44 mag - long chamber

[tINY]

I noticed yesterday that my Taurus 44mag seems to have inhereted the cylinder length from it's 454 brother. That means I have about another 1/8" or so to seat the bullet out.

I aslo noticed that the heavy XTP bullets have a second cannelure. which would but the bullet out further. That might allow more room that just 19-20 grains worth of H110.

Anybody tried this?

Thoughts/cautions?




-tINY

 

[Unclenick]

QuickLOAD seems to think that if you start with a 19 grain load of H110/W296 under the 300 grain XTP at normal OAL, you will need 2 to 2.3 grains of additional powder to arrive at the same pressure with that bullet seated out 1/8", depending on what assumptions are made? From an 8" barrel that adds about 50 fps velocity increase.

Nick

 

[tINY]

Thanks UncleNick. I would have expected a bit more, but that'll be about as much powder as I get under those light 240gr bullets.

I don't really need any more juice, but POI is 6" high with the 300gr at 30 yards. Getting a bit closer to standard load POI would be nice.....



-tINY

 

[Wild Bill Bucks]

tIny,

H110 shows to be the most accurate tested, but I switched to W296 at 23.8 grains with the 240 gr. JHP and my Ruger Super Red Hawk acts like a different pistol. Groups settled down to 1/2 the size at 30 yards, and shoots right on top of the sight picture. Load density is 104% , but the H110 is 102% so it's not much worse to load.

240 grain is about all I need to hunt with, but loaded with the H110, it shot about 5" over the sights at 30 yards. My eyesight isn't as good as it used to be, and I'm to VAIN to wear my glasses to hunt, so I need my target even with my sights in order to hit what I'm shooting at.

 

[Unclenick]

Wild Bill,

H110 and 296 are the same powder from the same plant with different labels. I got that from the horse's mouth (Hodgdon tech). I noticed, however, that the two are listed separately in QuickLOAD and have somewhat different characteristics there, producing around 10% difference in pressure. Since the QL data was acquired by measuring individual samples of the powder, their H110 and 296 samples were clearly two different lots. I mention all this because it suggests that powder's lot regularity isn't fabulous. So, if you've found a lot of either one that is working particularly well for you, I suggest you try to get enough of that batch to last you awhile. The next one may not fly as well.

Nick

 

[Wild Bill Bucks]

Good to know unclenick, just luck has it that I bought 3 lbs the first time around, so should have enough for a little while. Chances are I won't be able to find same batch again, since shop I bought it from is gone now.