44 mag reload info

grumpyvette

Administrator
Staff member
one of the most effective and UNDER RATED revolver calibers is the 44 mag,
and even the more the underrated 357 mag, now Id point out right off,
that while both are lethal in experienced hands and ....
that any hunting revolver will loose significant velocity with a barrel length of under 5" and a 6"-10" barrel gives you a longer sight radias and more velocity
,the 44 mag is hardly the only good choice in a hunting caliber revolver.
both the proper bullet design and at least a 6"-10" barrel will consistently help make any revolver used for hunting more effective, and making hitting a target a bit easier.
629.jpg

you don,t need to load to absolute max velocities as it really adds stress to the gun with little or no benefit in the pistols effectiveness in the field , someone always brings up the fact that theres stronger pistols than the 629 S&W or that the 480 ruger, 454 cassull or 500 S&W have more power, but think it thru, if a 44 mag with hard cast 300 grain bullets, can consistently push bullets fast enough that it zips thru game from most angles, theres little gained on deer and even ELK by using a more powerful revolver,with in reasonable revolver ranges, which for most guys will be UNDER 75-100 yards , when you limit shots to the range you can place all your shots in a 6" circle from field positions.
the hard cast 260-310 grain bullets make the well tuned revolver in 44 mag capable of killing anything walking in north America, with good well placed hits, even the big bears have been dropped many times in the past with good hits.
hard cast bullets are "NOT SOLIDS" but they are very slow expending and as such the, high weight retention and limited frontal area tends to allow much deeper penetration,its rare for me to find fired slugs as most exit,but judging from a few I do see, my 44 slugs rarely expand to more than 50 cal. or lose weight while a common hollow point can loose 40%-70% of its weight and expand to over 80 cal.
cast your alloy from 5% tin and 95% wheel weight mix and youll seldom have accuracy or performance issues if you place shots well and know game anatomy.
it should be obvious that it will require a great deal of practice , and practice require a great deal of ammo to be used on a consistent basis, thus hand loading your own ammo and casting your own bullets seems like a logical option


http://www.handloads.com/misc/linebaugh ... .tests.asp

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/i ... 0000690227

If you have a 44 mag revolver, and reload, use this bullet mold, cast from 95% wheel weights and 5% tin by weight
or something similar like this below
http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/i ... 0152660650

size and lube to about a 1/2 thousandth larger than your bore diam.

load over 20 grains of H110
and go hunting , the hard cast 300 grain slugs do a fine job on deer and hogs
I used a 20 grain charge of H110 under a LEE 310 grain hard cast 44 cal. bullet seated out to the lower crimp groove
bloodd.jpg

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/5...cf-430-diameter-310-grain-flat-nose-gas-check
MOLD DC C 430-310-RF
90858-01.jpg

if you really want to maximize any large bore revolvers lethality you'll most likely want to order a custom bullet mold, to produce an exceptionally effective hard cast gas check bullet design, luckily mountain molds will work with you to produce most of the bullet molds you might want if you can,t find a commercially available design you like, the key is maximizing penetration and having a 80%-85% wide melplat (flat nose) to maximize the tissue destruction,in a gas check design, that keeps the bore clean, in a weight that you can push to at least 1300 fps, the bullet below is decent in a 44 mag , where 1370 fps is not hard to reach, and almost perfect for hunting ammo in a 445 DWSP where it can easily be pushed to over 1570 fps in a 10" barrel revolver, using max safe charges of H110 powder.
now I got asked why I would spend $100 on a custom mold to cast these and what the advantage would be over a $30 LEE 310 grain mold, and truthfully the difference is not huge.


btw most rifles chambered for bore sizes like 358, 375, .416, .430, and 458 caliber cartridges respond well to properly cast bullet use.
obviously rifle twist rates and bullet designs must match fairly well, to get the best results and velocity's kept under 2000 fps tend to produce decent accuracy

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/0000690858/double-cavity-mold-c430-310-rf

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=43-300B-D.png

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply....llet-mould-number-429650-44-caliber-300-grain

to many guys get into reloading and think they need to maximize the cartridges velocity, to make effective ammo
but the experience Ive had is that an accurate load with a heavy cast bullet with a wide front melplate (flat nose) does a very effective job and costs a good deal less than jacketed bullets that may not open reliably at under 1300fps
while its true you can push the lighter bullets faster the lighter bullets don,t always exit nor are they as accurate in many guns out to about 100 or so yards that most game will be shot at with a 44 mag.
Id point out the 41 mag, 480 ruger, 460 and 500 S&W revolvers are all effective on large game in the hands of a good shot, provided a heavy for caliber gas check bullet is used thats proven to be accurate in your revolver
while lighter bullets , pushed to high velocity, may shoot flatter, at longer ranges ,penetration in some cases suffers

http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/defau ... pe=Handgun

http://www.handgunsmag.com/ammunition/4 ... ndex2.html

http://www.loaddata.com/members/search_ ... ing%20Data

http://www.handgunsmag.com/ammunition/44mag_081005/
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Jack Is one of the guys Ive hunted with for many years ,he recently borrowed one of my revolvers for a hog hunt as a back-up to his rifle, hes always expressed a bit of disbelief that a mere revolver could be effective on larger hogs ( ID bet, that's mostly because hes always used factory jacketed hollow point ammo) Ive cast , hand loaded,and shot many thousand hard cast bullets from my 357 mag and 44 mag revolvers,and I assured him that a properly loaded hard cast bullet is a different ball game....after the last hunt he called me a bit amazed that he had shot a reasonably large hog (230 lbs dressed)and the bullet had zipped thru and exited on a 40 yard shot breaking a shoulder on its way thru.

