Interesting rifle powder data for .44 Mag.

[Ian]

Rick, lotta respect for your experience and that of others who say 296/110 does good work for them with the Poured Ones. I wish I had better outcomes like you guys and gals have had, but I must be holding my mouth wrong. I even tried "blind" testing between the ball powders and 2400, and my guns just haven't done as well. I basically gave it up. 2400 is just easier--less cranky--and a lot more flexible. IME, anyway.

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. I detest H-110/WW296 and have half a keg for anyone who wants to come by and take it away from here. It's very cranky indeed and requires wrist-breaking loads to work at all in the .44 Magnum. Call me a sissy or whatever, but I'll use 2400, Unique, and True Blue with 240-grain bullets or lighter, at around 85-90% throttle , thank you very much. Most especially am I endeared to True Blue for such purposes.

 

[Chris]

Ian, that is really interesting and useful in terms of relative pressure and velocity. Thank you.

The max charge of 2400 is lower than I would have thought, good lesson in caution.

My buddies who load .44 for hunting tell me ad nauseum that "all ya gotta do" is load a max charge of 110/296.

Of course I will try that, and it probably works gangbusters. The track we are on in this thread is more interesting and I'm learning a lot.

 

[Ian]

My FIL took that same advice with 296, loading 24.0 grains with 240-grain jacketed hollow points for a Smith 429. I went with him to the range that day and we were having to tap the ejector rod with a rawhide mallet to eject the cases. Also, the cylinder would jump back a chamber every so often and land on the previously fired case. I told him straight off they were too damned hot but he insisted "they list that load in three books and say not to reduce it more than 3%", which is true, but the revolver was telling us otherwise. He finished a couple boxes and several years later, after his death, I inspected that revolver and found the barrel ballooned right in front of the frame. S&W is no Ruger Blackhawk. I've done decent amount of work with 296 in the .44 Magnum and never liked it, but for those who find the magic combination they say it can't be beat for both accuracy and power.

My Favorite .44 Magnum load for long range work is 19.6 grains of 2400 behind a plain-based 429421 hollow point made of 16:1 alloy.

 

[Rick]

Teach FIL to "work UP to max charges" in HIS firearm. I wouldn't start at max in anything, even loads that were safe for me in other guns.

 

[Winelover]

I'm not a fan of 296 nor H110 powder. Bought a pound of 296 to try in my then newly acquired Redhawk when they first hit the market.
IIRC, that was in the mid to late 70's. Never finished that one pounder which came packaged in metal cans.....dumped it for fertilize when I moved from Michigan to Arkansas, four years ago. Still have, nearly a whole found of H-110....probably will never finish that one, either. Now, 2400 is a whole different ballgame. I can't count the number of 8 pound kegs I've shot up in 44 Mag, 45 LC and 357 Magnum. Used a lot of it in full tilt 44 Magnum (240 grain) cast loads......22 grains and a magnum primer. Over the years, I found that I didn't need all that power, and have downloaded, accordingly.

 

[fiver]

my 44 mag big load is 19.3 grs of the 2400 under either the 429667 or the rcbs 240gr swc G/C.
I mostly use the rcbs in the 445 S/M at 3/4 throttle.
it seems to prefer 300gr bullets, and H-110 works okay there, but 4227 seems to be better suited to the bigger case.
if I want to really wind things up then I go to 1680 and 300-315gr bullets.
the porting system on the Dan Wesson really responds to the higher bullet weights and heavier powder charges and the higher you go the better it works.

which means the 44 isn't the big dog to me so I keep it a couple notches ahead of the 44 special and enjoy it as such.
now in the 357 Max H-110 and 180gr bullets is a great idea, they just slide together in the case like butter.

 

[9.3X62AL]

I think Mr. Keith spoke wisdom when he said that "1200 FPS is all you need" in 44 caliber revolvers with his #429421 bullet. I know that in a 44 Mountain Gun (4" light barrel variant) it is as much as I ever want. The Redhawk soaks up recoil a bit better than the S&W, but I'm growing less fond of hand-hammering as I have pushed past age 60. If I need more WHOMP, get a rifle.

