Looking for accurate 44 Mag loads.

[hylander]

Got a new Super Blackhawk coming.
Looking for accurate light to medium loads with 240 - 260 cast in 44 Mag brass.
I know, what's accurate in yours might not be accurate in mine. But just looking for a place to start instead of randomly picking something out if a reloading book.
Thanks

[farmbif]

I know there are lots of 296/h110 fans out there but just in general ive found 4227 to do pretty good in the accuracy dept even though it isn't the cleanest burning powder. but accuracy has a lot to do with your particular gun, bullet design and cast bullet sizing to the barrel and working up loads with different powders to see what works best for you. these days most of my 44 mag and special gets loaded with 300mp and BE86 just because ive got lots of it and I really like that BE86 for all sorts of handgun rounds.
but there are probably dozens of powders that will work perfectly well. ive probably got and tried most of them and why to use one over another? who knows? maybe the colors on the packaging or what someone else has said or written. if I run out of one ive got plenty of something else

[black mamba]

Using a commercial coated 240 SWC I've had great accuracy with the following loads, all well below maximum for the 44 mag:
8.5 gr of Herco @ 975 fps
8.5 gr of N330 @ 1,000 fps
9.5 gr of N340 @ 1,050 fps
10.4 gr of Longshot @ 1,125 fps

[Tatume]

My most accurate 44 Magnum load uses an Accurate Molds 43-240K bullet and the max load of 2400 in the Alliant online load manual.

https://accuratemolds.com/bullet_det...bullet=43-240K

https://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/default.aspx

[cowboy4evr]

Light to medium accurate loads ? Light examples ---- 5.0 bullseye , 700x , Red dot , titegroup . Medium ---- 8,5 grs of Unique , Universal , Hodgdon lists 5.5 --11 grs of W231 / HP38 (they are the same ) I feel 7.5-8.5 would suffice well , 9.0 grs of Winchester super field is another .
I will add one more medium load . Hodgdon lists 5.0-10.0 grs of titegroup using a 240-250 gr bullet . I found 8.0 made an ideal " medium shoot all day load " probably about 950 fps using a 250 gr swc . If 8.0 is more than you like , drop back to 7.0 grs . I hope this helps , good luck Paul

[marshall623]

I'm really just getting started on the 44Mag journey with / was my Dad's Redhawk . I'm using the Accurate 43-240H sized .430 . I've gotten good results with AA9 around 16 to 16.5 grslit with a Fed LP and I've tried H110 around 22.4grs lit with a CCI350 and good accuracy with that load as well . The AA9 load was noticeably easier on the shooter than the H110 but still wasn't bad . It was only after 20 or so shots my 54 year old wrist were starting to feel it . My loads are from Speer 13 book using the RCBS 250K bullet .


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[RJM52]

If you have UNIQUE
From a 4 5/8" SBH

8.0 930 fps+- depending on the bullet

10.0 1150 fps depending on the bullet

[fordwannabe]

LIGHT TO MEDIUM-7.5 to 8.0 unique with a Keith style bullet. Be sure to check your throats as my SBH had throats much smaller than my barrel and that AIN"T ever gonna help accuracy.

[rintinglen]

In my own experience with the 429-421 and the RCBS 44-250Kt, 8.5 grains of Herco, 8.0 grains of Unique or 7.5 grains of WW-231 all gave good to excellent groups without beating me up. For really light loads, 5.0-5.5 grains of Red Dot was also a very good load, but shot to a much different point of aim, being more of a 44 Special load.

All that said, my best groups were with 2400 and were warm to hot. Although now considered over the top, I shot up hundreds of Elmer Keith's recommended load and was very happy with it in my old Ruger Redhawk. The new one doesn't seem to shoot as well as the older one.

[Shopdog]

700X or 231 for light target/plinking.

Unique for midrange around 1000fps is hard to beat.

Blue Dot for light magnum... it's a touch peaky so want to be careful getting to aggressive. But can have some VG accuracy around 1100 or a touch higher.

2400 for magnum,accuracy can be astounding.

