can a 44 mag be loaded with Pyrodex or black powder

[jacks44mag]

can a 44 mag be loaded with Pyrodex or black powder I want to load a 200g cast bullet in a NEF handi rifle if so where can I get load data

[Bigeasy]

Yes it can.  Load to the level that allows you to seat the bullet (lead) without compressing the powder.  FFFG or R/S powder.  Lyman would most likely have particulars.  You will not be able to put enough black powder into a 44 mag case to cause excessive high pressures.

Larry

[Cuts Crooked]

  Load to the level that allows you to seat the bullet (lead) without compressing the powder.
Larry

Uh, that's not how I learned to do it. I paticipate in a lot of CAS matches, using BP catridges in my guns, and what most CAS participants do is load the cartridge with enough powder to get slight compression when the bullet is seated... 1/16" to 1/8" is about right.

Also, you need to use a BP comapatible lube on your bullets. In a revolver almost any two groove bullet will work pretty good if lubed with a BP lube. Carbines need a bit more help, like a lube cookie or a special bullet designed to carry extra lube.

Have fun with it! There are quite a few CAS participants who use the .44 Mags loaded with BP and they seem to be pretty happy with that chambering and BP!

[Bigeasy]

Yes it can.  Load to the level that allows you to seat the bullet (lead) without compressing the powder. 

Larry

Yes, many shooters like a light compression on their loads.  Perhaps I should have said "without over compressing", as I have seen shooters trying to get every last grain of powder in a case, resulting in bulged cases, or bullets working themselves forward and jamming the revolver.

Larry

[Graybeard]

With real BP make darn sure you do NOT have an air gap thus some compression is required to assure that.

[S.S.]

With real BP make darn sure you do NOT have an air gap thus some compression is required to assure that.

+1 here..
Blackpowder cartridges can turn into
mini-grenades real quick with an airspace left.

[ipyrek]

what about with copper jacked bullets ?

[Sir Charles deMoutonBlack]

what about with copper jacked bullets ?

Jacketed bullets are NOT required, as mv's are not high enough to require them.

They can be counter-productive.  The lube grooves in cast bullets are designed to be be filled with a blackpowder compatible lube to keep the fouling soft.  If you do decide that you just have to try jacketed bullets, place a "lube-cookie" sandwiched between dry wads between the powder and the base of the bullet.

Cheaper, simpler, and better just to use cast bullets.

[Nobade]

I suppose you could use jacketed bullets if you wanted to clean really well after every shot. But cast bullets, no harder than air cooled wheelweights, with appropriate lube, will allow you to keep shooting with good accuracy. I use black powder in my 44 mag and 44 special and get as good or better accuracy as smokeless, with more fun. A big boom and smoke has to be worth something, right? And I can call it the "44 American extra long" instead of the 44 magnum when loaded with black.

[ipyrek]

OK, I understand now. I just thought with jacketed bullets I wouldn't have to worry about leading in the barrel.