44 magnum bullet performance

[gman]

Pictured are some NOE 434640 PC'd bullets recovered from berm after shot through my Ruger Super RedHawk. Air cooled after PC'ing they tested 10 bhn on my cabine tree tester. I loaded and shot them the next day. I was dialing in my ultra dot and at 50 yards shot a 6 shot group just under one inch. Next group went high and left and I noticed the Ruger rings had become loose on the base enough that the rear ring was no longer attached. I'm going to shoot again and run some through the chronograph. Thought some of you would like to see the recovered bullets. Here are the weights. 303 grains when sized gas checked and pc'd. 280.0, 298.3, 295.8, 285.1, 288.4, 277.9, 297.2, 258.7, 296.2, 292.4, 297.5, 289.8, 296.1 and 254.8.

 

[35 shooter]

Nice expansion and sounds like it's going to be an accurate load.

 

[Brad]

What kind of load are you running? And I love my SRH, great revolver.

 

[S Mac]

Just curious, those were powder coated? I don't see any coating in the pic's, did they shed the coating?

 

[gman]

Brad, 21.5 grains H110. S. Mac, yes they were pc'd. And you are correct in your observation. Good thing is that the barrel is not leaded up. This batch ready to shoot I sized the bullet in a .431 die then pc'd. I quenched these just to see what would happen. Sized them at .43240 and they aged for 8 days. Went from 10 to 13 bhn. We will see how the coating holds up. That last batch was loaded and shot the next day. First time I've witnessed the coating removed like that.

 

[Brad]

I had good results with a 300 gr HP mould from MP Moulds and 21.5 gr of H110.
I found I did best when sized .4315 of a snug slip fit in the throats.

I bet that with some tweets and work you would find it shoots well at 100 with that bullet and load. Nothing as fun as plinking clays at 100 yards with a revolver.

 

[gman]

Just a little follow up. I shot the bullets that I quenched right out the oven from PC'ing. They hardened from 10 bhn to 13 by the next day. These had been run through a 431 sizer prior to PC'ing. After coating I ran them through a 432 sizer which sizes to 43240. My thinking was a little thicker coating to see if it would be removed like the ones shown in the above picture. Well the coating stayed on but they did not shoot as accurate nor did they expand. After 10 days I checked hardness on some that I did not load and they tested 17-19 on my cabine tree tester.

 

[Pistolero]

They look nice, but dirt is pretty hard. I'd try saturated newspaper stack..... at least 3 ft if I
wanted to know what they would do in flesh.

OTOH, if they expand exactly zero, there is still a huge hole. In the right location it will be conclusive.

Bill

 

[gman]

Roger that Bill. Just dug them up to recover for remelting. Was just impressed with the expansion and weight retention.