44mag 240gr mid range Powder suggestions

[mncampnhunt]

Been at the reloading thing now for just a year. About used up my first pound of Unique and want to find an alternative that is not nearly as dirty. Shooting a 7-1/2" Ruger Super Blackhawk (scoped) and this would be my "range loads" (something that is fun to shoot for a non-shooter) - currently loading 240gr lead with 8.6/8.7 gr of Unique - giving me about 1100+FPS. Just switched to polymer coated bullets from Missouri. Dislike the smoke and soot that I'm getting with Unique. Considering Sport Pistol, CFE Pistol, BE-86, N320, True Blue and others. I'd like a powder that gives me some flexiblity to increase & decrease the load with the 240gr.

FYI - My other load is 300gr Missouri Bullet Company coated "Hammer" with 16.9 grains of Enforcer - also clocking in the mid 1100+FPS range - this is my Minnesota White Tail Hunting round. I'm going see if increasing this load improves its accuracy (when the weather gets better).

Also - Thanks to this forum for giving me the confidence to give this a go and helping me out with the early loading issues, crushed cases due to needing a larger case mouth plug. Also info on tuning this revolver for lead - polishing out the chambers, chamfered the throat and fire lapping the bore. Very happy all is going well with the gun.

[BigAlofPa.]

Red dot. I just started using it for reduced rifle loads. And it's becoming my favorite powder for lighter loads.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

I think you should give 2400 a try

[scattershot]

I like Red Dot, too. Universal Clays is supposed to be about the same burn rate as Unique, and cleaner, but I haven’t used it. Good old Bullseye might work for you, too, and meter better than either.

[Cast_outlaw]

Blue dot is good a little dirty but I think not quite as bad as unique I have found the vectan powders to be quite clean but don’t have any experience with heavy boolit in the 44 mag withe them

[bigboredad]

If you like the way unique performed and just want a cleaner powder universal is the quick easy answer. It's just a tick quicker than unique but for all but top end loads can be loaded grain for grain

Sent from my SM-T377V using Tapatalk

[BigAlofPa.]

Im going to load some 200 grain up with red dot and see how they do. Blue dot packs a nice wallope. I have some 240 grain XTP'S loaded for hunting with blue dot.

[smkummer]

700X is an IMR equivalent to red dot. Goes a long way.

[onelight]

BE-86 will give similar performance to unique and is cleaner I like it in 32,38/357 , 44 , and 45 colt.
I am also a fan of red dot:-D

[bmortell]

I always wanted to try clays for low smoke, low-mid power but its never in my store. ive tried bullseye, titegroup and unique for fast powders and I wouldn't call any low smoke at low pressures. to some degree low pressure just equals smoke, im not sure how much difference there is in the fast powders. wish powder came in something smaller than 30 bucks cause I don't wanna spend 30 bucks a couple times to test smoke levels.

[BigAlofPa.]

30 bucks ouch. I gripe when i pay 20 lol.

[Driver man]

30 bucks ouch. I gripe when i pay 20 lol.

You don't know how lucky you are. We pay $80-$90 a pound and think ourselves lucky when we can get it. We can get ADI powders a bit cheaper but not by much and now primers are $100.00 a thousand it has become a very expensive sport.

[bmortell]

dang, well here stateside atleast, I always thought they should sell samples, like 3oz 5 dollars that way I could try 5 kinds for accuracy or smoke or whatever without going broke in the process.

[Outpost75]

Cross posted with authorn permission:

Tales from the Back Creek Diary - Bullseye Powder .44 Magnum “Medium” Velocity Loads

Soft, plain based, bullets and fast-burning powders provide economy and utility.

C.E. “Ed” Harris

A firearm does not need to be operated at “full power” any more than any other machine. It is true that some people still believe that if you own a .44 Magnum and reload for it, you must be able to feel the heat on your face every time you pull the trigger, as your hand stings and your ears ring. But this is nonsense, of course. Less power loads are fine for recreation and most field shooting. They indeed have their place. My friends and I probably shoot 100 rounds of “medium velocity” loads for every dinosaur killer. Few reloading manuals list loads for the .44 Magnum other than hand busters. Experienced reloaders successfully improvise, but less intrepid, practical shooters are frustrated.

The so-called “medium velocity” load is subsonic when fired in from a typical revolver. It also does not exceed the leading threshold of about 1300-1400 fps., when a soft, plain-based bullet is fired from a rifle. Remington offered marketed exactly such a .44 Magnum load for a short time during the early to mid 1980s. It was intended for the police market, as a counterpart in .44 Magnum, to the similar lead bullet .41 Magnum police load, which has also, unfortunately been discontinued.

Remington’s .44 Magnum Medium Velocity load offering used a flat-nosed, 240-grain, plain-based, swaged lead bullet with two cannelures, resembling an elongated .44-40 slug. Its shape mimicked today’s “Cowboy Loads” having a catalog velocity of 1000 f.p.s. from a 4-inch vented test barrel, simulating revolver conditions.

