44 reloading question

[desertwheeler]

That info gives me something to work with on my little reloading issues. Thanks!

44, I appreciate your comments, and I would love to do exactly that....hunt deer and elk. At least I'm in the right geographical place for it, but I've got some work ahead to get ready. Some friends just went for their annual elk hunt and gave us all that was left over in their freezer from last year. I grew up eating wild meat (but it was down in S. America) and have a real taste for it. We currently raise goats and I butchered one not long ago. Thought I was in heaven eating that meat. To me a gun is ultimately a hunting tool (but is fun for other stuff too). I think the 44 magnum is a pretty darn near perfect gun. When I bought my first handgun (a 357) a little over a month ago, it didn't take long for me to know I just had to get a 44 as well.

[44 flattop]

I think the 44 magnum is a pretty darn near perfect gun. When I bought my first handgun (a 357) a little over a month ago, it didn't take long for me to know I just had to get a 44 as well.

Yer Preachin' to the choir, desertwheeler! In MY opinion, it is THE perfect gun!

I've been hunting with a .44 revolver, T/C and rifle for near 35 years. Over that time I've taken dozens of elk, many many dozens of deer , not to mention bear, coyotes, grouse, bunnies, snakes and a few other critters all with the .44.

There are bigger guns, smaller guns, flatter shooting guns. But for me over the past 4 decades the .44 has gotten whatever job done I ever needed. Can't say much more than that.

44

[Ole]

Desertwheeler:

If you're in the Phoenix/metro area and want to meet up with someone who has been reloading for 25+ years (me), give me a holler via PM.

Maybe someone who has some experience could help you out on details that you may have overlooked. I don't mind mentoring new reloaders if they are willing to listen.

[desertwheeler]

over the past 4 decades the .44 has gotten whatever job done I ever needed. Can't say much more than that.

That's what I like to hear....

Ole, pm sent.

[desertwheeler]

For better or for worse these are the guns I ended up with over the past two months. I had no previous handgun experience and didn't know what I was getting into. All were bought used except the Taurus and the SBH. (No more gun buying for a looong time....really blew the budget....) These are in the order I acquired them.

First came the DW 357. It came with two wooden handles.



Then I got this Taurus .22 LR. I love this little gun and it's real accurate. Though I'd happily get rid of the rubber handle.



Next came the S&W Model 29-6. I replaced the rubber Hogue handle with a wooden one.



And finally the SBH, my favorite...

[Blammer]

Sweet!

[big dale]

I am still trying to figure out why I never bought a Dan Wesson. Three or four other members of a club I was in back in the late 80's had them in 44 for the steel rams and they all shot great. At the time I was very happy with my Super Blackhawk and a couple of Redhawks one of which was in 41 mag.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

[desertwheeler]

See what a greenhorn I am? I call them "handles" instead of "grips."

There's a Dan Wesson in .22 caliber for sale at the gun shop right now. It's in excellent condition and the price isn't bad. It's very tempting. I think I'd like to own one in .44 magnum too...Man, there's no end to this addiction....

And now there's a lightly used .44 special for a good price. If I can pull it off (I really shouldn't), I'm going to get it.

I got to go out today to really test the Unique loads. I live a little less than 10 miles from national forest, so that's where I went. It takes me half an hour to get out there though because the road isn't the best and I'm driving an old Toyota minivan. It's beautiful country out here.



I set up the target 15 yards away and started shooting. I ended up having to adjust the rear sight all the way down and the gun still shoots high. Not sure what I can do about that. So here are my last two rounds (six shots and four for the last one) with the SBH without resting on anything. Not too great, but a whole lot better than my first couple times out with the .44. I accidentally loaded in a hot H110 round and it sure gave me a surprise.







When I ran out of .44 ammo, just for kicks I shot off six rounds of .357 factory magnums SJHP. The muzzle blast seemed higher from them than the .44's. That DW sure is a sweet gun to shoot. Again, not the best group, but I'm just getting started.



