Need revised advice on 44 magnum load

Elkins,

In your shoes, I would unload that scandium 329. It was an ill-conceived design from the get go- sort of like a sticking a Honda four-cylinder gasser in a Kenworth and expecting it to pull log trailers, just because it has a fifth wheel on it. Additionally, I believe your 329 has the internal lock and if S&W's IL is going to screw up on you, it will be in a lightweight, hard-kicking revolver. Finally, you are far more likely to have a bullet jump crimp and tie up your cylinder with a flyweight big-bore, than with anything else. All bad ju-ju. Ditch it.

Get a Ruger Alaskan in .454 and be done with it. Other options for me would include a used Super Redhawk in .454, cut back to about 5" with the sight remounted. You can shoot medium to heavy .45 Colts in them and warm up to the platform. A 4" standard Redhawk in .45 Colt would also work for me.

If you're set up to load .44's and don't want to change, that cartridge will suffice with heavy flat-nosed SWC's, LBT's or Sierra's 300 grain soft point- which ain't soft at all.

Forget all this KE, ME nonsense when considering handguns for bear defense or the heaviest game. Forget hollowpoints. Bundle up some old newspapers, soak them and stack sideways them until you get a column 3-4 feet deep. When your load will shoot through 2 1/2 to 3 feet of that, you are getting there.
 
Don't listen to the anti's. I think you just need to work on a load that you are comfortable shooting with it. I have shot some out of mine that were hot enough to dish the primers and it held up just fine. Granted I only sent one cylinder through, after I noticed how hot they were I quite shooting them. But non the less I think you can develop or find a load that will work for you.
 
44 mag load

Consider something in the middle of the road Speer makes a 270 gr sp and H ornady makes a 265 gr sp if you think you need more bullet mass than a 240 gr.I think that a good 240 gr either a sp or a hard cast with a wide meplat will serve you well.They will penetrate well and reach the vitals if you place your shots well.There is no sin involved in backing down the 300 gr to a manageable level either.Sometimes the best accuracy comes from loads that are not the hottest for a given powder.I for one still think that accuracy is more important than power.
 
A few years ago a friend of mine was guiding in the Bob Marshall wilderness at the lower end of Biggs Flats on the horth fork of the Sun River. He and a hunter came across a grizzly that was on an elk carcass. David was motioning to the hunter to be still, but the hunter thought he was motioning that there was an elk and the hunter trying to get in position drew the attention of the bear. The bear came after the man. David said there was 10 inches of snow on the ground and that the bear was coming so hard you could see black dirt flying in the air. The man got off one shot point blank with a 7 mag before the bear was on top of him. David ran up and was trying to shoot the bear , but was afraid he would hit the hunter. He finally kicked the bear in the side and as he turned up shot the bear four times in the side with a 44 Mag. The bear got off the man and walked away with the man's rifle in his mouth shaking it. After the hunter was determined not to be mortally wounded David and the outfitter trailed the bear about 7 miles in the snow and never found him. The outfitter sent a man down to the next outfitter to warn them of a wounded bear.The wildlife officers came in and did their thing finally deciding that no charges would be filed as they had photos of the man's bloody chewed up head, plus no dead bear.

This is why I suggest taking something as heavy and deep penetrating as is practical. If you think what you use target practicing applies I suggest you think again. I suspect flinching is going to be the last thing on your mind.
 
With the S&W, you will need to use milder loads. I have seen twisted cranes and cracked cyls on them with max reloads. If you want to use max reloads, go to Ruger or Magnum Researsch.
 
So Elkins, what did you do?
I have a different gun but my shoots very good with 15.5 - 16gr 2400. Accurate and managable recoil with that Lee bullet. 16gr is exactly 1000fps. I aint tried any faster.
 
Penetration is absolutely the key. Stick with very hard cast bullets if you really think you will shoot a grizzly. Forget about any JSP or JHP. They all expand and that reduces the penetration. A grizzly's hair, hide, and bones combined with its sheer thickness are all obstacles to penetration.

It's a tricky balancing act between bullet weight and velocity to get max penetration. I have done some experimenting though with my "big" guns to see what gives me the best penetration whether it was shooting into wet newspaper or pine logs. In my unscientific tests, I found that 240-250 gr hard cast bullets pushed to the max with W-296 penetrated the best with the 44 mags I have. The 2400 powder you have will work good too though. When I go to the 454 Casull, I found the 300-325 gr bullets worked the best. And when I went to my .480 Ruger, the hard cast bullets in the 325-355 gr range worked the best.

I am confused about one thing though. You think the cylinder is spinning during firing. Why do you think that? Does it skip a loaded chamber and come to rest on an empty? I don't know if you attributed the skinned palm to the cylinder spin, but I don't see the connection there anyway. My palm doesn't ever contact the cylinder when firing. Granted, I have never fired one of the compact revolvers though, so maybe I don't understand. But I have no doubt that shooting a max load 44 mag with a 300 gr bullet could result in torn palm just from the butt of the grip scraping against your hand.
 
So Elkins, what did you do?
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Nothing yet. I've loaded some 240 SWC to test but it's been raining all week. I won a 250 grain Lyman Keith-style SWC mold on eBay that hopefully will come this week. I'll cast some out of linotype and give them a try.

I am confused about one thing though. You think the cylinder is spinning during firing. Why do you think that? Does it skip a loaded chamber and come to rest on an empty? I don't know if you attributed the skinned palm to the cylinder spin, but I don't see the connection there anyway.
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No connection, both were just presented as evidence that the load had really unmanageable recoil. The torn skin was from the rubber grips sticking to my hand rather than sliding like a slicker substance would have. Recoil absorption only goes so far I guess.

Yes, I think the cylinder skipped over a live round and landed on an empty, unless I absent mindedly advanced it manually and somehow forgot about it.

More testing is required for sure.
 
I would drop the powder charge back some and I would also get some 250gr. keith bullets and load them up. See which you like better.
 
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