 

[RicinYakima]

COWABONGA 9.3! We are on the same page. A .40 plus bullet at 950 plus will solve any "wolf at the door" problem I will ever have. If I need more, that is what the .450 Watts is for (500 grains at 2400 f/s). Fast approaching 70, Ric

 

[Tony]

"500 grains at 2,400 f/s"....OUCH! I once fired 23 rounds of 400 grain bullets at 2,400 fps in my .416 Rigby from the bench in one shooting session. No mas.

 

[fiver]

no mas not even once.

I'm still trying to comprehend how 492 grs at 1200 fps is doable all day long in a shotgun.
but 435 at @1600 is painful in a 45-70 after one magazine tube full.

 

[RBHarter]

I've hunted a lot birds shot a little trap and I can and have shot 40-50 rounds of 12ga game loads . The worst recently were 7/8 oz Winchester super speed ,I'd rather shoot the old 27 gr Unique 1 1/4 oz duck loads of my youth . But this have got nothing on the Hornady LevEvolution 325 gr 45-70 in a Guide Gun at 1989 fps . Talk about only to maintain the man card status , I can do nicely without any more of those , a buddies toys not mine . If it was mine I'd turn down to a 350 gr at about 1600 and be happy.

 

[RicinYakima]

I shot the .450 Watts three times with a full load off hand. Once on video, just to make sure I would remember how it made my brain bounce inside my skull. However, it is really pleasant to shoot from the bench with 405's and 32 grains of SR4759 at 1450 f/s from an eleven pound rifle. My opinion is that the speed of the recoil motion is just as important as the total energy of recoil. Speed kills.

 

[Brad]

I shot my first leferaction silouhette match with my Marlin 1895. Load was a bunch of 4895 under a the 425 RD. Went somewhere in the 1600 fps range.
After 15 or so "practice shots" I fired the 40 round match. It takes the chickens down quite smartly.
Talk about sore. Around 60 of those loads left an impressing on me.

I do agree with Ric on recoil. Speed of recoil makes a huge difference. Stock design also matters. A heavy recoiling load in a Marlin is fine, in a Win it sucks.

 

[Tony]

My future with my .416 Rigby will be with cast bullets. I have the NOE copy of the 350 grain RCBS design. Velocities will likely be kept well below 2,000 fps.

 

[Chris]

I shot the .450 Watts three times with a full load off hand. Once on video, just to make sure I would remember how it made my brain bounce inside my skull. However, it is really pleasant to shoot from the bench with 405's and 32 grains of SR4759 at 1450 f/s from an eleven pound rifle. My opinion is that the speed of the recoil motion is just as important as the total energy of recoil. Speed kills.

Some years ago I was temporarily interested in working up max hunting loads for an 1895 with LBT 400's. It was just unpleasant to shoot more than 20 rounds off the bags, my neck would hurt from whiplash the next day.

a PAST recoil shield helped with the shoulder bruising, but eventually I took a couple shot bags with 5# in each and sewed the necks together. I would put the cloth between buttplate and shoulder and the rifle would have to drag the bags back during recoil. Worked ok but seemed to affect accuracy somewhat.

I think the British used a standing rest of some kind for work with heavy calibers... that might be something to look into as it would take the slap out of recoil.

 

[Ben]

A wood of caution on this subject.

I've worked with many broken gunstocks in the past 20 years.
A rifle must be able to " free recoil ".
When a rifle is put into a " Lead Sled " or some other device that does not allow the rifle to " free recoil " , you run the risk of the stock splitting.

Ben

 

[Chris]

Good advice, Ben and it makes sense. Those days are behind me but I will keep it in mind. Actually had the stock on the 1895 split at the tang, probably because of this.

 

[Tony]

A Lead Sled can also do some serious damage to scopes and their mounts.

 

[Brad]

Best standing rest I have seen was a guy with a 4 ft or so pipe clamp. He had the tail end of the pile wrapped in carpet til it was 5 inches or so in diameter. He clamped it to a post at the height he wanted and rested the forearm or his hand on the carpet. Basically shooting standing with a rest. Recoil is easier to roll with.

 

[Ben]

Brad,

That makes a lot of sense.
A good idea.

Ben