44 special: Recommendations for Dies, Molds, Loads

[Thomas Traddles]

I found an NMBH Flat Top in 44 special on the cheap. As nearly as I can tell, it has never been fired beyond the factory test round. No turn line, no residue on the cylinder face, and no indication that the cylinder face has ever been scrubbed to get the dirt off. There is no constriction in the barrel and the gun is sound and beautiful. So, I thought I would buy it and find out what all the fuss was about regarding this cartridge. The first fuss, is the ridiculous expense of ammo, so now I am on the prowl for dies, molds and load recommendations from those who are familiar with this caliber and especially this particular handgun. I already cast and load for .38/.357. I have Bullseye, Red Dot, 2400 and E3 powder on hand. I am also wondering if there are wide variations in chamber throat sizes in this gun like I hear there are in .45 Rugers. I've no pin gauges to measure the chamber throats and I am hoping that I will have no trouble with getting cast to shoot well in this gun.

I'd like to know of some good DEWC and RNFP molds for this caliber. I don't know what the original bullet weight of the .44 was (240gr?), but would like to shoot bullets near that weight and send them down range between 850 and 950 fps.

I've been happy with Lee dies for my .38s. I imagine I can get by with a set in .44 Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks!

[3leggedturtle]

I used to cast the Lee 208gr WC and load between 8-900fps out of a 10" 44mag Contender. Was a very accurate boolit. Hear soem good things about their 200gr RFN.

[phonejack]

I use a 240K from Missouri Bullets and Red Dot for what you want.

[376Steyr]

The classic .44 Special load is a 250 Keith (Lyman 429421, RCBS 44-250-K, etc.), max published loads from Alliant Powder website, or 7.5 grs of Unique if you can get it.
FWIW, the three Ruger .44 Specials I've measured all had .432" throats.

NOE makes great moulds, you can see some here: http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=37&sort=2a&page=1

[Thomas Traddles]

Thanks for the replies. The Alliant data and the NOE link have proved very helpful.

[DougGuy]

Well Thomas, they made the cylinders on the same equipment that they use for everything else except the RH and SRH, so it's a 50/50 chance they will be sufficient diameter without any one hole larger or smaller. If you can slug the barrel and see if the slug will go into the cylinder throats that should give you a good indication whether they are or are not large enough. If the slug slides in easy, you may be good to go with .431" dies, it's unlikely the cylinder will take .432" without the throats needing worked over. Slide a .431" boolit into the front of the throats and see how it fits. Try a .432" if you have one.

FWIW, the NM cylinders are the better ones Ruger has made, generally the throats are much better but I see some that are tight, and some that are uneven. Checking yours is the only way to know..

[Shooter6br]

In my Contender 14 in Hunter I use 7.5 Universal or 8 g Unique with 250 g Keith. The longer barrel does give me added velocity of about 100fps over a 7.5 inch. I use 44 mag brass 129175 More like a 44 Special +

[Nobade]

I have one of those flattop 44's just like yours. 4 5/8" barrel, blued. Ruger sure seems to have pulled their heads out when they made it, 'cause it's perfect. .430" throats, and .429" barrel. Best shooting cartridge revolver I have ever owned.

I shot it some with smokeless powder - 10gr. 10B101 and #428215 and 6gr. Green Dot and the Lee 200gr. wadcutter. Even tried the Keith bullet and Unique. They all worked just fine. Then I switched it over to black powder. KIK or Old Eynsford FFFg, and either the NOE biglube boolit or the Keith boolit. Either will have all the shots in a cylinder cutting each other at 25 yards off the rest. Lots of smoke and fire, sounds good, and sure is a lot easier to clean up afterward than it is with smokeless. Great fun!

Oh, dies are RCBS carbide and cases are either Starline or random cut down 44 mag.

-Nobade

[Mtn Biker]

I have the 5.5" Flattop 44 special and the most accurate target and tin can load I have found is the common 240gr LRNFP with 5.0gr Red Dot. It measured 830 fps ave on the chronograph.
Its very mild but you can ramp things up for hunting with a Keith bullet or WNFP for more thump.

