44 special loads with H110 powder?

Kalen, I'll keep it simple. I only use Skeeter Skelton's pet load in my .44 Spl. which is 7.5 gr. of Unique under the Lyman #420241 cast lead bullet. Very accurate and brings out the best in an S&W 624 that I own. I shoot that same bullet in my .44 mag. with 20 gr. of A2400. Good enough. I'd have to check this out but IIRC I used 24.0 gr. of W296 which is the same as H110 with that bullet. I did not like the sharp muzzle blast and big ball of fire that emanated from the muzzle. IIRC, that was 1.0 full grain below maximum in one of my manuals. Recoil was also quite stout.
Skeeter's load in a Super Blackhawk will be reasonably mild and comfortable to shoot. I haven't tried it in an NIB Colt single action in .44 Spl. yet as I'm thinking of selling it and if it was to be shot, would probably knock a big chunk off the value. :confused:
One thing that I did not see mentioned is use a strong light to check powder levels if you're going to use powders like Bullseye or Unique, Slipping a double charge into one of the cases will definitely get your attention if you miss it. Could even cause your gun to become unglued.
Paul B.
 
"so just how many grains can i cram into that special case? "

Depending on the gun, enough to damage the gun and possibly you, too.

You don't "cram" powder into a case. That infers carelessness and extreme lack of attention to details, and in reloading ammunition, that will come back to haunt you, possibly forever.

The dip brother of a kid I went to school with was like that -- 14 years old and knew everything about everything, and God forbid you try to tell him anything different than what he had decided on.

He thought he'd load up some special dove loads for his shotgun...

Loading manual? That's crap! I don't need that. I'll just slop some powder in the case, top it off with shot, and the doves will fall out of the sky!

When the barrel blew out because of the serious overpressure load, a chunk of it took out a lot of muscle in his left forearm, leaving that arm permanently crippled.
 
A little late to the party, maybe, but will add a couple comments.

1. Not a good idea to load .44spl to .44mag levels even if you plan to shoot them from a .44mag gun. If someone else should find that ammo and attempt to shoot it from a .44spl gun, it's a problem. Or, some years from now, you forget and do it because you found an old box of .44spl that fell down behind the cabinet. You could get "hit by the proverbial bus" tomorrow and your wife gives all you stuff away to your best friend. And he makes that mistake. You just never know.

2. Red Dot is a great powder for plinking with 200g bullets in .44spl or .44mag cases. I load 5.6g in .44mag cases.
 
The simple explanation is that 110 is different than other powders and can be dangerous if the case is insufficiently filled. When you change to smaller cases the 44 mag charges are no longer valid.

It is possible to load 110 in 44 SPL cases that would be perfectly safe to fire in your 44 magnum, but would probably not be safe to fire in a 44 SPL. For this reason there is very little published data for such a load. Even old sources that once published such data have long since dropped it.

What this means is that it takes educated guesswork based on lots of 110 experience to come up with safe loads which is a place that a beginner should NEVER tread. Beginners should stick with recipes and componets straight out of the book until you gain more expereince.
 
Beginners should stick with recipes and components straight out of the book until you gain more experience.
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Good advice after gaining experience also. People who think they know better than the guy who wrote the book usually don't.
 
KALEN, I don't mean to "pile on" here, but I avoid using H110/W296 in ANYTHING except .30 Carbine(for which it was originally developed).

There are too many other powders (Alliant 2400, AA#9, IMR-4227) that will do much the same thing, and are far more forgiving when not loaded to the ragged edge of maximum. I think AA#5, Unique, Herco (often on shelves when Unique is not), or even W231/HP38 would work admirably in .44 Spl. loads, even if you want to load them toward the magnum end of the spectrum (Unique & Herco are especially well suited here).

I don't own a .44 Special, but I've loaded at least 1000 rounds for friends. You can go from "mild" to "wild" using Unique and Herco. I've probably burned 50 lbs of Unique over the years in cartridges from .32 ACP to .44 Mag, and it's worked well in everything in which I've tried it.

