Loading 44 Special???

[cwtebay]

I ran into the same problem with special and russian. I purchased the Hornady universal extended shell holder and seem to be getting along well with it.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[lightman]

I've had a few older dies sets that would not load both specials and magnums but I didn't know RCBS made any of them. You can often find non carbide die sets pretty cheap, might be an inexpensive way to get into a 44 special seating die. I did sand a couple of 10th's of an inch off of the bottom of one of my dies once and it worked ok. A lathe would have made a neater job. I'm surprised that your die is stamped both spl and mag but won't work.

[trapper9260]

It gets me for what is going on with the OP.I have Lyman dies that I can do both .I had got the Hornady one for 32 S&W to 32 H&R Mag and I am able to do 327Mag with it also and not wrote on it at the time you can and for the ones with the tight chamber I did like was stated of use the sizen die with out the de priming pin in it and took care of the bevel to seat the boolit. I also was surprised that RCBS did what they did.

[fast ronnie]

I had an old set of .357 dies. I found a used .38 die to seat and crimp.
They were RCBS.

[leadhead]

My sizing die is marked MG-SP but the seating die isn't.
Must have been from 2 different sets.
Denny

[leadhead]

Problem solved..... Had my buddy machine off the bottom of the die.
It works OK now.
Denny

[ulav8r]

Problem solved..... Had my buddy machine off the bottom of the die.
It works OK now.
Denny

And can still be used for magnums if you want to waste powder. The special is all you need.

[murf205]

Leadhead, I had to do the same thing to my Redding sizer die for my 280 Ack Imp. It would not give the shoulder a bump at all and after 3 or 4 sizings I had a hard time chambering a case. I ground off a tiny bit of the bottom and it bumps fine now. The rifle and dies were built when it was still a wildcat, so I was not surprised. If I ever decide to get rid of the rifle, the dies are going with it, so no harm. I could have ground the shellholder but at the time I only had 1 of that size. Now Redding makes a set of shellholders just designed for this, but not for a 44.

[Forrest r]

Myself got tied of all the die adjusting and bought another die set to do 44spl's & 38spl's. The old steel sizing die sets can be found for little $$$ at gunshows. I also buy loose seating dies at gunshows for +/- $5 that have the different seating stems in them (rn/swc/wc).

[W.R.Buchanan]

I started loading .44's in 1976. I got a .44 Magnum Lee Loader. It wouldn't choke down far enough to do Specials, so I took it back and got one for .44 Specials which would open up enough to do Magnums too.

I load all my .44's with my BPM Hand Press now and have about a dozen .44 dies. The sizing/decapping die works with all .44 cases. The Expander Dies have the plugs adjusted to different lengths. Seating dies are obviously set to different lengths. Crimp dies are adjusted to different lengths as well. The few extra dies eliminate die adjusting between the two case lengths.

I have lowered my loading workload by only using 2 boolits, even though I have about 6-8 moulds. Lyman 429421 for both Specials and Magnums, and 429244 for Magnum Rifle rounds. I have many others as this is my favorite caliber. I now Powder Coat all these boolits as that makes them work well, completely eliminates leading issues, and I don't have to fuss with lubing boolits. I can also color code loads for different things. I size them after PCing.

In my Not So Humble Opinion. The .44 Special/Magnum is arguably the most versatile Pistol/Rifle round in existence, and will continue to be as such for the foreseeable future. You can load them mild to wild and easily cover all the bases on this continent and most of the rest of the world as well.

With my Marlin 1894 CB 24" bbl I am good to go with any of my handloads, and for anything I would choose to go after. I also have a SBH Bisley, a BH Bisley and a S&W 696 the latter two being .44 Specials.

Shouldn't have to tell anyone about the versatility of the .44 Spec/Mag, by far my favorite cartridge and guns.

Randy