44 mag finicky?

[healey55]

I am torn between WW296 and AA#9 for best accuracy in 44 mag. The problem with 296 is that they want you to load only full house loads. I like slightly reduced loads and powders like AA#9 and blue dot seem to work best for that.

I also shoot a lot of medium hot loads with AA#5 at around 1100-1200 for the 250-290 grain range.

I have not tried the WC820 powder yet.

[Lloyd Smale]

820 is nothing but aa9 with some small varitions lot to lot with burning rates. Contrary to what some guys will tell you its not an ideal powder to down load either. it will allow for a little more flexibilty then 110/296 but not much. I dont care at all for blue dot. Its a finiky powder that goes from mild to wild in pressre with a very small increase in charge weight and at reduced velocitys ive never had what i consider guilt edged accuracy with it. I have much better luck with hs6 and 2400 for reduced 44 mag loading.

[healey55]

Not sure what "small variations" means in real terms.. they seem to have an 820f that is faster yet.

I have loaded a lot of rounds with AA# 9 and am far more comfortable downloading it than I am with WW296. I am running about a half a grain less than the listed minimums in most lead bullet loads with good results.

The reason I like some flexability is that it is rare that the exact same bullet you are using is listed in the loading data.

[healey55]

19 grains of AA#9 with either a 240 JHP or my 245 saeco give me 1370 fps from a 7 1/2" redhawk from my chrono yesterday.

[white eagle]

why down load the 44 mag
seems like its defeating the purpose

[healey55]

I don't know.. an accurate load that shoots a 245 grain slug at almost 1400 fps.. what would you suggest I buy to duplicate it ?

What gun in Ruger redhawk size or n frame size will shoot a 245 grain slug at that speed and energy level for less money or hassle than a 44 mag?

I seriously doubt that anything from hogs to tin cans will notice the difference between 1400 and 1500 fps but I know the shooter will.

[shooterchris]

The best collection of information on modern and and historical big bore revolvers and rifles is Book of the 44 by John Taffin. This book goes into loads known to historically perform well in particular models and calibers. The book also contains the wealth of knowledge on the history of these guns. You WILL NOT find a lot of the load data and the variety of CB molds listed anywhere else. This is, in my opinion, an essential if you are going to load for any of the traditional large handgun callibers. My 2cents.

[MakeMineA10mm]

Lloyd - don't know how much your opinion about down-loading AA9 was formed by equating it to WC820, and most of your real experience is actually with the 820, but I've loaded a lot of AA9 at much less than max and even less than max - 10%, and I've had no ignition issues whatsoever. Now, I admit I use Win. primers for most of these loads and in the lrg pistol variety, they are in-between std. & mag, but in sm. pistol, they're no hotter and my 357 load is far below max and ignites fine. I look at AA9 as more of a ball powder version of 2400 , rather than "another" incarnation of H110/W296.

To the original poster's question: I find the 44s all to be quite accurate. i think the 45 gets a bad reputation due to its variation in chambering or more specifically throating over the years. As said above, a properly set up 45 works just as well as a 44.

[Lloyd Smale]

I dont use as much aa9 as 820 but usually go through a keg a year of aa9 so i have burned a bit of it. My chrono doesnt show much differnce between it and the lots of aa9 ive had and have. It can be downloaded a bit but isnt the best powder to do it and you about need to use cci 350s if your downloading it more then a grain or two. Now what i havent done is use it in the 357. Im not a fan of the 357 and consider it nothing but a noisy 38 special. Im sure though that its easier to get to light off right in the small case.

[44man]

I have killed a ton of deer with the .44 and 296 has always been the most accurate. What you never want to do is to make the gun too fast, forget the highest velocity you can get and adjust boolit weight for the optimum at around 1350 fps. A range of 265 to 320 gr boolits will keep you in the ball park where the .44 really shoots best and does the best on deer.
I would say the lower limit is 240 gr but this is where a bullet choice gets critical for hunting but the 240 is very accurate.
It is such an easy caliber to work with and anything from 240 to 330 gr will shoot great if you work with powders but I just use 296 all the time. I also use nothing but a Fed 150 primer for EVERYTHING.
Same with the .45, just can't get the velocity when accuracy is found but they do a great job on deer without looking for a silly speed.
Some boolits in both calibers might be near max but it is ONLY because that point is where the boolit is most accurate, I leave the chronograph in the house.
Both the .44 and .45 are about as good as it gets until you go to the .475 and then the velocity is still perfect, only a heavier boolit is used. I use a Fed 155 in the .475 because the case size supports it. You will never see me use a mag primer in the .44 or .45.