Need .44 Magnum Load Advice

[trickg]

Hey guys - as the thread is titled, I'm looking for some advice on how to reload for a S&W .44 Magnum. Here's the score:

This S&W was made in 1956, purchased brand new by my father in that year, and has digested A LOT of heavy loads in its time. Dad was from the Elmer Keith school of sixguns and reloading and at one point said to me, "there was a time in my life where the harder it kicked, the better I liked it." I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Dad probably reloaded heavy with 2400.

Given the circumstances, my thought is that it's probably no longer safe to load it up with anything that would be considered heavy, but I wanted to appeal to the knowledge base of the forum.

Yesterday I bought a box of 500 hard cast 240 grain RN flat points, and I wanted to know if anyone had a good moderate pet load for a 240 gr cast bullet w/o gas checks.

All replies are welcome, and especially in regard to advice about what my revolver can handle due to its age and past usage.

[trickg]

Bump - hello? Anyone have advice on this for me?

[BABore]

8.5 to 9.5 grs of Unique and a standard primer. I use CCI 300's

Your accuracy will be very dependent on if the "hard cast" boolits fit your gun's cylinder throats. Generally, purchased "hard cast" are too hard and have crappy hard lube on them. Best of luck.

[trickg]

8.5 to 9.5 grs of Unique and a standard primer. I use CCI 300's

Your accuracy will be very dependent on if the "hard cast" boolits fit your gun's cylinder throats. Generally, purchased "hard cast" are too hard and have crappy hard lube on them. Best of luck.

I don't have any standard primers - I have plenty of magnum primers though and I have been using those with my .45 ACP loads with no issues. I'm a little leery of using Unique, mainly because it burns a bit dirtier than some other powders, but I know that Dad used it quite a bit.

The bullets are supposed to be cast and sized to .429 - that's standard .44 Magnum diameter as far as I know.

What about the wear on the gun - is that something I should be concerned about?

[wonderwolf]

Unless the cylinder is wiggling around alot or your getting a lot of lead spray out the sides I wouldn't feel the least bit guilty about running full fledged elmer keith loads through it again.

My fav plinking load is 10gr of unique with a keith 429421 240gr boolit (good moderate load). I have not dated any of my 3 S&W 29's but I know they are older than me. I've run Lots of heavy loads through all of them with no guilt or safety risk. True S&W's are not as Robust as rugers but they are not exactly fragile either. With 2400 18-20gr is a nice all around load. You could go much lower if you wanted to and slightly higher as well.

I have lots of .44 mid level loads I've worked up for indoor shooting. But my notebook is at home. I'll take a looksee and get back to you on additional loads.

What barrel length is your 29? Pics?

[trickg]

What barrel length is your 29? Pics?

It's still pretty tight considering it's age. Then again, it isn't like Dad shot it exclusively - he had plenty of other guns to choose from and the wear on it is more in the terms of cosmetic holster wear from carrying (dad was a small town police officer) than mechanical wear.

The barrel length is 5.5" (Might be a full 6" - I'll have to check." but I don't have any pictures of it. I may have to take some pics of my guns and get them posted.

[Kraschenbirn]

For a "moderate load" with those 240 gr SWCs, try 9.5 gr of Herco. Moves a 246 gr RN at a bit over 900 fps from my OM Vaquero and wil consitentlyl group into 2" @ 25 yds (if I'm having a good day).

Bill

[trickg]

So based on some of the posts I have seen, what are the main powders I should be looking at? Right now we have:

Unique - a time tested and proven powder for all manner of pistol loads (might be the way to go for a middle of the road load)
Herco - I don't know much about Herco - it's worth doing some reading
2400 - This is definitely a magnum powder, but I could reduce the charge somewhat
231 - Seems like a pretty good all around pistol powder
Bullseye - I haven't seen too much about this powder in regard to the .44 Magnum

I have a big ol' jug of Bullseye - 4 pounds of it, but in light of some of the things I have read, I'm not sure it's the right powder to use and I'll probably pick up something else.

Out of curiosity, which powders are cleaner burning?

[Heavy lead]

Herco would be fine too. It's a hair slower.
I'd throw those hard cast bullits away, or melt them, recast them and shoot them in the 45 acp. They're not worthy of the fine old Smith, and you'll just lead it up in two shots, the hard bullet won't obturate, you'll get gas cutting on the base because of it, and the powder won't burn correctly and will be dirty, I know this from experience before I started casting. I prefer standard primers for Unique myself. I don't find it too dirty at all, as long as you have a heavy boolit pull and a good crimp, with the right alloy, you'll hardly ever need to clean the bore.

