S&W 44 Special

[Mowgli Terry]

It was easy to disconnect my landline phone from the ground. We had the same number for nearly seventy years with prefixed added over the years. When the burglar alarm was installed a wireless connection was included at extra cost. I know it works from my screw ups. One home invading feral cat also set the alarm off.

After all those years with that number it was disconnected. We had kept the line so the distant family could stay connected. They are all gone now. Our cell number is now the main number.

Here is the list for today. Keepers are a 35 caliber 141 Remington pump and four Smith&Wesson revolvers. The Smith's would the 624 plus a 38/44 Outdoorsman and two custom's. In one sense there is little concern since that former owner will not be around. I forgot my 4" nickle plated Model 29 from the late 1950's. The Colt is a bottom feeder. Revolvers rule around my house.

 

[Bret4207]

One, be glad you will never get all your projects done, boredom is boring. Two, reloading tool are interesting, historical and cheap to collect.

Amen! I have a soft spot for Belding and Mull, Potter (made not far from me), Yankee moulds, anything from pre WW2 or oddballs of all kinds. And books! There was a time when people avidly collected the older books, magazines and digests not for the pleasure of having them, but for the information in them. I still think everyone should read Shrape, Naramore, Mattern (#1), Keith, Whelen, Ackley and if possible the older stuff by Ness, Roberts, Fran Sell, Kephart, Haines, Curtis, Fitzgerald, etc. There is a wealth of knowledge in print that gets "rediscovered" endlessly it seems. It's all there, we just seem to have forgotten everything that isn't on-line.

 

[Wiresguy]

Excellent list, Bret. I would humbly add Harvey Donaldson to the list as one I enjoyed when he and Neal Knox exchanged letters in Handloader.

 

[Brad]

Biggest problem with so many of the old writers is that many of the powders and bullets mentioned no longer exist. Reading about how great a rifle did with Hi-Vel #2 doesn’t do me much good if the powder is no longer made.
There is value in reading the writings of the old writers but it doesn’t help a new guy much.
There is a fine line between acknowledging the contributions made by others and living in the past.

 

[richhodg66]

A shop almost local to me has some Hi-Vel #2 way up on a shelf above where most of the powders he keeps are. I have several manuals with data, been thinking of making him an offer for it just so I can try it out. Looks to have been repackaged in heavy paper bags, which I understand was common practice with bulk powders at one point.

 

[Rally]

Only own one Spl, the 624, but lots of .44 mags, that will shoot them. Hardest part about the Spl is finding cheap brass.

 

[oscarflytyer]

I have the 3 44 SPC revolvers, a 44-40 SA and a 44-40 lever gun. And looking at another 44-40 Smith N. Also looking at getting a 44-40 conversion cylinder for the BH flattop SPC. I am very seriously considering getting out of the 45 Colt business and narrowing to 44s. Always been my sweet spot anyway. And a cpl other 44s that really interest me.

 

[Walks]

Only own one Spl, the 624, but lots of .44 mags, that will shoot them. Hardest part about the Spl is finding cheap brass.

Then buy that cheap starline

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

For the Lee #429-208-WC, may I suggest in the .44Spl case;
5.0grs of either Titegroup or Bullseye*
6.5grs of Unique

I have both a 2cav & 6cav, a really great bullet, with COWW mine drops from the 2cav right at .430 - 213grs
The 6cav will drop at .431 - 214grs with same.

* most accurate in Colt SAA

My Fav 44 Spl Bullet

Lyman 421429 CUSTOM MOLD

One of my favorites. Made by a friends father who has passed. Its a Dandy 44spl Bullet.

rumble.com

 

[Bret4207]

Biggest problem with so many of the old writers is that many of the powders and bullets mentioned no longer exist. Reading about how great a rifle did with Hi-Vel #2 doesn’t do me much good if the powder is no longer made.
There is value in reading the writings of the old writers but it doesn’t help a new guy much.
There is a fine line between acknowledging the contributions made by others and living in the past.

