44 Magnum Full Wadcutter Loads

[jmort]

@44man

Does it ever occur to you that others may want to do something different from what you do???
Why not go back and read the O/P???
Friendly post asking for input on something he and his family enjoy.

[dbarry1]

ShooterAZ - love full wadcutters in most of my revolvers. I would be right about where you are at with bullseye to keep it under 1000 fps. About 6 grains of unique for similar velocity.

Forrest - Enjoy the pics and information!

[TCFAN]

I am like the rest of you that like wadcutters. I love wadcutters. I have never had a 44 wadcutter mold so I have been using a Lyman 429215 mold that cuts a nice clean hole in the 50 yard slow fire pistol target.I use this boolit with a home made gas check and 6.3 grains of Trailboss powder in my Super black Hawk.. It work very well for me.

I don't need the big heavy boolits at wrist breaking speed any more.I out grew that years ago.I would like to see more posted on the use of 44 wadcutters for target shooting.

[runfiverun]

okay.
I cleaned up just this last page.


Jim:
c'mon man,,, let it go.

they want to talk about wad cutters and their uses.
they are NOT talking about 200 meter shots.

[jmort]

Bless you

[ShooterAZ]

Ahaa! Trail Boss, I honestly never even considered that one. I just looked in the cupboard, and I do have some of it. Thanks TCFAN for the reminder! That will be my next powder to try.

[TCFAN]

ShooterAZ...... Trail boss has worked very well for me in the 44 mag.Never had much luck with TB in any other cartridge.Sure don't have to worry about a double charge.

[44man]

okay.
I cleaned up just this last page.



Jim:
c'mon man,,, let it go.

they want to talk about wad cutters and their uses.
they are NOT talking about 200 meter shots.

OK, I understand the why. I will let it go.

[ShooterAZ]

I have a few loads laddered with Bullseye, Red Dot, and Clays. Before the weekend I will load some up with some Trail Boss. I will be shooting in both Ruger Blackhawk and 14" T/C Contender. I will report back with some range results. Thanks to those who posted in support of keeping the thread on topic!

[bluelund79]

Looking forward to the results. I love the WC in 38 and 357, so 44 would be awesome! I second TB, it's one of my favorites, or should I say Mrs. BL79 favorites. I wonder if RCBS has a full WC seating stem for their dies like they do for the 38/357?

[ShooterAZ]

I'm using the RCBS regular seating stem that came with my 44 dies. I'm seating these wadcutters with it and no problems at all, works perfectly. Just a very slight roll crimp in the groove.

[dbarry1]

Ahaa! Trail Boss, I honestly never even considered that one. I just looked in the cupboard, and I do have some of it. Thanks TCFAN for the reminder! That will be my next powder to try.

I've used trailboss in many pistol and rifle cartridges. Like it the 44 too.

[Forrest r]

Every time I see a post about trailboss it reminds me to get busy and do some testing with it. Looking forward to the test results also.

I've has such good loads with pretty much any 44cal bullet weighing from 160gr to 240gr and 6.0gr to 7.0gr of clays it's hard to move away from it. American select is absolutely outstanding in the 38spl/hbwc's & clays will cut the x-ring out with 4 different wc's. It's time to see what tb can do. My last powder order for target loads for revolvers.
[IMG][/IMG]

I picked up #5 of tb and just haven't done anything with it. Shame on me.

Fast burning powders help with position sensitivity of the small/light target loads. WC's help take up case volume decreasing the position sensitivity of the small/light powder target loads. Bullseye is a favorite target powder for a lot of calibers. Those powders pictured above vs bullseye.
clays ='s 33% more case volume for the same load
AM-select ='s 23% more case volume for the same load
trailboss ='s 100% more case volume for the same load

Consistency ='s accuracy

Looking forward to the trailboss tests.

[ShooterAZ]

I love Clays too. I use it all the time in 38 Special and 45ACP. I tried it with the 44cal 200gr Wadcutter at 5.5 grains Clays, and it wasn't quite as good as the Bullseye (5.5gr) or Red Dot (6gr) loads. I think I will load some more up into the 6-7 gr range with Clays and see how they shoot. It's definitely much cleaner burner than the other two powders.

[35remington]

I also highly favor the deep seated wadcutter bullet in terms of ballistic consistency. Most of the revolver cartridges have excess capacity when loaded to standard or lower velocities. Extreme spreads in velocity are halved or more compared to shallower seated bullets.

This is of such relevance to me that wadcutters are my choice for my hot weather CC 638 Smith. Consistent performance powder forward or backward.

Simce most shooting that leads to hitting is done within a wadcutter's effective range I find them no real handicap for most shooting doable with a revolver.

Given I kinda like the Lee TLWC in .38, anybody have a similar example in 44 that they know of?

