Cleaner Powder than Unique for .44 Mag

[trickg]

I went to the range tonight and after firing about 70 rounds of .44 mag and about 50 rounds of .38 special - both loaded with Unique - my hands were pretty danged dirty and I was curious to know if there is another good powder for .44 Mag that performs about like Unique but burns considerably cleaner.

It's not that I mind it, but I've only tried a couple of powders for .44 Mag in the short time I've been reloading and I'm open to suggestions. I've only used Unique and Herco - Unique because my Dad used and liked it, and Herco because some folks suggested that to me here. As a side note, in my limited experience it seems that Herco burns even dirtier than Unique.

Thanks!

[Three44s]

Are you willing to trade performance for cleaner hands?

I use magnum primers to clean up Unique ...... and if that did not help ..... I would just clean more.

Three 44s

[Heavy lead]

I started with Unique for mid-loads and H-110 for heavy loads in the 80's, when I was a teen, I've gone through almost everything you can think of being suitable since, including universal clays, and I settled back down with Unique for the mid range and 296 for the heavies (which is pretty much H-110). I just get great results with Unique with the 41,44,45, and 475's with mid-loads and cast boolits.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Keep in mind that boolit lube on cast boolits adds to the smoke and soot.

Also, in general terms, the higher pressure loads have more complete combustion and less soot blowing around. Perhaps loading for more pressure, higher velocity may clean up your loads a bit.

Also, the ball powders have a claim to being cleaner burning. You might look to HP38, W231 for fast powders and H110,W296 for slower powders. You might get less dirty with them.

Personally, I plan on cleaning my guns and hands after shooting and it doesn't matter to me if they are a little or lot dirty.

I use Ed's Red home brew gun cleaner, fast and cheap. The recipe is simple: 1 quart kerosene, 1 quart acetone, 1 quart mineral spirits, 1 quart Dexron automatic transmission fluid. I mix it and store it in a metal Coleman fuel can. It cleans up powder residue fast. I use a bronze bore brush to remove any leading. A great combination. Try it if you don't already.

Also, I carry a small can of waterless hand cleaner to the range with me and clean up my hands before I grab the steering wheel.

[C A Plater]

Hodgdons Universal is fairly close to Unique and burned cleaner for me as long you didn't go too light. Blue Dot works for me for loads with a little more oomph but not full power.

[trickg]

Thanks for the replies guys.

The thing with the hands is only a personal annoyance when it comes time to check out at the range and I have the residue all over my hands. I'm one of the few that happens to because it seems to me that I'm in the minority at the range when it comes to people who roll their own. That's all I shoot - if I didn't, I couldn't afford to shoot as much as I like to!

You guys pretty much confirmed what I had thought on the matter about using Unique - it's a solid performer for .44 Mag, which is without a doubt why it was always a staple on my Dad's reloading bench. In fact, when he was teaching me to reload in HS, my very first batch of reloads were made with Unique.

I had considered that the lube might be a culprit with the soot - this is the first time I have used bullets from this company and I seem to be getting just as much smoke with these as I have with the others I have used in the short time I have been reloading. However, I didn't consider the primers being a possible cause and that I might get a cleaner burn with Magnum primers.

My basic loads that I have been using for .44 Mag are 9.0 gr under a cast lead 240 gr bullet, or 10 gr Herco under the same bullet. Dad used 10.0 gr Unique for some of the loads I brought home when we settled out his stuff, but I only have that load data - Mom still hasn't sent me his reloading ledgers, so I'm not positive what else he loaded. Anyway, I was advised to use a slightly lower charge with new Unique because others said it has a bit more snap than the old, hence the reason I loaded 9.0 gr.

It looks like I'm just going to have to resolve myself to getting a bit dirty - I'd rather have a dirty load with good performance than to sacrifice performance for cleanliness.

[trickg]

I just read an article that suggested Titegroup as a good .44 Magnum powder - preferred even to the tried and true Unique. I might see if I can find a pound of that at the next gun show I attend.

[Three44s]

Titegroup is dirty to me and if you don't load it heavy enough it likes to soot the outside of the cases.

My clean powder choice is Clays .... not Universal or International ...... but just plain "Clays".