Per Ken Waters, and I don't think there is a more reputable authority, Relodr 11 is very similar to Hi Vel 2. Per Ed Harris, Unique is very similar to Infallible, SR4759 to Sharpshooter and Herco to SR80. I wrote that list down in the front of my copy of "Pet Loads". There are probably other references out there also and if anyone has some, please list them.

The value in the older writings isn't so much the specific loads, it's the process involved in finding out why they worked. Barrel dimensions, oddities in function or form, what path to follow IOW. Plus theres the value of seeing how things progressed. I would say it's akin to acknowledging that while we have wonderful modern medicines and chemicals, most of what we have can be duplicated, at least to an extent, through herbs and plants that have been found to be effective for a particular use because they contain naturally occurring forms of those medicines and chemicals, and often have added bonus nutrients or other beneficial qualities. "De Matria Medica", as an example. is just one of many very vintage texts that still have a very real utility even in todays modern world. The same idea goes for the older texts in this game.

 

[richhodg66]

About five years ago, Dad gave me a big keg of Alcan 120, never popular, it seems and not made for 50 years. It looked good and I managed to find a couple of samples of pistol data and read enough to learn it burned like Red Dot. Over the course of the next few years, I loaded that stuff in all kinds of things using Red Dot starting data and watching things carefully, used up about four pounds of it and it was very good stuff. Metered well and in my unscientific observation, I'd say it was probably a little slower burning than Red Dot. I'd take more of it if the opportunity presented itself.

 

[fiver]

unique is infallible.
the name got changed when lafflin and rand went under the alliant banner.

 

[Bret4207]

unique is infallible.
the name got changed when lafflin and rand went under the alliant banner.

I was unaware of that, thanks! You did mean Hercules I assume? Herc became Alliant IIRC.

 

[Missionary]

That is great to read !!

 

[fiver]

yeah Herculese... LOL
it only took me 10-12 years to refer to them as Alliant on a regular basis.
i remember herculese testing rockets across the valley as a kid, the plume of white smoke laying close to the ground and then rolling up in a big ball was a pretty regular sight back in the 70's.

 

[Bret4207]

It's still Hercules to me! If there's one thing I'm good at, it's sticking with anachronisms. We had some company that was a Hercules division near where I grew up. Can't recall exactly what it was but your mention of rockets made me think of it.

 

[Winelover]

Never much referred it as Hercules or Alliant. Always used the well known shortened name...........Unique, Bluedot, 2400, etc. For handguns always stuck with their line. For rifles it is mainly Accurate's line............I can't seem to recall their old name.

 

[L Ross]

yeah Herculese... LOL
it only took me 10-12 years to refer to them as Alliant on a regular basis.
i remember herculese testing rockets across the valley as a kid, the plume of white smoke laying close to the ground and then rolling up in a big ball was a pretty regular sight back in the 70's.

Watching an old Western the other night, (Rooster Cogburn?), and the bad guys had stolen a wagon load of nitroglycerine from the Army. Anyway, at one point they threw back the tarp and the crates of nitro said Hercules on them. The old box of dynamite in my neighbor's shed that I saw as a kid might have been Hercules also.

Why did I feel safer back when a farmer could be trusted to blow stumps and get a bulletin from the Conservation Dept. for blasting duck pot holes with ANFO than I do today?

 

[richhodg66]

Watching an old Western the other night, (Rooster Cogburn?), and the bad guys had stolen a wagon load of nitroglycerine from the Army. Anyway, at one point they threw back the tarp and the crates of nitro said Hercules on them. The old box of dynamite in my neighbor's shed that I saw as a kid might have been Hercules also.

Why did I feel safer back when a farmer could be trusted to blow stumps and get a bulletin from the Conservation Dept. for blasting duck pot holes with ANFO than I do today?

I love that movie and remember the scene, but must not have been paying close enough attention. I'll have to watch it again soon.

Can't get a much better combination than John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn.

 

[462]

Can't get a much better combination than John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn.

John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.