OK. I used a 240 gr. hard cast SWC and 7.7 grns of Unique today as well as a box of 'cowboy' loads.
Now the all stainless finish made the sights hard to see! If I carefully made sure the sights were right in the middle of the notch then at 10 yard all rounds would be in the black but slightly high (say 2-3 inch group off hand.) BUT, one small twitch and it would shoot to the left (I'm right handed.) The long hammer fall and the plow handled grips made it difficult.
As a control I used my 4 inch 629-2 magnum with 8.9 grns of Unique (magnum cases) and 240 2/3 jacked hollowpoints made by Speer. Same 10 yards and it's a 1 inch group right where the sights look.
Whomever owned it before did one of those poor-man trigger jobs (took one of the trigger return springs off the hook in the grips.) I put it back on like it was supposed to go.
What is needed? Practice! I'm so used to fast lock times that the slower hammer fall of the SA makes it a bit more difficult. And those tiny sights don't help either.
Happily I have lots of hard cast .44 slugs and 8 lbs of Unique and thousands of large pistol primers.
I'll leave my Lee Turret .44 magnum setup alone and buy another set of Lee dies, powder measure, and turret and make a .44 Special reloading setup.
Thanks,
Deaf