Great 44 Mag load and TAC powder

[AtlLaw]

Went to the range yesterday to sight in a couple of rifles and a revolver.  One rifle, a Rossi M92, and the revolver, a Ruger SBH Bisley, are in 44Mag.

Now, back when I started loading for handgun calibers ol' Will'um (GrayBeard) told me all I needed was Unique and 2400.  I have NOT found anything to contradict that recommendation!    My 44 load in 20.5 gr. of 2400 behind a 240 gr. Hornady XTP bullet.  At 50 yards from the tang sighted rifle it gave me one ragged hole.  Not that good from the Ruger at 50 yards, but that was my fault not the loads!  I'm not a very good heavy handgun shooter...    YET!  

Down in So. Jawja my hunting buddy was checking the zero on his Ruger Semi-auto carbine with the same load; at 100 yards.  He took pictures!     OH! BTW, the "old" is the ammo I loaded last year with 20.0 gr and the "new" is what I loaded this year with 20.5 gr.  I have not put them over the chono. yet, but I will!   

I also brought my M94 30-30 to the range.  Now, I had never been happy with the way this rifle shot.  I had tried many different combinations with little success.  I was checking the zero with the best load I had previously found but had also brought along something new.

A member here was talking about TAC in the .358 Win.  I got a pound to try in mine and decided I'd try it in the 30-30.  What the heck...    So I picked a charge, stuffed a 170 gr. bullet in the case and gave it a try.  It cut my groups in half!  

I could use the load as is, but I'm gonna try one with magnum primers and one with a half gr. heavier charge.  

[stimpylu32]

Richard

TAC also does a wonderful job in the 223 Rem , its my Go-To powder for 222 , 223 and my 224GNR .

stimpy

PS - Bill's right , 2400 and Unique will cover just about any Handgun load there is . 

[Glanceblamm]

I am pretty much established on my .44 mag hunting loads with the 240 gr XTP and the 296 which preformed great anywhere from 23.6gr to 24.2gr and lit by the CCI 350 primer.

I don't know when to leave well enough alone though and have a new canister of the 2400, 100 new cases, and a new box of the Hornady 265 gr FP Interlock on hand to try.

About all of my plinking or practice loads use a light to moderate amount of Unique and a bargin brand cast RNFP. They shoot very very well.

My problem is that once a good load is found, "and I have several" I will go ahead and punch out a 100 rd lot of them. They recieve very light usage as a lot of us like the "hunting brass" to be new or fired just once or twice.

If I had any kind of common sense I would bust these hunting loads down to 20 rd lots or so but it has not happened yet and I struggle to keep the inventory below 2k. That number used to be 1k for each of four diff calibers but it seems that I buy new brass at every opportunity. It might be a good idea to have plenty of "proven loads" on hand in this day & age.