Just finished:
50 rounds of .44 Rem Mag
310 gr Lee WFN / GC, sized to .432"
1.690" OAL
H110
And... because I had the .44 dies out, and I need legal shot shells (1/2 oz or more shot) for Grouse on the upcoming Elk hunt....
7 rounds of .44-303, as I call it.
They're my .44 Mag shot shells, from .303 British cases.
My last loads in these cases were rather hot, and the "bottleneck" shape caused significant issues with the cases backing out of the cylinder. I had to find a way to resize the 'neck' and bump the 'shoulder' back, or I wouldn't be able to rechamber the cases. I tried quite a few different methods, but ended up just sizing the neck down and bumping the shoulder back with a .40 S&W sizing die. It made nitro card seating a bit tricky, but worked.
5 gr Blue Dot (light load -- I use Titegroup for hot loads)
1/8"x.430" Circle-Fly nitro card, split in half
220 gr Reclaimed shot (primarily #6-7.5, with a little of everything from #4-#9 thrown in)
Secured with nail polish, topped with a Circle-Fly over-shot card, and sealed with nail polish again.
Right now, the first treatment of nail polish is curing. After a few days, I'll add the over-shot card and seal it with nail polish again. Then, they cure for a few more days (or weeks) before being packaged. (To prevent the out-gassing toluene from causing problems with the polypropylene insert in the box.)
As you can see, the variability of the depth of Remington's head stamps and rim thickness really comes to light when you have to reduce the rims.
This batch of cases ended up with a fire-formed length of 1.630", where typical .44 Mag case length is 1.280-1.300". In the future, I'll push the .303 cases all the way to 1.760" (cylinder length) before fire-forming. It should take me to about 1.750" for a finished length and let me seat a full-thickness nitro card. ...If I ever get the motivation to turn more rims down (it's a bit of a pain, without a lathe).
