Browning 92.....44mag. issues

[oldfart1956]

Fellers I don't post much but I come and read almost every day. Helluva great site ya'll got here. Now on to my topic. I've got one of them Browning 92's in .44mag and my older brother who does most of my reloading has worked up a wonderful accurate load. 20.5gr. of 2400 under a Speer 240gr. cast Keith bullet. I poked 5 rounds into 1 hole at 25yds. off the bench yesterday. "So what's the problem?"..ya'll must be askin'. RECOIL. Bigtime! That little gun beat me around like a red-haired step child! After 5 rounds I was closin' my eyes and rippin' the trigger just to finish off the final 5 rounds. Now, mind ye, I'm no pantywaist! Harrumhp! I'm 6ft. 3 and bounce the scales at 240lbs. and shoot a Brown Bess launching balls over 1 ounce and the recoil bothers me considerable less than that Browning. I was near bawling by the end of 10 shots! (sniffle...) Has anyone tried .44 specials in the Browning? Is the recoil that much less? Do they cycle proper? How light of a slug can I cast to keep the accuracy and cut the recoil? We tried the 185gr. j-bullets and they suck. I'm settin' this gun up for my grandson. He's 6 and is 3 1/2ft. tall and weighs 50lbs. and he'll never be able to handle this. So I'm askin' for some pet low-recoil loads with reasonable accuracy fellers. Well, many thanks in advance and I'll check back on Friday. YMHS...Audie..the Oldfart.

[Heavy lead]

I'm confused about the "Speer 240 cast", unless they're making something I don't know about, I believe Speer just makes a swaged pure lead 240 swc, which I would think would lead the heck out of that rifle with that much 2400.

I would and do use a 250 grain swc (Lyman 429421, but several others would work too) over 10 grains of Unique with a Federal 150.

[Treeman]

Cut the stock square and install a recall pad. The curved buttplates on the various M92s look cool but they beat the stuffing out of you with any loads much beyond a .38 special-I'm leaving the curved metal buttplate on my .357......cause I can stand a dozen shots with the magnum round and the .38s I normally shoot are mild. I've gone a few rounds with a M92 in 44 mag and it IS truly awful.

[AlaskaMike]

I know exactly what you mean about the recoil! My Rossi 92 in .44 mag kicks harder than my Ruger .375 H&H. Treeman's suggestion is a good one. I just put a slip-on recoil pad on mine and it made a world of difference, even with 300 grain cast bullets over 22 grains of 296.

Mike

[docone31]

I had a Winchester in .44 mag that beat the hell out of me.
I cut the buttstock square and put on a field pad. Looked good, felt great. I did add some distance on the LOP, and being a big guy, it helped also.
Easy job.

[Frank]

Just get a recoil pad to slip over it. A laced type looks great. You can fill the curve with newspaper, then slip over the pad.

[mike in co]

well, sonny, let your brother shoot some of those....in his gun.

with the speer 240 swc at 1.61 oal and 20.5 gr of 2400 from a 20 in bbl, quickload says 1835 at 40KPSI.....JUST 10% OVER MAX!!!!!!!!
ye squickload is only a tool...but ***.......go load your own/buy your own, but dont shoot any more of that krap from your brother.

i shoot a 288hp and a 293 fp at 1150 and 1050 with no recoil issues...standing up lets you roll with the recoil.


mike in co

[Buckshot]

..........Yeah, if you're just plinking have him load up some with 8.0grs or Unique or a similar type load. Never had a boolit bounce off the target paper at 50 yards yet :-) I mean, shooting is supposed to be fun, and not some endurance test!

...............Buckshot

[Pepe Ray]

oldfart 1956;
From a great grand pa to a grand pa, I hope you take this advice well.
1. Although it can be and has been done, your selection of a .44M to initiate your grandson with is WAY too ambitious. This means a LOT of extra work for you to accommodate his youth/size/inexperience etc. The following will be directed directly at your current problem and NOT what should have been.

2. The butt stock will need serious attention. It must be shorter, possibly as much as an inch. This dimension INCLUDES the necessary recoil pad.

3. The ammo must be much lighter in boolet weight as well as velocity.
If this youngun has been shooting for a year with 2000 rounds of 22LR he will still be a 6YO with a normal 6YO's dislike of pain. You mustn't drive him to the golf course. He'll have time to make those choices much later.

4. Since you, obviously, don't load your own, I don't know how you'll convince your brother to "lighten up". Frankly, if he knew what you wanted that ammo for I wouldn't trust him to load anything I'd shoot, much less my grand son.

I can help you with the stock, if you've a mind. I have a shortened stock, made for just such training. It aint pretty cause it was whittled out of a Win M94 stock and has some gapocious. But it's worked for 3 kids. I used it on a .357M for our lessons so the pad may need to be improved on for the 44, Your choice.

