44 Special and 180gr RNFP

[ShrinkMD]

Any favorite loads for this bullet? I have Bullseye, Power Pistol, Unique, and 2400 on hand, as well as a little Trail Boss I got to experiment with.

I am trying to utilize lighter (cheaper) bullets for target practice and accuracy, so that I can have three different loads made up for my 629. Easier to clean one gun than several, so a light bullet at 800 or so is something I want to make up.

Any favorites?

[bobthenailer]

For my 44 mags , loaded in mag cases & std primers, i use either BE or Tightgroup with the Saeco #420 200gr tc bullet. 5.5 grs @800 fps , 7.0 grs @980 fps with either powder and accuracy is excellent. for 1200 fps try 13 grs of hs6 . hope i was of some help ?

[Rocky Raab]

With the powders you have on hand, either 5.0 Bullseye or 7.0 Unique will be mild loads that stretch a pound of powder pretty far.

I have never gotten a great load with Trail Boss, but it worked best in the 44 Special. Measure where the base of the bullet is when seated and use whatever charge weight of TB fills exactly to that depth with neither compression nor airspace.

[ShrinkMD]

I checked out the latest Hornady load book, and for their swaged 180 flat point, they list Unique 5.5 (700) - 8.0 (950) out of a Charter Arms 3" barrel. So it looks like your recommendation of 7.0 gr fits nicely into the range. I will make up some batches between 5.5 and 7.5 in 0.5 increments and see which shoots best.

[longbow]

I got the Accurate #43-165B (165 gr. TC) for the same purpose but am using it in my Marlin.

So far I have only tried 12 grs. of Unique, 10 grs. of 700X and 27 grs. (if memory serves) of IMR4227.

The Unique load shot well as did the 700X but the 700X was a bit more energetic than I would have expected ~ no pressure signs but surprising performance. Likely a couple grains less would be a better plinking load. The 4227 did not burn well under such a light boolit. Not sure how 2400 would do but with a 180 gr. boolit it might be okay.

I will try a few other powders a little faster than 4227 to see how they do. I am thinking Red Dot or Green Dot would be good powders for this purpose. Bullseye would probably be a good light load powder too but I don't have any currently.

So far I am liking this little boolit, it is flat shooting and accurate over 50 yards anyway and easy on powder and lead for sure.

Longbow

[Larry Gibson]

+ another on 5 -6 gr Bullseye.

Larry Gibson

[Mr Peabody]

In my .44 Special loads with a 200gr RNFP I start out with 4.5gr of Trail Boss. I wouldn't be surprised if you found happiness with 4.5 to 5.5gr's Of Trail Boss in your .44 Special with the 180gr slug.

[longbow]

Sorry, I didn't read well enough to see ".44 special" in the title.

My loads were for .44 mag in the Marlin.

Not sure how the little 165 gr. boolits would perform in a handgun but it sure does well in the rifle.

Longbow

[ShrinkMD]

Here are my results with Unique and the 180 gr in 44 Special, Dardas RNFP sized to 0.430. These are 20 shot groups, and the number to the right of the average is the avg of the highest 3 shots.

5.5 gr
High: 704.6
Low: 481
E.S.: 223.6
Ave.: 595.4 677.7
S.D.: 50.3
95%: 24.8

6.0 gr
High: 736
Low: 555.8
E.S.: 180.2
Ave.: 657.7 733.9
S.D.: 51.7
95%: 25.4

6.5 gr
High: 790
Low: 667.6
E.S.: 122.4
Ave.: 742 787.8
S.D.: 35.4
95%: 17.5

7.0 gr
High: 857
Low: 677.7
E.S.: 179.3
Ave.: 788.9 852.4
S.D.: 46.2
95%: 22.8

7.5 gr
High: 927.9
Low: 750.3
E.S.: 177.6
Ave.: 863.3 918.6
S.D.: 43.1
95%: 21.3

I guess I need to work on my powder measure, since my ES and SD seemed so high. Unless this is just a lousy combination? They shot well, quite a bit below where the gun was sighted in for a 240 gr, but they were all pretty much in the same hole.

Does anyone have any Unique data for these bullets in a 44 Magnum case? I'd be curious to see if that makes any difference in accuracy/velocity. It would be nice not having to stock 44 special brass as well...

[canyon-ghost]

I've been shooting 200 grain RNFP with 7.4 grains of Unique in 44 Special brass, it's a good load.

[leftiye]

I'm soon gonna be working up loads for a 180 grain wadcutter (Lyman429383?) for my 3" Bulldoggie. Previously in my Kel Tec 9mm which was ripping the skin off my hands with 125 +p loads, I went to 95 gr. JHPs. Nothing kept up with Vitavourhi powders except for 700X. I don't always go for max loads (and didn't in this 9mm situation), but I can get higher velocities in somewhat reduced loads by using the fastest powders - and with no pressure issues. The reduced 700X loads exceeded top loads of powders like unique. Not as powerful as the Golden Saber +Ps, but hitting something would be nice. Same strachedie with the bulldog. Light boolit for reduced recoil, wadcutter for max damage, moderately high velocity for shock.