Pet load - 44 mag, 240gr plated

[TJB101]

When I first acquired my 44 mag lever I was only able to source a 200gr mold (Lee RNFP) … After several range trips I’ve settled on ~7gr Bullseye for that projectile. Wonderful accuracy.

I have on order some Xtreme 240gr heavy plate bullets. Any recommendations on pet loads? I have scoured my manuals and have jotted down min-max for my powders but wanted to source the vast knowledge of reloaders here. Trying to keep them under 1500fps for my 16” barrel.

Thanks in advance

TJ

Henry shorty in 44 mag

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[black mamba]

My best load for my 629 Classic 6½" with the 240 Xtreme bullet is 11.5 gr of Silhouette, giving about 1100 fps. With no cylinder gap and a 16" barrel, this should give about 1375 fps in your carbine, and is well below max pressure (roughly 27 kpsi).

 

[TJB101]

My best load for my 629 Classic 6½" with the 240 Xtreme bullet is 11.5 gr of Silhouette, giving about 1100 fps. With no cylinder gap and a 16" barrel, this should give about 1375 fps in your carbine, and is well below max pressure (roughly 27 kpsi).

Very much appreciate the reply … I will research that powder as it’s one I don’t have on hand

 

[Joh]

I have a ruger bolt gun and I shoot speed 200 gr. Gold dots h p s. 28.5 hrs. Of 296 power. Mag. Primer. 1598 feet per second.

 

[AlaskaMike]

Does Xtreme have any guidance on a max velocity for those plated bullets?

Normally plated shouldn't be run faster than maybe 1200fps or the plating will start to flake off. You do mention they're heavy plated, so they may be able to withstand a higher velocity, but I don't know.

 

[TJB101]

They denoted that their heavy plate versions can take 1500fps

 

[TJB101]

Here's what I'm going to start at based on a few books and some unverified online chatter. All should be (based on my weak math) a tad over 1400pfs

240gr RNFP Xtreme - 16.5" Barrel 44 Magnum

Unique @ 10.5gr
2400 @ 17.5
Tightgroup @ 8.5

Bullseye, not sure if I'm going to try that with a 240gr pill ... thinking I'll keep that @ 7.0-7.1gr for my 200gr coated lead rounds. Seems to be a really good sweet spot for that powder.

I also have H110 ... too hot for plated in their powder ranges. I have Reddot ... haven't found any useful info

Any other good powders I should consider? Heading out this weekend scrounging for powders again.

 

[bedlamite]

I load 10gr of Universal under a 240gr plated

 

[Steve in PA]

I recently picked up a Henry .44 Mag lever action to go along with my other .44 Mag revolvers.

While I haven't shot this load in the rifle yet, it's my practice load for my Ruger SBH.

240gr bullets (to include plated) and 10.0gr of Unique. Nice load and could even use it as a hunting load with some XTP bullets.

 

[riverratt]

I love my load of 12gr of HS-6 under a wide variety of bullet weights. It keeps my velocity between 1250 and 1300fps in my cast bullets ranging between 245gr and 265gr and post a modest velocity around 1100fps with my 310gr cast bullet. All with outstanding accuracy out of my 7.5" SBH.

When fired out of my 18" Marlin the 245, 255 and 265gr bullets all hover around your desired 1500fps with decent accuracy (my gun likes full house loads) but the load runs out of steam on the 310gr bullet only giving me another 75fps and very poor accuracy due to the slow twist of the Marlin.

These loads are safe in my gun but be sure to work up accordingly.

 

[TJB101]

I recently picked up a Henry .44 Mag lever action to go along with my other .44 Mag revolvers.

While I haven't shot this load in the rifle yet, it's my practice load for my Ruger SBH.

240gr bullets (to include plated) and 10.0gr of Unique. Nice load and could even use it as a hunting load with some XTP bullets.