(A long aside...Yesterday after work I drove to a distant part of the city to pick up a boxer we found on Craig's list. This is the third one we've gotten that way. I can't recommend it as a way to get dogs. You can assume the people getting rid of the dog are lying. They always charge $50, which isn't much for a purebred dog, but it is if the dog has problems....and they usually do. Our first one was a keeper. We loved him right from the start. A couple of our kids were born while we had him. I loved taking him out in the desert for long walks. Sometimes he would be bad and chase deer or rabbits, but he would always come back tongue hanging out and panting. The second one wasn't a good family dog but she worked out great for some friends of ours. Then about a month ago an old man ran over our beloved boxer and killed him. We were all completely devastated. So to replace him we got this one I picked up last night. She is paranoid, obviously was abused, won't let me get near her. Last night I got up and she started growling at me. Not a good sign. We still have little ones in the house. We've watched lots of Cesar Milan so I've been working with her. Hopefully we can rehabilitate her.)

Anyway, the place where I picked up the dog was near Sportsman's Warehouse, so I had to stop by. I got a cheap little Lee primer hole cleaner, and a Lyman puller. I pulled those two bullets I seated too deeply. I pulled the first one a bit too much, but the second one was just about right.



Here are three of the rounds I was shooting. I used new Winchester brass. It was all they had. I don't think they were all the same length because some of them wouldn't crimp (see the one on the right). I was going for a pretty light crimp on these. I'd like to get by with as little crimp as necessary to prolong the brass life.

[desertwheeler]

Today I went to the gun shop and picked up a new Ruger .44 special flattop. I traded the used S&W Model 29 I had for it. Speaking strictly of value, they got a better deal, but they're a business trying to make profit. As far as satisfaction goes however, I ended up with the better deal. I shot the M29 a dozen times with factory mags, and almost through a box of specials. I hated the way the magnums felt in it....downright painful. The SBH comparatively was a pleasure to shoot. When I first got it, I promptly shot the rest of the box of factory mags I had, and was ready for more. I couldn't see myself using the M29 now that I have the SBH. After reading quite a bit about the 44 special, I knew that would be a much better choice for me, something I would use a lot, and nice complement to the SBH. It's blued with the 5 1/2 inch barrel. I very much look forward to using this gun along with the SBH.

[desertwheeler]

I wanted to give a little update. Last time I got out with my .44 I was hitting high with it (at 15 yards) despite lowering the rear sight all the way. That was with the 8.5 grains of Unique. Reading online I found some who said I needed to load hotter; others said that would make no difference and I just needed to shoot at a greater distance. Still not sure who is right. The guy at my local gun shop sided with those who said I needed to load hotter, that the bullet wasn't making it out of the barrel fast enough so the recoil was causing it shoot high.

Anyway, I loaded up a bunch of rounds with 9.0 grains of Unique and got out today to try them. I should have set up at 15 yards to test that theory, but I didn't. I put my target at 33 yards. I've been thinking a lot about proper shooting form, so I was determined to do better. I wanted each shot to go off as a surprise. These are my first six shots with the SBH. I was resting against a large rock. I was happy when I saw the target. Next I shot off six rounds free hand at a can also at 33 yards. I hit it 5 out of 6 times. That made me very happy.





After that I shot my .44 special BH the rest of the time. These were my first reloads with it....7.0 grains of Unique. They were snappy. The gun is lighter than the SBH, so that was part of it I'm sure. I compared them to the factory rounds I had and they were definitely more powerful. I finally got the special sighted in. It was doing the opposite of the SBH and hitting low. Here's the can after the special got through with it. Not much left.



The 7.0 grain special rounds seemed to be as powerful as the 9.0 grain rounds....to my untrained judgment. I also noticed a huge difference between the triggers of the two guns. The SBH trigger was smooth and seemed to be the proper weight. The BH trigger was much stiffer and was more of a challenge to shoot properly.

Anyway, I had a wonderful time and felt like I finally am connecting with these guns....and actually hitting targets!

[canyon-ghost]

My nephew (12 yrs. old) sure liked my 44 Flattop at Thanksgiving. They're nice revolvers!

[JIMinPHX]

This thread may be of interest - http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=81258

It shows quite a bit on the differences between Unique & H-110 in a .44.

[MtGun44]

No offense, but "The RCBS will not be any more accurate than the Lee" is a pretty broad
statement that is, IME VERY often NOT the case.

