Favorite powder for the .44 spl

[Leadlum]

I`m wondering whats everyones favorite powder is for the .44 spl? I`ll be reloading some 250-SWC-K bullets, and be shooting them in a S&W 629 44 mag gun.

[Lloyd Smale]

my favorite generic .44 spec loads are 7 grains of unique or 8 of power pistol or herco.

[Nobade]

I've been using a lot of Titegroup in large, low pressure handgun cartridges. It gives very consistant speeds and burns clean. About 6.0gr. works great in the 44 spl.

[captainkirk]

I would second the vote for Unique-  my personal favorite for light loads in the 44 mag or 44 special.  I load 7-8 grains under the 250 swc in 44 mag cases for  so 6-7 grains should be ok in "special" cases.  Unique's one failing is that it is not what you might call "ultra clean burning"...

captainkirk

[Kingfish]

I'm shooting 44spl out of a Marlin rifle but my notes show accurate loads for the 240grn cast bullets with 5.7 Green Dot, 5.1 Titegroup, 12.0 AA#9, 7.5 Power Pistol, 6.7 Herco, 4.8 SR7625 or 8.0 HS-6. Some of these loads were with soft swaged lead bullets so the charges are lower than hard cast.


Bill

[Yukon Gold]

I've always enjoyed the nice and easy recoil of the pistol when using Unique.  I shoot a lot of cast - and Unique fits the bill in many ways.

[LAH]

7 to 7.5 grs. of Unique.

[Blackhawk44]

There are only two .44 Special loads in existence - 7.5gr Unique and 250gr cast bullets for beating the brush and 4.5gr Bullseye and 240gr swaged for targets.  These have been all I needed since I brought my first 44 Special home in the basket of my bicycle almost 40 years ago. [/list]

[Robert]

This is great.  I have some freshly cast 245 Lyman/Keiths sitting on my work bench waiting for lube.  A freind of mine just recently got into a Bulldog frenzy and just cant stop buying them.....I think one of them might come my way.  I had the mold in my shop, so I fired some up and we plan on experimenting with them.  I had a hard time with 45's in a 4 cavity...so I cut back on the W/W...these 44's are about half and half w/w and pure lead.  That 4.5 grs Bullseye recipe sounds great.  For close range plinking...do I need to crimp?  I have never loaded for this cartridge before.....I would appreciate some helpful hints.

[Leftoverdj]

You want plinking loads for Bulldogs as light as you can stand. It's a fine carry pistol, but it's not built to shoot steadily. I wore two out with about 1500 rounds each. The weak point is cylinder support. Frontal contact is miniscule and batters under recoil. Once cylinder endshake starts, it progresses rapidly and I never found a way to fix it.

[Blackhawk44]

Sadly, in a Bulldog, I don't think you are going to enjoy 250gr bullets.  Kick and barely stabilize.  A 200-215gr bullet over the same load of Bullseye will work better for you.

[Arbyrod]

Lyman 429421 245 grain Keith Style bullet with 5 grains of Red Dot is an excellent short range target load.

Rod