.44 Plinker- Bullseye or Red dot

[Bigscot]

I am wanting to develop a plinking load with the 210 gr gc gb .44 boolit. I have Unique and 231 as well as 2400 and wc820 but thinking of trying something else. Looking for something using less powder and with recoil in a 4.5 in Ruger Vaquero. Would Bullseye or Reddot work better or even Bluedot or Greendot.

Thanks,

Stuart

[lastmanout]

I prefer green dot over red dot for light loads. read years ago the green dot was good with cast bullets, less leading and nicely accurate. It has been true in my experience. Bulleye is an old favorite, accurate but a tad dirty, Titiegroup by Hodgdon is well liked for small charges in large cases, very clean, accurate, not position sensitive, but has a LOUD muzzle report. Cowboy and IPSC shooters like it . Blue dot is better used in medium to high end loads.

[Larry Gibson]

While Red Dot will probably work I shoot lots of 240-250 gr SWCs (Lees and Lymans) over 5 gr of Bullseye in .44 Special cases out of my .44s. I also have found the Lee 200 gr cowboy style bullet to be extremely accurate over 6 gr of Bullseye in .44 magnum cases. Velocity is 940 fps out of my 6 1/2" Ruger and 856 fps out of my 4" Colt Anaconda. Low recoil, low muzzle blast and excellent accuracy.

Larry Gibson

[mechdriver]

I'm getting good results with redot 6.2 gns under a 240 gn semi-wadcutter lee tl mold in 44mag cases. Haven't clocked it yet but it hits where I point it, is milder than factory but not wimpy and no leading.

[TCLouis]

try it over 9.3 grains of 231.

That said, I sent pounds of lead downrange from my flattop way back when, with a VERY moderate dose of Bullseye.

Of course today I would plink with a plain base boolit.

I'm a tightwad and GCs are getting expensive!

[runfiverun]

that 231 will work just as well as any of the others mentioned
and is right in the same burn rate area as red-dot and bullseye
your unique is just a bit slower than green-dot
you should easily find what you want wiyh these powders

[Thumbcocker]

For good plinking or mid range loads with a Keith 250 grn boolit any of the following should be ok:

6.0 of 231
7.0 of 700x (about 1000 fps in a 7.5 inch barrel)
6.5 of red dot

All of these have given good accuracy in a lot of different .44's

7.0 of 700x is a good utility load reccomended by Mike Ventenrino a long time ago. He called the 6.0 of 231 a learning laod.

[GSPKurt]

I am wanting to develop a plinking load with the 210 gr gc gb .44 boolit. I have Unique and 231 as well as 2400 and wc820 but thinking of trying something else. Looking for something using less powder and with recoil in a 4.5 in Ruger Vaquero. Would Bullseye or Reddot work better or even Bluedot or Greendot.

Thanks,

Stuart

7.2 grains of Universal Clays. ~900 fps, little recoil, shoots very clean.

[MT Gianni]

Try the Shuz load from shooters, 7 gr green dot with a 250 gr keith. Gianni

[Lloyd Smale]

I use both. bullseye meters a tad better for progressive loading but a guy can buy promo which is the same as redot for 80 bucks a keg so that kind of swings it toward redot. Dont let anyone tell you that redot wont work in big cases. Some of my most accurate 44 and 45 plinking loads are with redot. Like i said it doesnt meter well but even with the inconsistancy in powder charges it still gives some of the best accuracy i get. Probably a smidge better then bullseye in big cases. I cant see going to green dot or universal clays or unique for plinking loads. It just doesnt make economic sense. I do use them for milder hunting loads though. but for rolling beercans or blasting steel targets i load the cheapest load i can make that is accurate.

[Ricochet]

Both .44 Special and .44 Magnum cases have been mentioned in this thread. The original question didn't specify which, and several posts with recommended loads didn't specify which they were for. Might be a good idea to clarify.

[Bigscot]

Richochet,

My bad, I am shooting a 44 mag with a 210 gn boolit.


Bigscot

[IcerUSA]

Right now I'm loading up some 44 Mag and 444 Marlin loads with my PB 200+ to 250gn boolits and so far all I have found seems to be about 16gns of Bluedot for the pistol with the 250s and 16gns in the rifle with a 200+ boolit . Soon as I can get to the range and shoot some I'll let ya know how the Bluedot works . Still have to load up some of the 250s in the rifle so I can't say what that load will be but I would think it will be real close to the other loads I've been loading .

Keith

PS This is a meadium load as there is only about 1.4gns from low to max .

[James C. Snodgrass]

I've been shootin' 7 gr of Unique with the Lee 200 pb and getting about 900 fps out of a 10" contender with good accuracy out to 100 yds. It is very mild. See ya James

[Cherokee]

44 Mag, 210 gr SWC, 9 gr 231 = very accurate load in my Redhawk and Blackhawks.

Why plinking loads with gas check bullets ? I don't even use GC's for heavy loads.

[Frank V]

I am trying Trailboss in the .44 Special & Mag with very good initial results. It is clean burning & accurate. I like the way it half fills the case making a double charge very unlikely. I don't have any chronograph data Yet, but so far I like it. I'm using the Lyman 429421 & the RCBS 44-250K. Trailboss is not as economical as say Titegroup, but I really like the way it fills the case with light loads. Frank