VL

[Duster340]

Hey Thomas Traddles, I've been addicted to/ loading 44 special using a set of lee carbide dies and 4 hole turret press, and am very pleased with the results. The cartridge just begs to be handloaded. Of the powders you list, I only have input on Bullseye which has proven to be very effective with a variety of LEE cast bullets ranging from little 116 gr WC through 255 gr SWCs. LEE 200 gr RFN, 208 WC and 214gr SWCs over 4.8gr Bullseye get the nod for my plinking/paper punching load. Recently worked up some very nice loads using old LEE 162 WC and 172 gr RN over 4-4.8 Bullseye. With lead getting harder to find around here, getting twice the number of bullets from a pound of leads is very attractive.

Enjoy your new acquisition and loading the .44 .
special.

[Patrick L]

I have two Smiths, a pre 29 which is fed almost exclusively .44 specials, and a 24-3 .44 special. I am extremely fond of the Lee 200 RF for a light paper punching load. I load it over 3.5 gr Bullseye. Recoil is non existent, accuracy is good. You can get that mold as a six banger, which makes a pile of boolits fast. It is plain base, which eliminates the time and expense of gaschecks, and I even shoot them as cast (unsized) lubed with liquid alox. Less work = more trigger time.

I'll try to post a pic or two when I get home.

[Patrick L]

My apologies. I thought I had a picture of a target group shot with this boolit. Anyhow, it shoots very well.

[44magLeo]

Read any thing Elmer Keith wrote about the 44 Special.Most any dies will load very good ammo. Most any cast bullet sized to fit will shoot well. I've thrown untold lbs. of lead down range with a Lyman 421429, as cast, LLA for lube. With 7.5 grs Unique in Special cases, 8.5 grs in Mag cases. Never shot over chrony so I can't say how fast but very accurate. Easy recoil. Leo

[EMC45]

I like the Lee 200gr RNFP over Unique. Very accurate out of my Taurus 431.

[Thomas Traddles]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I found a link to Brian Pearce's article on handloading for the .44 Special. Those interested can click here for a PDF copy:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.goodrichfamilyassoc.org%2F44_ Special_Articles%2FBrian%2520Pearce%2520on%2520the %252044%2520Special.pdf&ei=P7LOVNzlKsuBygTdqIKoCg&usg=AFQjCNGiljEuTZ-hr_WDRLDO-zO9EPALuA&bvm=bv.85076809,d.aWw

[EDK]

Blammer had a group buy at OLD WEST BULLET MOLDS for a clone of LYMAN 429352 wadcutter; MIHEC had a hollow base wadcutter; GLL did a group buy for a 200 grain (?)LEE long time ago. They're all good.

LYMAN's 250 grain Cowboy bullet 42966? worked for me, but I really like 429640 GC and MIHEC's 434640 plain base clone. While I shoot mostly pistols, I like the MARLIN Cowboy Rifles in 44 (and 357 too!) so a round nose flat point is useful. The NIGHT OWL ENTERPRISES version of the RANCH DOG 265 grain boolit is a favorite...4 plain base and 1 gas check in my moulds please.

Uncle Elmer's 429421 is the classic 44 boolit. You ought to a copy just to honor the patron saint of american handgunners.

I like TITEGROUP or HP38/231, but RED DOT works well also. I've been out of the loop awhile, but there was a product called PROMO that was a RED DOT clone at discount price is 8 pound cans.

I commend your goal of not making a magnum out of your 44 Special.

[Animal]

Thomas, I am new to this caliber as well. I picked up a nice CA 4in Bulldog last year as a potential defensive revolver for my wife, or a back up gun for myself. That being in mind, I settled on a 2-cav Saeco #420 (got a great deal on it) which is a trunicated flat-nose that drops at 210gr (200 advertised). I had also tried Lees 240gr TLSWC bullet, but I felt like the recoil was more stout than what my bride would care for. I settled on a charge weight of 5.9gr IMR-PB. It gives book velocities in the mid 900s and CUP under 12,000. Using a soft alloy, sizing at .430 and tumble lubing with LLA, and wallah... serious man stopper that my wife can handle and I can feel confident with if my 1911 is mia.
Now that I've closed the book on that load, I've got a Lee 6-cav 429-200 rnfp mold on the way. I'm only getting this lee mold because I can produce many more in a short time than with the Saeco, and since I recover my bullets it will be easy to use different alloys in each bullet and be able to remelt them with their appropriate alloys. I am planning on shooting only the lightest of loads in this gun from this point on.
The lee 240gr SWC actually feeds from speedloaders just as well as my Saeco trunicated FP. As long as my .429 lee mold that is currently being shipped can drop at .430, I'm sure it will be just as pleasing. I'm not sure there is a bullet that this cartridge doesn't shoot well.
Red Dot has secured it's place in the 44 special. I like it for my .45acp, but I feel the IMR-pb gives good top end velocities with a little less pressure, which I prefer for my Bulldog. I'm sure you will be thoroughly pleased with any Red Dot/bullet combination in its correct proportions.

