What's A good Powder for 44 Spl/ Mag ???

[Russ in WY]

Have the Urge to get back to doing some plinking with My 2 44's. Have a very early Ruger Blackhawk Mag Flat Top/Fluted Cly, & S/S Redhawk. I would be loading Cast lead for the most part. I have a 4-cavity Lyman 429421 & 100lbs of Lineotype metal. Plus some commercial 240 gr bullets. In the past I loaded 2400, 14 grs in Spl case & 16 grs in the Mag. Made a nice Plinking Load. 2400 left alot of unburned powder it seemed. Is to days 2400 better burning or shud I switch to another powder . I would like to keep case as full as possible ie -no dbl charging. TIA Russ.

[CTKen]

I like Unique in the 44 mag as a plinker with a 240 cast. About 8 grains should give 8-900 fps, very comfortable. Not sure of the load density as its been a while since I loaded any. I load my pistol stuff and a Dillon Square Deal B so no chance of double charging. I have it on hand for my shotshell loading of 16 and 20 gauge. How fast are looking to push them?

[Russ in WY]

Is what I had in mind,TKS Russ.

[Phil]

9.0grs of Unique for a low recoiling fun load to plink with. Very accurate in my 8 3/8 Smith & Wesson.

[glenn asher]

Unique is an excellent choice, but it fouls pretty bad. You might try some Hodgdon's Universal Clays, it's a lot like Unique, but isn't as dirty. I have no problems with Unique, at all, but Universal is cleaner.

[Catfish]

If you want good loads cheap Bullseye is outstanding. I load 6 gr. behind a 240 gr. bullet in the .44 mag and that will get you abt. 900 fps. in you Ruger. I would drop 1 to 1 1/2 grns. in the special. You should never worry abt the sut left in the barrel after fireing if you are getting good accuracy. 1 dry patch will remove it.

[Terry N.]

I have used Unique with good results other than it burning dirty, and occasional 'bridging' in the powder measure. That's normally only in extremely humid conditions.

IMR-4227 works very well for mid-range loads with your bullet, and there's no chance of double-charging with it. I use around 21 grains, but could go higher if need be.

[Rocky Raab]

Howdy, Russ! I envy you that flattop. Put me in your will, huh? LOL!

For a clean and impossible to double-charge powder, check out Accurate 5744. In the .44 Special under a 240ish cast bullet,12 to 12.5 grains will get you a modest 700 fps. In the Maggie, up to 24.0 grains under the same bullet will churn out up to 1450 fps! And any load in between will be fine. Durn near magic.

[T.Zimm]

Imr 4227, and Clays. Had good results with both. But for accuracy and speed there is the ONE and ONLY H-110!! Plus it makes a pretty fireball out the end of the barrel.:D

[Bob R.]

9.0grs of Unique for a low recoiling fun load to plink with. Very accurate in my 8 3/8 Smith & Wesson.

Same exact load I use in my Super Redhawk with 240 grain hard cast SWC's.. Fun, mild and accurate load.

[Paul Workman]

Boy...I used to shoot a TON of 44 thru Ruger Super Blackhawks, Redhawks, and the T/C, back when my arms were long enough to see the sights w/o glasses...[sigh].

For cast bullets I liked Unique and Universal (the latter being cleaner) for 900 ish plinking loads. Lots of soda cans died as result of 240 SWCs over Unique, I can tell ya! Easy enough for my (then) young son to handle very well. With hard cast bullets, I had very little lead fouling, if any. (This was before Hu put me onto Lock-Ease. I wonder if that stuff would help w/ lead bullets as well?)

Shooting Times' writer, Skeeter Skelton (my he rest in peace) shot a ton of 240 SWC over 2400. His favorite load was 22 gn, if I recall. I did shoot some of that load, but reserved it for limited shooting, due to lead fouling - but it DO have a lot of punch! I like 15 gn of 2400 for plinking loads, but Unique only requires 8 gn for that.

I guess I'm not adding much to your question or what you already know. So, all I can say is I'm confirming Unique and 2400 as two great powders to shoot in the Ruger Super BH. 21 gn of 2400 under the 220 Sierra Matchking was a "one holer" at 25 yards which I used a lot in my "steel chicken" days (thru a 10-1/2" Ruger SBH).

4227 is what my mo 29 likes for mid loads of either cast or jacketed blts, but the Rugers always did better with the 2400.

For full house loads, around 26 gn of Win 296 w/ a mag primer under a 240 jacketed pill works very well in the Ruger, the mo 29, and the 10" T/C and is clean burning.

HTH,

P.

[Godsdog]

I've been using 14.0 grs of WW 540 shotgun powder behind a 260 gr Keith bullet. Gives me 1230 fps. The powder burns very clean, meters through a measure real nice and is accurate. Godsdog.

[Rocky Raab]

Just to avoid potentially dangerous confusion, Godsdog, is that load of 14.0 of 540 (also known as HS-6) in .44 Special or .44 Magnum brass?

[jeepster]

i use H110 180gr.Sierra JHC, for plinking. good acu,fills case, very cons.. ruger 44 mag. sbh.

[QuickRick]

My only 44 mag is a 6 1/2 inch S&W classic. My favorite plinking/medium power load is 9.2 grns of W-231 with 200 grn home or commerical cast bullets. This load produces just over 1,100 fps in my handgun with minimum or no leading. According to Lyman you can go a couple grains heavier with the powder charge but I was pleased with 9.2 grns as to accuracy, lack of leading, and velocity. I use standard LP primers (CCI or Winchester) with this load.

[Godsdog]

Rocky, it's 44 Mag. Brass. Godsdog.