[trickg]

Well, the problem at the moment is that I don't have a casting setup.

I don't know if they are "hard cast" or simply cast bullets - these are cowboy action bullets.

At some point I want to have a casting setup that includes a Saeco hardness tester - then I'll know for sure what's going through the barrel.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

In both of my S&W 29's I use the following arrangements. For 25 yard work I load 9 grains of IMR 4756. Its far from being a slammer, but it is accurate. No leading! Bullet is H&G #503 @ 250 grains with WW and sized .429 with NRA 50/50. Thats for the 6 inch bbl. In my 8 and 3/8" and at 50 yards, I used the same bullet but with 17-18 grains of 4227 which is supposedly E. Keith's load for the 44 special. Its a lot noisier, hits somewhat harder, but is accurate as well. Loading with IMR 4227 You can go as high as 23 grains if you want more power, but you can see that the 17-18 range is substantially below the boomer level, and is easier on the gun and you, not to mention conserving a bit of powder. Good shooting. LLs

[Heavy lead]

Well, the problem at the moment is that I don't have a casting setup.

I don't know if they are "hard cast" or simply cast bullets - these are cowboy action bullets.

At some point I want to have a casting setup that includes a Saeco hardness tester - then I'll know for sure what's going through the barrel.

Hopefully they're not too hard, or maybe I've just had really bad luck with bullets that are too hard. Regardless, sounds like you have a great revolver, there's just nothing like a good Smith IMO. One trick that I used on boolits that were too hard so they wouldn't gas cut if they weren't obturating was to use a ox yoke wonderwad. Of course this cuts down powder capacity, so the load you're using may have to be lowered, but it worked for me before I could obtain softer boolits.
Good Luck

[crowbeaner]

Try 11.0 of IMR SR 4756 with your lead boolits. It has worked well in all my M29s including an old "S" prefix 4 incher. Make sure your boolits are .430 to .431 and all will be well.

[Mumblypeg]

Patrick, 9 to 10 grains of Unique is a good start, shot 10grs just this afternoon in a Marlin1894. That's still a pistol load. Dirty power? Heck, that's what they make cleaning rods for isn't it?

[454PB]

Bluedot has not been mentioned yet.....so I will. I use 15 grains with a 250 gr. cast in my Redhawk and my old SBH for about 1300 fps. You might want to start a bit lower with the S&W.

[Rusty Shackleford]

2 accurate loads out of my 4 5/8" SBH using 240gr cast. Both are dirty and I like it that a way.
8.0gr Unique

11.5gr Herco

[trickg]

Good stuff - thanks guys! I think I'm probably going to pick up some Unique, but I might give Herco a shot if I can find it locally. There is load data out there using Bullseye, but most of the load data I have seen for 44 mag with lead bullets is using Unique, 2400 (with GC) H110 and a couple of other things, but plenty with Unique.

I've gotten a couple of suggestions for the 8-9.5 range with Unique, so if I do go that way, I'll do just that - start with 8.0 and work up from there, but I doubt if I go past 9.0 - it's just not going to be needed for the shooting that I do, which unfortunately is mostly paper punching.

[Three44s]

Use your magnum primers with Unique ....... your resultant burn will be much cleaner.

Just start at a start charge and work up ......... 8.5 to 9.0 gr. will present no problems .... just much cleaner.

For an upper medium field load ......... try HS-6 with a magnum primer.

Three 44s

[HeavyMetal]

You'll find the Unique load works very well in the 29!

If your going to shoot full house loads WW 296, H110, and IMR 4227 are the top choice's! THe IMR powder is more consistant through out the year, 296 and H110 are not cold weather powders.

I will probabely get a verbal flogging for this but I won't use 2400 any more, I just get to much unburned powder out the end of the gun.

A note you may find intersting: the early Model 29's were not as strong as the current crop of 29's. They did a redesign some time in the mid 80's I think.

I have an early nickle 8 3/8 29 and if I load to hot the cylinder will unlock and turn backwards!

Most people think they have a dud round or failed to cycle the cylinder when they cocked it, but it will unlock if you push hot loads in it! This is one of the things Smith cured with the redesign!

[trickg]

I don't want to load it up too hot - I figure that if I really want to shoot a heavy load in a 44 Mag, I'll do it in a Redhawk or Super Blackhawk that I'll obtain sometime in the future.

Lot's of votes for Unique - seems like a good way to go.