Hey guys! Looking to load some 44 magnum cases with lead 240 gr SWC to 900-1000 fps. Any advice on powders and charges?
Thanks
GreggH

Unique 9.0gr.

This. ^ Depending on your barrel length should get you right at the velocity you want

9 grs. of CFE Pistol

9.3 gr of Power Pistol

9.0 Universal would work fine as well.

Damn good place to start!

Was getting 960fps last weekend out of my Super Blackhawk 7.5" with 7.1gr of Unique & 240gr LSWC. That was the last of my Unique so now I'm testing from 6-9gr of Tightgroup hoping to find a replacement.

In addition to Unique, I started using Power Pistol for mid range 44mag loads. It works very well. I also useTrail Boss, but I've heard it's unobtainable right now.

12.0 grns of Blue Dot will get you pretty close to that as well, but at that light of load I’ve found that it burns kind of dirty.

Good morning, I picked up a 5” 629 last month and loaded up 8 grains of titegroup under a 240 grn lead SWC per a suggestion from another forum. It was so cold when I went to the range my chrono died so I can’t yet report on velocity but felt recoil was one step up from some hot 357 loads. Very nice shooting load. I will report back once I get them chronoed.

6.5gr of TiteGroup or Clays behind a 240gr lswc will give you just over 900fps from a 4" barrel.

6.5 grains of Titegroup here as well. Manageable recoil with an unexpected bonus of very very good accuracy.

8.5 gr W231 makes a fine load, about 950 fps.

If you have 700x about 5 grains with a 240 should work for you, but with large flakes it does not always throw well out of all powder measures. So try it first to see if your throw is consistent.

Where is a good place to buy some of these 240's to load up? Cant find any in stock

Missouri Bullet Company has 18bhn 240gr "Keith". Brazos has 12bhn 240gr lswc. Both offer Hitek coating. Brazos is cheaper than MBC.
I shoot Brazos mostly.

Do i need them coated?

My go to .44 Mag Lite load for years has been 7.5gr. Unique with a 200gr. RNFP cowboy bullet, if I want something a little bit stouter I up the charge to 9.0gr.. Both of these loads are accurate and pleasant to shoot.

Tried Titegroup recently in the 44 mag with 240 gr hollow point Berry's plated bullets. Good results from my 5" S&W 629:

6.0 grains produced 792 fps with an SD of 11.8 fps

9.0 grains produced 1068 fps with an SD of 10.2 fps

Both were easy to shoot with the 9.0 grain load having more recoil, but still well under that of of full-power magnum loads.

*Like many others, I've long been using 8 -9 grains of Unique with 240-250 gr bullet, but wanted to give Titegroup a try.

Regards, Guy

I like the HiTek coating. Brazos doesn't sell anything else. Less smoke and barrel gunk
But no, you don't "need" coated.

Titegroup and Unique are giving me nearly identical velocities per grain under 240gr LSWC. Being how I just used up the last of my Unique, Tightgroup it is. Have settled on 7.1gr right at 1000 fps from my 7.5" Super Blackhawk. As a plus the Tightgroup works great in my powder measure - flake powders like Unique, not so much.

Not sure what I had for velocity but my SBH shot 2 MOA with 5744 and gas check cast. 2 1/2 MOA with out the gas checks.

Thanks for the suggestions yall! Was able to grab 2 lbs of Unique to get started with. Going to be on the lookout for some of the other suggested poweders.

GreggH

I have a good supply of lead round nose 200 grain bullets I picked up cheap years ago. I found 5 grains of Bullseye under them makes a great 44 mag plinking load.

I use 8.8 of W231 for just about 1000 fps. 245 Cast SWC.

Finally got around to shooting 8 grains of titegroup under a 240 grain swc out of a 5” 629. I averaged 1026fps. Nice shooting load.

Cool. Glad you liked Titegroup. So did I. Good SD figures from 6.0 - 9.0 and good results on target too with 240's.

Regards, Guy