Load testing 44 mag

[mickb]

Hoping to do some chronying of various 44 mag book loads on Friday. Looking to get the book load max powder charge for each one( safely). Gun is a Rossi 92 44mag so one of the strongest.

Loads and velocities as follows. These are pistol barrel loads and velocities from manufacturers sources, not mine)

be interesting to see how much faster they run in a 20" barrel.

Lilgun
Hodgon online data
180 jacketed, 31.5grains, 1859fps
200 jacketed, 29.5 grains, 1794fps
240 jacketed, 24.5 grains, 1582fps
300 jacketed, 17.7 grains, 1280fps

2400 powder
Alliant online data
200 jacketed, 24 grains, 1589fps
240 jacketed, 21 grains, 1434fps
300 jacketed, 19 grains, 1088fps

N110 Powder
Vihtavuori online data
180 jacketed, 27.1 grains, 1751fps
200 jacketed, 26.3 grains, 1740fps
240 jacketed, 24.1 grains, 1541fps
300 jacketed, 20.2 grains, 1374fps

I dont have other powders to try, would love to get my hands on some Win 296 but havent seen it since pre-covid. only have one tub of Lilgun as well

[bladeracer]

I've only used Trailboss, AP70N, and AR2205 in the .44. The AR2205 loads are the only ones I pushed hard but I don't have velocities listed. 265gn FTX is the heaviest bullet I've tried.

Hoping to do some chronying of various 44 mag book loads on Friday. Looking to get the book load max powder charge for each one( safely). Gun is a Rossi 92 44mag so one of the strongest.

Loads and velocities as follows. These are pistol barrel loads and velocities from manufacturers sources, not mine)

be interesting to see how much faster they run in a 20" barrel.

Lilgun
Hodgon online data
180 jacketed, 31.5grains, 1859fps
200 jacketed, 29.5 grains, 1794fps
240 jacketed, 24.5 grains, 1582fps
300 jacketed, 17.7 grains, 1280fps

2400 powder
Alliant online data
200 jacketed, 24 grains, 1589fps
240 jacketed, 21 grains, 1434fps
300 jacketed, 19 grains, 1088fps

N110 Powder
Vihtavuori online data
180 jacketed, 27.1 grains, 1751fps
200 jacketed, 26.3 grains, 1740fps
240 jacketed, 24.1 grains, 1541fps
300 jacketed, 20.2 grains, 1374fps

I dont have other powders to try, would love to get my hands on some Win 296 but havent seen it since pre-covid. only have one tub of Lilgun as well

[mickb]

yeah Id love some Ar2205 to try as well to see how it goes but havent seen that in an age either

[straightshooter]

I have used Blue Dot, 2400 and IMR4227 in Marlin 44mags, a Winchester 44mag and a Ruger 44mag semi auto.
The Winchester and Ruger were sold long before the semi auto ban.
I settled on Blue Dot for 180 and 200 grain projectiles and 2400 for 240 grain projectiles.
IMR4227 (roughly equal to 2205) was too slow and left many unburnt kernels of powder in the barrel, 2400 less so.
I have never bothered to chronograph any of these loads because, lets face it, every last drop of velocity or pressure isn't going to make a whole lot of difference in a 44 mag at the distances one normally encounters game.
I have never used Lil Gun or N110 so I am clueless regarding those powders.
BEWARE if you are using published loads for a revolver with the published pressure near maximum (ie 40000 CUP) then the pressure will be measurably higher in a rifle due to the presence of the cylinder gap in the revolver providing some pressure reduction. That does not mean you will see problems immediately but repeated use will cause problems such as accelerated wear in the bolt and locking lug surfaces and/or dimensional changes in thin sections of the chamber.

[Billo]

mickb keep in mind Lil Gun was designed as a lower pressure powder, yes its a cracking powder in the Hornet and 218 Bee but it can be sketchy when compressed and chasing max speed. I've used it successfully in the 357 Magnum and got some stunning accuracy from it but it also gave me some pressure spike when chasing speed.

Hodgdon list load data for Lil Gun and Pistols but not rifles........

I did find the advertised speeds for Lil Gun and the 500S&W to be bang on, but again I had plenty of case capacity left and was running 15% under max PSI

[mickb]

I never knock a safety warning fellas but feel comfortable with the plan. Lilgun is referenced in plenty of different rifle data, shooters reference.com, barnes and nosler etc. In fact all Noslers max loads for Lilgun ( in its rifle section) are compressed. They even list the compression % and some loads are compressed highly aka 127%.

