hi,
going to load for smith & wesson model 629 in .44 remington magnum.
i have new starline brass and lots of projectiles that are HALF JACKET semi wad cutter that weigh 240 grains.
i have several powders but neither the lee book or the hornady book show any loads for HALF JACKETS ....
do i load as if they are XTP's ? jacketed? plain lead? what?
anyone know of listings for half jackets?
thanks. mo
It doesn't really matter. What does matter is the OAL, and bullet weight. Being SWC's, I'm going to guess the OAL is going to be closer to what you would find for a 240gr cast bullet.
The Speer reloading manual #10 has loads for their 240 grain half jacket SWC, and it's the same data for the rest of their 240 grain jacketed bullets. What powders do you intend to use?
o.a.l. i got ................where do i find load data...i.e. HOW much of WHAT powder to use.
these are 2/3 jacketed swc ....where the jacket would be just inside the case edge.
i've read stories on these throwing cores and leaving the jacket in the barrel. so "guessing" on any part of it is not what i'm looking for.
i have 2400 , win 296 , h-s 6 , red dot,
From the Speer #10 manual:
The 2400 load is 20.2 start and 22.2 max/ LYMAN 49TH shows 17.5 to 19.5
The 296 load is 22.7 start and 24.7 max/ LYMAN 49TH shows 22.5 to 23.5
the HS6 load is 15 start and 16 max
No data for red dot.
Keep in mind that the Speer data is from 1979, use at your own risk! The Lyman 49th data is from 2008.
I shot thousands of those bullets years ago. I NEVER had a jacket come off. They do/did recommend you not use reduced loads with them to prevent that from happening. My go to powder was ww296, and they shot quite well. I killed quite a few deer with that load. That bullet worked equally well in the .357mag.
okay....first off ....the lyman 49th has NO data for a HALF jacketed swc......it lists for a 225 grain hollow point in the picture provided by lyman which resembles the 240 grain that i have but is NOT it....the bullet i have is 240 grain SEMI WAD CUTTER WITH A FLAT NOSE AND NO HOLLOW POINT.Originally Posted by ShooterAZ
I've never heard of any issues with half jackets. I've shot plenty myself in 44 magnum, even ones I swaged myself. The only bullets I've ever heard of blowing the core were light duty hollow points made for standard 45 colt, then shot at hot rod pressures in 454 Casull.
okay....win 296 eh?.....do you have a source for load data?
Understood. The Lyman data is for a 240 grain regular jacketed bullet. I should have clarified that...sorry. As I said in post #3, the Speer data is the same across the board for ALL of their 240 grain jacketed bullets. Soft point, hollow point and the 2/3 jacketed SWC all the same data.
FEAR NOT. The Speer #14 manual has at the bottom of the data for the 240 gr jacketed bullets saying NOTE These loads may be used with the 240 gr. JSP-SWC (#4447) BY REDUCING MAXIMUM CHARGES BUT ONE GRAIN.
That is what the Speer #14 manual says.
It is up to you to determine what you want to do.
They are still jacketed bullets. I used regular jacketed data in .41 Mag and .44 Mag when I used the Speer half jacket bullets. Upper range Unique and H110/296 worked for me. I never had a problem with core separation. I’ve also shot a bunch of Speer .30 cal Plinkers and Hornady .30 cal half jacket bullets through rifle length barrels with no drama, either.
I have loaded half jackets in the 44 mag. I would have to go to the bench and see if I wrote down my load, but i would guess I used H110 and as much of it as I could get away with because thats how I normally load. Ill generally mark a cylinder and fire a known load in that chamber thats factory equivalent and mic it straight ahead of the web. Then I'll start working up my load measuring the cases after each shot until I start to see more expansion then what i saw on the medium loads. once I get more expansion, K back off to just before that and call it good.
Book starting loads, especially from the Lyman books are usually pretty light, even lighter than factory loads many times. I would not hesitate to use starting data from standard equivalent weight jacketed bullets.
for references....
Chronograph the experiment.
If they all go mostly the same speed,
they will all mostly go to the same place.
Your 629 might not like j-words.
Too hot is no fun to shoot.
But downloading is dangerous.
Chrony will show the load that works.
I am amazed by the accuracy of Keith boolits.
A 44 does not have to go [KER-ouch-BLAMMO]
unless it's dark out and you want fireball pictures...
All I know about 44 mag, I learned here.
I shot quite a few of those in the old days , I worked up to 24 grains of 296 using Speer cases and cci 350 primers.
The max load in my no.11 Speer manual is 24.7 starting 22.7
I shoot Unique it maybe a light load but it does the trick 240 gr jhp with 9.5 grs. and 7.5 grs. in my 250gr Keith GC cast bullets I shot my first deer with a handgun 44 magnum S&W 629 the deer was shot at 85 yds. using a 240gr jhp
Ron
What ever powder you use just be very careful check and recheck your powder charge the 44 magnum is a powerful round it doesn't take much of a over charge to blow one up I made one mistake and I have reloaded for many many years and it cost me a mint 629 a windshield in my truck I was lucky it didn't hurt or kill me
Attachment 277826[]Attachment 277827Here’s the data and source.
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