Please help a new 44Mag reloader

M

mississaugagunnut

Inactive
I am an experienced re loader having reloaded 9mm, 45acp, 38spl and 357.

I have just picked up a Super Black hawk in 44mag and a Marlin 94 in 44mag.

I want to load a round that can be used in both. It will be strictly for plinking. I have purchased a bunch of 240g jacketed flat point bullets and am planning on using 800x (I know, it's all I can get up here).

When I search the Hodgdon website for loads it doesn't list 800x as a rifle powder.

Should I load according to their pistol loads and use that in my rifle?

Thanks for your help.
 
Yes. Those sources that list .44 mag rifle data use the same recipes, and just show different velocities. 800x will likely not give optimum performance in either, but I think you're already aware of that.
 
Your goal may or may not be obtainable...

The groove diameter of the SBH will be .429" (or thereabouts), and the groove diameter on the 1894 will be .431" (or thereabouts)...

I only have one jacketed load that works well in both my SBH and 1894, and that is a full on load of H110 under a Hornady 265gr FP that comes in at .430"...

I can not get any jacketed bullet under .430" to do better than 5" patterns at 50 yards out of the 1894...Other people seem to have better luck...

For cast bullets, my 1894 requires a minimum of .432", and .433" is better...

Good luck!
 
I'm going to give you a run down to help you get started and know what to start looking for.

As stated, what powder loads you use for the pistol can be used for the rifle. As far as the bullet diameter, I'd simply load a .430 jacketed bullet and go with it. My Ruger RedHawk and 1894 shoot great with 21 grains of 2400, pushing a .430 Gold Tip Hollow point. Yours likely will too. If not, your problem is likely powder choice, not bullet diameter issues.

Keep an eye out for H110, W296, AA9, or Alliant 2400. I have never used IMR 4227 but, a lot of people do. These are great powders for the 44 mag and will really bring out the hammer effect the cartridge posses. If you use H110 and W296, load Large Pistol Magnum primers. My personal favorite powder is 2400.

Good luck. It is an easy cartridge to load and one that needs to be reloaded to shoot any at all due to price. And, if you want to get into really cheap shooting, slug the bore's and cylinder throats, get you some good lead bullets sized .001 to .002 over the bore diameter, and shoot. For the rifle, if it is a Marlin that has a large bore, Penn bullets makes a great bullet for this. One of the few I've found that will turn out .432, 240 grain bullets. I'm sure there are more but, I like Bob and his bullets. Dardas is another good one for the rifle. I shoot Missouri bullets out of my Redhawk.

I hope this helped. God Bless
 
I think 13 gr of 800X gave me decent groups out of my 7 1/2 SBH using a 240 gr XTP bullet and win lpp. I don't have my notes with me now and it's been a wile so I'll have to get back with ya on that. Also if I remember correctly the same load provided acceptable accuracy in a very picky H&R of mine. I do know that no matter what I tried I couldn't get that powder to not lead with cast bullets. Like it's been said before keep your eyes open for h-110, 296,4227 or 2400 all of those powders excel in the .44mag, my favorite is h-110 or 296 (on in the same) followed closely by 4227.
 
I got back to my notes and it was indeed 13 gr of 800X was my best load. It yielded around 1200 fps in the handgun and just north of 1350 from an 18" barrel. It's just on the warm side of the middle so work up your load accordingly.
 
You know for plinking, if you can find a faster powder, you can load it down. 5-6g of 700x or Red Dot makes a pleasant shooting round. When you find 800x you might find 700x...I've been using it a lot for light loads in .38spl and .44spl.
 
Thanks for the replies, I went to the supplier today to grab my 800x and was delighted to find that someone did not want their order of H4227, so now I have that powder. From what I have read it is much more suited to magnum loads. I will start researching a couple of loads and run them over a chrony.
 
4227 will treat you well, and work fine in both firearms.

Just don't try to mess around with it in light loads. You'll get an incomplete burn and A LOT of unburned powder left in the barrel and case.
But, it does well with moderate to hot loads.
 
I am sure you know you don't have to load 'magnum' loads. In fact my general load for .44Mag is just 10g of Unique under 240g SWC. That's a 1100fps load which will do most everything that needs doing. Or down to 7.5g of Unique for even lighter loads. Other powders will do too, like Red Dot, Green Dot, HS-6, 20/28, Universal, Titegroup, w231, etc.... No need for 'blast', 'noise', and 'heavy recoil' if cutting paper, plinking, and varmiting is your goal.... unless your into beating yourself up for fun :) . Hah!

Use a magnum primer with 4227. You'll get more consistent velocities. No experience with 800x.
 
4227 will treat you well, and work fine in both firearms.

Just don't try to mess around with it in light loads. You'll get an incomplete burn and A LOT of unburned powder left in the barrel and case.
But, it does well with moderate to hot loads.
Click to expand...

+2 prezactly what he said
 
I have no expiereance with the powder you mentioned but I use to load the .44 Mag alot and used the same Sierra Data for rifle and handgun .
 
I use Hodgdon Titegroup ....for my handgun/rifle loads in .357 mag ( S&W handguns and a Henry rifle ) ...and in .44 mag ( for S&W handguns and a Henry rifle ).....its a good powder / and I load all of the ammo I shoot to handgun specs / and shoot it in any of the handguns or the two rifles.
 
I use Hodgdon Titegroup ....for my handgun/rifle loads in .357 mag ( S&W handguns and a Henry rifle ) ...and in .44 mag ( for S&W handguns and a Henry rifle ).....its a good powder / and I load all of the ammo I shoot to handgun specs / and shoot it in any of the handguns or the two rifles.
Click to expand...
I'm not much of a fan of Titegroup, particularly in 'magnum' handgun cartridges.

It's too high strung. Too twitchy. Too energetic. Too fast.
And case fill is terrible.

It's like putting a coked-up, methamphetamine-smoking monkey behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler.
Sure, it might work most of the time. But when things go wrong, they really go wrong....
 
went to the supplier today to grab my 800x and was delighted to find that someone did not want their order of H4227, so now I have that powder. From what I have read it is much more suited to magnum loads. I will start researching a couple of loads and run them over a chrony.
Click to expand...

So you're saying you didn't get the 800X but got the 4227 instead? If so, that was probably a good call. I've "read somewhere" that 4227 has often been cited as the choice for cast magnum loads, especially. I'm certainly no super-experienced 44 Mag loader, but so far I have not had the best experience with 800X in that caliber. I just bought 16 lbs of 4227 and have loaded both 44 Mag and 45 Win Mag with it--and it has been a lot easier for me to get accuracy.

I was actually happy to find what I thought was a good place to burn up a lot of 800X (i.e., 44 Mag) as I still have 4 lbs or so of it...but it didn't turn out that way for me. Instead, I'll have to go back to loading it in 10mm and just be patient with it...one corn flake at a time.

If you were looking for good case fill, 4227 will definitely do it--I think most 44 Mag loads will likely be compressed, even if just a wee bit.

In the thread (this forum) 'Loading the 45 Win Mag'

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=563281

I've shown the results I obtained with a small variety of 800X and 4227 loads in that caliber, with my 800X choices proving to be complete garbage. It's too little data to outright blame 800X for the disaster, but it sure didn't look promising.
 
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