310 grs. in .44Magnum

[trapper9260]

I shoot this 310grs in my hunter RH and Marlin 1894 44mag and shoots great . I shoot them to .431 in both. It shoot better. at first I did .430 and the Marlin did not shoot groups tight like I was hoping , then I went with .431 and it close up the groups and works good in the RH too , but you know it when you shoot it in the RH . The RH is 7 1/2" barrel.

[Ramjet-SS]

I just finished loading a bunch of 44 Mag about 500 rounds of various cast boolits. Including a 315 grain WFN GC. They turned out incredibly accurate in my New Colt Anaconda. I tested several powders the best accuracy with AA#9. Right now as I get ready to finish my loading I am loading up with 280 grain LFN GC 20.0 grains of WW296 heavy crimp and CCI 350 Primers. The pressure with 296 is actually lower than with #9 I hope it’s as accurate. Love heavy cast with big wide meplat in the 44 Mag both handguns and rifles. They drop deer in their tracks and leave two holes. WFN drive it ,do to hard and you will be amazed at how good they are on game. Penetration beyond words. Just make sure you don’t have two animal lined up or you will be burning two tags.

[45DUDE]

VN350 has a burn rate close to our Unique powder. I've been thinking about trying some . I have VN340 also and will try to load some today. I have one of my Dillon's set up for 44 mag. It will be at least a week before we can try these.

[murf205]

45 Dude, I had to dig to find them but I went back and checked my notes. The cast load that I had success with in my 788 was 24.1 grs of H110 and the 429421 Lyman for 1773 fps.The 2400 load was 22 grs and a 240 gr Speer that went 1715 fps. Shot these on a 30 degree day in 1983.

[wilecoyote]

In my Ruger SBH 7.5" (Loaded to the REAR crimp groove -- i.e. LONGEST assembled length) I find it gives ~ 1200-1300 fps with WC820, W296, Alliant 2400 & Power Pro 300 MP with good accuracy.
My velocities exceeded those printed in the Lyman manual.
WC820 at 21 gr for 1300 fps was tested in a friends pressure rig -- 31,800 psi -- I MUST stress: Loaded to the REAR crimp groove -- i.e. LONGEST assembled length.

...I'm planning to try with VV N110, and I've found something decent about it in my old Vihtavuori handbook_
QUESTION: Your seating to the rear crimp groove is due to have better accuracy or to avoid dangerous pressures with the powders you used ?

[racepres]

...I'm planning to try with VV N110, and I've found something decent about it in my old Vihtavuori handbook_
QUESTION: Your seating to the rear crimp groove is due to have better accuracy or to avoid dangerous pressures with the powders you used ?

I need to seat Short, in order to have the Round Feed in my LeverGun.. You are certainly correct to Note that seating depth Changes Pressure...considerably with some powders.. Works well for me to seat the Same Loading Long, for my Contender...as it can be Brutal with full power 44Mag loadings...longer is (very slightly) milder!! And...I can tell at a Glance which arm they were loaded for.

[45DUDE]

Some guns the cylinder is too short for the dual crimp boolit and you can't crimp long as it protrudes the cylinder and hits the forcing cone. I like my lead to exactly fit the throat or .001 over and you need to see how large the boolit can be and still chamber for accuracy. That's what is good about the LEE manual. It has lots of powders with both crimp overall lengths and expected pressure. I like slower magnum powders over fast powders. A powder that fills the case to the base of the boolit is safer for overcharge and some powders aren't made to download. I made the rear of several of my 44 molds .436 so I could size for what I need. .429-.432. My SRH Ruger is .432 with a 2 1/2x 7 Burris. Others may have different thoughts but this works for me. I'm more of a 38-357 guy and old and hate recoil. ====My book only has the short seating for the 310 LEE lead but has a long seating for a 300 grain jacket. I think I will stick with the short length because our groups are plenty good.

[racepres]

Something for you cats enlarging the Base of this Boolit.
Seems to me, that If it were Possible .. It would be better to enlarge the front of the Boolit!!!
But Since it is No Easy Task...and IDK if my thinking is Correct.. I will stick to Beagling for larger diameter..
Am I wrong???