I used 10gr of unique with my 200gr cast projectiles - they seemed to function good. I’ll give it another try with the plated.

I’m also in PA … should you to part with one of your revolvers reach out

 

[lugerstew]

I have used H110 in my 20 inch barrel Marlin 44 mag..
I had read about the 1500fps limit, but I loaded up some Extreme 240 RNFP, from 20 to 22.5gn of H110
To my surprise the 22.5g rounds at 1720fps, shot very well at 15yds I had a 7/8 inch group, for some reason the 20.5g all shot decent also, but, I did have one sideways bullet out of 10, but the 22.5g had no sideways bullets out of 10.
Not sure how to explain this, but I will do it again at 22.5g, hopefully i'm not leading my barrel.

 

[Unclenick]

That's a reasonable expectation. The two limits on a bullet are how much peak pressure it can tolerate and how fast it can spin without disintegrating in flight. The velocity limit suggested by the maker for 44 Magnum should be for the SAAMI vented velocity and pressure test barrel that mimics a 4" revolver*. If not, it will likely be some other revolver. In either case, a longer barrel will obviously increase the velocity, but since the pressure peak happens in the first half-inch of bullet travel in most handgun cartridges, the only added stress that extra speed will put on the bullet is from faster rotation. As long as the bullets don't fly apart in flight from over-spinning, they should be fine at whatever velocity they get to, assuming you don't get there with excessive peak pressure.


*You can always call the maker to confirm the gun their velocity recommendation is based on and what load was used to determine it.

 

[Seedy Character]

Had good results from rifle with L'il Gun

 

[TJB101]

I have used H110 in my 20 inch barrel Marlin 44 mag..
I had read about the 1500fps limit, but I loaded up some Extreme 240 RNFP, from 20 to 22.5gn of H110
To my surprise the 22.5g rounds at 1720fps, shot very well at 15yds I had a 7/8 inch group, for some reason the 20.5g all shot decent also, but, I did have one sideways bullet out of 10, but the 22.5g had no sideways bullets out of 10.
Not sure how to explain this, but I will do it again at 22.5g, hopefully i'm not leading my barrel.

Thanks for the feedback … will probably avoid H110 until I source some FMJ projectiles. Betcha the rounds are fun out of a revolver.

 

[stagpanther]

I have used H110 in my 20 inch barrel Marlin 44 mag..
I had read about the 1500fps limit, but I loaded up some Extreme 240 RNFP, from 20 to 22.5gn of H110
To my surprise the 22.5g rounds at 1720fps, shot very well at 15yds I had a 7/8 inch group, for some reason the 20.5g all shot decent also, but, I did have one sideways bullet out of 10, but the 22.5g had no sideways bullets out of 10.
Not sure how to explain this, but I will do it again at 22.5g, hopefully i'm not leading my barrel.

My pet load for 44mag is almost identical to this--and works very well across a range of guns.

 

[Unclenick]

There are a number of H110/296 loads for cast lead at the Beartooth Bullets site (if it is currently working' often it isn't). The claim to fame for that powder is it gets magnum velocity without getting too near magnum peak pressures, so it actually ought to be a good candidate for carbine loads.

 

[TJB101]

There are a number of H110/296 loads for cast lead at the Beartooth Bullets site (if it is currently working' often it isn't). The claim to fame for that powder is it gets magnum velocity without getting too near magnum peak pressures, so it actually ought to be a good candidate for carbine loads.

Crazy … you’d think it would lead a carbine something awful. I’m nervous about using heavy plated above 1500… that they’d fall apart.

 

[Seedy Character]

That is why I use Powder Coated bullets

Loaded to 2600fps and no problems

 

[Unclenick]

Crazy … you’d think it would lead a carbine something awful. I’m nervous about using heavy plated above 1500… that they’d fall apart.

See my post #13 in this thread. It's all about whether you get the speed from barrel length rather than excessive peak pressure and that you are not over-spinning the bullet.