.44 mag. and recoil question

[ratgunner]

Hi,I've started loading for my .44 blkhawk and am wondering wich of the following will be milder to shoot. 14.8 grns of 2400 with a 300 grn. bullet,17.4 grns of 2400 with a 240 grn bullet OR a 200 grn bullet over 22.1 grns of 2400 ? These are the lowest loads for each respective bullet weight useing 2400 that my book lists. Also would it be "safe" to go under these powder charges ? Just looking for a light load to plink with these bullets. All bullets are XTP's. Thanks 

[Nobade]

Use Unique. 2400 doesn't download very well in the 44, and if you're looking for light recoil there are better choices than 2400.

[ratgunner]

Thanks for the reply. I guess what I'm looking to do basically is load .44spl.+P loads in .44 mag brass.

[ratgunner]

Maybe I should just buy some .44spl brass,lol.

[woods]

     I run 200 gr leadbullets through all my 44's, With 5 grains of clays I'm getting 920 fps from a 7.5" ruger bisley, it's  mild, acurate and clean buning. Your choice of 2400 is kind of poor powder for this type load you are looking at, between unburned powder and fouling you will have to deal with cleanning your handgun alot. 2400 was ment for fast semi hot loads and a good roll crimp to burn all the powder. When I load 44 special it's unique or bulleye . My 2 cents if you want the advice.
     woods

[Graybeard]

I don't agree, 2400 is very forgiving of downloading and still shoots very accurately.

Many years ago my best friend (Billy Doss, deceased) and I loaded thousands of rounds using 17.0 grains of 2400 under Lyman 429244 bullets cast of linotype weighting in at 242 grains gas checked and lubed. I've seen that load in many load manuals.

Billy hated recoil. He could tolerate it but he HATED it. He down loaded 2400 all the way to 12.5 grains using the same bullet and other 240 grain SWC bullets. He got excellent accuracy and it still knocked over every target he hit and he hit a lot of them.

I won't disagree with the use of Unique but 2400 is just as good a choice.

I don't recall ever going below 16.0 grains with 240 SWC bullets for my personal loads but Billy was a believer in using no more powder than was necessary to get the job done and in this case the job was knocking over NRA HP silhouette targets.

I'm not giving load recommendations merely sharing the experiences of long ago of what worked for us.

As to your question I doubt there would be a lot of difference in the recoil level of those three choices. Of them I'd chose the 240 as it is a very close duplicate of a load I've fired many many thousands of and won a whole passel of silhouette matches with.

[ratgunner]

Thanks Woods and Bill.

[ratgunner]

I got some Unique and loaded down to 8.1 grns and 9.2 grns. I'll see how it works. Also did more with 2400 but with regular primers this time instead of magnums.

[jhalcott]

 While I know what the books say, MY .44 super Black hawk does NOT like loads over 19 1/2 grains with 240 grain bullets and 2400 powder. Ejection requires removing the cylinder and driving the empties out! Not a welcome sight on the Silouhette line!

[Nobade]

Sounds like some chamber polishing is in order.

[Lloyd Smale]

15 grains of 2400 with a 300 or 17 with a 240 are very doable. I wouldnt go much lower but even a grain less with each will work fine. One of my go to accuracy loads in the 44 mags is a 250 cast with 18 grains of 2400. It will shoot well in about any 44 mag.

[ratgunner]

Just got back from the range. I tested four loads. 17.5 of 2400 got me 2" groups @ 25 and 18.8 of 2400 gave 3" groups. The Unique loads were 8.1 grns and 9.2 grns. The 8.1 was all over the target while the 9.2 did pretty well. All were 6 shot groups. Recoil was manageable with all.  Not sure why but my reloads all went "slightly" to the left. I shot some factory loads and they were centered ? 

[snapdragon]

Have you thought about lead bullets for plinking?  I shoot lots of 44 Magnum rounds loaded with lead bullets and either Unique or Trail Boss.

[mdi]

To answer your question, I believe the lighter bullets will have less felt recoil. It's that "for every action..." Moving a heavier bullet out of a gun will have a tendency to move the gun more; recoil.

[martineta]

Or you could try Trailboss powder.  The powder is super light for volume so it fills cases.  Its what the cowboy action shooters load in their 45/70's, 45 long colts, 44's and all the other old calibers they shoot.  They shoot hundreds of times during competition and training.  Trailboss is great.  I use it to download my 38 specials to near 22 mag recoil and load my .308 Win to shoot subsonic through my suppressor, Great powder for recoil reducing plinking loads.

[ratdog]

i have tried trail boss in my 30-30 and  45-70 nice easy loads should be real pleasant to shot in a 44 mag or 45 going to load up some soon.

[Mikey]

ratgunner:  geez, if you just want to plink I sure wouldn't use XTPs, I would go with cast 240s and drop the charge of 2400 to about 12 gns for about 800'/sec - 44 spl velocities.  This is from my Hornady Handbook.  HTH.

[ratgunner]

Well it's not plinking exactly but practice for hunting. For just plinking I'll use my single six mostly. But yeah I'm gonna try some cast too. Thanks