Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 44 mag 180 grain XTP's

What loads are folks shooting. Got Federal 150 and 155 primers, Starline brass, Titegroup and w296 powder. What have people had luck with. Got 2 629's, 1 4 inch 1 6 1/2 barrel.

86 views and nobody has a 44 load for 180 xtps?

29-31 grains of H110 or Winchester 296 for a full load...

Never loaded this weight .44 bullet to anything but Max for deer hunting...

Bob

Ditto RJM's post. 2200 is fast for a pistol round in a lever gun. I did load some up with a charge of 2400 to get about 1800fps. They weren't as accurate as the H110 screamers.

Hodgdons website shows loads with both powders (I looked). However, they didn't really show anything in the velocity range I was interested in. Many years ago, I shot a new nickle-plated S&W 29 looser that a goose with max loads of 296 and Sierras 180 gr. I think it only took about 500 rounds.

Unique, 231/HP38, HS-6, AutoComp are also powders I've tried with 200's and got good results and reduced velocities. Try the titegroup. Reduced loads of 296 are a no-go.

Looks like 9-10 gr titegroup may get you to 1200, and a bit more in the longer bbl. Bet that's a nice shooter, with plenty of thump for various targets. If you don't like the result, buy some unique. Hard to go wrong with unique. Hornady lists max 14.4 grains and 1500 from a 7.5". What velocity are you looking for?

What you ganna use them for?

I tried 180gr bullets over a max charge of WW-296 years ago and could not zero my 8 3/8" Model 29 at 25 yards. The rear sight was raised to the max and the group was still 3" low.

Not surprising.

W296 likes heavier bullets in the 44 mag. Not the best powder for 180gr. Use max or near max for W296 or H110. Magnum primers only on W296 and H110. Play around with titegroup until you can get a better powder.Use the standard primers with the titegroup.

This.

Expect a very impressive muzzle blast and less than impressive penetration on deer-sized animals.

Last year I loaded 200 gr. Nosler JHP's with 28 grs H110 and standard large pistol
primers. I shot a small buck at about 25 yds with this load using my 7.5" Redhawk. The bullet hit the buck at the neck/shoulder junction, putting the deer down on the spot, but failing to penetrate fully. Unfortunately, I missed hitting any major blood vessels and had to shoot again, this time in the ribcage (since the head was waving around too much). This second shot did the trick, but also failed to penetrate completely through the ribs, being stopped by the hide.

The above, combined with the ridiculous muzzle blast is the reason I intend to go with a heavy bullet at moderate velocity for my deer blasting this season.

I realize that I didn't exactly answer your question, but I offered what I can about light bullets and slow powders.

Good shootin'!

I haven't shot any deer with 200's. The slow twist in my Marlin (1:38) may have a lessening effect on expansion, but impact speeds are higher. I have no illusions of the 180 or 200 gr out of a lever gun making through&through. 240's do though, and keep going in the dirt.

Many, many moons ago, I used them in a Super Redhawk 7.5/7".
Win brass, CCI mag primers, book max of 2400.

I got great accuracy, dirty tho.

My buddy destroyed his 429 with the same load, only took about 50-60 rounds.

I'm not a fan of running light for caliber bullets. The minimal trajectory gain just isn't worth the diminished terminal performance.

not on game, thinking maybe mid level SD loads. Thinking about 10.5 grains titegroup for a 1200 fps load.

In that case, if they shoot good, why not. I think HS-6 would be a good powder to try as well.

Used to push 'em to dang near 2K in a 10.5" barreled Ruger SBH with AA#9 powder, don't remember the charge, would have to go look at my OLD load manuals, this was back in the mid 90's.

Gunner

Yeah, I bet a top-end load of Titegroup will work out just fine for your purposes. SD doesn't have a pinpoint accuracy requirement, so if they aren't tack drivers, no matter. And recoil and muzzle blast will be mitigated by the small charge of fast-burning powder.

Funny that the topic of 180 grain XTPs came up in regards to the .44 mag.

It is not something that I normally load, but a number of years back, I am guessing 13 or 14 years ago someone had given me a number of them and I had loaded them up over stout loads of H110.

Just recently I found a plastic ammo box 3/4 full of them (about 35 rounds or so). I ran a few through my 6.5" 29-2.

Pretty smooth, recoil wise, but BIG muzzle flash, even in the mid afternoon. I recall about 10 years or so I had blasted some big desert Jacks with this load and it essentially gutted them on the spot.

Not a good night time defense load, but fun as heck for bowling jacks.

I came home and looked under my bench to see what I had, in regards to lightweight 44 projectiles. I forgot that I still have a batch of 180 grain full wadcutters. Those will make some great small game busters too.

Now all I need is spare time to load, hunt, shoot......

The 180 XTPs would make a good self defense load in a .44 Special or Mag, though in the mag, I would not run them full throttle unless lighting people on fire was part of your defense pre planning..