44 Mag Powder Recommendations?

[HPT]

Hi All,

I would like to know which powders would be suitable for a 44 mag rifle load in the 1150 to 1350 fps range using a 265 gr PB soft (20:1) bullet in a 24" barrel?

If anyone shoots something in this range, can you include info on how much powder and what velocity to expect?

Thanks

[winelover]

I use Unique in my Marlin. Start with a 240 gr J-word minimum loading manual recipe and work up for best accuracy. I found mine at 10 grains, IIRC. BTW, it will shoot threw a whitetail easily.

Winelover

[44deerslayer]

I like 2400 I use 18.5 to 20 grains with Lyman 429421 mold

[Lefty SRH]

2400, Blue Dot, Unique should do it

[saz]

Red dot, Unique and Trail Boss should get you there pretty easy with that much barrel.
I dont have any experience with anything else that burns that fast.

[454PB]

14 grains of Bluedot.

Man, I sound like a broken record......

[troy_mclure]

I've been using 800x lately.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

i use H110 for my 44 mag loads

[HPT]

Thanks for the replies -so far

I just got back from Cabelas with some Unique & did some reading up on a few forums about velocity. From what I read, I think the velocities should be something like this:

6 grains approx 940 fps
7 grains approx 1071 fps
8 grains approx 1187 fps
9 grains approx 1302 fps

Do these velocities match anybody's experience with Unique? Again, I will be using a 265 gr PB bullet 20:1 in a 24" barrel

[725]

Blue Dot & H-110

[crabo]

HS6 and 296

[runfiverun]

i use 9.3gr unique
or 10.0gr /800-x
they are close to 1350 and 1400.
good velocity for the sights to adjust to.

[longbow]

My powder preference for .44 in my Marlin is IMR4227. I have tried several other powders but find 4227 does it for me. I have not chronographed loads so can't talk velocity other than what the loading manuals say.

I started with Unique but found it lacking some in the rifle but then I was looking for faster loads. Unique seemed to work well enough but but I wanted more speed.

Blue Dot performed not bad but again did not seem to produce the velocities I was looking for in the rifle.

Unique or Blue Dot should be good choices for moderate loads.

Longbow

[MtGun44]

10 gr Unique. You will very likely have excellent results.

Powder companies do NOT recommend lower loads than their starting loads with H110/W296,
and the starting loads are fairly hot.

Bill

[HPT]

Longbow,

So far my best results have been IMR 4227 same as you.

At 18 gr I get an average of 1185. There seems to be a lot of variation of velocity within 10 shots - something like 60 fps, so I thought I'd try other powders. I found L'il gun gave velocity spreads up to 200 fps, so I quickly gave up on that! I tried a bit of 2400 but I did not see any improvement in accurracy - it shot slightly worse than 4227 with 1 cast bullet & 2 jackets, although I didn't give it as much of a chance as I gave the 4227. Since the gun seems to prefer around 1200 fps with this bullet, I decided to try Unique as I think it may be more suitable for slow speeds.

I will try these tommorow & post my results

[runfiverun]

4227 gets weird in the 44 mag especially when hot or over long strings.
i think the heat speeds up the burn rate somewhat, but not consistently from shot to shot.

[pistolman44]

I would recomend 2400 for cast and H110 for jacketed. I have been using surplus WC 820 with good results for everything.

[longbow]

In all honesty, I have not used many "light" loads using IMR4227 ~ usually 22 to 24 grs. under a 250 gr. boolit in the .44.

I tried it under my Accurate 43-165B but the boolit is so light, I did not get a very good burn and it was really dirty. That was 27 grs. and a load from my manual for 180 gr. boolit. Faster powders definitely work better under that light boolit.

I haven't found it to be a problem using reasonably hot loads but it does seem dirty when downloaded some. It may need a certain minimum pressure to burn consistently and the lighter loads may not get there.

Unique is probably a better choice for light to moderate loads.

MTgun44 brings up a good point as well re 296 and H110 ~ don't reduce loads below book minimums! I know you didn't ask about them but it bears repeating because I have read posts where people figure they can light load using just any powder. Not so!

Longbow

[HDS]

I like VV N110 for magnum level loads, out of my 1892 carbine anyway. Not so much fun out of a 629, I prefer special loads for that, which I achieve with N32C or Tin Star, an equivalent to that in america would be Trail Boss.

[Crawdaddy]

19.5 grs of Lil Gun is what I have been using lately. I got some really nice groups with 270 grain swaged and lead.

I also like 20 grs of H110.