44mag 240gr mid range Powder suggestions

[mncampnhunt]

Been at the reloading thing now for just a year. About used up my first pound of Unique and want to find an alternative that is not nearly as dirty. Shooting a 7-1/2" Ruger Super Blackhawk (scoped) and this would be my "range loads" (something that is fun to shoot for a non-shooter) - currently loading 240gr lead with 8.6/8.7 gr of Unique - giving me about 1100+FPS. Just switched to polymer coated bullets from Missouri. Dislike the smoke and soot that I'm getting with Unique. Considering Sport Pistol, CFE Pistol, BE-86, N320, True Blue and others. I'd like a powder that gives me some flexiblity to increase & decrease the load with the 240gr.

FYI - My other load is 300gr Missouri Bullet Company coated "Hammer" with 16.9 grains of Enforcer - also clocking in the mid 1100+FPS range - this is my Minnesota White Tail Hunting round. I'm going see if increasing this load improves its accuracy (when the weather gets better).

Also - Thanks to this forum for giving me the confidence to give this a go and helping me out with the early loading issues, crushed cases due to needing a larger case mouth plug. Also info on tuning this revolver for lead - polishing out the chambers, chamfered the throat and fire lapping the bore. Very happy all is going well with the gun.

[BigAlofPa.]

Red dot. I just started using it for reduced rifle loads. And it's becoming my favorite powder for lighter loads.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

I think you should give 2400 a try

[scattershot]

I like Red Dot, too. Universal Clays is supposed to be about the same burn rate as Unique, and cleaner, but I haven’t used it. Good old Bullseye might work for you, too, and meter better than either.

[Cast_outlaw]

Blue dot is good a little dirty but I think not quite as bad as unique I have found the vectan powders to be quite clean but don’t have any experience with heavy boolit in the 44 mag withe them

[bigboredad]

If you like the way unique performed and just want a cleaner powder universal is the quick easy answer. It's just a tick quicker than unique but for all but top end loads can be loaded grain for grain

Sent from my SM-T377V using Tapatalk

[BigAlofPa.]

Im going to load some 200 grain up with red dot and see how they do. Blue dot packs a nice wallope. I have some 240 grain XTP'S loaded for hunting with blue dot.

[smkummer]

700X is an IMR equivalent to red dot. Goes a long way.

[onelight]

BE-86 will give similar performance to unique and is cleaner I like it in 32,38/357 , 44 , and 45 colt.
I am also a fan of red dot

[bmortell]

I always wanted to try clays for low smoke, low-mid power but its never in my store. ive tried bullseye, titegroup and unique for fast powders and I wouldn't call any low smoke at low pressures. to some degree low pressure just equals smoke, im not sure how much difference there is in the fast powders. wish powder came in something smaller than 30 bucks cause I don't wanna spend 30 bucks a couple times to test smoke levels.

[BigAlofPa.]

30 bucks ouch. I gripe when i pay 20 lol.

[Driver man]

30 bucks ouch. I gripe when i pay 20 lol.

You don't know how lucky you are. We pay $80-$90 a pound and think ourselves lucky when we can get it. We can get ADI powders a bit cheaper but not by much and now primers are $100.00 a thousand it has become a very expensive sport.

[bmortell]

dang, well here stateside atleast, I always thought they should sell samples, like 3oz 5 dollars that way I could try 5 kinds for accuracy or smoke or whatever without going broke in the process.

[Outpost75]

Cross posted with authorn permission:

Tales from the Back Creek Diary - Bullseye Powder .44 Magnum “Medium” Velocity Loads

Soft, plain based, bullets and fast-burning powders provide economy and utility.

C.E. “Ed” Harris

A firearm does not need to be operated at “full power” any more than any other machine. It is true that some people still believe that if you own a .44 Magnum and reload for it, you must be able to feel the heat on your face every time you pull the trigger, as your hand stings and your ears ring. But this is nonsense, of course. Less power loads are fine for recreation and most field shooting. They indeed have their place. My friends and I probably shoot 100 rounds of “medium velocity” loads for every dinosaur killer. Few reloading manuals list loads for the .44 Magnum other than hand busters. Experienced reloaders successfully improvise, but less intrepid, practical shooters are frustrated.

The so-called “medium velocity” load is subsonic when fired in from a typical revolver. It also does not exceed the leading threshold of about 1300-1400 fps., when a soft, plain-based bullet is fired from a rifle. Remington offered marketed exactly such a .44 Magnum load for a short time during the early to mid 1980s. It was intended for the police market, as a counterpart in .44 Magnum, to the similar lead bullet .41 Magnum police load, which has also, unfortunately been discontinued.

Remington’s .44 Magnum Medium Velocity load offering used a flat-nosed, 240-grain, plain-based, swaged lead bullet with two cannelures, resembling an elongated .44-40 slug. Its shape mimicked today’s “Cowboy Loads” having a catalog velocity of 1000 f.p.s. from a 4-inch vented test barrel, simulating revolver conditions.