What pressure spike did you get in 357 mate, sticky extraction or primers etc?

Also magnum loads in a revolver apparently generate more pressure than a lever action. Might seem counter intuitive but the revolver smiths and writers like Mic Mcpherson attest to it. Apparently as the bullet is forced to obturate twice and gives the pressure more time to spike in the recolver. https://www.levergunscommunity.org/view ... hp?t=24612

The yanks run their top pistol loads in rifles, its one of their favorite pastimes to have the same load in both. I would too if I could hunt with a pistol.
Would be a lot of court cases if they were weakening rifles, just saying.

[mickb]

Just retiterating I appreciate the concerns though, never ignore a safety warning.

[Billo]

You'll be right mickb, I dont think you will get much more than advertised speeds for the 20 inch barrel v the 10inch listed speed, add about 300fps

What pills are you going to be using

[mickb]

All XTP's mate Im seeing what I can get reloaded tonight, at the minute I only have couple small windows of time to reload and get out there tomorrow. Worst case I might run the N110 in 200, 240 and 300xtp and see how they chrony and group

[Billo]

All XTP's mate Im seeing what I can get reloaded tonight, at the minute I only have couple small windows of time to reload and get out there tomorrow. Worst case I might run the N110 in 200, 240 and 300xtp and see how they chrony and group

Good stuff, I need to do some reloading for my 44mag as Ive been shooting off somebody else's reloads

[mickb]

You'll be right mickb, I dont think you will get much more than advertised speeds for the 20 inch barrel v the 10inch listed speed, add about 300fps

What pills are you going to be using

Yeah pistol data with a 10" barrel creates some blue sky in the numbers, 300fps might be a reasonable increase. I will say Im actually not a big fan of highly compressed loads. I have only loaded 2400 as a magnum powder ( apart from a bunch of lighter non magnum powders) and you dont need to compress that one.

I have no doubts compression is okay for lilgun and win 296 etc if Nosler etc are happy with it, but its just not my style. Something about available case capacity being what it is and getting the job done, not what you can prove you can cram in there.

But I will run the lilgun loads just for interests sake. I have only one pound tub of it anyway, possibly one of the last in captivity so its not something I can continue shooting long term anyway.

[Billo]

You'll be right mickb, I dont think you will get much more than advertised speeds for the 20 inch barrel v the 10inch listed speed, add about 300fps

What pills are you going to be using

Yeah pistol data with a 10" barrel creates some blue sky in the numbers, 300fps might be a reasonable increase. I will say Im actually not a big fan of highly compressed loads. I have only loaded 2400 as a magnum powder ( apart from a bunch of lighter non magnum powders) and you dont need to compress that one.

I have no doubts compression is okay for lilgun and win 296 etc if Nosler etc are happy with it, but its just not my style. Something about available case capacity being what it is and getting the job done, not what you can prove you can cram in there.

But I will run the lilgun loads just for interests sake. I have only one pound tub of it anyway, possibly one of the last in captivity so its not something I can continue shooting long term anyway.

Something worth doing is crimping and I'm only a newbie having only shot 357s, 44 and 500s for the last 7 or 8 years, but definitely my most accurate loads had a good crimp to get decent accuracy

[Blr243]

How far north are you. ? I’ll b north of charters towers in June if u are still chaseing 2205

[Blr243]

Mick b I was referring to

[mickb]

Hey BLR , I go through Charters towers occasionally for work, could touch base close to then for sure

[mickb]

Something worth doing is crimping and I'm only a newbie having only shot 357s, 44 and 500s for the last 7 or 8 years, but definitely my most accurate loads had a good crimp to get decent accuracy

Cheers mate, yes I always put a solid crimp on too. Especially for low powered stuff

[Blr243]

Mick I may be able to let go of a pound of 2205 for a hundred bucks . This may help see you thru for a while. but I have to be mindful of running low myself. .. hopefully by then it may be available already on the shelves local for you . Chat closer to June i suppose

[straightshooter]

img-250105183511.pdf

Scanned load data

(598.31 KiB) Downloaded 15 times

Since you have 2400 here is some older data from Hercules in 14 inch barrels and Hornady in 20 inch barrels.
I don't like the way Alliant do their online data.

The file uploading procedure doesn't seem to work.

[mickb]

Cheers straightshooter I will take a look mate