44 mag and standard pistol primers?

[bluebayou]

I have have pretty accurate load with the 300 XTP and 19.5 grains of H4227.  But.........I have a lot of unburned powder/soot and the "pretty good accuracy" is 1.5 inches at 100.  I was going to try H110, but then I realized that Hodgdon lists the Remington 2 1/2 primer.  I have been using a CCI mag pistol primer.  Would a standard primer give a slower burn?  For the price of a box of primers it isn't a big deal to try it but I was wondering what you guys had tried.

[JPH45]

The only load I used in my 44 that a mag primer made any better difference in was with a 200 grain cast bullet and a surplus powder, "107 from www.gibrass.com the charge was 7.2 grains. was only mkaing 850 fps, a nice plinker load, the mag primer definately tightened up the groups. The standard powder loads I tried with 2400 and H110, I couldn't detect one iota difference between standard and magnum primers.

[safetysheriff]

i'd stay with the cci mag' pistol primer or else go with the Win' WLP which is a standard/magnum compromise primer.    i'd also switch to IMR 4227 if you want something that probably burns cleaner.     that's certainly the results my friend is getting with IMR 4227 in his S&W .44 mag' pistol using Hornady's 240 gr' swaged bullets.     the IMR is a little faster than the Hodgdon's, and probably more 'refined' -- if you can imagine that.

are you familiar with a recall of one lot of H-4227 that is in the 1# container?  see the website at the pistol page for the lot number.

[rp85]

hello;

had a ruger 44 carbine.  a garbage can lid was safe at 100 yds. with this rifle.  my reloads had mag. primers, with 2400 powder.  sold the rifle.  purchased a marline 44.  shot the rifle with reloads used in ruger,  action jammed.  ran the loads through a chronograph and found the speeds were all over the place.  changed back to std. primers and speeds became constant.  bottom line i sold a good ruger becaused i ASSUMED the problem was the rifle and not my relaods.  watch for pressue problems with mag. primers

rp

[bluebayou]

Thanks on the recall, safetysheriff, I had seen that notice.  I really think that I chose the wrong powder to use in the Handi.  Well, this was my first cartridge to handload, so there IS a lot of satisfaction either way.

The article by Barsness discussed over in the Handloading forum has really got me questioning some of my choices.  Not just with safety but with the consistency of the loads.  All of that unburned powder cannot be being "unburnt" consistently if that makes sense.

I appreciate the quick input.  Will drive over to the gun store this weekend and get some standard primers.  Will have to go shoot up all of my "bad" handloads at the range to get some brass.  Oh, well, if that is the worst of my problems this week then I should be okay.

[warf73]

I have a lot of unburned powder/soot

No expert on this but sounds like you need a heaver crimp (if you are useing one at all) to give the powder more time to burn.

Just my guess.

I use mag primers on all my 44mag stuff.

Warf

[bill m.]

On the straight wall cases, a heavy crimp helps alot.
IMR 4227 is not faster than H110 according to  the Hornady book.
I previously used the IMR powder in my mags and have since used H110 with better results. The H110 is significantly cleaner than the IMR. Maybe that's due to my primer selection.
As far as primers are concerned, my first choice is Federal. I shoot a thousand plus reloads per year and, after 4 years of using Federals, have only had 2 misfires that I can remember.
People have different experiences in reloading and what works well in their guns. This has worked extremely well for me with very consistent chrony measurements also.  
I load these for 2 of my friends and they tell me that they have never had a better round.

[bluebayou]

Maybe it will save someone else the headache:

I had unburnt powder and soot because I was seating to OAL of 1.72 not 1.60 like I was supposed to with the 300gr XTP.  Must have been a late night when looked at that book.  Just goes to show that you should pay attention.