Lee Dies with an additional seating die that I use exclusively for crimping
Winchester LP primers
Mostly all 44 mag brass trimmed to 1.150-1.152 (most special brass is a tad shorter)
50/50 SOWW/COWW and 1%tin
Lee .430 sizer for bullets destined for the Bulldog
Lee .432 (custom) sizer for bullets destined for the Ruger SRH.

[Thomas Traddles]

Animal, thanks for the note. I have been looking at my Lyman Cast Handbook and noting the difference in pressures and velocities between the 44/40 and 44 spl. The 44/40 uses 200-210 grain bullets and the loads are reported to have velocities in the 900fps range with pressures nowhere near the saami max of 15.5K (Pearce's tier 1 loads). I'm thinking I might go with the lighter rather than heavier bullets in the 44 and mimic the 44/40 loads. It seems such loads would be easy to shoot in the BH, economical on powder and lead, too.

I'm off to the range on Tuesday to run some Winchester 240 gr RNFP cowboy loads through the gun. I'm jazzed about that. If I get 44 fever, perhaps I will have to get a Bulldog to replace my LCR.

[Rodfac]

For a lighter bullet, you might try Lyman's 429215 gc design...at 220 gr cast from wheel weights it's a killer in my 4 .44 specials. You can gas check it for speeds up to 1300 fps or so, or shoot it without for target punching. Bullseye for the latter, 2400 for the hi-speed stuff. Unique is good from 7-8.5 gr, Win 231 is even better in my guns. Try 6.5 of the 231 and that bullet for some bragging groups. Another good bullet if you're buying them, is Missouri Bullet Co.'s truncated wadcutter at 200 gr. It's as accurate as any I've hand cast. Buy them at 0.430" for a good fit in your cylinder throats. If you lead up in the forcing cone, a gas check will help immensely, or you can try lubing with LLA or 45-45-10 liquid lube, swirling them in a butter tube...it works for me and I can produce sub 2" gps all day long with either of these bullets and my .44's. HTH's Rod

[Duster340]

Hi again Thomas,

Just noticed that in addition to Bullseye, you also have Red Dot available. Like Animal and the others noted RD is a very nice powder for the 44 special. I filtered my load data work sheet to show a few of the loads that perform nicely in my Bulldog Pug. As you can seen, I tend to keep them on the light side for plinking and hole punching. ** As always, start low and work up :p **



Ranking
Caliber
Bullet Brand
Bullet Weight
Bullet Type
Powder Type
Charge Weight Gr
Lee Auto Disk #
Primer
Comments


A+
.44 Spcl
Cast
208
WC
Red Dot
4.3
.66
CCI LP
Nice Load. Very Accurate.


ok
.44 Spcl
Cast
208
WC
Red Dot
4.6
.71
CCI LP
OK accuracy.


A-
.44 Spcl
Cast
214
SWC
Red Dot
4.6
.71
CCI LP
Nice load. Accurate.


A++
.44 Spcl
Cast
214
SWC
Red Dot
4.9
.76
CCI LP
Nice Load. Very Accurate.


A
.44 Spcl
Cast
214
SWC
Red Dot
5.2
.82
CCI LP
Nice Load. Very Accurate.


A-
.44 Spcl
Berrys
240
PFP
Red Dot
4.9
.76
CCI LP
Nice load. Accurate.


A
.44 Spcl
Berrys
240
PFP
Red Dot
5.2
.82
CCI LP
Nice Load. Very Accurate.

[Duster340]

And here's some of the better plinking/paper punching Bullseye loads I have worked up for my Bulldog 2 1/2". I don't have a chrono yet, but guessing they're all in the low-mid velocity range. For stouter loads I use primarily Unique (Of course ! LOL)



Ranking
Caliber
Bullet Brand
Bullet Weight
Bullet Type
Powder Type
Charge Weight Gr
Lee Auto Disk #
Primer
Comments


OK
.44 Spcl
Cast
116
WC
Bullseye
4.8
.53
CCI LP
Very Good Accuracy. Hit's 3" Low


OK
.44 Spcl
Cast
162
WC
Bullseye
4.8
.53
CCI LP
Very Good Accuracy. Hit's 3" Low


A+
.44 Spcl
Cast
172
RN
Bullseye
4.8
.53
CCI LP
Nice load. Accurate.


