New loader – Question about setup for .44 Special

[byteheed]

[Argonaut]

Everything is available......just a little more costly. I have been buying from Midway, Buy a couple hundred rounds of unprimed brass and go to work.....I have consciously avoided 44 Special brass just so I could load any of my brass either heavy or light. Lots of bullet choices and different loads. I am working on Led free bullets right now. I have never liked running non-jacketed bullets. The little extra cost has never been a concern and I remember the days of lead fouled barrels.There are lots of great components today.

[SLO_Ryan]

I don't think you want Blue Dot, that is more of a magnum powder. I am not really familiar with the other powders you listed.

Another one to consider is Unique made by Alliant. You can use it for almost all pistol calibers, as well as for shotguns 12ga through 28 ga. It is super versatile. the old formulation was pretty sooty, but a couple of years ago they reformulated it, and it is quite a bit cleaner now.

[r08ert209cali]

universal would be good. blue dot a little hotter and really dirty imo. Try to get some tite group realy low recoil and last forever. here is a calguner who has some brass you may want. He is a top notch seller I already bought some stuff from him.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=182824

[mike100]

Those faster pistol powders can be used in 44 spl/mgn,but only to about 3/4 power loadings. Fairly accurate and pleasant to shoot. I can't recall using win231(same as hp38) in 44, but I have used unique (similar to Universal) which is a faster powder.

I use the plated 240 grains, if you don't push them to magnum power, the plated jacket won't separate and it is way easier to clean up the barrel afterwords.

I'm up in N. Co if you want to reload your first brass to see how to do it.

[byteheed]

Wow, thanks for all the replies, gentlemen. Since I got so many, I’ll aggregate here:

Argonaut – I haven’t had a problem with finding tools and gizmos in stock, but components for my caliber have driven me to some serious online scouring. I was thinking of just light-loading .44 Magnum brass to .44 Special loads, but I do like to shoot a cylinder of magnums once in a while and figured it would be a good idea to keep them visibly separate. It does seem to be a common practice, though, to keep the cylinders cleaner on revolvers.

On that subject, are there any long-term problems associated with shooting shorter cartridges in magnum revolvers? I’m okay with a little cleaning to get the extra powder and fouling out, but would not want to mess up a perfectly nice revolver. My Vaquero isn’t the best example, but looks decent and I can shoot lighter loads accurately with it.

Thanks for the note on lead. My goal is indeed to save money, or at least to shoot more often by reloading and every penny seems to help. I think I have some lead .44-something in my cache. Maybe I’ll put some rounds down the barrel and check things out.


SLO_Ryan – Thanks for the comment on Blue Dot for .44 Special. Maybe I’ll pick some up for Mag rounds down the line. I had Unique on my list, but it’s pretty hard to come by. I’ll keep my eye out.


r08ert209cali – 10-4 on the Universal… seems to be very commonly used. Thanks for the link to the brass.


Mike100 – The Lee book had a few recipes using the HP38 and I was looking online for stuff in stock. Are you recommending starting with less than the stated starting loads with the faster powders? I’ll look for plated bullets… Are these like the bullets in the jacketed-looking bulk .22LR cartridges? Thanks for the demo offer… I’ll take you up on that when I assemble everything I need.


The more I read about hand loading, the more I’m realizing that the hobby involves a lot of trial-and-error while adhering to safe practices and documented recipes.

[Californio]

I use 8.0gr of W231 (HP38) in a .44 mag case, standard Federal Primer, 265gr. gas checked lead Bullet. This load is mild and very accurate.

My magnum loads are all jacketed so I can tell the difference.

I prefer using just magnum cases for KISS and nothing else.

[mike100]

my light magnums are touch hotter than the specials, but easy to shoot, nonetheless. I could shoot either one, but I keep the reloader tool head set up for the magnum length- more convenient to keep it setup for one type.

[byteheed]

I can certainly see the benefit to loading super light loads into magnum cases. Maybe I'll go ahead and do that and save myself the hassle of retooling and keeping two different brass sizes.