[wilecoyote]

in this case,it's my first Ruger. my first 310 test, too_
(btw the 310 mold was originally intended for my .444, but at the moment I have no way of dedicating myself to rifles)
the SRH cylinder allows me to crimp to the greatest length, as recommended - we'll see if my crimping will be enough to avoid the advancement of the other bullets, and in fact this too had been highlighted.
I think I will bring a vernier caliper with me, so as to immediately detect if any progressive forward movements occur, before blocking the rotation.
for now the goal is to obtain a reasonable safety/manageability balance and undisturbed rotation regularity.
later it will be a real pleasure to work for accuracy,if any_ we'll see

[45DUDE]

Something for you cats enlarging the Base of this Boolit.
Seems to me, that If it were Possible .. It would be better to enlarge the front of the Boolit!!!
But Since it is No Easy Task...and IDK if my thinking is Correct.. I will stick to Beagling for larger diameter..
Am I wrong???

Nothing wrong with doing it your way and I tried it. When going for accuracy even if you resize the nose can't be round. -With the base larger and resized the nose is round.

[TurnipEaterDown]

...I'm planning to try with VV N110, and I've found something decent about it in my old Vihtavuori handbook_
QUESTION: Your seating to the rear crimp groove is due to have better accuracy or to avoid dangerous pressures with the powders you used ?

Seating to longer COL increases internal volume -- Basically it is a different cartridge that holds more under the bullet.
CONCEPTUALLY, think of stretching a 308 WIN to become a 30-06. OR more closely, "Improving" a tapered rifle case to give more powder volume.
SO, charges can be increased, while maintaining same peak pressure.

Not about the type of powder, but realistically it only works with powders on the slow end for the parent case, and heavier bullets (generally on the bullet statement).

Some manuals have data for some heavy weight 44 bullets at both loading lengths for the same bullet, so you can get insight this way.

Side benefit: Yes, seating the bullet longer puts more bearing length outside of the case, and will put More of said bearing surface in the throat of the revolver cylinder, helping in alignment. How much this contributes to accuracy -- it depends.

Friend and I re-cut cannelures on a variety of 44 bullets from 200-300 grains and tested them for velocity and pressure at one point. The gains are small, but can be had with some bullets. A 300 grain ish bullet - expect 50-100 fps max velocity change at equal pressure in a revolver. A longer barrel or a "better" gun gets this too...

[wilecoyote]

Seating to longer COL... . A longer barrel or a "better" gun gets this too..

...thanks for the detailed explanation, and for reminding me of a further use of the old C-H cann. tool !

[.429&H110]

For anyone who thinks they might like to try this load,
spend the money, get a small box of Buffalo Bore 320 grain.
If you don't flinch, you are a better man than me.
I would sooner hit my SRH with a 5 pound hammer.
I will stick to 250 grain Keith boolits, like Elmer prescribed,
and shoot the hot loads in the lever gun.
Just saying.
YMMV

[TurnipEaterDown]

For anyone who thinks they might like to try this load,
spend the money, get a small box of Buffalo Bore 320 grain.
If you don't flinch, you are a better man than me.
I would sooner hit my SRH with a 5 pound hammer.
I will stick to 250 grain Keith boolits, like Elmer prescribed,
and shoot the hot loads in the lever gun.
Just saying.
YMMV

Yes, the Buffalo Bore ammo from Tim Sundles is a viable commercial alternative for all that the 44 Rem Mag will deliver.

The 305gr LBT LFN GC Buffalo Bore "Heavy 44 mag" is peppy, and puts the magnum in 44 Remington Magnum.
1380 fps out of my 7.5" SBH.
It will better any reloading manual load on a 300 jacketed by a good margin.

There is a reason the 44 is stated as being the most that the average person can handle.
Recoil management is mostly a matter of training, but there are limits.

[trapper9260]

Yes, the Buffalo Bore ammo from Tim Sundles is a viable commercial alternative for all that the 44 Rem Mag will deliver.

The 305gr LBT LFN GC Buffalo Bore "Heavy 44 mag" is peppy, and puts the magnum in 44 Remington Magnum.
1380 fps out of my 7.5" SBH.
It will better any reloading manual load on a 300 jacketed by a good margin.

There is a reason the 44 is stated as being the most that the average person can handle.
Recoil management is mostly a matter of training, but there are limits.

You right , when I shoot the 310 in my RH 7.5 I know it ,it live up to what it is to be, but when I shoot it in my Marlin no problem.

