Bullet weights and powders for 44 mag milk jug busting

[Silvercreek Farmer]

My dad got to shoot the Taurus 44 mag today for the first time. Those 180 grain UMC rounds really put a smile on his face! They are significantly louder than my 2400 240 lswc max loads. Everyone really seems to enjoy the "shock and awe" of the UMC rounds and they really do a number on milk jugs. The 6.5 inch ported barrel on the Taurus really tames the felt recoil in both loads. I would really like to replicate the effect with a cast load. Given the published velocity on the UMCs, I think they are using a powder slower than 2400. Would switching to H110 give me the boom and extra velocity to really shred the jugs or should I just use a lighter bullet with the 2400? What happens if I go the other way, to a 300 grain bullet? Would I get more effect or would that just result in more felt recoil, assuming velocity is what really results in violently exploding jugs?

[ku4hx]

What velocity are you trying to duplicate? I can get 1,611 fps (PACT2 chrono) from my Ruger SBH using a 245 grain cast boolit. It shreds a milk jug very effectively but that was never my primary goal. After causing a lot of forcing cone erosion from years of hot 44 Magnum loads in a Ruger RH, I now load 'em down mostly.

Generally, if you want higher velocity go with a lighter boolit. But the visual impact difference of a couple of hundred fps on a water filled milk jug may not be much after you reach a certain threshold velocity.

If you're looking for a lot of flash in low light try Bluedot. For absolute highest velocities, ball powders have done that for me with jacketed bullets.

[fredj338]

I have never understood the shock & augh thing but yes, going to full loads of H110 will give you lots of blast & flash, so will BlueDot loads. You want to inflict max damage on innocent water jugs, nothing like more vel & a JHP or LHP. All you are really doing is tearing the gun up though.

[ku4hx]

i have never understood the shock & augh thing but yes, going to full loads of h110 will give you lots of blast & flash, so will bluedot loads. You want to inflict max damage on innocent water jugs, nothing like more vel & a jhp or lhp. All you are really doing is tearing the gun up though.

+1 ........

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Sorry if it sounds juvenile, but jug busting is about the most fun we have with the 44 mag, I don't have access or time for decent hunting at the moment and paper punching seems like a waste of the 44's power. It is not my intent to tear up the gun, nor set any land speed records. I just want to hand load something that has the same effect of the UMC 180 grain loads (listed at 1610 fps) and wanted to know if a heavier bullet would have more effect. When I refer to my 2400 240 grain LSWC max load, I load 20.5 grains, .1 under the book max to allow for a little error. I have never experienced a sticky extraction or flattened primer. I typically use 19 grains of 2400 for my "heavy" paper punching loads and 8.5 grains of red dot for a lighter load . As far as the "jug loads" go, I would be doing well to go through a 100 of these rounds a year. Thanks on the advice on the Bluedot, I was under the assumption that because it was faster than 2400 that would probably give less boom not more.

[Larry Gibson]

180 JHPs like the Hornady XTP over 28 gr of H110 with a magnum primer should do the trick for "shock & awe" both in muzzle blast and in damage to milk jugs. Your probably pushing 1600+ fps with those UMC 180 JHP loads. You want to blast milkjugs with the 44 magnum then enjoy, no disagreement from me.

Larry Gibson

[geargnasher]

Shooting stuff is fun. Reactive targets are fun. All this is supposed to be fun!

If you want maximum reaction on water-filled jugs, you need velocity and energy dump, which means a light, fast wide-flat-nose or hollow point boolit. Weight won't do anything except make recoil and gun wear worst. Weight is for penetration, and a .44 Magnum in 300 grain will probably penetrate 8-10 gallon water jugs in a row. If you want to bust just ONE, and bust it with authority, speed and expansion is the way to go. Think 200 grains or less, and think 1400 FPS or better. I agree with Larry on the 180 XTP, but I think 2400, Power Pistol, HS6, or even Unique would be a better powder choice for the light boolits than 296/H110. You could also consider a nice 200-grain cast hollow point or a WFN, the meplat on a 75%+ WFN is THE ticket for hydraulic shock and explosion, it's what makes non-expanding, flat-nosed hunting boolits so deadly at high velocity.

