Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns What's your favorite 44mag load/powder?

I have been working with N110 and speer 240 gr JSP's with poor results. I have tried rock bottom loads to max loads and haven't had any luck. I'm shooting a Taurus tracker SS with a 2x6 scope. I know it shoots because some generic Remington 240 hp's shot well out it. I've heard W296 does well, suggestions please.

I've pretty much settled on 24 gr. H110 under a 240 gr Hornady XTP in my 77-44. Accurate enough for the ranges I'm shooting it and impressive on deer.

Almost identical, 23.5 grs H110 under 240 gr Hornady XTP's, CCI primer

24 gr Lil'Gun under 240 Sierras. Planning on trying some mid-range loads with Unique & Power Pistol at some point

270 grain Speer, 21 grains H110, Win LP primer. Shoots very well out of my 629 and Marlin.

23-24 grains of H110 and the 240 gr. Hornady XTP has always been a good combo for me. I have also had good luck with the same powder under a 255 gr. cast SWC.

Brinky, my experience with N110 is the complete opposite of yours. I started out with 296, and could do no better than 3" groups at 50 yards.

With the N110, that shrunk to 1" groups. That was with a Beartooth bullet 300 grain, seated long, and with the Hornady 300 grain XTP, also seated long.

Perhaps H110/296 will be your friend. And, keep 4227 of both persuasions in mind, as well as AA#9. Those powders can run respectable speeds, and can be reduced. H110/296 is a high performance powder and doesn't like reduced loads much, as you are probably aware of.

Mostly I use 8 or 8.5 grains of Unique under a 240/250 bullet I cast myself. Plenty for the shooting I do.

My N110 loads started at 18 gr and went up to 20 grains incrementally by .2gr and did seem to get better at the max. Perhaps my gun doesn't like the bullet weight. Or maybe the optics are for chit. The mount is solid for sure but it is a Bushnell albeit a top of the line for them. I'm really scratching my head wondering WTF. Might be time for irons again at 15 yds to figure this out. My Sig 229 40 cal with irons does better than my scoped 44. Something ain't right.

240 gr. Remington JSP's, (buy'em in bulk from Graf's) with 24.5 gr. of H-110 lit by a CCI L.P. magnum primer, and usually in Starline brass. Averages right around 1500 fps from a SS 7.5" Redhawk with real nice accuracy.

Count me as another fan of H110. 23 - 24gr with the 240gr XTP. It worked great in my heavy 45 Colt loads too.

For milder loads, I like Universal.

It could very well be your pistol doesn't like N110.

I've not tried it with standard 1.6" OAL, and have kept pressures in the 35 KPSI range.

24gr H110, 240gr XTP.

For plinking, practice, and generally light stuff, I use 6.0gr of Red Dot under a 200gr cast RNFP.

For deer hunting and higher throttle stuff, I run 24.0gr of 2400 under a 210gr Gold Dot.

For big stuff and playing with my buddies, I use 18.5gr of 2400 under a 310gr cast FPGC.

That pretty much covers the full spectrum for me.

I'm crimping mid cannelure and the hotter I run it the better the groups but nothing real good even at 19.5 gr which is .5 from max. I never really did like the scope thing on a pistol and I think I will go back to the drawing board using the factory irons. I think I was better off that way. I'm going to try close to max loads with irons at 15 yards and move out from there.

I also use H110 and 300 gr. Beartooth WFNHCGC's bullets. I also get the same results and yes, they do like to pushed a bit. I used 2400 for several years with 240gr. bullets and liked them as well, but found H110 and the 300gr. bullets more geared towards my needs and/or intentions.

I shot a lot of 15 grains of BLUE DOT under 250 grain hard cast gas checked bullets for decades with good results and I doubt youll find a more accurate or consistent load

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=000152660244

What primers are you using ? Speer has found that that powder works best with their CCI 300, rather than their magnumn 350's.
Are you seating with one pass and crimping heavily with another ? A heavy, or very heavy, crimp is often necessary.
My favorite loads are 20 grs. of 2400 over a 240 gr. Hdy XTP or 19 grs. of the same powder with a 250 cast, SWC. Either load shoots 1.5-2 inches at 25 yds with iron sights from my 4 inch Smith.

By seating long, I mean OALs of 1.745" and 1.775" for the XTP and the BB, respectively. This allows for bullet speeds in the 1300s with safe pressure.

I don't know if you can do this with the Taurus.

The OAL will change the dynamics of the load altogether, so I may get the same results with the load you are using. I have not tried N110 in a 1.6" 240 grain load.

Good luck on your search for an accurate powder.

Funny you mention primers. I have beat the bushes forever.
Federal also uses a 150 primer. I use nothing else.
How funny is it that back in the 70's, I found the mag primer was wrong in the .44?
But crimp has little to do with powder burn. Case tension is needed. Soft lead that gets sized when seating is an atrocity.