PM me if you decide to go that route.
Pepe Ray

[mike in co]

since he is only 50 lbs, you need (in addition to a gun that fits) a load that is ok at 25/50 yds, and will not kick him off the stool.

a properly sized boolit with a velocity of about 800 fps should be ok at 25 yds.....

need one of our more experince low velocity shooters to step in with a load...i don't think 2400 is ideal here.....need something those wimpy cowgirl shooters shoot.

mike in co

[gon2shoot]

I have a B92 that can be a little abusive due to it's light weight.
How you tuck your gun to your shoulder makes a big difference, but for a youngster I would go with a padded shoulder jacket or some such and lighten the load a little, 17 1/2 gr of 2400, or 10 1/5 gr of Unique will kill a deer.

For my daughter I even dropped down to 200 gr boolits.

Good grief, just re read the the post, I thought it said the grandson was 6'3". With a 50 pound grandson in mind, I would recomend a load of 6 1/5 gr, Unique behind a 158 gr. 357 boolit. I started mine on that and it worked.

[pietro]

[He's 6 and is 3 1/2ft. tall and weighs 50lbs. and he'll never be able to handle this.]

My $0.02 - The nut behind the trigger needs some adjustment.

No disrespect intended, but why push what will seem like an elephant gun to the child, on the child - instead of something like a H001 Henry .22 lever action Youth model ?

JMO, but the only thing a .44 Mag will do for a 6 Y.O. is to set him up to fail - not exactly a good thing for HIM.

That's also not withstanding the fact that cutting on a collectible/discontinued Browning B92 stock is the surest way to reduce a desireable $700 rifle to a $300 shooter.

.

[O.S.O.K.]

I don't think anybody answered your question about 44 Specials - yes! And they will be very mild.

But for a 6 year old, a .22 is the thing! Really. He will love it.

[Firebricker]

The 44 spl should feed fine but Buckshots load suggestion is a better solution IMO. It is a lot more pleasant as a plinking load. It's my favorite load for my 4" revolver behind 429421. If your going for a load for grandson go with some 200gr cast with CAS light loads but I think he'll do better to stay on a 22 for a couple more years.

If a different rifle is a possibility a lever action in 38spl would be a great choice IMO for a cal in between 22 and your 44 but I still agree with the guys above that a 22 will be better for now.
FB

[MtGun44]

240 cast short nose (429421 will not feed in my B92) over 10 gr Unique is fine
shooting and much less abusive. I think the recoil of the B92 and W94 in .44 mag
is unpleasant with full power loads mostly due to the stock design with a good
contribution due to light wt and hard buttplates.

Bill

[oldfart1956]

Well fellers I figgered I'd get some excellent advice here. Now to backtrack a bit the grandson has several other guns. Mostly 22 rimfires. He loves that Cricket with the Red Dot scope and shoots it well. The Ruger 10/22 is going to run me broke on ammo! He giggles at the "old fashioned" Rossi break-action in .22 but hates the .410 barrel. And children under 20 should not be allowed to shoot Mark II's! That kid can eat up a brick of ammo in an hour if I can load it fast enough. So, yes, he is shooting lots of .22's. (He started shooting while he was still in diapers with a "rubber-band gun" at The Missus cat!) The B92 is for some time in the future. I'll get big brother to check on that load, can't believe he'd make a mistake of loading anything 10% over Max. pressure! He's been reloading for 40yrs. for handguns, rifles and shotguns. Hmmm..? As far as the bullet, he noted on the box 240gr. Speer Keith..no mention of cast or swaged. Also, thanks for the offer of a cutdown buttstock. Let me think on it a bit. I might be able to find a blank at Numerich that I could modify without hurting the value of the gun as well. Not that I have a problem modifying anything. I'm the guy that took the issue sights off a Spr. 1911 made in 1913 and had target sights installed that I could actually use! Haw! Haw! Haw! Well, I'll jot down some ideas and call big brother in the morning. Again many thanks to all. Audie..the Oldfart..

[pietro]

[He giggles at the "old fashioned" Rossi break-action in .22 but hates the .410 barrel.]

Well.............. surprise, surprise - If that won't convince you about not letting him shoot rifles larger than a .22 rimfire, then we sure can't.

I hope things work out well for him and you.

.

[dubber123]

I load .44 mag. for an older gent at the range who is recoil sensitive. I load him the 2oo gr. Lee, over 7 grains of Unique. He shoots all of these he wants without issue.

[McLintock]

I've had a B92 in .44 Mag for over ten years, using it in Cowboy Action matches, only with .44 Special; it's my John Wayne special. With a 200 gr lead and 5.0 gr of Titegroup, it's very easy on the shoulder and pleasant to shoot. An accuracy load I worked up, good to at least 100 yards, is a 230 gr'er with 4.3 grs of Titegroup, very consistent and accurate. Good little rifle and light to boot, as you found out the hard way. My grandson, when he was about 7-8, shot it with no problem.
McLintock