I just picked up a new 20" stainless Rossi R92 in .44 Mag. Shot it for the first time this past weekend and it has me impressed. It fed factory CCI .44 Special Blazer with a 200 gr Gold Dot really well. I had also loaded up some 200 gr Hornady XTPs using H110 and Starline brass. With that load, it was straight out thumping me with the metal butt plate. I did a ladder test and loaded up to 28.5 gr H110 and it was giving me ~2,123 fps. With this load, the rear sight was set on the lowest notch on the elevator and was still ~2" high @ 25 yards. With that said, I have a few questions:
1) I want to shoot this little R92 more but can't handle the recoil of H110 for any extended shooting session. I'd like to use something like a Hi-Tek coated 240 gr bullet. What powder do you recommend for accuracy and for plinking? I have HP-38, Unique, HS-6 to choose from.
2) How fast can you run the Hi-Tek bullets for leading, blowby occurs? I've never used coated bullets.
3) Was the H110 load above hard on the rifle's throat? 20 rounds total of H110 from 27.7 gr - 28.5 gr.
4) What do you recommend for a slip on recoil pad for the R92?