.44 Russian Loads

[S.S.]

I have Came into possession of a sizable amount of starline .44 Russian brass.
Educate me in the fine art of reloading for this caliber....
Most of the data I can find is Cowboy Action stuff and is pretty weak.
I want to use 240 grain Lead SWC's and A Georga Whitetail is about the
biggest thing that may be shot at with one.

[no guns here]

Now... I'm not a reloader so I can't talk to that.  It seems to me that the .44 Russian was a short cartridge with fairly anemic performance originally.  Not sure if you can bump it up ala Elmer Keith and the .44 Special or not.  Hmmm... sounds interesting though.  What are you going to shoot them out of?

ngh

[Questor]

Is your gun chambered for that round? If not, I'd sell the brass on e-bay and buy some brass that fits my gun. Then I'd load that. I assume your gun is a 44 special or 44 magnum. If you decide to reload it, the 240 grain bullet may be a little long for that case, so you may have to innovate a non-standard overall length for the cartridge.

[S.S.]

A model 629 Smith and A Super blackhawk.
But my interest is really a .44 lever carbine with them.
A lighter bullet is no problem, I just had a bunch
of the 240 grainers too so I figured I would get them together.
Some of the Info I have says that they were actually 246
grain lead round nose bullets in the 1800's ? I thought it was a lighter
bullet too. Velocity was around 850 - 900 fps.
I have always heard that the .44 Russian was an inherrantly accurate
cartridge, so I wanted to give them a try.

[Questor]

Well I'll be darned! You learn something every day.
Here's what Hodgdon's has for load data: http://www.hodgdon.com/data/cowboy/spc44rus.php

[zipperzap]

Well, here's another.

I've got a Navy Arms repro. and it was considered one of the top target pistols of the 1870s.

I'd be careful about juicing up hot loads for it because it's a top break[/u] pistol!
Personally, I would not - as much respect and 'love' I feel for my Russian -
want a reconstructive surgeon removing bits and pieces of it from my face!
2¢

[S.S.]

These will be fired in modern .44 magnums.
I have found a good load. 6.2 grains of unique
behind a 240 grain LSWC. Looks like about
950 fps from my Ruger. just going by data.
Cowboy stuff is only about 700 fps.
It is an accurate cartridge !