.44 Magnum reloads

[Scribe]

Hi Chaps,

just wanted some pointers in the right direction. I have a Chiappa .44 Magnum, 92 action. It shoots jacketed loads fine, but I am trying to work up something cheaper. So far I have tried only 240 grain lead semi wadcutter loaded by my local gunsmiths. Accuracy was appalling and half of them keyholed.

I have a box of lead 200 grain round nose flat points a friend gave me that I am going to try.

Any suggestsionbs as to which powder to use and how much? This is for target shooting only at 25 to 50 yards so it doen't have to be too fast or too loud.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[bedlamite]

lead semi wadcutter loaded by my local gunsmiths. Accuracy was appalling and half of them keyholed.

You might want to clean the lead out of that barrel before you shoot any more through it.

I use 10gr of Universal under a 240gr plated bullet for plinking.

[myg30]

Boolit fit is most important. You might want to slug your bbl to see what size boolit you need to shoot. Powder charge,type is important but correct size boolit .001-.003 over the slug dimension [larger] trumps all. It will stop your leading and greatly improve your accuracy too !

Mike

[madmo44mag]

I shoot a lot of Missouri Bullets 240 LRN out of my Rugers.
18.0 gn of 2400 gives great accuracy and little leading.
Keep in mind this is a large straight wall brass cartridge and you need a powder that fills as much of the case as possible for consistent ignition and burn.
Use a powder that fills too little of the case and your accuracy will suffer.

[Rifleman1776]

I have loaded and shot many thousands of rounds of hard cast lead SWC bullets in .44 mag. with very light loads.
Three things come to mind with your gun. Severe leading, too small a bullet or very-very shallow rifling in the barrel. I had a Marlin lever rifle with their (in)famous micro-groove rifling that would not shoot lead well at all. It couldn't find paper at 25 yards from a bench.
You might be stuck shooting the high priced jacketed bullets. Or buying a new gun.

[dahermit]

You might be stuck shooting the high priced jacketed bullets. Or buying a new gun.

It is way too early to jump to that conclusion...I have never had any gun that I did not/could not find a cast-bullet load that would shoot well in it. One is however, handicapped when using purchased cast-bullets instead of bullets they have cast themselves. The bullet caster has more options and control more of the variables (alloy, bullet size, etc.) with home-cast.

As for a .44 Magnum load using those 200 grain lead round-nose bullets, open your cast-bullet loading manual (shame on you for implying that you would actually use loads offered on the INTERNET), and try the starting load for that weight bullet. If those bullets are swagged from soft lead, not cast, the starting loads are the most likely to result in acceptable results.

[NoSecondBest]

myg30 gave you the correct answer. If your bullet is too small a diameter you'll never get it to shoot well. Even microgroove barrels will shoot reasonably well with the correct size bullet.

[totaldla]

Have your gunsmith friend slug your barrel, i.e. measure the diameter of the bore. My guess is that you should be using .431" diameter bullets.

Powder isn't that important - literally ANY medium burn rate pistol/shotgun powder will work fine - I don't know what is available across the pond.

[dahermit]

Keep in mind this is a large straight wall brass cartridge and you need a powder that fills as much of the case as possible for consistent ignition and burn.
Use a powder that fills too little of the case and your accuracy will suffer.

Not set in stone. 2.7 grains of Bullseye behind a 148 grain wad cutter left plenty of space in the .38 cases (despite the wadcutter being seated flush), and was a standard load for off-hand revolver competition for years. A mild load using Unique will provide good accuracy despite the air-space it will leave.

[Dondor]

Problem might be your rifle.

Rifling twist rate has been known to be wonky when dealing with 44mag.

By wonky as in not enough twist to stabilize.

[AlaskaMike]

Scribe, I have a Rossi 92 that slugged .434" that acted exactly as your Chiappa is doing. Jacketed bullets seemed to do fine through it, but any cast bullet I tried just gave horrendous accuracy and a leaded bore. I ended up getting a custom bullet mold that casts .435" bullets using my alloy, and then I size them to .434.

With the properly sized bullets my Rossi suddenly became wonderfully accurate, and at the end of a shooting day the bore is still nice and shiny with no leading whatsoever.

Good luck,
Mike

[mikld]

Yep, get to know the groove diameter of your gun and use cast bullets a bit larger in diameter. One other thought; in my '92 clone, SWC won't feed when loaded in Magnum brass. I have shot a lot in Special cases but Magnum SWC shoulders will hit the chamber edge and/or tilt on the lifter and jam. I settled on a Ranch Dog 240 gr., and 265 gr. RNFP, sized to .433"...

[02bigdogs17]

First you need to slug your barrel. I don't know about a rifle but in my Super Blackhawk with lead bullets I have had excellent results with Unique.

[zxcvbob]

Bullet fit might be the right way to do it, but you can also use near-max loads of fast burning powder to upset the bullet to fit.

Are the SWC's catching on the chamber when you feed? Maybe you're taking a little hunk of lead off and unbalancing the bullets. I think you'll like RNFP's better, but not necessarily 200's.

[iraiam]

I personally use H-110, 2400, or WC820 in my 44 magnum loads, all with magnum primers.

I shoot a hot load with a 240 grain gas checked semi-wadcutter sized to .430 it's the same size as my bore, but I can shoot hundreds of rounds before I start to see any leading, and I always clean well before that point.

[TimSr]

I know everybody is all about bullet fit being everything, but when loading non gas check cast bullets to full magnum velocities, which I do frequently, you just cant get there without the adequate hardness. My first question would be, are your "lead bullets" lead, or are they cast? and to what hardness? Soft lead likes fast burning powders at lower velocities. Quality cast bullets alow you to step up with slower burning powders. What size are they?

When I first started reloading many many years ago, I couldn't understand why the Speer manual listed .357 mag SWC loads below velocities for .38 +P jacketed loads, but found their warnings of excessive leading if loaded beyond to be true. Speer SWC bullets are soft lead. When shopping for cheap jacketed bullets at a gun show, and old man selling cast bullets educated me with the "fingernail test" as an example. I reduced my costs drastically, and learned to load very accurrate, clean shooting, full magnum cast bullet rounds that day, and I've found that most modern revolvers will shoot standard size quality cast bullets well, and have never found the need to slug a barrel or customize bullet size, and would only do so after known quality bullets of the standard size failed to give the expected results.

You can't tell how hard a bullet is with your fingernail, but if you can cut into the nose of your bullet with a nail, it is pretty soft, and you should be looking at light target loads with a fast burning powder to start, and those would be of .44 spec velocities.