Sorry about the curmudgeonly manner in which your original inquiry was greeted. I suspect that the emphatic answers were largely attributable to the answering parties' automatically knowing what kind of a "ballistic SPIT-storm" you'd be inviting by light-loading H110. It may not seem like it, but their "unvarnished" answers were probably formed, at least in part, by a genuine and urgent motivation to deter you from going down a bad pathway.

Since you'll be looking for a medium-burning pistol powder, you could do US a favor by trying one of the newer ones, with which WE might not have much experience, like Alliant BE-86 or Hodgdon CFE pistol. I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to get into a "rut" when using powders, and could probably have overlooked some very fine products in the process.
 
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KALEN, I don't mean to "pile on" here, but I avoid using H110/W296 in ANYTHING except .30 Carbine(for which it was originally developed).
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True it was developed for 30 carbine but let's see what Hogdon has to say about 110 today:

Shotgun and Pistol Powders


H110 is the spherical powder that screams "no wimps, please!" It delivers top velocities with top accuracy in the 44 Magnum, 454 Casull, 475 Linebaugh and the 460 and 500 S&W magnums. Silhouette shooters claim it is the most accurate 44 powder they have ever used. In addition, H110 is "the" choice for 410 Bore shotgun, especially among top competitive skeet and sporting clays shooters. It handles all 2 1/2", 1/2 oz. loads, as well as all 11/16 oz. loads for the 3" version. Available in 1 lb., 4 lb. & 8 lb. containers.
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True you can't reduce loads below minimum, nor should you with ANY powder, so its only good for ull magnum loads, but for that it is one of the best. 110 has a narrow range of published loads, but I would argue that it is about the easiest and most forgiving powder to load with if you simply stick to the published loads. Most published loads fill the case to where the bullet seats, so you can easily spot a disaster with your eyeballs. You can't double charge it. You would be hard pressed to stuff enough of it into a case to cause a disaster. Because of the heavy charges, your margin of error is much greater. Since the OP already HAS some 110, it would be a great choice when he's ready to do full power 44 magnum loads.
 
Kalen:

Do NOT try to use H110 (which is the same as W296) in the 44Special
- No matter if you're shooting a 44Mag Blackhawk gun.
- No matter if that powder works in the (slightly) larger 44Mag case.
- No matter if you can physically fit XX grains of H110 in the 44Special case

NO.

Go get a nice mid-range powder like Unique or TiteGroup and then follow the
mid-power loads in the manual.

Please do not ignore this counsel, or that of every poster prior to this.
 
You ummm, are the ruling law on H110/296 I take it? ;) :) . Seems to me we covered it above, and also found it can be used in the .44Special under certain circumstances and has been used in the past wit the .44 Special. It just may not be your normal powder for a beginner or regular .44 Special loads.... Just saying :) . Oh, and some of us do load even the Keith load in .44Special too..... It's each to their own with an informed decision. No need to 'lay down the law' so to speak!
 
44Special

H-110 From 15.1 grains to 16.5 grains for a 210 gr bullet. From- http://stevespages.com/page8a.htm This powder requires a Magnum primer and a good strong crimp. On seating a bullet , the case neck should expand .002" or more for good neck tension.
 
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44spcl

Here's a gift:

Winchester 231 @ 4.9gr using a 240gr cast SWC bullet should give you a nice safe load moving out at around 650 f/s.

If you are unable to obtain the proper components, don't reload and wait until they are available.

Be safe!
 
My go-to powder for .44 Special is...

Trail Boss.

I tried using 231 and wasn't happy with the miniscule amounts. I was having erratic ignition and accuracy, probably due to the tiny amount of powder migrating to different places in the case.

Once I switched to TB, though, no more consistency issues, and extremely good accuracy.
 
It's each to their own with an informed decision.
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Unfortunately the OP demonstrates an ill-informed approach -- which is not
in itself unusual/disqualifier for a beginning reloader ...except that it appears
to get worse with each interaction in response.

So yes. I have no problem at all speaking in short sentences and words of one
syllable as to his staying away from H110 and/or W296 in that application.

.
 
