44 special...310 gr....loads?

[looseprojectile]

Comparing apples to pineapples but.

I have been trying to load the Ranch Dog 432 265 in my 44 magnum for shooting bowling pins. The best I can do from a rest at fifty feet is about 4.5 inch.
This with six to seven grains of Unique. [44 special loads in mag. brass.]

With a 240 grain SWC with the same powder it shoots an inch and a half.
This tells me something. What exactly, I don't know. I will go with what shoots best for me.

Those heavy boolits seem to be made for serious power in the magnums.
They work great in all my magnums at full bore velocities.
I would try some 200 grain 44 40 boolits in the single action.


Life is good

[The Black Spot]

Comparing apples to pineapples but.

I have been trying to load the Ranch Dog 432 265 in my 44 magnum for shooting bowling pins. The best I can do from a rest at fifty feet is about 4.5 inch.
This with six to seven grains of Unique. [44 special loads in mag. brass.]

With a 240 grain SWC with the same powder it shoots an inch and a half.
This tells me something. What exactly, I don't know. I will go with what shoots best for me.

Those heavy boolits seem to be made for serious power in the magnums.
They work great in all my magnums at full bore velocities.
I would try some 200 grain 44 40 boolits in the single action.


Life is good

that tells u that the 240 gr with that load shoots good, it also tells u that the 265 gr will shoot accurate if u find the right load for it.
most everyone has steered me away from 310 gr in 44 special. my goal was to find an accurate load within saami specs(15,000psi). well I did find one (9.5 gr of 2400) probably doing 700 fps out of my 7.5" barrel. goood enough for deer at 50 yds. u can find a load for that 265 just keep looking.

[The Black Spot]

[QUOTE=Groo;1866398]Groo here
First , in the grand 44special, a 300gr bullet ? Why...[quote]

because I had that mold, bullseye, bluedot, and 2400 already on hand and wanted to see if my goal could be reached(310 bullet, accurate, within saami specs).
I do have 200 and 255 gr molds, but wanted to do some carefull testing.

I also shoot that 310 from my charter bulldog 44 special(so far 6.8 gr of bluedot is showing promise).

[looseprojectile]

I think the point I was trying for was that the heavy boolits in 44s need to be shot faster than you can safely shoot them in a 44 special to stabilize them.

In my case I was trying to shoot the boolits I have a lot of at a velocity that is acceptable at the range I shoot pins at. They require mid range ammo in the 44 magnum.

The RD boolits I loaded were probably not going fast enough to stabilize with that puny of a charge of Unique.
Those same boolits will stabilize just fine when loaded to eleven to twelve hundred fps in the old model SBH and the Rossi and Ruger carbine.

Sounds like you have solved your problem. I can't consistently shoot that good from a rest nowadays.


Life is good

[The Black Spot]

I realize that 310 is better for faster velocity, I couldnt find any data anywhere for lower end loads so I tried my own just to see if it could be done.
you think your ranch dog 265 could be shot slower with a different powder, say trail boss or bullseye?

[Any Cal.]

I hope to try some of these for the same reasons. I have both the boolits mentioned, as well as some standard stuff. Will see what happens with a Bulldog, so trying to keep pressure down. Trying to get more brass, but will test a few w/ Bullseye shortly.

[Any Cal.]

240g w/ 4.5g Bullseye gets 682fps out of 3" Bulldog. One shot over chrono w/ dead battery...

Will probably try RD265s over same charge next.

[MarkP]

When working in the ammo industy several years ago this came up enough from customers to result in an ECN for the 44 SPL case tooling. The issue was the heal of a jacketed 300 gr bullet would be below the cylindrical region of the case wall and create a bulge in the middle of the loaded case. Taper on the final draw punch was changed to accomodate a 300 gr Jacketed +0.06" or so. This added some case capacity which the BP shooter probalby welcomed if they noticed.
This could be an issue depending on brass mfg'r.

[Any Cal.]

265g RD, 4.5g Bullseye, 659fps.

Thanks Mark. I will be trimming Mag brass down to length, since I have some of it but only 5 pieces of Special brass. That gun will not see factory ammo, or jacketed bullets... or new brass, or anything with the correct headstamp, or loads that there is a book load for, or brass that has lesss than 7-8 loadings on it... I guess that makes me a redneck...

[Any Cal.]

Lee 310, 4.5g Bullseye, WLP, seated just past longest crimp groove, 594fps. Makes me think of the 38-200 loads.

[CJR]

McPherson's "Metallic Cartridge Reloading" manual lists a bunch of 44 Special loads for the 300 gr. bullet. Awhile back, I loaded up some 320 gr. LFN over Blue Dot and 4227 to shoot at the range. I got some slight key-holing on target from a Bulldog. But they are accurate enough for a close-range defensive load. Likewise, there were no functioning issues. I do remember being impressed on how hard they hit the bank behind the target. That was a fun-fun day!

