Very, very slow powders for 44MAG

[kawalekm]

I use Blue dot for my cast loads and H110 for jacketed in my Marlin 1894. I was thinking of trying a fast rifle powder with jacketed bullets in the 240-275 grain range. Has anyone tried a rifle powder like H335 or 4895 in a 44mag case? Can you actually get enough of those powders in the case to reach a maximum load? Thought I'd ask if anyone here has already tried it before reinventing the wheel. I'd never bother trying to shoot these loads out of my revolver, just the rifle, with a 20 inch barrel.
Michael

[lovedogs]

It's questiionable if you'll get accuracy from bullets heavier than 265 gr. I've heard of people trying burn rates like 680 but I doubt if slow powders you've mentioned will work. They're just too slow. I'd guess you'll get squib loads and those can be dangerous. I easily obtain 1800 FPS using 240 gr. cast in my Marlin. Why would you want more? If you want more power or heavier bullets you might look at a .45-70.

[Don McDowell]

I haven't checked for awhile, but IMR used to provide data in their load manual, that used all the rifle powders in the 44.
What I found is that anything slower than 4198 was likely to give you unburnt and still burning powder kernels flying thru the cover of the lcd on the chrony. Velocity wasn't bad tho.:roll:

[Jon K]

680 or 1680, I've tried them both with a heavy boolit. They were OK, but I like the H110 & 296 better. And anything slower is TOO SLOW for that case.

Jon

[405]

While they'll likely get the bullet out the barrel OK in the carbine.... what's the point?.... some of those powder/bullet combos probably won't give very good results. In high expansion ratio situations like the straight-walled, short cartridges...... the powders that work best and give the most uniform internal ballistics are the faster varieties.

The Lyman manual has some data for the 44Mag for the longer barrel length Contender type applications and still lists the faster powders, namely ranging from Unique.... thru.... IMR 4227 for the jacketed 240-300 grainers.

[454PB]

Some years ago I bought several 8 pound containers of AA 2200, and did an experiment using it in .44 magnum. This ball powder is about the same burn rate as H322, considerably faster burning than H-335. I put 23 gr. (that's all that would fit) of this behind a Lee 310 gr. boolit and used a CCI 350 primer. I fired these over my chrono using my 7 1/2" Redhawk. They averaged 850 fps., and felt like there was some minor hangfire. I noticed a lot of unburned power in and on the gun. I doubt that this would be much more successful in a rifle barrel, those velocities are easy to attain with much less powder of appropriate burn speed. H-110, WW 296, and Hodgdon Lil'Gun are the slowest powders I use.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I have only bothered using 240Gn boolits in my 44s. It doesn't get any better than a case full of 296! My 15th edition Winchester reloading manual says 25Gns with a 240GnLSWC and a 'very heavy crimp(high bullet pull). It goes on to say, 'Do not reduce powder charges with 296 powder.Any further reduction in power charge or change in components can cause dangerous pressures.' They quote 1560fps!!! For nostalgic reasons I load 'Elmer's', same boolit, 22gns of 2400. My powder is the last of my old stash. I believe the new 2400 is slightly different and needs reducing some.

But that 296 load is a ball tearer, you don't need anything else!

[Lloyd Smale]

that new surplus wc297 might be something to try. I just ordered a couple kegs of it. I got it mostly because i cant find anymore 680 anywhere. Its suppose to be faster then 680 but slower then 110/296. 680 works real well in the 454/475/500linebaugh.

[GSPKurt]

I use 300 Gr. XTP and 310 WFNGC in my .44 Marlin Lever with H110 at ~1400 fps. VERY accurate.

[Irascible]

I think that if you try 5744 you'll be very happy with the results. Just a little slower than 4227 which also works well.