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Mike Irwin said:
My go-to powder for .44 Special is... Trail Boss.
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Like Mike, I have grown to have a tremendous liking for TrailBoss in what are
normal/traditional midrange loads in large-capacity case--especially w/ cast bullets,

TB's very fast pressure rise (one of the fastest spikes around) makes for very effective
"bump-up" as the bullet hits the grooves and covers a multitude of sizing sins. ;)
 
Personally I love the H110/296 loads from Hodgdon #23 in .44 Spl; however, since that powder is way more expensive than many other options (due to how many grains you have to use), I rarely load it in the Spl now. Way back in the 80s it sold for lower price/lb than other powders, so the cost difference was not as bad as it is today.

But the more important point that some people have mentioned in this thread is that the OP exhibits a marked lack of knowledge and understanding of the reloading fundamentals, and for those reasons, I absolutely agree that he should NOT be trying to use this powder in .44 Spl. He has been given good advice on better choices.
 
I am looking at "Speer 8" 1970:
44 mag 240 gr JSP, H110 21 gr - 23 gr, 1280 - 1455 fps, 6.5" barrel
44 spec 240 gr JSP, H110 14 gr - 16 gr, 1002 - 1087 fps, 6.5" barrel
I plugged this data into Quickload, using 8.2" barrel to add on the length of the cylinder, and 1.565" OAL for 44 mag and 1.465" OAL for 44 special as listed for those bullets in "Speer 12" as "Speer 8" does not list OAL.
44 mag: 20,693 psi 1260 fps - 27,118 psi 1397 fps
44 special: 7,603 psi 805 fps - 9,780 psi 917 fps

..cough, cough, be sure to roll crimp those light loads.
 
Mr. Clark: FWIW.....Hodgdon #25 Manual lists the 240gr JSP/.44 mag. from a 7 1/2" Bbl. w/H110/24.0gr=1548 FPS@39,300 CUP. [23.0gr H110/=1411FPS @35,200 CUP].
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.44 SPL.....7 1/2" Bbl. 240gr JHP/H110-14.5gr=1192FPS @ 14,600 CUP.(no start load): Bullet weights from [180gr JHP] (17.5/1358/15,900 CUP) to [265gr JSP] (13.0/970/15,600 CUP) all w/H110 powder.

Quickload is Greek to me....Perhaps you can plug these figures in and come up with something.

WILL
 
Mr. Adamson, RE: post 16:.....H110/WW296 powder does not take well to reduced loading. It works best at higher/near max-max pressures w/a heavy crimp, and mag. primer.

Hodgdon Manual # 25 lists a:
180gr JHP w/17.5 gr H110 FOR 1358 FPS AND 15,900 CUP/7 1/2" Bbl.
210gr JHP w/ 16.0gr H110 for 1256 FPS and 15,900 CUP. " "
250gr LGC w/14.5gr H110 for 1202 FPS and 13,200 CUP. " "
No starting load for any of the above.

These, (as well as any other [safe] .44 SPL. load) are safe to shoot in any .44 mag chamber. When you reduce the charge of H110/WW296 powder from these loads, you ask for trouble in the form of extremely high (read that UNSAFE) pressures. A ballistician would be the person to ask [Why?] I can only surmise as to why it is....... Guessing as to why... will get you hurt, [at the least], and possibly, [No longer of this world].

With all due respect;

WILL
 
Iv been told by others to use the max load possible with that powder & a 200 gr bullet in my .44 magnum.
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Highighted for emphasis.

I don't know if it has been already suggested but if indeed you have a magnum revolver and shoot specials out of it, I feel you would decrease the chances of a mis-hap and make the most of a potent powder by just buying some .44 mag cases and loading the H110 in those.

Otherwise, from what I've heard about H110 you're just trying to make a reloading square peg fit a reloading round hole.

I understand it is a great powder when used in the correct application...

Good luck.

I plugged this data into Quickload
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I've not used it yet but hope to buy it one day, but I'd heard QL was not very reliable on straight walled cartridges whilst being clairvoyant when it comes to bottle-necks.
 
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