[BD]

I always carried a .44 mag while guiding and baiting black bears in Maine. I started with Ruger Redhawks and graduated to a Dan Wesson, (but that's another story). I always carried the Lee 310 loaded over 21 grains of 296, seated to the longer OAL groove. While I never needed it for a bear, I did shoot a deer and a couple of coyotes. That bullet went through and through on everything. I gave it up after one cold morning when I walked into a cedar swamp with a Redhawk after a buck that just wouldn't show himself in the daylight. I finally got a look at him from the base of his neck to the first tine on his rack at about 25 yards. He let me miss him six times before he took off. I walked into where he had stood and on the way saw a branch shot to pieces overhead about half way to the deer. The light went on. It was about 5 deg F that morning and I'd put on a pair of heavy wool gloves. I took the gun to the range that afternoon and discovered that it was shooting about 15" high at 15 yards wearing those heavy wool gloves. No matter how tightly I gripped it. I went to the 265 grain WFNs after that, switched to the Dan Wesson, (rubber grips), and lighter weight gloves. Much more consistent results, and they still go through and through on everything I've shot with it since, including 8" diameter trees and one car wrecked moose. IMHO the 310 grainer can be too much of a good thing if you need to be wearing gloves.

[wilecoyote]

I always carried a .44 mag while guiding and baiting back bears in Maine. I started with Ruger Redhawks and graduated to a Dan Wesson, (but that's another story). I always carried the Lee 310 loaded over 21 grains of 296, seated to the longer OAL groove. While I never needed it for a bear, I did shoot a deer and a couple of coyotes. That bullet went through and through on everything. I gave it up after one cold morning when I walked into a cedar swamp with a Redhawk after a buck that just wouldn't show himself in the daylight. I finally got a look at him from the base of his neck to the first tine on his rack at about 25 yards. He let me miss him six times before he took off. I walked into where he had stood and on the way saw a branch shot to pieces overhead about half way to the deer. The light went on. It was about 5 deg F that morning and I'd put on a pair of heavy wool gloves. I took the gun to the range that afternoon and discovered that it was shooting about 15" high at 15 yards wearing those heavy wool gloves. No matter how tightly I gripped it. I went to the 265 grain WFNs after that, switched to the Dan Wesson, (rubber grips), and lighter weight gloves. Much more consistent results, and they still go through and through on everything I've shot with it since, including 8" diameter trees and one car wrecked moose. IMHO the 310 grainer can be too much of a good thing if you need to be wearing gloves.

...thanks! you made very interesting considerations for someone, as me, who often wears gloves of various types and at the same time doesn't like rubber grips !

[wilecoyote]

Caution about downloading slow burning magnum powders, some you can to a certain extent, others like W296/H110 don't go below published starting weight for the load you are building.
With heavy for caliber boolits like the Lee C430-310-RF I have good luck with 2400 and LilGun in a 7 1/2" SBH right at 1180-1200fps. I wouldn't try for the fastest powder, you generally can't make magnum power before you run out of pressure headroom with heavy boolit and faster powders.
The other thing about the 310 is that it REQUIRES SPIN to stabilize! You HAVE to drive it. It's not a target boolit by any means. The slower twist in the barrel, the faster you have to push it if you hope to build an accurate load. By the way, the hunting load will likely be the most accurate.
N110, H110 and LilGun are real close in burn rate according to Hodgdon, they are grouped together on the burn rate chart, with N110 being the faster one of the three, but I don't think you can interchange charge weights with N110 and H110, they are different powders.

you were right about ..."the 310 is that it REQUIRES SPIN to stabilize!...": on Sunday I tested only 15 grs. of VV N110 under the 310 grainers, and the recoil was negligible but also the accuracy, despite the 9.5" barrel.
but now I can start upping the charge, following old Viht. tables, without surprises.

[35 Rem]

I purchased the Lee 310 grain 44 mold mainly for use with a sabot in a 50 cal muzzle loader - which works great by the way. As such, I can't off the top of my head recall the exact diameter of my bullets. But I have loaded them in 44 mag to shoot in my Ruger SBH 5.5". The load that works well is 10.0 grains of Unique with the bullet crimped in the front groove (shortest OAL). Recoil is modest but satisfying and it rings a 10" gong loud and clear. I also tried Max loads using H110 with terrible results. It leads the barrel horribly. This is with a Lyman gas check. Could very well be that my bullet is undersize.

[DougGuy]

Could very well be that my bullet is undersize.

That would be my first thought. Will the boollits go into or through the cylinder throats from the front? If not, then the throats are likely smaller than the boolit and when you fire the round, it exits the front of the cylinder at throat diameter.