Question on duplicating factory Winchester Cowboy Action Load

[Smiling Bob Masterson]

Hi all,

Anybody got a recipie to duplicate factory Winchester Cowboy Action load for .44 Special with 240grain lead flat nose 750fps muzzle velocity?

Thanks,
Smiling Bob Masterson :-D

[Bob Jones]

I pulled out my Lyman cast bullet handbook and it shows 6.9 grains of Unique giving 767 fps, that's their max load at 13,000 psi, still pretty mild, or about 9.5 grains of Blue Dot, or about 12.5 gains of 2400, the latter two are mid-level loads for those powders. That's for a 245 grain lead SWC, 1.571 OAL. Those should get you in the ballpark.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

If you're looking for a good light load, my cowboy action load for 250gr. flat nose in .45LC is 4.25gr. Bullseye. It's about as light as you can get with reliable velocity, and should work in .44spl. also. And nobody will call them "mouse fart or gamer loads":mrgreen:

Morgan Astorbilt SASS#59279

[Ghugly]

I've become kind of fond of Trail Boss. It's clean and damned near idiot proof. And, it was designed for Cowboy Action shooting.

http://www.imrpowder.com/data/handgun/trailboss-feb2005.php

[405]

2nd on the Trailboss- ideal for that purpose. Works best with high expansion ratio cartridges like the 44 Spcl. Don't know what the Winchester load recipe is but would imagine it's a fast powder like Trailboss, 700X or Bullseye under a fairly soft cast slug.

[Blackhawk Convertable]

That's what I'm shooting in my pistols for Cowboy Action. 5 grains of Trail Boss will be a perfect load for you.

[modoc]

SBM,

I am running 5.2 of Trailboss in my 44 spls. This was the load that gave the best groups in my Rugers. The other load that I use is 6.0gr of Unique. They have both worked admirably for CAS and general plinking.

Will

[freedom475]

another vote for Trail Boss

[shotstring]

Like Morgan, I shot 45LC rather than 44 in Cowboy shooting, but the calibers have a lot in common as far as load characteristics. Unique has always been recommended as a very good and common powder for mid-range loads, but I found that for my guns, accuracy was only so-so with it until I got close to maximum loadings. Then it was scary how accurately a load the Unique would produce. This was in all 4 of my Colt SA's.