I do not want a button nose, just a totally flat front face. Keep in mind I am looking for something currently available. For no good reason I do not have a wadcutter in 44 and I need to rectify that. Due to the long case would prefer 240-260 grains if possible.

[ShooterAZ]

Tom over at Accurate Molds has the widest selection of 44 WC molds that I have seen. I ordered and received mine (190W) within a weeks time. Have a look at this one, perhaps this would be to your liking?http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...=43-240Z-D.png

[35remington]

That is reasonably close.

[John in WYO]

"There is no reason for a wad cutter in any gun."

Sir, I must respectfully disagree on this statement.
The statement is a bit over broad. It might have been better accepted had it been prefaced with "In my opinion.."

I'd like to point out that tens of thousands of PPC and Bullseye competitors, as well as casual plinkers, also might disagree. Personally, I find utility in their use for cheap, fun shooting with friends and family. Low recoil loads encourage kids and women to shoot more. That's my experience. For the first 10 years of my current career, I found utility in their use for scoring targets from my, my partner's and recruit's revolvers, then in 1987 we switched to pistols.
Yes, we now know we should have then qualified with duty-level ammunition, but that was the way things were taught in the '70s, as well as the '50s and '60s.

That's one of the problems with the written word on forums. We sometimes write in "absolutes" when even science as we now know it may/will be proven wrong in the future. The Earth was once known to be flat. Pluto was a planet when I was in school.

Im not trying to continue an internet argument. I respect your wealth of knowledge and lifetime of earned experience. You obviously earned it through your experimentation and determination. Your tendency to write in absolutes, based on your experience, may conflict with the experience of others. That may be, or likely is, what causes some to be in conflict with some of your statements.

Hey, I enjoy what everyone contributes here. I rarely comment. But I learn a lot from all of you and your contributions here.

Thanks for letting me share my opinion.

Edit: I just read more pages of this post and see where 44man took offense and Run5run made some edits.
If this post stirs things up again, please feel free to remove it. I'm late to the party.

[ShooterAZ]

"There is no reason for a wad cutter in any gun."

Sir, I must respectfully disagree on this statement.
The statement is a bit over broad. It might have been better accepted had it been prefaced with "In my opinion.."

I'd like to point out that tens of thousands of PPC and Bullseye competitors, as well as casual plinkers, also might disagree. Personally, I find utility in their use for cheap, fun shooting with friends and family. Low recoil loads encourage kids and women to shoot more. That's my experience. For the first 10 years of my current career, I found utility in their use for scoring targets from my, my partner's and recruit's revolvers, then in 1987 we switched to pistols.
Yes, we now know we should have then qualified with duty-level ammunition, but that was the way things were taught in the '70s, as well as the '50s and '60s.

That's one of the problems with the written word on forums. We sometimes write in "absolutes" when even science as we now know it may/will be proven wrong in the future. The Earth was once known to be flat. Pluto was a planet when I was in school.

Im not trying to continue an internet argument. I respect your wealth of knowledge and lifetime of earned experience. You obviously earned it through your experimentation and determination. Your tendency to write in absolutes, based on your experience, may conflict with the experience of others. That may be, or likely is, what causes some to be in conflict with some of your statements.

Hey, I enjoy what everyone contributes here. I rarely comment. But I learn a lot from all of you and your contributions here.

Thanks for letting me share my opinion.

Edit: I just read more pages of this post and see where 44man took offense and Run5run made some edits.
If this post stirs things up again, please feel free to remove it. I'm late to the party.

Better late (to the party) than never. Hopefully he will refrain from "crashing the party" from here on out. Wadcutters are pretty awesome in my opinion. I'm getting some darn good groups from them in both my Super Blackhawk and my Contender. They are flat out accurate and fun to shoot. I size to .431 and lube them with BAC. No leading and the bore is bright and shiny after bunches and bunches of rounds.

[lightload]

For me in .38 Spl. Lyman's 158 grain RN always shot better than wadcutters, and decades before ever having heard of 44 Man, I came to the conclusion that the round nose shape guided the bullet in the forcing cone and thus was responsible for its accuracy. If somebody gave me a big batch of wc bullets, I'd use them for close range plinking. If I'm casting, I choose another shape. One reason is that I enjoy shooting out to 1-150 yards, and with other shapes, it's easier to get higher velocity and accuracy at the same time. That's my experience. I read the thread closely and saw no instance where 44 Man disrespected anybody. I'm not certain that he received the same courtesy. Sometimes I've posted on an AR forum where I'm thought of as a fudd and dirt clod shooter. In the recent past I shot a flying bird with my AR fudd rifle(cheap AR)and made the mistake of referring to hitting the bird in flight. I'm certain nobody believed me.