Gear

[jmsj]

Silvercreek Farmer,
I have got to agree with you that shooting milk jugs is just plain fun.
Earlier today we took a young man shooting. He moved away when he was young and returned for a visit. We shot .45's, 12 gauge slugs and .44 magnums into some water jugs. They were a lot of smiles and a laughter.
The .45's were OK, the slugs better but the .44's had him just plain laughing. The bullet was a 429421, that I had a fellow member named buckshot HP for me. He made two hp pins, one for hunting and a more explosive cavity for the second. We were shooting the more explosive HP's and a maximium load of 2400. These blew up the jugs like nothing I have seen before. With a good center hit they simply turned the water into a huge mist cloud not just blowing the water out like a big hose let loose all of a sudden. The jugs were launched high into the air and landed 10-15 feet away. He thanked us several times and told us it was the most fun that he has had in a while.
Like the others, I believe that going with a lighter, faster bullet and a big hollow point cavity is the way to go for blowing up milk jugs.
Good luck, jmsj

[1Shirt]

Milk jugs are ok, but a lot of weight to fill and lug to the range. full plastic pop bottles with the top on are a lot easier to carry a whoop of, more difficult to hit, and the reaction on a hit is excellent.
1Shirt!:coffee:

[44man]

My favorite thing for sure. Light, fast, quick expanding is super for a jug or two.
But so is heavy at a moderate speed of around 1350 fps. Larger calibers do a job too.
Don't shoot metal cans. I once shot a 5 gallon can of water at 50 yards with a 110 gr bullet from a 30-06. A piece of the can whistled just over my head and made me wipe my butt on the ground! :bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2:

[375RUGER]

28.0g H110 with a 180g JHP, 1550fps, low recoil (relatively speaking) and fun. Got this load from my uncle when I first started loading 44 mag. One time I thought I would be able to catch one of these j-words if I shot into the end of a full 5 gal water cooler jug, nope, it just push through and went into the woods somewhere.

I don't remember the charge weight, but I also loaded HS6 and it proved to be a good combination.

[Blammer]

stick with the 2400, drop down to a cast HP 200gr and you'll have lots of boom and splat!
I love shooting jugs with my 44mag too! It's just too fun!

These are TONS of fun!

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/blammer8mm/Cast%20boolits/44Cal/DSCN8566.jpg

[Shuz]

Water jugs are fun.......but so are IHMSA animal shaped steel silhouette targets hung from a steel frame with chains to make a "gonger". When you hit 'em they swing, make a loud gong, and the boolit splat shows exactly where your boolit struck. After quite a few shots tho, they need to be painted again to distinguish the new hits. For me, it's a lot easier than filling water jugs.

[geargnasher]

Water jugs are fun.......but so are IHMSA animal shaped steel silhouette targets hung from a steel frame with chains to make a "gonger". When you hit 'em they swing, make a loud gong, and the boolit splat shows exactly where your boolit struck. After quite a few shots tho, they need to be painted again to distinguish the new hits. For me, it's a lot easier than filling water jugs.

While I have no argument for that, I also know that jugs and bottles are free trash whereas a good, hardened-steel target can cost hundreds of dollars.

The only disadvantage to the bottles other than lugging them to the range is picking up the trash afterwards, that's why I prefer antifreeze jugs and clean oil containers, they don't fragment when they pop so cleanup is easier.

Saltine crackers held with clothespins held to a board with tacks works great and the bugs and birds do cleanup for you, and few things are as satisfying as shooting rotten grapefruit and mellons with hollow points.

Gear

[TCFAN]

Jugs are fun especially if you have a kid doing the shooting. This is my 14 year old grandson who is visiting for a week shooting my 44 marlin cowboy.He is running me out of primers...

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx200/TCintheOzarks/Cast%20Boolits/DSC_2352.jpg

[44man]

Jugs are fun especially if you have a kid doing the shooting. This is my 14 year old grandson who is visiting for a week shooting my 44 marlin cowboy.He is running me out of primers...

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx200/TCintheOzarks/Cast%20Boolits/DSC_2352.jpg
I see big smiles! :drinks: