44 mag reloads

[Bobby Linton]

Getting ready for deer season and trying to get out and practice every week. Today I Ioaded up the last of my trailboss with some Keith style plain base 240 LSWC. At a max charge of trailboss I only get 900 fps. It shoots great and delivers about 480 f/lbs of energy. I would like to be up over 1000 fps and 500 f/lbs. I have tried a starting load of 2400 @ 17gn but I get leading in my barrel. What is a good powder for a slow plain base load that wont lead so badly? I plan to purchase coated bullets next time around. Not sure if the lube on these Missouri bullets isn't the problem.

 

[Bobby Linton]

The books I have make me think, W231 or Unigue for that speed. I tried W231 and it took an hour for me to push all the lead out.

 

[Dub]

I'm afraid I can't be much help there.

I've always used jacketed 240gr hollow points over a dose of H110 in my .44mag hunting loads.

I'm hoping to work up a batch next week, in fact.

 

[BriarPatch99]

Bobby.... It really doesn't have a bunch to do with the powder ....once you reach the speed with a bullet that leads .... it is going to lead ...

Take a loose bullet ...turn it around and try to insert the base in to the forcing cone ..... If it is a loose fit ....it is probably going to lead .... Needs a good tight fit to keep the leading down ...

The Missouri bullets are high quality and the lube is good lube .... It all comes down to "fit" in the bore .... the bullet has to seal the bore really good .... or you gonna get leading ....

Shoot those below the "leading" speed .... and either get some Missouri Hi-Tek coated bullets ..... or shoot a good jacketed bullet by Hornady, Nosler, Sierra ....

Yes ....you can slug your bore with a soft lead bullet and find the "correct" bore size for your gun .... it may surprise you at the diameter.... get the right size bullet and the leading will drop way down ....

Also Call Brad @ Missouri bullets ....he will help guide you with a better choice .... he is a good guy...

You may need a .431" or .432" to seal. your bore ....

 

[Tom W.]

You don't want to shoot undersized cast bullets, it will lead. I cast mine and size them to .430 , lubed with White Label Lubes Carnauba Red. They don't lead in my SRH.

 

[mallardsx2]

POwder coat the bullets and them push them through a re-sizer before loading them into the case.

No leaading at all and they look cool.

 

[JMN1976]

Bobby.... It really doesn't have a bunch to do with the powder ....once you reach the speed with a bullet that leads .... it is going to lead ...

Take a loose bullet ...turn it around and try to insert the base in to the forcing cone ..... If it is a loose fit ....it is probably going to lead .... Needs a good tight fit to keep the leading down ...

The Missouri bullets are high quality and the lube is good lube .... It all comes down to "fit" in the bore .... the bullet has to seal the bore really good .... or you gonna get leading ....

Shoot those below the "leading" speed .... and either get some Missouri Hi-Tek coated bullets ..... or shoot a good jacketed bullet by Hornady, Nosler, Sierra ....

Yes ....you can slug your bore with a soft lead bullet and find the "correct" bore size for your gun .... it may surprise you at the diameter.... get the right size bullet and the leading will drop way down ....

Also Call Brad @ Missouri bullets ....he will help guide you with a better choice .... he is a good guy...

You may need a .431" or .432" to seal. your bore ....

Everything BriarPatch99 said and I will add this - the bevel base bullets MBC sells (and not just MBC, but nearly all commercially manufactured lead bullets) are great for plinking loads, but don't seal well at higher velocity to prevent leading EVEN if you have a very tight bullet seal. The bevel base is great for ease of seating bullet, but poor for sealing the bore when fired as the bullet doesn't obiturate enough to prevent hot gas from blowing past the bullet thus resulting in leading. The Hi-Tek coating is good and alot cleaner and is worth not being exposed to lead during the loading process and airborne lead during firing as much as non-coated bullet, but with the bullet profile being bevel base the Hi-Tek coating vs conventional lube it still won't seal properly in my opinion at any kind of velocity as you have noticed and stop leading.
These are about the only commercially produced lead bullets I found that doesn't have a significant bevel base - in addition the wide flat point on these would create a huge shockwave upon impact of deer.
Make sure that you flare the case mouth well to seat the bullet and don't crimp just set the die to remove the flare or leave a little flare if necessary but make sure the cartridge will chamber in the revolver. Lead is oversized and stretches the case upon seating - a crimp just shaves lead off the bullet as it exits the case upon firing

https://gallantbullets.com/collections/44-caliber/products/44-300gr-wfp

 

[rosewood]

I have always used gas checked boolits in my magnum loads. Solves leading problems. However, I have had great luck with coated boolits not leading at any speed that I have tried.

