Author Topic: 180 gr load for 44 Spl ? (Read 416 times)

Buddy in AK · « **on:** January 09, 2006, 07:04:15 AM »

Looking for loading Data for 180 gr cast bullets in .44 Spl. Want to make a good plinking load. Found Data for 240 gr but not 180. Any of you Cowboys out there have a favorite load for .44 Special ?

Buddy

Jim n Iowa · « **Reply #1 on:** January 09, 2006, 03:42:27 PM »

Buddy, have been to your town twice in the last 3 yrs. Stayed at the Captains the first time, had lunch there the last time. Had I been younger I would have stayed longer.
The 44 sp is a favorite load of mine, I like it in a 240 swc. I do plan on loading up some 180 Hornady XTP using 2400 @11.2 gr with a cci 300 primer. Steve's Pages has a lot of info on the 44sp loads. If you need more get back to me.
Jim

Jim n Iowa · « **Reply #2 on:** January 09, 2006, 03:45:06 PM »

Buddy, have been to your town twice in the last 3 yrs. Stayed at the Captains the first time, had lunch there the last time. Had I been younger I would have stayed longer.
The 44 sp is a favorite load of mine, I like it in a 240 swc. I do plan on loading up some 180 Hornady XTP using 2400 @11.2 gr with a cci 300 primer. Steve's Pages has a lot of info on the 44sp loads. If you need more get back to me.
Jim

ricciardelli · « **Reply #3 on:** January 09, 2006, 05:08:43 PM »

Not what I would call a "light plinking load", but it sure makes that Bulldog bark!

Cartridge: .44 Special
Bullet: Sierra 180 Grain Jacketed Hollow Cavity
Powder: 15.5 grains of 2400
Primer: CCI-350
Case: Federal
Firearm: Charter Arms Bulldog, Ruger Super Blackhawk
Velocity: 1000 FPS @ 15' from muzzle

Buddy in AK · « **Reply #4 on:** January 10, 2006, 06:32:12 AM »

Thanks Guys, that will give me a good starting point.

Any Cowboy loads out there for 180 cast bullets?

Happy Shooting
Buddy

Steve P · « **Reply #5 on:** January 10, 2006, 04:38:44 PM »

Try Unique. 5.0 - 8.0 grains. Should be clean and mild. If using the low volumes of powder, try putting a styrofoam pad over the powder to keep it near the primer.

I use a an old sized case, enlarge the flash hole so a nail will fit thru with head inside the case. I then use the brass to cut little pads out of the little trays like you get in the meat department at the store. Use the nail to push the pads out of the brass. I then stick these on top of the low volume powder loads and push down with pencil (eraser end). This helps to ensure no double charges, and keeps the powder near the primer for better ignition.

Good Luck,

Steve

Lone Star · « **Reply #6 on:** January 11, 2006, 03:03:15 AM »

That is also a potential method to ring a chamber. :eek: Pushing wads down on top of powder with an airspace between the wad and bullet is a reloading no-no. The NRA, Cast Bullet Assn, etc. recommend a Dacron or Kapok tuft to fill the space between the powder and bullet, not a hard wad. Be careful.....

Steve P · « **Reply #7 on:** January 11, 2006, 04:15:19 PM »

Thousands of rounds and no ringed chambers. These little styrofoam trays are soft and the single little plug disentigrates on firing. I won't use dacron or kapok. They don't disentigrate on firing. I have seen them increase pressures dramatically when used in bottleneck cases. Worse than cornmeal or cream-of-wheat. I have also seen loads that have been carried and had the powder granules disperse into dacron fibers and have irratic ignition.

If you offered me a vegetable fibre wad or similar hard wad, or a wad larger than my bullet diameter, I would not put it in my gun at all. I cut these styrofoam wad's with a sized case so they are actually not a tight fit at all.

If you have documentation regarding wads and airspace in reloads, please share it. I am willing to read any new information. If it is just someone's hypothetical dribble based on professional opinion, I probably have already gone thru it and dismissed it as such.

Steve

Buddy in AK · « **Reply #8 on:** January 17, 2006, 07:56:17 AM »

Worked up a Unique load with 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 gr. Liked the 6.5 and will try it for awhile.

Thanks for your help, Buddy

Lone Star · « **Reply #9 on:** January 17, 2006, 08:18:50 AM »

Quote

If you have documentation regarding wads and airspace in reloads, please share it. I am willing to read any new information. ...

Then I suggest you contact the NRA or the Cast Bullet Association, they will have information that perhaps you will believe when you read it, or not. Lyman listed cast bullet fillers in their loading manuals for many years, but they stopped by number 48; there must have been a reason for that decision.

Not meant as a personal attack at all, but your logic here is flawed. Just because it hasn't happened to you in "thousands of rounds" does not mean it won't happen to you later, or to someone else with a different firearm and different load. How many smokers don't get cancer? How many drink, drive yet don't have accidents? Are those risks real, or is it just hypothetical dribble? You decide.