These ballistics approximate the 1873 black powder .45 Colt service cartridge, when fired from a 7-1/2 inch barrel. This is hardly today’s “mouse-fart” cowboy load, but stout stuff like they used to kill buffalo and shoot Indians. For today’s hand loader the greatest economy is realized by being able to exploit plain-based cast bullets, using the least expensive, soft scrap alloy, such as wheel weights or common scrap, with faster-burning pistol or shotgun powders which provide twice as many rounds per pound, as the slow-burners normally used for full power .44 Magnum loads.

Lyman’s Cast Bullet Handbook, 4th Edition lists .44 Magnum charges with fast-burning powders, but their starting loads, while useful in revolvers, often exceed the leading threshold of plain based bullets, when fired in a rifle. Newer powders such as Titegroup or Trail Boss are listed, but my favorite, Bullseye was not. Be careful in reducing slower burners, such as #2400, because ballistic uniformity is impaired if you go below about 16 grains in the .44 Magnum case with 240-gr. bullet.

What follows is my listing of medium velocity .44 Magnum loads which “work” and are well proven. I hope this shortens your learning curve and that they work as well for you as they do for my friends and I.

Medium Velocity Loads for .44 Mag., 265-gr. Saeco #441, BHN11, unsized .433”, LLA

Case, Primer and______Velocity_______Velocity___Five, 5-shot Groups* @ 50 yds. H&R
Charge Weight_____5-1/2” RBH_____H&R 22”*_Largest___Smallest___Average

Starline .44 Spl. WLP

5.2BE, RCBS LD #10_______782, 10Sd____940, 9 Sd___3.0____1.9______2.46

Remington .44 Mag. WLP

6.0 Bullseye, LD#11________774, 36Sd____983, 49Sd___2.5___1.9______2.24
6.6 Bullseye, LD#12________948, 13Sd____1141, 9Sd___2.5___1.4______1.94
7.8 Bullseye, LD#14_______1017, 11Sd____1233, 10Sd__2.5___1.2______1.88
16.2 #2400, LD#20________1080, 39Sd___1411, 44Sd__2.5___1.3______ 1.97

Remington .44 Mag. WLP, Remington 240-gr. Semi-Jacketed HP

8.4 Bullseye, LD#15________1033, 11Sd___1197, 15Sd__2.2___1.2______1.76

[str8wal]

Midrange? HS-6

[NSB]

My all around favorite is 2400. You can go from mild to wild with this powder. For me, it's always produced some of my most accurate loads also.

[onelight]

[QUOT

The so-called “medium velocity” load is subsonic when fired in from a typical revolver. It also does not exceed the leading threshold of about 1300-1400 fps., when a soft, plain-based bullet is fired from a rifle. Remington offered marketed exactly such a .44 Magnum load for a short time during the early to mid 1980s. It was intended for the police market, as a counterpart in .44 Magnum, to the similar lead bullet .41 Magnum police load, which has also, unfortunately been discontinued.
[B]Remington’s .44 Magnum Medium Velocity load offering used a flat-nosed, 240-grain, plain-based, swaged lead bullet with two cannelures, [/QUOTE]

Funny you posted this I just came across a few rounds of this load in an old ammo wallet they leaded my 61/2 model 29 kinda bad.
We shot thousands of 250 grain Keith bullets cast from a 4 cavity Lyman mold at 850 to 1000 FPS mostly over Unique with no leading.
Here is a pic of the Rem. Medium 44 mag load , used to be shiney

[Shuz]

Try 7g of Trail Boss. 803fps from a 4-1/4" bbl'd Smith mdl 69

[Ed_Shot]

With your 240 gr. boolit I vote for Red Dot (Promo) 5.5 ~ 6.0 gr. or Unique 7.5 ~ 8.0 gr.

[slughammer]

About used up my first pound of Unique and want to find an alternative that is not nearly as dirty.

currently loading 240gr lead with 8.6/8.7 gr of Unique - giving me about 1100+FPS.

Dislike the smoke and soot that I'm getting with Unique.

I would look for load data using Clay's. It's one of the powders I keep on hand because I get much less perma-soot on my revolver cylinder flutes. I looked at Hodgdon's website, but only see lighter loads listed (currently). Perhaps there is another source that has data closer to your 1100fps range.

I'm not a fan of Universal Clays at lower pressures, but getting up into the pressure range for 1100fps it may burn consistently for you. (At low loadings and pressures, expect up to 100fps velocity spread and lots of unburned powder).

I'm using 7.5gr of Power Pistol for a batch of 44spl I'm currently loading. Much smaller size and better metering than Unique. Not sure why, but Alliant has plenty of 44spl data and very little data for 44mag. Seems to be an ideal powder for the 1100fps 44mag application, I would check some other sources for data.

For 44 mag I get all the velocity I need from AA7 surplus I bought years ago. Shoot so little magnum I don't pay attention to the soot if there is any.