Low flash powders

[rodwhaincamo]

I shall soon be reloading for the 44 Mag. I have a Taurus Tracker with a 4" ported barrel (more like 3 1/4"). I intend to begin loading 180-200 grn bullets to about 400-550 ft/lbs. I'm wondering what powders would be good to begin with keeping flash minimal. Eventually I'll load some much heavier rounds for hog defense. As tracking hogs could likely mean it'll be dark I'd like for them to be low flash as well. Any advice on good powders or ones I may want to steer clear of? Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[Winterhawk56]

If you want to keep the 44 mag at 44 special loading then you can use many powders. H-110, AA#9, or even faster powders like AA#5, bullseye or unique. Based on what you have stated you do not want the full magnum loads. Look at the loading manuals and load for 44 special, allot of us do.

Others will provide more information as time goes on.

 

[totaldla]

AA#5 is low flash. HS6 and Power Pistol are high flash. Hope that helps.

 

[rodwhaincamo]

Though I can handle the recoil of my revolver just fine, i found that I tend to flinch when the hammer would fall on a spent case. So to help me get used to shooting my revolver I figure starting with Spl type loads are in order. Eventually I'll work my way up to standard loads. But I'd like for them to be low flash as well as it's main purpose is hog defense, and tracking wounded hogs tends to be in the dark.

 

[Lost Sheep]

A flinch is a flinch whether it's hidden by recoil or not.

Though I can handle the recoil of my revolver just fine, i found that I tend to flinch when the hammer would fall on a spent case.

I hate to burst your bubble, Rod, but if you tend to flinch when the hammer falls on a spent cartridge, you are also flinching when it falls on a live round. You just can't see it for being disguised by the recoil.

There are exercises to cure a flinch. Starting with light special loads is a good place to start.

Remember, nobody ever flinches the FIRST time they drop the hammer. You cant anticipate what you haven't experienced. Once you've felt recoil, it is hard not to anticipate it. The trick (as Lawrence of Arabia famously said in the movie of the same name) is not to mind that it hurts.

Lost Sheep

 

[B.L.E.]

A technique I use to prevent me from trying to fight the recoil is to purposely help the gun recoil, as if I was trying to exagerate the recoil of a pistol I am shooting to impress bystanders.
I often check for flinching by leaving one chamber empty and spinning the cylinder so I don't know when it is going to shoot. On a S&W, you will need a dummy round because the recoil shield lets you see the edges of the rounds and the empty chamber won't be a surprise.

 

[RidgwayCO]

To minimize flash, you'd be advised to use the faster powders to increase your chances of the powder being completely burned in the barrel before the bullet exits. These won't give you the fastest velocities, but then that's not what you're looking for! Accurate (#2), Hodgdon (Titegroup, HP38, and Universal), Alliant (Red Dot, Green Dot, Bullseye, and Unique), Ramshot (Zip), VihtaVuori (N320, N330, and N340), and Winchester (231) all produce powders that should do what you need.

I've personally had excellent results with AA#2 when pushing a 180gr Hornady HP/XTP out of a 4" S&W M629. Using a CCI 300 primer with a COL of 1.600", 10.3gr of AA#2 recorded 1281 fps (656 ft-lbs) with ES of 9 and SD of 3 for 10 rounds (to date the lowest ES and SD numbers I've ever seen). Hopefully I'll be able to reduce this load a bit while retaining the excellent performance.

 

[Tom Matiska]

I advise against using H110 or any slow powders for loading down a Mag to Special levels. Ditto using Special data in the larger Mag case. That is a recipe for squib loads. Hodgdon published some 44 Spec loads using H110 as recently as the 80's, but you won't find such loads on their sight now.

No shortage of good published reduced loads out there using faster powders.

http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp


Faster powders like Unique are more polite out of my longer 7.5" barrel, and very polite out of my 20" Marlin, but I wouldn't describe any of my loads as low flash out of my snubbie....some are rude and others worse.