question about loading 44 special

[svo44]

any advice or knowledge base about loading 44 special (soft lead , swaged) wadcutters(240 gr / unique 6.0gr)- i load them so the face is flush with the cartridge. This sits in my revolver a bit behind where a keith bullet would sit when loaded. what issues should i expect with this ? i expect some leading, but when i shoot them they seem to be reliable in terms of where they land (i'm not that reliable however- so my groups are a bit varied and wide.
should i be concerned with this in terms of long term effects on the gun?
thank you

[contender]

If you are using 44 spl brass, and a soft bullet,, then I don't see any problems. I'd try & find a bullet to chamber to bore fit to reduce leading. That & vary the velocity as well.
No bad long term effects will happen with what you are doing.

[taffin]

Feb 19, 2019 20:51:49 GMT -5 svo44 said:

any advice or knowledge base about loading 44 special (soft lead , swaged) wadcutters(240 gr / unique 6.0gr)- i load them so the face is flush with the cartridge. This sits in my revolver a bit behind where a keith bullet would sit when loaded. what issues should i expect with this ? i expect some leading, but when i shoot them they seem to be reliable in terms of where they land (i'm not that reliable however- so my groups are a bit varied and wide.
should i be concerned with this in terms of long term effects on the gun?
thank you

DEPENDS UPON THE MUZZLE VELOCITY MAINLY. SEATING THEM DEEP OVER THAT MUCH UNIQUE MAY BE TOO FAST.

[sixshot]

You don't say what gun you are shooting but that long 240 gr soft, full wadcutter, crimped flush with the case mouth might cause you some grief if you're not careful. If you happen to get just a bit of crimp over the end of that soft bullet you might run into a pressure spike even with 6.0 grs of Unique.

Dick

[svo44]

thank you all, I'm shooting these through ruger 4.5 blackhawk (lipsey).
i appreciate your input here

[Cholla]

Since we're concerned about how much of the bullet is inside the case more than outside, I scrounged around loaddata.com and found some loads for the .44 S&W American and .44 Russian, thinking loads in these shorter cases might give us some idea. I found loads for these cartridges are general limited to 5.5 grs. of Unique with 240-ish gr. cast bullets.

6.0 grs. of Unique and a 255 gr. cast SWC general nets about 800 fps in my Specials and is a fairly light load. I'm thinking for what you're doing maybe a light charge of a fast burning powder might be better. Regarding bullet diameter, I've found sizing a couple thousands over cylinder throat diameter to be very beneficial. Leading is greatly reduced and accuracy is unaffected versus sizing to throat diameter.

One other suggestion, run on over to the Cast Boolit Site and check out the Wheelguns section. Those guys are prolific handloaders and I will 100% guarantee you someone has done what you're doing and can help you out.

Cholla

[svo44]

thank you very much for doing that and the wheel guns advice- what powder would you recommend in the place of unique?

[svo44]

so if you'll allow a few more beginner type questions- when you say it depends upon the diameter-mine are swaged, set by the die to 0.429. what should i be looking for in terms of throat diameter, etc to accomplish minimal leading and accuracy.

[Cholla]

Feb 21, 2019 17:05:55 GMT -5 svo44 said:

thank you very much for doing that and the wheel guns advice- what powder would you recommend in the place of unique?

SVO I'm a conservative minded person, so if I can achieve a given velocity with a lighter charge of another powder, that's generally what I do. I've had very good luck in the .44 Special with Bullseye, Red Dot, and the new IMR-Target. If it were me loading a bullet deep into the case the way you are, I'd start with a light starting load for a 240 gr. bullet. Being the benevolent, looking-for-an-excuse-to-shoot person, I did just that.

I hastily assembled a few .44 Specials this evening before dark and chrono'ed them out of my 5 1/2" Flat Top Blackhawk .44 Special . Since I had IMR-Target in one of my powder measures, I just used it. The other components were Starline brass, Federal LP primers and home-cast 259 gr. SWC's from a 429421 mould. In an attempt to duplicate a full wadcutter load, I seated the deep into the case for an OAL of 1.390", just a bit of the nose of the bullet was out of the case. So loaded over 3.5 grs. of Target (Think Bullseye or Red Dot if you prefer) velocity of this load averaged 669 fps. Just for grins, I tried the same load with the bullet seat and crimped normally at 1.550" and got 600 fps. I bumped the load up .5 grs. and got 720 fps, and with the same load seated five out to 1.550", which clocked 673 fps. Hopefully this will provide you with a little redneck guidance. Since you already have Unique, maybe you could drop it back to 5.0 grs. or so and try that. All the above at your own risk, of course.

Feb 21, 2019 17:35:52 GMT -5 svo44 said:

so if you'll allow a few more beginner type questions- when you say it depends upon the diameter-mine are swaged, set by the die to 0.429. what should i be looking for in terms of throat diameter, etc to accomplish minimal leading and accuracy.

You're stuck with the throat diameter, and as I mentioned I've started sizing .002" over throat diameter Honestly, it seems every revolver is a beast unto itself. As long as the loads aren't too heavy or too fast, I've gotten by fine with bullets sized at and even .0005" under throat diameter. That's half the fun of loading and shooting....seeing what works best!

Cholla

[svo44]

wow great advice and extra steps, i truly appreciate the info- thank you all

[diddle]

I have loaded a number of double ended wadcutters for my 44 Specials. My alloy is 92/4/4. I load them about 0.050” beyond flush with the case mouth and apply a light crimp. While I have not used Unique, I have pushed them up to near 1000 fps using fast powder without leading issues. My usual load makes about 875 fps and is fun to shoot and reasonably accurate at under 50 yards (which, in my experience, is typical of DEWC’s). This is in both a Ruger NMFT and a FA M97.

[svo44]

do you guys have a recommendation for a source to better understand 'fast' vs 'slow' powders. 
thank you

[wheelguns]

The first place to start would probably be a powder burn rate chart. These list the burn rate of powders from fastest to slowest. These are good if you want to load a powder, but your local store is out of it. Be advised that these are not an indication of how a specific powder will work in a specific cartridge. For that, you need to reference your reloading manual. Some powders behave differently in different cartridges. As a general rule, faster powders are for lower velocity rounds with lighter bullets. While slower powders are more for magnum rounds. A fast powder could completely burn in the first inch of barrel, while a slow powder may not completely burn in the barrel. That is why when you fire a magnum, you get that flame out the end of the barrel.

As with anything reloading, there are exceptions to every rule. Always use published load data from reliable sources, and start at the minimum and work up till you find an accurate load that you feel comfortable shooting.

[svo44]

thank you

[Odin]

Here's Hodgdon's current burn rate chart for reference: www.hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/burn-rate-color.pdf