A++
.44 Spcl
Cast
208
WC
Bullseye
4.8
.53
CCI LP
Seated at 2nd Groove. Very Accurate. Nice Load


A++
.44 Spcl
Cast
214
SWC
Bullseye
4.8
.53
CCI LP
Nice Load. Very Accurate.


A++
.44 Spcl
Cast
255
SWC
Bullseye
4.4
.49
CCI LP
Seated at 1 lube groove Nice Load. Very Accurate.

[Thomas Traddles]

Duster, thanks for the charts. I appreciate the trouble you've take to post them, as I am sure others will too.

Rod, I am looking to cast as soon as I figure out what type and weight of bullet I want to shoot from the gun. I want to limit myself to 2 bullet types a wadcutter for sure, and either the 250 Keith or an RNFP. I also want to try to limit my powder selections. I have nearly 2 lbs of each of the powders I listed above. I was tempted to buy a lb of HP38 that I saw at the LGS on Saturday, but held my hand. Loading and casting can become an expensive addiction, especially where molds and powders are concerned. A year ago I swore that I would limit myself to .38 and .357. both in guns and loading equipment. Further, I would only buy 2 guns -- a snubbie and DA revolver. In the last year I've traded for and or bought 7 handguns, so you see where self-restraint has got me!

[Animal]

If you aren't in any kind of hurry, I'll be happy to send you a few samples of the Saeco 420 and the Lee 429-200-rnfp. I expect the Lee mold to show up on the UPS truck in a couple of days. I've got the Saeco bullets ready to load, but it might be a couple of weeks before I cast the Lee 200gr bullet. I get a very good deal on my lead, so I like to share with folks like yourself. There is no pleasure in purchasing a mold, using up good lead, powder and primers just to find out that you don't like the bullet and want to start over with something completely different. So feel free to allow my good fortune to help guide your decision.

[Thomas Traddles]

Animal, I am in no hurry at all and I am grateful for your generous and kind offer. It was 4deg F in Western Michigan this a.m. To add insult to injury, mother nature decided to give us a foot of new snow. My casting room is my garage, and it is an inhospitable place for such tasks this time of year. When you get around to casting a few bullets, zip me a pm. For I will take you up on your offer.

[Animal]

I don't see how ya'll handle that kind of cold. I'll fire up the pot as soon as I can. In the meantime, keep your fireplace well stocked.

[Thomas Traddles]

I don't see how ya'll handle that kind of cold. I'll fire up the pot as soon as I can. In the meantime, keep your fireplace well stocked.

Animal, I am getting to where I can't handle it. We sit by the wood stove most of the winter. If it wasn't for the fact that April-October are stunningly beautiful around here, I'd head farther south. The thing is, I have a bad habit of building and sailing my own small (less than 20') wooden sailboats. I've built 5 over the past 10 years and the Great Lakes are some of the finest sailing waters in the world! Memories of summer almost get us through the winter. Almost, I say, because now I am getting old and forgetful!

[Thomas Traddles]

Duster, I've been looking at your load data and wondering if you know what kind of velocities you get (or are likely to get) with the 4.9 and 5.2 g Red Dot loads and the 240 grain bullet. Since you say that they are plinking and hole punching loads, I would imagine they are in the 700 to 800 fps velocity range.

[Duster340]

If you aren't in any kind of hurry, I'll be happy to send you a few samples of the Saeco 420 and the Lee 429-200-rnfp. I expect the Lee mold to show up on the UPS truck in a couple of days. I've got the Saeco bullets ready to load, but it might be a couple of weeks before I cast the Lee 200gr bullet. I get a very good deal on my lead, so I like to share with folks like yourself. There is no pleasure in purchasing a mold, using up good lead, powder and primers just to find out that you don't like the bullet and want to start over with something completely different. So feel free to allow my good fortune to help guide your decision.

Now that's a class act right there Animal.


Duster, I've been looking at your load data and wondering if you know what kind of velocities you get (or are likely to get) with the 4.9 and 5.2 g Red Dot loads and the 240 grain bullet. Since you say that they are plinking and hole punching loads, I would imagine they are in the 700 to 800 fps velocity range.

I'd guess 700-750'ish fps from a 2 1/2"snub would be about right Thomas. Certainly not blistering fast loads.

Take care Fellas