44 Mag recipe

[Rockchucker]

Last night I cast about 200 boolits from my Lyman mold (new mold) it's a 240 grain #429667 and lubed them all up. This morning I wanted to go shooting some so got out the Lyman pistol and reloading manual and found using unique ( which I have plenty of) the starting recipe was 10 grains so I loaded up a half dozen and went to the woods for a little shooting. When I got home The first thing I did was remove the cylinder to inspect the barrel for leading. The bore looked great, nice and shiny using Orange Magic lube, but was wondering if I could back off the starting load some what to see If I could improve the accuracy some. If anyone has experienced reducing the powder below the starting load I'd love to hear from you, Thanks.

[James C. Snodgrass]

I use 8 grs of unique with a 200gr rnfp in my 44 . In a 10" contender it gets about 900fps with a pretty clean burn . In my revolvers it doesn't burn very well but I think it is because my boolits are to hard to obturate at the low pressure , I will cast some softer in the future to see if they will do better . James:castmine:

[HeavyMetal]

10 Grs Unique is a good all around "plinking" load for the 44 magnum.

If the alloy isn't to hard you can drop ddown into the special load range which is 6.5 as a start load.

However my experience with the 44 is that soft loads don't always shoot as well as something a bit harder.

My suggestion is play with loads in the 9 to 11 Grain range using Unique.

[fredj338]

IMO, 10gr is not really a starting load. I run 9gr under a 245grLSCW for right at 900fps (4" M29), very accurate & pleasant to shoot even from 3"-4" rev.

[Rockchucker]

IMO, 10gr is not really a starting load. I run 9gr under a 245grLSCW for right at 900fps (4" M29), very accurate & pleasant to shoot even from 3"-4" rev.

I guess that's why I probably need more than one cast manual. Mine states 10 grains and it's one of the reasons for this thread. I wasn't sure if anyone went under. My Lyman, which is a paper back has lots of cast loads, but I see another in my future, Thanks for the replies, I gonna load a few starting at 8.8 grs and work back up to the 10 and see what kind of accuracy I get. I really like this boolit and the mold drops em like butter.

[fredj338]

I guess that's why I probably need more than one cast manual. Mine states 10 grains and it's one of the reasons for this thread. I wasn't sure if anyone went under. My Lyman, which is a paper back has lots of cast loads, but I see another in my future, Thanks for the replies, I gonna load a few starting at 8.8 grs and work back up to the 10 and see what kind of accuracy I get. I really like this boolit and the mold drops em like butter.
Speer goes all the way down to 6.5gr as a starter w/ their 240gr swaged bullet. I've loaded down to 8gr for a pretty mild 825fps load (4").

[Echo]

My older Lyman manual shows 4.0 grs of Unique as a starting load for the .44 Special, under the -421 boolit (245 gr PB). Also shows 8.5 as a starting load under the same boolit for the .44 Mag. Let Dr. Gun tell you how much to use, for best accuracy.

[hunter64]

I have 6 different reloading manual and no two give the same load so I usually start by looking on the web site for the latest information and data. Reloading manuals are great for Over all length and trim to length and general info but when it comes to loads I go to the web first.

My favorite Unique load is 8 grn with a 429421 bullet, very accurate and you can shoot it all day with no lead (sized appropriately). I have gone as high as 11 gn of unique but starting seeing pressure signs and stopped there. I have been as low as 6.0 gn but accuracy was dismal, minute of paper if I remember correctly.

[r6487]

One thing to keep in mind. Older reloading manuals giving loadings for Unique were for the hercules unique. I am on my last 8lb keg and have 3 8lb kegs of the new Alliant Unique. haven't used any yet but have been told they have changed the manufacturing process (in an effort to make it burn cleaner). This seems to have resulted in an equal weight load of the new stuff being milder than the old stuff. Some friends are bumping up the new stuff anywhere from .3-.7 grains to get back equivalent to their old unique loads.