Plus - given the vagarities of individual guns and examples of molds, I'd say that this
broad a statement has much more chance of being false than of being true. It may
be very true for one person with one gun and comparing two particular molds, but I
disagree that it is ever going to be generally true, regardless of the brands used in
the claim. I'd never say that " the X brand will not be any more accurate than the Y brand"
with any conviction as a general principle.

IME I'd say 7 or 8 times out of 10 the RCBS is better than the Lee, but that strongly
depends on the gun and the molds.

Also - +1 for what roysha and Larry said. 10 gr of Unique.

Bill

[44 flattop]

Good to see the 9grs of Unique worked out better for you! Being confident in our gun/load is what its all about.

I like those little .44 special flattop also, picked up 3 before the wife caught on. I guess I'll stick with three for a while.........!

I use 9grs in my .44 Mag Flattop and 7 1/2grs in my .44 special. Not only can I not tell much if any difference but they both hit to the same point of aim out to about 80 yards in my .44 mag. Killed two deer in the past two years with the .44 special load from my rifle too!

44

[JIMinPHX]

No offense, but "The RCBS will not be any more accurate than the Lee" is a pretty broad
statement that is, IME VERY often NOT the case.

Bill,
I'm not looking to disagree with you, but I would appreciate it if you would list the reasons that you think make the RCBS dies better. I have very limited experience with RCBS dies. The one set that I have scratches cases if I don't polish the dies out regularly. I got those dies second hand, so I may have been buying someone else's problems when I got them & I realize that. I've had nothing but good luck with Lee dies (that I bought new). If the RCBS stuff is generally better, I'd kind of like to find out more about it.

Thanks,
Jim

[desertwheeler]

Jim, I read the thread you referenced. Some of it was interesting, some entertaining, and much of it was beyond my puny brain. Thanks for pointing me to it.

Being so new to handguns, I played some more "musical guns" today. I traded in my stainless SBH for a blued .45 convertible BH (I wouldn't have chosen the convertible, but it was all they had). I have to find what's "right" for me. The SBH didn't feel right for several reasons. For one I'm not a fan of stainless. And my .44 special BH felt so much better in my hand. Something about the SBH handle configuration did not feel nearly as good as the BH. The BH feels like it "belongs" in my grip. The .45 BH has the same feel. I'll keep reloading and shooting my .44 special, but now I get to learn to load for the .45 also and I like what I've been reading about its potential.

Today we also stopped at the bookstore. I had been given a gift certificate. I looked for reloading manuals since some of you guys keep telling me I HAVE to get one. And I'm not disagreeing. All they had was Hornady's "Reloading for Handgunners" by Patrick Sweeney, so for better or for worse that's what I got.

[canyon-ghost]

What's right for you, is right for you. No arguing that. I always wanted Herrett hunting grips on my Contenders and found I couldn't use them. I can shoot the stock Competitor grips better.

I'm a fan of the Blackhawks also, 44 Special and 41 magnum, love the Blackhawks!

[odfairfaxsub]

i know im chiming in late.........we just shot my dads gun with 240 gr bullets (lead) with 5.8 grains of bullseye.........economical and no kick at all and groups the size of my hand at 20 yards. at 100 yards your same gun will hit a paper plate everytime. not bad

[singleshot]

Bill,
I'm not looking to disagree with you, but I would appreciate it if you would list the reasons that you think make the RCBS dies better. I have very limited experience with RCBS dies. The one set that I have scratches cases if I don't polish the dies out regularly. I got those dies second hand, so I may have been buying someone else's problems when I got them & I realize that. I've had nothing but good luck with Lee dies (that I bought new). If the RCBS stuff is generally better, I'd kind of like to find out more about it.

Thanks,
Jim

I've had better results with Lee dies than RCBS and I've bought ALL my dies new exept for an Ideal set in 32 SW Long. My new RCBS dies gave similar results to JIMinPHX, scratching cases, and in bottleneck carts, caving in shoulders when set per RCBS instructions. Not a statistically significant sample size, but, I've never had these problems with any of my Lee dies. If this is an anomaly, I too would like to find out more about it.