When you are suggesting loading up around 10 grs. of Unique pushing a 240 out of a .44 mag ..... I would suggest 10 to 12 gr. of HS-6 and a magnum primer.

It meters very well ...... like sin in fact.

When someone mentions Unique ...... I am thinking Skeeter loads ..... he used 7.5 in a .44 special and 8.5 in the .44 mag. ........ and for that opperating regime ........

........... Unique is ................. UNIQUE!!!

Three 44s

[trickg]

I've heard a lot of good things about Clays in semi-auto pistol reloads, specifically .45 ACP, but is it a good powder for .44 Mag?

I might have to pick up some HS-6 instead of Titegroup - your screen name (Three44s) suggests that you probably know what you are talking about when it comes to the .44 Magnum. Besides that, my friend is using it for his XD40 in .40 S&W and he really likes it. I plan on picking up an XD40 or XD(M) in .40 S&W sometime this calendar year - it's sort of a New Year's resolution - and I could always use HS-6 for that as well.

[Snapping Twig]

I use 7g W231 under a 429421 and my hands get dirty too, but I recently swiched lube to White Label BAC from Javalina - so we'll se what we will see on the dirty hand issue.

In general, low power loads smoke, magnums don't, so I'm not sure how much can be done to clean up powder puff loads.

[Bullshop]

473AA WW if you can find it.
Not to be confused with W473AA WW
Burn rate chart shows differant rates of burn. I have not yet tried W473AA but plan to if I can find some.
The 473AA burns ever so much cleaner than Unique and having much finer grain size meters ever so much better.
BIC/BS

[jack19512]

your screen name (Three44s) suggests that you probably know what you are talking about when it comes to the .44 Magnum.

I have four 44 mag's, does that make me an expert? I can tell you for a fact I don't know crap about the 44 mag.

[44mag1]

how about power pistol, is this cleaner then unique? there are some good midrange loads for it.

[trickg]

I have four 44 mag's, does that make me an expert? I can tell you for a fact I don't know crap about the 44 mag.

Yeah, but you didn't make a point to make your screen name about 44s.

I certainly am not an expert in anything gun related. The more I learn the more I realize I don't know. My Dad knew a ton of stuff, but he passed very suddenly at a time when I had just started to pick his brain about this kind of thing.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Trickg...Sorry about losing your Dad. They're good for lots of this stuff.

Concerning ball powders and the .44, you may find some position sensitivity. The deal is, balls, spheres, don't have edges like flake powder kernals do, and are just a tad bit harder to light. Also spherical powders tend to be more dense and hence occupy less space in the case, leaving more room. So if the powder is positioned in the back of the case next to the primer, it gets a more intense flame and lights quicker, generates pressure quicker, burns better, gives more velocity. If the powder is away from the primer and next to the boolit, it recieves less intense flame from the primer, lights slower, burns less effectively, shoots slower. This is a bigger problem in large cases like the .44 Mag, and virtually non-existant in small cases of auto loaders. Fast flake powders like Bullseye or 700X have the least position sensitivity and mid range ball powders the most. Funny thing is, the slow ball powders don't have much position sensitivity because they fill the whole case and the powder can not get away from the primer.

This is a great thing to play with using a chronograph.

[Doug Bowser]

I have been loading pistol rounds since 1963. I used and still only use
1. Bullseye
2. Unique
3. 2400

It is hard to teach an olde dog new tricks

[jack19512]

Yeah, but you didn't make a point to make your screen name about 44s.

OK from now on I'm jack19512 AKA four44s. All joking aside I really haven't had very good look with Unique in the 44 mag and would like to try some different powders myself. I'm not concerned with clean burning powders so much as accuracy. At this time I am using 296 exclusively until I find something better.

[Lloyd Smale]

i prefer the old stuff too but have been using alot of power pistol lately and its a good powder in that burning range.

[JesterGrin_1]

My go to load for the .44 mag with a 240Gr SWC is 5.5Gr of TightGroup with a standard primer. I like it. This is about 950FPS.

[johnly]

I's suggest SR-7625 and SR-4756 as canaidates for clean burning loads. SR-7625 is close to Unique as far as burn rate and SR-4756 is slower.

John