Rosewood

 

[Darkhorse]

Years ago I cast .38 bullets both plain base and gas checks for .38 specials and .357 Magnum. I shot a lot and can't remember any problems.
But I've never shot a cast bullet in any of the .44 Magnums I have or have sold over the years. To my mind shooting cast lead bullets in a .44 mag was just asking for troubles, so all I've ever shot were jacketed bullets. I bought my first, a Ruger SBH in the mid 70's which I still have, and have never had a problem with a jacketed bullet. At one time we had 3 Ruger 44 carbines and a couple of pistols. All of these were shot a lot for many years with no problems.
That's something to think about.
I use Unique, 2400 and 296, these powders cover a wide range of velocities and shooter comfort.

In my S&W .40 caliber I shoot Rayonier 180 grain HP's. These bullets are coated with a thin skin of brass. I dug one out of an old stump that had been a backstop. I was impressed, though mushrooming was minimal there appeared to be zero loss of the brass skin and I had been wondering about the integrity of the coating.
I've been through several 500 round boxes with not a jam, ftf, or problem on any kind. I think these might work well with the .44 mag if velocities were kept down a little.

 

[rosewood]

I too have had good luck with Ranier bullets in my .40. I use the 165 Full metal case though and they shoot well. I also cast a Lee 180 Truncated cone that I powder coat that shoots better than most jacketed bullets do.

In my 7mm-08, I cast a 132 grain gas checked boolit that I push at about 2200 FPS. No leading in it and shoots about 1.5" at 100yds.

Had serious leading issues in my H&R BUffalo Classic 45-70 with plain base boolits. I tried everything that I could read on fitting the boolit to the throat etc, but still had leading. Bought a gas checked mold and it solved the leading issues. I have pushed them 1700+ fps. After I started powder coating, I now coat the same PB boolit that was leading and it no longer leads.

Rosewood

 

[rosewood]

All the info you read about fitting the throat or matching the pressures to the boolit hardness is a pain to chase. Gas checking or powder coating is a shortcut to avoid all of those issues. At least it was for me.

I know there are lot of old school casters that despise powder coating, but they ain't tried it yet......

One other thing, powder coating adds a few thousandths to the bullet diameter, so it may help with boolit fit, but you may also have to seat a bit deeper than the lubed boolits to keep out of the rifling.

Rosewood

 

[JMN1976]

Also make sure your bore is clean if you have shot jacketed bullets in the past. Sometimes dirty bore will act like sandpaper to the lead and cause issues, but probably not an issue as it would lead regardless of velocity. Leading is not from the bullet contact with lands/grooves it is from gas cutting around base of bullet and causing the lead to melt along the bore thus depositing that melted lead in your barrel. Powdercoating as mentioned helps to provide a film for the bullet to ride on and also eliminates some of the gas cutting from powder burn, but this also has a threshold. Gas checking does eliminate leading almost all of the time, but if your going to go to that trouble just shoot a jacketed bullet unless your a big time caster with lots of lead. If it were me I would stick with the Trailboss loads for hunting and practice/practice/practice with that load - that bullet has enough frontal area for good shockwave energy transfer and is relatively soft that it will expand some even at 900fps. If you keep your shots reasonable there is no reason that load will not kill deer. I would rather have a slower bullet and less recoil and be accurate to place the bullet in the right spot than be trying to push the velocity envelope. Think of it as bowhunting strategy and you'll have a deer in the cooler.

 

[BriarPatch99]

I cast and shoot the Lyman 429244 bullet which is about 255 grains depending on the alloy .... it uses a gas check and can be run pretty fast ....BUT ...the gas checks cost are expensive ....

So I mostly just use jacketed bullets in my 629 S&W .... mainly the Hornady XTP.240 and the Sierra 210 grain JHC....

As some the other guys have said ....shooting lead bullets is really and "art" in it's self ....

 

[Tom W.]

I have an RCBS 245 gr swc mold and a Lee 310 gr. RF gascheck mold. Both shoot like they are supposed to. I have never fired a factory load or a jacketed bullet from my SRH, and I've had it for many years.
As for powder coating, I'm too old and don't really have a lot of time left on the green side of the grass, so I'll stick with my lubrisizer....I told myself a long time ago that if I couldn't shoot cast bullets from my handguns I didn't want them.






Cancer sucks.

 

[Bobby Linton]

Cancer sucks indeed my friend.