Heavy 44spl, a little quick load help would be appreciated

S

Shadow9mm

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The rifle is a 20in barrel Henry lever gun chambered in 44mag/44spl.

The load will be a 44spl with a home cast, gas checked, powder coated, 285g wide flat nose bullets

Bullet length 0.785
base (with gas check) to crimp groove 0.358

The powder will be Power Pistol. I have tried a couple other powders with different bullet weights with poor results (HP-38, CFE Pistol, H110) and I would really prefer not to try other powders right now. Power pistol produced great results with 240s.

The goal
This will be a hunting load for deer this fall. I want the loads to be subsonic to protect my ears, I'm hoping to get up to 1,050fps give or take a bit.

As this gun is chambered in 44mag, I don't have any issues pushing the pressures up beyond 44spl levels up towards 44mag pressures. But I would really prefer to keep my gun, eyes, and finger and not have to blindly work this load up.

On a side note, this ammo will be marked as +P+ and not safe for use in any 44spl guns. I also don't have any 44spl guns it could get mixed into and don't plan to.
 
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OK, I'll run it. But as I'm sure you know, Quickload is not at its best with straight walled cartridges. With the numbers you provided, you should have a COL of 1.58. With 7.4 gr of Power Pistol (46.2% fill), the estimated velocity is 1,058 at a MAP of 13 ksi. Of course, SAAMI max is 15.5. What will it do in your rifle? I load a lot of cartridges and run all of them through Quickload. Sometimes it's close, sometimes it's off by several hundred. But there you go. Not pushing it all that hard.
 
I mocked it up. I used a Hornady 300 grain XTP for the projectile. It sits .365 deep in the case - close enough IMO to your .358.

8.0 grains of Power Pistol yields 1110 f/s through a 20" bbl.

Peak pressure is 16.9 Kpsi. (15.5 is considered SAAMI max). So this is a slight overcharge by 44 Special standards, but quite mild by Mag standards.

Most likely, you'll need less charge to stay subsonic with a 285 grain bullet.
 
I wonder what portion of the overall sound level is the sonic boom of a supersonic bullet from an unsuppressed rifle?
 
ligonierbill said:
Please share your results. We like to check QL estimates.
Click to expand...

I will

On a side note. This gun generally seems to shoot slow with 44mag rifle data. If I need to push up, where are the upper limits, say 28k psi? That should give me enough wiggle room to push up a little if I need to but make sure I have a safety buffer from max 44mag pressures as we are using computer generated loads. I'm planning to start at 7.4g and work up from there.
 
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totaldla said:
I wonder what portion of the overall sound level is the sonic boom of a supersonic bullet from an unsuppressed rifle?
Click to expand...
While i dont reccomended it. Letting off a couple subsonics dont leave my ears ringing or in pain, thinking hunting. Also when shooting at my outdoor range, the sonic boom echos off the trees, and seems a lot sharper.

.
 
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Other than you've got them, any reason for using .44 Special brass??

I've got several .44 mags that will shoot special brass, but only a partial box of special brass (that came in a trade with other things). I simply don't bother with .44 Special, and I load my .44 Mag brass from subsonic to max without any problems.

I don't have a .44 special, and no plans to get one.

Why not just use .44 mag cases for your loads??
 
44 AMP said:
Other than you've got them, any reason for using .44 Special brass??

I've got several .44 mags that will shoot special brass, but only a partial box of special brass (that came in a trade with other things). I simply don't bother with .44 Special, and I load my .44 Mag brass from subsonic to max without any problems.

I don't have a .44 special, and no plans to get one.

Why not just use .44 mag cases for your loads??
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44spl brass has been cheaper and more readily available than 44 mag brass since I bought the rifle.

The reduced volume in 44spl brass is more efficient. I can achieve the same velocities using less powder.

The bullet I am casting is designed specifically for 44spl brass, and is too long to use in 44mag brass.
 
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Got results! 7.4g was on the money!

Starline brass
CCI large pistol primers #300
Power Pistol 7.4g
Henry 44mag/44spl lever gun, 20in barrel
284g wide flat nose, gas checked, powder coated home cast bullets.

10 shots
Avg 1059
Es 26
Sd 7.92
 
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