T/C Contender 44Mag throat

[Ben Dover]

Friends I apologize if this plows old ground. Has anyone come up with a good solution to the too-long throat problem in T/C barrels. I realize thar rechambering may cure some problems. I dont think a rechamber would be in order on a 10'' 44Mag barrel. The closest to the lands is with the Lee 310gr (325 in WW metal) bullet. That is, with the bullet barely in the casing.
Assuming I move to the 310 bullet, seated very long, are there any powder type and charge suggestions ? I plan on using this barrel in thick woods where a 50 to 75yd shot would be long. It wouldnt be shot a great deal but I would like to be able to practice with it. I have a Leupold 2x on it now. Any experiences would be appreciated. Has anyone tried using 445 Super Mag brass ? Ben

[James C. Snodgrass]

:castmine:Welcome Ben, I know the throats on T/C are a bummer . But I have gotten very good groups with mine and it sounds very similar to yours. Just shoot and see what it does. I mean look at a revolver how much bullet jump do they have ? I know mine will group into 2 or 3" at 100 yds that is fine for deer. My only complaint with the 10" 44 is the freakin' recoil ! I know there are guy's here with a lot larger cartridges and I too have larger but they have longer tubes and the recoil cycle is different and not as bad. IMO see ya James

[C A Plater]

Seating the bullet long in a straight wall case never helped me any in a long throated Contender barrel. Most need a good crimp for consistent accuracy and that seems to trump getting it to the lands. I know of several .357 magnums that were upped to .357 Maximum with satisfying results so getting the barrel to go to .445 and not too pricey. I agree with James on the heavy loads in the 10" .44 barrel being real punishment on the hand. It is more comfortable with for me with loads in the medium heavy range. Powders I use for that level are AA-7, Blue Dot and others in that neighborhood.

[Ben Dover]

Thanks for the response. I'd like it to remain a 44m if possible. I'd also like to keep mv around 1200fps with Blue Dot or Unique because they are easy to ignite. I also have 1680, 2400, and 4227 and 5744. Recoil on these can be hefty but for close work I cant see enduring 1400fps.
I have found the Lee 310gr (325gr in ww metal) will almost reach the lands if seated very long in the casing. I havent shot any yet. The 250gr bullets may go 4 to 5'' at 50yd off the bench. I'd like to improve that. Have you found any accuracy advantage with gc bullets over plain base ?
At present I'm working with 11gr up to 12.5gr Unique. Any suggestions for improvement are appreciated. Ben

[felix]

BlueDot typically does it best with medium to light boolits per caliber. A 300 grainer plus is a heavy weight in the 44M in particular. Use 2400 instead. If your boolit is made for a gascheck, use a gascheck. You would be lucky to get 1200 fps with that heavy boolit using 1680; just not enough powder room. ... felix

[dubber123]

Ben, it may be more of a load than you want, and you may not like the powder either, but the Lee 300 RF boolit weighs 315 grs. for me, and 18.5 grs. of H-110 goes 1,325 fps from my 10" Contender, and averages .80" or less for 5 at 50 yds. I have a 2.5X scope on mine which helps.

I have never even looked at the throat on this gun, I just seated to the top crimp groove, with a good roll crimp. I suspect the long throat will become a non-issue once you find a load it likes.

Good luck.

[Ben Dover]

Thanks again. I have some Acc #9, would you substitute it for H110 in the same charge ? I was hoping to stay at 1200fps or a little less. If I use the 310 Lee it shouldnt need any more velocity. Ben

[James C. Snodgrass]

AA # 9 is alot closer to 2400 than it is to H-110 I would use the 2400 and look at the load manauls for a 300 jacketed bullet. I use standard not manumn with 2400 and get better results. Good luck James:-D

[Ben Dover]

Gentlemen I have an update. 07-19-08. I stayed with the 250gr Lyman 429244 and its gc. Seated to normal o-a-l over 16gr 2400 it printed 8 shots in 1 1/2 in, outside to outside with seven in 1 1/4 outside to outside. The two rounds chronographed showed a bit over 1200 fps. This is using a Leupold 2x. The same bullet configuration over 16gr Acc #9 gave 8 shots in 1 7/8'', it showed about 1260 for speed. The next move of course is to move to 50 and 75yds for a trial. The recoil is not worse than many others, such as a 10'' 7mm tcu. Thanks for your assistance. It appears the long throat can be tamed. Ben

[Scrounger]

Seating those bullets out a little longer will likely improve the accuracy. As far out as they will chamber, actually; There is no reason why you'd be bound by the OAL necessary for revolver cylinders or repeating rifles.

[Ben Dover]

Scrounger, while the investigation remains preliminary the earlier results were good with only two loads. One was 11.5 Unique and it wouldnt repeat. Good would be 2 to 2.5'' at 50yds. Most tried were poor. Poor is 4, 5 and 6'' or over at 50yds. So far the normally seated load and 16gr 2400 or 16gr Acc#9 were very good at 25yds. When I get a chance to extend the range I'll post an update. Ben

[Scrounger]

It is alleged that going through the speed of sound (about 1100 FPS) will cause a bullet to be unstable and lose accuracy. Some shooters try to adjust their loads to remain above 1200 FPS or under 1000 FPS at least as far as the target. That could be what you're running into here.

[Boomer Mikey]

There are only three options with TC's 357/44 chambers:

Re-chamber to something that will reach the throat (445 Supermag, 44x356 Winchester, or 444 Marlin).

Order a custom barrel without a chamber and have it chambered by someone who knows what they're doing.

Get over it... find a load that works... trade it for something else.

Very popular:

Rechambering 357 Magnum to 357 Maximum using a custom reamer with a normal throat.

44 Magnum to 444 Marlin, .44x.356 Winchester, 445 Supermag

Article at Bellm TC's:

http://www.bellmtcs.com/store/index.php?cid=171

Early model barrels had decent chambers (soldered front sight) but some of these had 8 shallow grooves/lands.

Boomer :Fire:

[Ben Dover]

Gents this is the second update. At 50 yds 8-16-08: The Lyman 429244 printed 2 1/8'' center to center with 16gr 2400 seated to the crimp groove. The plain base Lyman 429421 printed 2 3/4 c--c with the same charge and seating depth. I havent revisited Acc#9 again but I may. For now I'll stay with normal seating depths. These are shot off bags using a Leupold 2x. Ben