max listed operational pressure for a 44 mag is listed at 36,000 psi
but lets look at your option, you can throw a 300-310 grain bullet at 1200-1350 fps without use of anywhere near max pressure
thus a 300 -310 grain 44 caliber bullet at 1200 fps has 960 ft lbs, at 1350 fps-1250 ft lbs , I've shot completely through a cow elks chest with that 44 mag load.


not my 44 mag revolver but an identical clone
maxresdefault.jpg

remember shot placement and a good knowledge of the games anatomy is just as important as power on target if you don.t destroy vital organs and break critical bone structure the animal may get away or come over to discuss your failures with his sharp teeth and claws on your hide!
my 29-3 S&W 10 5/8' revolver (identical to this picture.. and yes you need a decent shoulder holster)
has a long record of dropping game with 310 grain hard cast bullets loaded over 21 grains of H110 powder
if you want the best results with a 44 mag revolver Id suggest you stick to 300-320 grain hards cast gas check bullet designs pushed to about the max safe pressures in a 8" or longer barrel.
H22021-L346907109_original.jpg

http://www.texasboars.com/hunting/hunti ... l#REVOLVER

http://www.handgunhunt.com/promo/member ... %20Classic

http://www.theoutdoorsguy.com/2009/10/t ... boar-hunt/

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/i ... 0152660650

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/new-reloading-manuals.2379/#post-56752

http://www.neihandtools.com/catalog/index.html
http://www.neihandtools.com/catalog.html



this is listed as a ruger 44 mag using 300 grain jacketed bullets,
notice how even Asian buffalo (larger mass than most elk)
tend to react to a good hit from a well placed hand gun shot, watch very closely and,
you'll occasionally see where bullets exited and kicked up dust behind the targeted game


btw I,ve found the hard cast 300 grain bullet weight is a good compromise in the 44 mag loaded over 20 grains of h110,
Ive tried lighter and heavier projectiles, much heavier and it limits powder capacity, and velocity with reasonable pressure, bullets much lighter and the mass / inertia, is not there even if the velocity is higher to maximize penetration.
MOLD DC C 430-310-RF
90858-01.jpg

once you get into seriously hunting with a handgun you start casting bullets you'll usually find that correctly designed hand loads, with bullets designed for the application and matching alloys, and bullet weights have a huge advantage over most factory loads

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/i ... 0152660650

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/i ... 0000690227

http://www.neihandtools.com/catalog/index.html

429-270-gc.jpg

015-2660650.jpg

429-290-pb.jpg

006-90227.jpg


http://www.neihandtools.com/ (decent quality but slow)

http://www.leeprecision.com/html/catalog/bullmol1.html (dirt cheap but fair/good quality)

http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/bullet-casting/ (decent quality iron molds . moderately priced)

http://www.mountainmolds.com/ (very good quality, reasonably fast delivery,
custom designs easily available )

http://www.huntingtons.com/bulletmoulds.html (decent quality iron molds . moderately priced slow to deliver and not everything advertised is available)

http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/MoldMo ... tation.pdf

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm
Id point out I've used hard cast 310 grain gas check, LEE cast bullets in BOTH my S&W revolvers
(IVE USED A CHARGE OF 21 GRAINS OF H110 powder )and my marlin lever action rifle

you can reasonably expect consistent kills out to 200 yards or more.
my marlin will consistently place 3 shot groups at 100 yards off the bench in the 2.5"-3" range
I generally sight in at 3.5" high at 100 yards, that zero places the impact dead on at about 125 yards, that should place the bullet impact at 200 yards at about 18" low
certainly not an issue if 90% of the deer/hogs you shoot are shot at under 120 yards
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I had a guy read this thread and post what I thought was an interesting related question.

In this thread
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-hunting-hogs-deer-elk.1864/page-3#post-97912

you listed my 44 mag load as a 240 grain hard cast bullet over 19.5 grains of 2400 powder,

yet in other previous posts you listed a lee bullet why the change?

many years ago I started out using a seaco bullet mold I borrowed from a friend,
after a few weeks Id cast 700 -800 plus bullets,
but he wanted his mold back,
and at that time I could not find a duplicate mold to buy,
so
I purchased a lyman mold I found at a local gunshop,
which proved to be even more accurate in my revolver at longer ranges
after a few years I purchased a Lee 310 grain which I personally found to be accurate in both my marlin lever action and my S&W revolver,
something that was not true of the lyman 300 grain, bullet,
in the marlin lever action, at ranges over 100 yards or so
the lyman 300 grain was quite consistent in my revolver,
but I got flyers at longer ranges with the marlin 1 carbine
I don,t know why but the twist rate or rifling depth may be the reason.

300 grain lyman
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/234/1/LYMAN-429-650

240 grain seaco
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/101034511


310 grain lee
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010207991?pid=511417
the load used was 310 grain bullet over 21 grains of h110
all the bullets work well on game, but the lee is the most consistently accurate in my weapons

many 44 mag revolvers have a twist rate in the 1 in 18-20" range the marlin has a much slower twist rate near 1 in 38"
 
Last edited:
Do you have any data in any of your books of a 44 Special 180 gr Hornaday XTP load using Blue Dot I found them for 44 Special in 240 gr and for 44 mag both loads 180gr and 240 gr XTP but nothing for the 44 Special in 180 gr
 
13.6 grains of blue dot with that 180 grain is the listed max load
 
do you mind posting the starting load I never go max well not too often anyways and what book was that info in now I can stay with blue dot glad I ended up with 7# of it and I just went through more than a pound today the 44 and the 10mm sure makes the powder disappear
 
Thanks Grumpy I do have several books new and older I check Ebay and Amazon all the time for ones that I dont have
 
Back
Top