[243winxb]

Alliant Lists 7.0gr Unique-899fps 240 cast lswc CCI 300 oal-1.605" 7 1/2" bbl. I just tested with 10.2 gr Unique & Fed 155 Mag. primer , shot great at 50yards off hand. Click for larger photo http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n420/joe1944usa/th_IMG_3306B.jpg (http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n420/joe1944usa/IMG_3306B.jpg)

[Sprue]

My plinking and target load is 8 gr Unique under a 240 SWC from WW's. Its good out to 100 yds to a sihloette ram. Its my pet load and is used in the 629-4 6 incher with a 2x scope. I dont have a chrony.

[MakeMineA10mm]

Unique is easy to ignite and bulky (fluffy), so I wouldn't be concerned at all about reducing that load. You'd have to get down to below 5.0 grs or lower to start getting into erratic ignition or hangfires. I did have some OLD powder once that had weakened with age, and with a moderate-low load the bullet was left sticking out of the muzzle about 1/2 way. If your powder is fresh, I wouldn't worry about going down to 6.0grs at all.

I've shot as little as 5.6grs of W231 in 44 Mag w/ 215gr SWCs, and that was like shooting a 22lr in your 44... I've never found degradation of accuracy with any loads in my 44s. The harder they kick and muzzle-blast, the harder it is for me to concentrate, but I've had great accuracy with everything from lite loads to full-house stuff. One of the things I love about the 44.

[10mmShooter]

I use 7.0g of Green Dot for 900fps with my 247g(429421) very clean, its my favorite 44 plinking load :lovebooli

[mtgrs737]

8grs. of Unique is my standard 45 colt load and I find it a accurate and plesant load in 44 magnum with Lyman's 429421 cast of ww's.

[Rockchucker]

I went to the range yesterday with my son to try out this load of 10 grains using unique to see where I'd be at on paper. This group was shot at 50 ft. I didn't want to adjust my sights yet cause I'm still wanting to work this load up from around 8 grains. Today I'll start working this up and making some sight adjustments, just wanted to share this group and see if I can get some tighter groups. Thanks for all the great info on this plinking load.

[Newtire]

I got good accuracy with 8.0gr. Unique and the Lyman 429667 and then it got even better with 12 grains of Blue Dot and the lyman 429244. I loaded up a batch of the 429667 using the 12 grain BlueDot load and will take them up tomorrow and see how they do. Both of these boolits, seated into the crimp groove, come right to the end of the cylinder of the Turus Tracker I was shooting them out of. The other peestola I was shooting was a 629 and it was fond of the 429244. I like that 429667 as there is no gas check to add to the expense. Lube is my version of Felix Lube which I call Bodacious Blue Boolit Butter ("4-B" for short).

Fun shooting the .44 with light loads. Uses up a bit more lead than I'd care to but shure is easy to see the holes.

Well, I was sure pleased with the accuracy of that 429667. The 429244 was also great as it usually is and even the Lee 200 RF perfomed great in .44 Special cases and 6.0gr. Green Dot.

I'm going to try some Green Dot in 44 magnum cases with that 7.0 gr. load mentioned earlier.

The velocity readings I got out of a Smith & Wesson with 6-1/2" barrel and The Taurus Tracker with 6" barrel were pretty close with the Smith beating out the Taurus by about 25 fps with the 900+ FPS loads.

200 gr. Lee RF 7.7 gr. Unique Win Large Magnum or Std. pistol 1 group of 3 touching at 25 yds. In Taurus Tracker 1.624” Oal 923-945 FPS in S&W

255 gr. Lyman 429244 12 gr. BlueDot Win Large Magnum or Std. pistol 1” @ 25 yds. Both pistols 1.687”Oal 894-936 FPS

255 gr. Lyman 429244 12 gr. AL-8 Same results as BlueDot Win Large Magnum or Std. pistol 1” @ 25 yds. Both pistols 1.687”Oal 890-923 FPS

200 gr. Lee RF 6.0gr. Green Dot .44 Special Cases Win Large Magnum or Std. pistol Very acc in both pistols 1.484” Oal 870-875 FPS

250 gr. Lyman 429667 RNFP PB 8.0 gr. Unique Win Large Magnum or Std. pistol Very accurate in Taurus. 1.632”Oal 922-950 FPS in S & W 911-934 in Taurus

250 gr. Lyman 429667 RNFP PB 12 gr. AL-8 Same results as BlueDot Win Large Magnum or Std. pistol Very Acc in both pistols 1.632”Oal 900-925 FPS