Practice make perfect

[madmo44mag]

For years I was a big bore magnum fan and pushed 44mag loads to the very max limits of the gun and cartage; to the point of blowing up 2 S&W 29’s and wearing the forcing cone out on a Ruger SBH.
I could shoot with either hand and hold a 3 inch group at 25 yards in DA mode.
Over the past 5 or 6 years I have shot my magnums less and less and shoot more 45acp and 9mm, 7.62x25, 30 carbine and from time to time take my mil-surp collection out for a good dusting off.
Primarily a cost issue as big bore magnums are not as cost effective to shoot and I average around 250 – 500 rounds a month from various guns.
So to the point of my story.
I have been craving some big bore magnum time so I loaded up 500 rounds of 240gn JFN bullets over 21.0 gn of 2400.- basic magnum load.
Off to the range for some fun shooting.
Well it became very clear real quick that lack of practice with these heavy revolvers and magnum loads was resulting in poor shot placement.
2 out of 5 rounds were not even on my 5 inch target a 25 yards.
I caught myself flinching, limp wristing and very poor trigger control.
After 100 rounds I figured this is a waste of lead and powder.
I have since obtained some 240 gn PHP and will load then at 13.0 gn over some Power Pistol.
This loading has worked very well in the past with plated bullets, gives good velocities, and reduced felt recoil.
Off to the range to reacquaint myself with my old friend the 44 magnum.
I guess I need to take these girls out a little more often because it is painfully obvious that ignoring these girls they will make you look pretty foolish at the range.

 

[rclark]

You do know you really don't have to load the .44Mag to .44Mag velocities right ? Nor do you have to shoot expensive jacketed stuff. Myself I've been there and done that, no longer interested.... My .44Mag load for example is 10g of Unique under 240g SWC for around 1100fps which is plenty fast and you can comfortably shoot it all day long. If you are just plinking/target shooting, the paper isn't going to care how fast the bullet is traveling you know . Just say'n!

 

[Obambulate]

I see a lot of the big bore revolvers for sale and I suspect the cost of feeding is one reason. Ammo is becoming a luxury.

 

[LE-28]

13 gr of power pistol over a 240gr bullet? That looks pretty hot to me. But then again you said you blue up two and damaged a 3rd already.

Why didn't you just go to a 460 magnum or 500 magnum instead of blowing up 44magnum guns? It may have been more cost effective.

I'm working up 41 magnum loads over 210gr xtreems with power pistol right now but I don't think I go near 13 grs. 41 and 44 mags are pretty close but that has to be a hot load. It's good to hear though that the xtreem plated held up to it.

Do you know what kind of velocities you were getting with this load?

 

[madmo44mag]

LE-28 back when I was playing with over loaded 44 mag the only thing out there was the 454 Casual and the Ruger conversions - very expensive back then. That and I just wanted to see how far I could push a 44 and get accurate loadings.
Young- dumb - you know the rest - LOL!!!

rclark - Yeah now days I do load at the bottom end of the mag loadings but was hankering for some full bore mag rounds.
Like I said I don't shoot 44 as much any more and with full bore magnum rounds I really caught myself flinching anticipating the recoil.
With lighter loads I don't have that problem which means I need to shot more full on mag loads to get use to them again.
My light 44's are more like 44spl ++p tha mag rounds.

My while point to this post is that if you don't practice or shoot big bore guns often you tend to lose some of the skill set that made you accurate with that round.

 

[Marty8613]

too much

My while point to this post is that if you don't practice or shoot big bore guns often you tend to lose some of the skill set that made you accurate with that round.

This is still true if you take 'big bore' out of the above. Also could be the distractions at your group meet. Trying to listen, see what's going on. Was this at the meetup? I saw you with big bore revolvers, even though my girls kept most of my attention.

It was reload ammo day for me, and my 40 had poor performance with all lead rounds after only a little while. I was testing all lead specifically to see if polygonal rifling was affected by all lead round (it was). I pulled tons of lead out at cleaning.

 

[BigJimP]

I used to shoot a lot of heavy max loads in .44 mag as well...and I've lost interest in it over time too...

and you're right / if I don't practice with those guns once in a while...I can't hit a large bull in the butt at 25 yds....( but it comes back pretty quick / when I focus / and get my ego out of it )...

 

[madmo44mag]

Yep at the last meet.
I found myself flinching (anticipating recoil) limp wristing and jerking the trigger.
At the meets I shoot mostly for fun so great groups are not my priority as long as I am getting decent groupings.

I had my 44 spl out that day a 2 inch snubby and it was grouping on ave of 2 inches.

My 45 LDA acp weighs as much as the 44 and I group good with it.

The issues I think is just the anticipating recoil and not being use to it any more. The extra weight out on the end of the barrel may also be playing a part in the limp wristing.

Back in the day I could hit what ever I aimed at and make one jagged hole but I shot 44mag almost exclusively then.

Like I said I don't have that issue with my light 44 loads just the mag loadings.

I guess I'll load some more mag ammo and see if I improve.

 

[Brian Williams]

Practice only makes you good a doing something the same way all the time.
Perfect practice makes perfect.