells, but I find it great for reduced handguns loads. Burns cleaner than Unique. In my . 45 Colt, 7.5 grns pushes a 250 grn bullet at about 800 fps.

Emericus- do you know the year when the change occurred in the 2400 powder and data? I have a bunch of older powders I am working through and my books go back to the mid 70's. I noticed some of my old favorite 44Mag loads which were listed as mid range loads then, are a couple of grains over what my newer books show as max loads. Been shooting them for years with no apparent problems. Appreciate any info you can provide. Thanks. Joe

I've had ggod luck with 13.5 gr. 2400 under either the RCBS Keith bullet or a 260 gr. LBT WFN. I cast them about 15 bhn and size to fit my gun. I get about 850 with those loads, and use a standard primer. good load, but my gun likes SR 4756 just a little more.

Thanks all for the advice. I think I'll increase the 2400 to about 950 fps and see how I like it. If I don't, there is always Power Pistol and Unique!