Best regards,

CJR

[Any Cal.]

Any chance of posting a couple of those? I have Beye, h110, and 7625, will probably pick up some unique or 2400 or blue dot.

[CJR]

Any Cal,

Here are the 44 Special 300 gr. JSP bullet loads from McPherson's Metallic Cartridge Reloading manual, 3rd Edition;

W296: 10.5 gr for 720 fps & 11.0 gr for 794 fps (17,700 CUP)
H4227: 10.5 gr for 680 fps & 11.5 gr for 752 fps (18,600 CUP)
IMR 4227:10.5 gr for 688 fps & 11.5 gr for 732 fps (18,400 CUP)
IMR800-X: 5.8 gr for 667 fps & 6.4 gr for 721 fps (18,800 CUP)
Her2400: 9.0 gr for 649 fps & 9.6 gr for 711 fps (18,00CUP)
Blue Dot: 7.0 gr for 612 fps & 7.5 gr for4 648 fps (16,800CUP)

Best regards,

CJR

[Any Cal.]

Ok, tried the 296 load off cjr's list using h110.

11g h110 under Lee 310 seated to short groove...438fps

5.2g bullseye under 240 swc...794

7g 7625 under 240swc...764

All are still one shot over chrono. That bullseye load gets your attention in what is currently a 21oz gun. The rubber grips added 2 oz over the wood ones. Not painful, but the gun moves a lot.

[Any Cal.]

Got some 2400, and found a bunch of articles on .44 special. It appears that 15g or less of 2400 under a 240-250 grain bullet will keep pressures below 20k psi. Saami max is 15,5k, so some of these could be overpressure by 20% if they hit 18k. I wouldn't run tons through a weak gun, but it seems like a good trail/hunting load where only a few are shot.

11g 2400 w/240g swc...580
11g 2400 w/265rd........613
11g 2400 w/310Lee......734

13g 2400 w/240g swc...709
13g 2400 w/265rd.........764

15g 2400 w/240g swc...947

These are all still single shots over chrono w/ 3" Bulldog.

[6.5 mike]

I was real interested in this thread & after Saterday when I traded into a 5.5" Vaqureo got even more so. I had picked up the lee 310 awhile back to do the same thing, but with a 4" 29.

[Any Cal.]

RD 432-240 w/ 14g 2400... 777fps Kind of disappointing, I was hoping for 800+...

I think 15g is good, but was hoping to find a load to shoot more of... that one is pretty hot. Maybe try some @ 14.5 and see where that goes. They all get in your hand a bit out of the lightweight gun.

The Bullseye loads are economical and accurate so far, the 2400 loads are easiest on the gun, theoretically. It is just tough to tell where to quit adding powder... I would like 240@ 850-900 in a load that is easy on the gun and accurate. Like a .45 acp but in a smaller, lighter gun and a bullet with more sectional density and meplat. Is that too much to ask?

[Any Cal.]

RD 432-240 w/ 14.6g 2400...859fps. I think this is my load, will load some to do some groups with. Starting to get some muzzle flash, primers are just not quite as round, and recoil is noticeable. Just guessing from old data, these are probably around 16k-17k CUP. Not trying to build a Mag, but trying to eek out some performance for use as a trail gun. The 2400 seems to like just a bit more pressure than the .44 special saami spec to run well, maybe a better powder for Rugers and such. It is taking an extra 9.4g of powder to get 65fps over the Bullseye load...I think I prefer higher pressure cartridges...

Edit- looking at the old NRA .44 special loads, this one may be in spec. They claim 16,6k psi for 16g of the old 2400 under a 230something grain bullet. Whatever the case may be, I don't think this one is overly hot. Speer 13 allows 13g 2400 under a 250 Keith for some more recent data. All loads are for solid head cases.

[Any Cal.]

Shot 3 cylinders of the load above before I loaded a bunch. Recoil is pretty heavy, and accuracy was lousy, even with the decent single-action trigger. I may be going back to the Bullseye loads, as they grouped better @ 40 yds than these did @ 25. Wouldn't matter for a get-off-me gun, but would for putting a rabbit in the pot.

[Biggfoot44]

OK, not the same bullet, but once upon a decade I used a 290gr FP in .44Spl. Wasn't trying for SAAMI spec, but for reasonable in a M624. Using WLP, 7.5gr Unique , it gave 750fps from 4in bbl. It was decisive on bowling pins, and I carried it with intent for whitetail, but none cooperated that year.

Don't recall the exact accuraccy at this remove, but I wouldn't have taken it hunting if it weren't sub 2in @ 25yds. It was within the adjustment capacity of the S&W sights.

Starting over now, I would probably start with 4227, but Unique was what I used , and it worked for me.