These ballistics approximate the 1873 black powder .45 Colt service cartridge, when fired from a 7-1/2 inch barrel. This is hardly today’s “mouse-fart” cowboy load, but stout stuff like they used to kill buffalo and shoot Indians. For today’s hand loader the greatest economy is realized by being able to exploit plain-based cast bullets, using the least expensive, soft scrap alloy, such as wheel weights or common scrap, with faster-burning pistol or shotgun powders which provide twice as many rounds per pound, as the slow-burners normally used for full power .44 Magnum loads.

Lyman’s Cast Bullet Handbook, 4th Edition lists .44 Magnum charges with fast-burning powders, but their starting loads, while useful in revolvers, often exceed the leading threshold of plain based bullets, when fired in a rifle. Newer powders such as Titegroup or Trail Boss are listed, but my favorite, Bullseye was not. Be careful in reducing slower burners, such as #2400, because ballistic uniformity is impaired if you go below about 16 grains in the .44 Magnum case with 240-gr. bullet.

What follows is my listing of medium velocity .44 Magnum loads which “work” and are well proven. I hope this shortens your learning curve and that they work as well for you as they do for my friends and I.

Medium Velocity Loads for .44 Mag., 265-gr. Saeco #441, BHN11, unsized .433”, LLA

Case, Primer and______Velocity_______Velocity___Five, 5-shot Groups* @ 50 yds. H&R
Charge Weight_____5-1/2” RBH_____H&R 22”*_Largest___Smallest___Average

Starline .44 Spl. WLP

5.2BE, RCBS LD #10_______782, 10Sd____940, 9 Sd___3.0____1.9______2.46

Remington .44 Mag. WLP

6.0 Bullseye, LD#11________774, 36Sd____983, 49Sd___2.5___1.9______2.24
6.6 Bullseye, LD#12________948, 13Sd____1141, 9Sd___2.5___1.4______1.94
7.8 Bullseye, LD#14_______1017, 11Sd____1233, 10Sd__2.5___1.2______1.88
16.2 #2400, LD#20________1080, 39Sd___1411, 44Sd__2.5___1.3______ 1.97

Remington .44 Mag. WLP, Remington 240-gr. Semi-Jacketed HP

8.4 Bullseye, LD#15________1033, 11Sd___1197, 15Sd__2.2___1.2______1.76

[str8wal]

Midrange? HS-6

[NSB]

My all around favorite is 2400. You can go from mild to wild with this powder. For me, it's always produced some of my most accurate loads also.

[onelight]

[QUOT

The so-called “medium velocity” load is subsonic when fired in from a typical revolver. It also does not exceed the leading threshold of about 1300-1400 fps., when a soft, plain-based bullet is fired from a rifle. Remington offered marketed exactly such a .44 Magnum load for a short time during the early to mid 1980s. It was intended for the police market, as a counterpart in .44 Magnum, to the similar lead bullet .41 Magnum police load, which has also, unfortunately been discontinued.
[B]Remington’s .44 Magnum Medium Velocity load offering used a flat-nosed, 240-grain, plain-based, swaged lead bullet with two cannelures, [/QUOTE]

Funny you posted this I just came across a few rounds of this load in an old ammo wallet they leaded my 61/2 model 29 kinda bad.
We shot thousands of 250 grain Keith bullets cast from a 4 cavity Lyman mold at 850 to 1000 FPS mostly over Unique with no leading.
Here is a pic of the Rem. Medium 44 mag load , used to be shiney :D
236691

[Shuz]

Try 7g of Trail Boss. 803fps from a 4-1/4" bbl'd Smith mdl 69

[Ed_Shot]

With your 240 gr. boolit I vote for Red Dot (Promo) 5.5 ~ 6.0 gr. or Unique 7.5 ~ 8.0 gr.

[slughammer]

About used up my first pound of Unique and want to find an alternative that is not nearly as dirty.

currently loading 240gr lead with 8.6/8.7 gr of Unique - giving me about 1100+FPS.

Dislike the smoke and soot that I'm getting with Unique.

I would look for load data using Clay's. It's one of the powders I keep on hand because I get much less perma-soot on my revolver cylinder flutes. I looked at Hodgdon's website, but only see lighter loads listed (currently). Perhaps there is another source that has data closer to your 1100fps range.

I'm not a fan of Universal Clays at lower pressures, but getting up into the pressure range for 1100fps it may burn consistently for you. (At low loadings and pressures, expect up to 100fps velocity spread and lots of unburned powder).

I'm using 7.5gr of Power Pistol for a batch of 44spl I'm currently loading. Much smaller size and better metering than Unique. Not sure why, but Alliant has plenty of 44spl data and very little data for 44mag. Seems to be an ideal powder for the 1100fps 44mag application, I would check some other sources for data.

