44mag Unique Powder Light Loads

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bird_dog

New member
Good morning...

I've been a fan of Unique for as long as I've been reloading. My typical hunting load with the .44mag (Taurus M44 and Ruger Super Redhawk) is 10.9gr of Unique pushing a 240 grain jacketed soft point. I've killed lots of deer and targets with this load.

I have a lighter trail gun coming down the pike, and would like to stick with Unique and the 240 gr JSP's, without breaking my wrist. Any suggestions on a nice plinking / anti-coyote round. 8.5 grains of Unique? Any reason not to go even lighter than that?

I want to avoid using Special cases, as I have a massive supply of the magnums from years of shooting.

I welcome any suggestions. Thanks.
 
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Wallyl

New member
.44 Mag Light loads w/Unique powder

8.8 grains will do just fine..you can use as little as 8.0 grains.

For my light loads I use 8.0 of Promo with a 214 Lee SWC or the Lyman 215 SWC-GC bullet. I shoot a Model 29 and a Ruger Superblackhawk, both with long barrels. I prefer Promo as it is bulkier and a bit more consistent, but there is nothing wrong with using Unique.
 
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bird_dog

New member
Thanks Wally. I tried throwing a few charges from my Lee Auto Disk last night, and one of the apertures gives me a nice, consistent 8.3 grains.

I may try that and work up to 8.8.
 
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rclark

New member
8.0g to 10.0g of Unique should get you where you want to be.... Somewhere in there should be an accurate load. I personally don't shoot jacketed bullets in any of my revolvers, so no specific loads for you from any of my tests....
 
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twobit

New member
In my 45 colt revolver and my 92 rifle I use Unique for hunting (close to maximum loads) and use Trailboss powder for plinking / target loads. You might want to try some Trailboss in your 44 magnum as a less than maximum load option.
 
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Rifleman1776

New member
For light loads in my Redhawk .44 mag. I use 180 gr. or 210 gr. hard cast SWCs and Win. 231 powder. Might be considered 'light' for a .44 mag. but still a killer load.
 
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Powderman

New member
Two suggestions for you:

1. Start casting your own! I cast the 250 grain Keith type LSWC, out of straight wheelweights; sized to .430, and lubed with Javelina Alox. Those bullets shoot wonderfully on top of 8.5 of Unique, and are very, very accurate.

2. I'd also recommend a short barrel (4-6") for these loads. Recoil is actually not too bad, but in a longer barrel (like my 8 3/8" Model 29) there's some serious in-barrel time that will cause them to shoot quite high if the charge is too low.

For a really good, accurate fun load, you could use the 200 grain JHP on the same charge. More velocity and flatter trajectory.
 
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Powderman

New member
Beginner, that is true. However, if you use that in .357 cases you might want to consider a faster powder, such as Bullseye, HP38/W231 or the like.

As someone mentioned above, I have heard lots of good stuff about Trail Boss powder.
 
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justsoIcanupvotethis

New member
I'm not sure if I should say anything or not. I use 10 grains of Unique with Missouri Bullet 240 grain Elmer K lead swc. I pretty much thought of that as my "light" load. I load Nosler 240 grain JSPs with 21.0 of 2400. The 10 grain Unique loads are bunnyphart compared to the 2400 loads.
 
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bird_dog

New member
Why don't you just buy a .22lr pistol? Or carry a 45acp semi-auto?
Click to expand...

I have both, and carry them quite frequently...

I'm just looking for some input on light Unique loads, using a JSP...I think the intent of my original post was pretty much overlooked!
 
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