320gr out of a 44 rifle too much?

[BerdanSS]

I'm finally starting to get my equipment set up. One of my most used (hunting) and range burner paper punching rounds is the .44 magnum. I have a 24" heavy barreled rossi 92 lever gun that I dearly love.

My folks got me a set of really nice RCBS .44 mag/special dies last year to go with my rock chucker and Jr press(es). I have mountains of brass and primers. While I want some various bullets and a couple different powders to try.....I was given some bullets: Hard cast 320gr lead flat nosed w/ gas check.

Would you guys use these for this particular rifle? That seems heavy to me, but I am new to this. Mostly what I shoot are 225gr FTXs. Would those big 'ol cast suckers be good for hunting? (white tails) or is that too heavy handed?

what would you do with them.

[reloader28]

We use the 320gr Lee RF (thats what they drop at) in 44 and 45 rifles with great results. HUGE meplats.
They work excellent on deer or anything else you want to shoot.

You may have a OAL problem with feeding from the tube, so make sure you check the fit in your gun before loading a bunch. You may have to seat them deep to feed.

[Snyper]

It should work well on deer, but it probably won't be a "fun" load to shoot.
Since you have them, try some loads to see how they group

[Armed_Chicagoan]

Might be fine out of your rifle, but many .44 Magnum rifles have a 1 in 38" twist rate that probably won't stabilize such a heavy bullet.

[Clark]

I have a 44 mag rifle that I shot 300 gr cast bullets that Leaded up and caused the muzzle to peel back like a banana. I got an extension welded on to keep it 16" legal, but the extension did not have riflings. The rifle would not even stabilize 240 gr.

The guy that cast the bullets died.
The guy that did the welding on the barrel died.
The rifle has a new Marlin 444 barrel converted to 44 mag, and is doing fine.

[oldpapps]

A plethora of decisions here. I always wanted to use that $3 word .

A lever, like an auto loader or pump is more demanding when feeding. I would make up 2 or 3 rounds with no powder/primers and see if they will feed reliability. If not, the question is solved with no further action.

Progressing, the bullet weight directly effects the potential velocity, penetration on target, down range bullet path and indirectly the amount of 'free recoil' produced.

One at a time:

In theory, any weight of bullet can be pushed to the same muzzle velocity. In practice, it ain't so. We run out of case capacity and barrel and primers get flat and flow and brass swells and expands and it just isn't pleasant to push super heavy bullets. Light/er one go so much faster and easier.

Penetration, well a stiff alloy 44 Mag, .430 inch, will plow through even the biggest mule deer, no matter what the weight, at a good working velocity and range. Now if you were going after big bear or moose....

The faster the bullet, the flatter the trajectory. The heavier the bullet at the same initial velocity, the greater the momentum and more it takes to slow down, longer the range. It's a 44 mag, keep your shots with-in reason.

With the same muzzle velocity, from the same weapon, a heavy bullet will have greater 'free recoil', it will kick more. But, this recoil also can and will move from a snapping slap to a slow shove with a longer push. We are talking about micro-seconds here. Rifle fit and weight will have a greater 'felt' difference in many cases.

All of these questions can only be answered by you, the shooter/loader.

Next item to contemplate. Leading, the dreaded pain in the barrel, I cleaned that one up. Easiest answer to leading is jacketed bullets. They work great but also add in some more problems, well questions. Or slow down the bullet to reduce the problem.

What do I think and use? First, this is me, not you.
After way too many years of loading and shooting, I have go through the 'faster than hell' stage and some 35 years ago, settled into three loading for my 44s. My 'wimp' load, 240/250 grain cast lead over 5.6 grains of 231/HP38 (I started with the old Olin 230) to give a soft 650 to 675 FPS. Shoot it all day long and enjoy it. It is my 'wimp' load and I like it. Next up is the same as above but 17 grains of 2400. This ups the velocity to just under 1100 FPS. I get no leading. And the last is a 240 grain JHP with mag primers and a heavy charge of Olin 630 (no, you can't find that one listed - told you I've been loading a long time) for a velocity over 1375 FPS (ouch).
Of late I have been powder coating rifle bullets, NO leading. And have tried the coating on my 240 grain cast 44s. It works great with no leading but serves me no added value. I actual get 25 to 50 FPS slower velocities with the coated bullets. I know that this is because they are so slick and I could move to much greater velocities, with no leading, but why? I'm happy with the loads I have.

All of this is just the babbling of an old coot. Think for your self. Gather as much information and facts as possible, then test what you think will work. Above all, be safe and enjoy you self.

OSOK

[BerdanSS]

thank you all....very helpful info.


A quick (and very small) update. I mocked one up (and it came out) at 1.701 OAL. The action must be moved pretty darn firmly to cycle from the magazine tube, and on the 2nd try a tiny bit of the nose was shaved off.I checked a couple different factory rounds I had. With a flat nose, looks like I need 1.628-1.635 at the max to be reliable.


Or I can load them as is and just keep a couple in my vest pocket in case a Brown bear shows up