For 44 mag I get all the velocity I need from AA7 surplus I bought years ago. Shoot so little magnum I don't pay attention to the soot if there is any.

[rkcohen]

you said "mid range!"

and since i'm an old guy - "mid range" to me is spelled U-N-I-Q-U-E

and this is what I put it in:

-475 Linebaugh
-45/70
-45 colt
-45 acp
-44 mag
-44 spl
-375 win
-38/55
-357 mag
-38 spl
-9 mm

[9.3X62AL]

Alliant's Unique and Herco get the call when mid-range magnum revolver chow is getting cooked.

Some folks cite these fuels as being "dirty". Two thoughts occur to me when I read such texts--1) these writers are not acquainted with Hoppe's #9 powder solvent and 2) these writers have never fired a cap & ball revolver with Goex black powder. Goex BP is The True Flaming Dirt.

All things in this world are 'relative'.

[dogdoc]

Concern about a powder being dirty is a moot point in my opinion with cast or coated bullets. They are both dirtier than jacketed. Most of the dirt and smoke is from the lube. I do not think the powder choice makes a hill of beans difference. I shoot 8 grains of power pistol behind a 250 Keith in my specials and increase it to about 9 grains in a 44 magnum case. I have shot these with some commercial cast 240s as well. Safe and good in my guns. Power pistol just seems easy to get accurate loads. Just clean your guns afterwards and have fun doing it!😀 don’t worry about soot.

[Drm50]

I have used 2400 in 44mag since 1964 in Ruger SBH. I have just got H-110 for 44mg carbine which everyone says is better. I had been shooting the 2400 loads in what ever carbine I had at the time. I don't know if the
H-110 will be any good for handgun loads. I hope it will cause I'm shooting 240JHPs out of both and don't want to fool with two different loads. In S&W 29s I shoot cast 240swc with GC and 2400 right at 1000fps and don't find it particularly dirty. I don't shot jacket or magnum loads in 29s. In 44sp & 45 Colt I use Unique and cast at
750-850 fps.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

H110 is not a mid range powder its for full house loads

[derek45]

universal or win231 / HP-38

2400 or H110/win296 for max loads

universal is similar to unique, but meters better thru a Dillon, and is much cleaner.

......somehow, when I use, it, I feel like i'm cheating on my old friend unique though

;-)

[dhom]

The mid range load I use for 240-260 gr cast bullets is 11.8 gr/ HS-6 with a Fed mag primer. [primer is important] A light load in the same range of cast bullets with 7 gr Titegroup. [primer doesn't seem to matter]

[Bookworm]

Midrange? HS-6

There it is. I agree 100%.

[NWPilgrim]

While I normally load 10.0 gr Unique under 240 gr LSWC for medium loads, I also got good accuracy with 7.0 gr of W231 which was very clean.

[AlaskaMike]

My midrange load for .44 mag using 240/250 grain bullets is 10 grains of Power Pistol. Much cleaner than Unique. I know there are folks who like to leave the range with their hands and forearms fully coated with powder residue, but I'm not one of them.

One issue to consider with faster powders in the large .44 mag case is that it doesn't take up much case volume. This can sometimes result in larger extreme spreads in velocity, but more importantly it's easier to double-charge a case. Just something to keep in mind.

[Cougar Hunter]

I'll second the 7.0g of W231. Relatively clean burning and quite accurate in my S&W Model 29-2

[W.R.Buchanan]

My standard load for .44 Special Mid Range (which is the only way I shoot .44 Special) is 6.0 gr of W231 and the Mihec H&G 503 240-260 gr boolits. These are shot in a BH Bisley Flattop and an S&W 696.

For .44 Mag Mid Range same boolit 8.0 gr of W231 .

I powder coat all these boolits now and size to .431 for the Handguns.

Same loads work in my Marlin 1894 CB as well.

My Full Power Loads, which I only shoot in the rifle, are 22.0 gr of H110 with the 429244 GC Mihec Clone.

Powder Coating solves alot of fitment problems we used to have. Leading is a thing of the past.

Randy

[Warhawk]

hard to argue with Elmer Keith

http://www.darkcanyon.net/Reloading_the_44_magnum.htm

For a light gallery load I use 5 grains Bullseye. For outdoor targets, often 8.5 grains Unique is used. For the full load, I use 22 grains Hercules 2400. This is the load for which I gave pressures and velocities above. Another load I have used is 23 grains 2400 with Keith Ideal 235 grain hollow point and hollow base bullets for about the same pressure with slightly higher velocity. The 250 grain bullet and 22 grains 2400 has now killed about every type of game on this continent and is wonderfully accurate to any range. Machine rest tests often showed five shots in one hole at 25 yards. I do not believe the handloader has any business exceeding these loads.