[MT Gianni]

6.5 gr of Red Dot and a 240-260 gr bullet works great in 44 mag or 45 Colt Blackhawks. You might get close to 1000 fps with a 7"+ barrel.

[Bazoo]

I've had good success with 9 grains of Unique under several bullets.

[FAAFO6]

In one of my .44's ( a 6" Smith M629 no dash ) using 6.5 grains of W231 with 240-250 grain Keith type semi-wadcutters consistently makes just one big hole at 25 yards. An easy on the gun and old guy wrists load. Have not shot it across a chrono but believe it to be about 800 fps.

[Thumbcocker]

6.5 gr of Red Dot and a 240-260 gr bullet works great in 44 mag or 45 Colt Blackhawks. You might get close to 1000 fps with a 7"+ barrel.

+1 good load.

[Indiana shooter]

My pet load in my 7.5" SBH is 12.5gr of HS-6 under a 265gr boolit, or 13gr of HS-6 under a 250gr boolit. Both with a standard LPP. Good load giving me about 1200fps. Enough power to know I'm shooting a magnum, but soft enough I can shoot 150-200 rounds in a session.

If I wanted to drop down around 900-1000 fps, my load was around 10gr of Unique. I don't remember for sure, I don't have my notes in front of me, and it's been a long time since I loaded any of those. I have much smaller calibers if I wanted to water down the .44 that much. That's just me though. Idid run a lot of that load back when I just had a .45ACP, 30/06, and .44mag. Now when I shoot .44 mag it's either full tilt H110/296 load at 1500fps, or at minimum close to factory level 1200-1300 fps loads.

[hylander]

Thanks for all the input
Has anyone used BE-86

[Arkansas Paul]

I've never used BE-86 in anything.
My favorite plinking load in my 4 5/8" Blackhawk is Skeeter's .44 special loads, 7.5 grains of Unique and a Lyman 429421 bullet. That or 7 grains of 700X (I think that's right on the 700X).

For magnum cases, 8.5 grains of Unique does the trick just fine.

Unfortunately, I've found the most accurate loads with full throttle magnums and with the short barrel and plowhandle grip, it is punishing. Shooting magnums out of that thing makes me shake my head at guys who shoot really big stuff like .454s and the big Linebaugh rounds. Full throttle .44 magnums are a threshold round for me. It's about as much as I want. It stinks that full throttle loads with 296/H110 are the most accurate in mine.

[Bazoo]

I've never used BE-86 in anything.
My favorite plinking load in my 4 5/8" Blackhawk is Skeeter's .44 special loads, 7.5 grains of Unique and a Lyman 429421 bullet. That or 7 grains of 700X (I think that's right on the 700X).

For magnum cases, 8.5 grains of Unique does the trick just fine.

Unfortunately, I've found the most accurate loads with full throttle magnums and with the short barrel and plowhandle grip, it is punishing. Shooting magnums out of that thing makes me shake my head at guys who shoot really big stuff like .454s and the big Linebaugh rounds. Full throttle .44 magnums are a threshold round for me. It's about as much as I want. It stinks that full throttle loads with 296/H110 are the most accurate in mine.

That's certainly interesting. Is the accuracy difference substantial between mid loads and full power?

[GhostHawk]

6.5 gr of Red Dot and a 240-260 gr bullet works great in 44 mag or 45 Colt Blackhawks. You might get close to 1000 fps with a 7"+ barrel.

That is the load I settled on for my pair of single shot Handi rifles in .44mag.

I did drop bullet weight down to 200 gr, as I was just punching paper. No need to use more lead than needed.

[racepres]

6.5 gr of Red Dot and a 240-260 gr bullet works great in 44 mag or 45 Colt Blackhawks. You might get close to 1000 fps with a 7"+ barrel.

Me Too.. Like you and Ghosthawk! But, I rounded up to 7.0 gr for 970fps in my SBH44. Now that Red Dot is about unobtainium around me...I am Working with BE-86, and Nitro-100-NF!! (Unique is MIA also)