.44 Mag Questions and Ponderings

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Durf
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Re: .44 Mag Questions and Ponderings

Post by Durf »

Found your post Mr Surveyor. Nice shooting and great info. I will be doing some reloading latter tonight. Just came home with some new lea d..430 dia hard cast to try and some horndy 265 gr fp. Keep posting your results they are very helpful thanks
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Re: .44 Mag Questions and Ponderings

Post by mr surveyor »

I had intentions of working on the 265 gc loads tomorrow, but a buddy and I are planning to be on the edge of the woods at a friend's hay meadow tomorrow to try to do a bit of "pest control". Given that the pig shots look like they'll be in the 100-150 yard range, I'll be leaving the .44 with factory irons at home. If I had one of RD's Weaver Scout Scopes mounted and tuned the .44 would be going.

I think the shoulder bruise is just about healed so I'll be bumping up the loads for the 265's soon.

I would like to see a lot more load info/experience for the .44 mag. and cast bullets. My only two buddies that load for .44 rifle tend to stick with 240 gr jacketed bullets, and my former mentor (RIP Mack) never had the chance to nurse me through the .44 mag.

I look at reloading like most everything else .... learn the basics (especially including the safety issues) - define the working boundaries for the task - keep trying (and documenting) combinations of components within those boundaries until something falls together that fits your needs. It is helpful to have hints from those that's been there before on what CAN be eliminated first, but sometimes it may stick with you better when you've been there yourself (talking about specific loads and definitely not talking about safety violations).

just rambling

JD
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Re: .44 Mag Questions and Ponderings

Post by donhuff »

JD,

You need to go ahead and get that scope! I'v seen where you have mentioned it a few times already. It is very light, small, and does not make the gun cumbersome at all like a bolt gun with a bigger scope. I could not believe how clear it was, but I guess that's what you get with a straight 4X.

Nothing wrong with the 240s is there? I know the thing nowadays is to shoot as heavy a chunk as possible, but a 240 going so fast that it NEEDS a gas check should do a fair bit of damage. You must be wanting to shoot THROUGH 4 of those pigs with one shot, like RD did.

I have loaded and shot mine with a 245g swc and 20g of 2400 which is getting on up there in speed. And it showed no sign of needing a GC. Accuracy was good even at 100 yds. A max load of LilGun should get you another 100fps, but around the same pressure so still not sure a GC would be a necessity.

I know this is not a 44 target but the 45C is real similar. I was using the weaver scope just to see if these loads would group at 100. I had been shooting them without the scope ant the groups were three times this size and always had wild fliers. Boy what a difference the scope made! And that 2400 load with the three so close shows me that I need to be still, and I might get all five in one big hole.
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Re: .44 Mag Questions and Ponderings

Post by Ranch Dog »

Nice shooting Don!

Yeah, JD you know you want that scope. Just bought my sixth one last week. OpticsPlanet had the best price I found last week and it is easy to find a 10% off coupon.
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Re: .44 Mag Questions and Ponderings

Post by mr surveyor »

Now that's the encouragement I needed to push me over the edge. Thanks guys. :D

We've got a couple of big projects in the works and have just about overcome the winter economic doledrums .... so the Scout Scope may be on order soon. No doubt it could help me considerably with my load tinkering project. I can't explain it, but loading for this .44 mag R92 has become an obsession and the other five cartridge varieties I presently load have completely taken a back seat.

My only concern is whether or not I can see the crosshairs on a long eye relief scope. None of my running buddies have anything I can even test ... but I'm still in the hunt to find out.
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Re: .44 Mag Questions and Ponderings

Post by mr surveyor »

In my seemingly never ending rambling quest (dear diary?) for the elusive "best load" for my R92, I tinkered with another handful of the Lead Head 265 gr GC bullets today. I loaded 5 rounds with 18.5 gr of A2400, another 5 rounds with 18.5 gr of AA#9, and another 5 with 20.0 gr of IMR 4227. That was my first experience with 4227, but my son has become quite a fan of it for his .357 GP100 and kept insisting I try it in the Rossi. I'm still grabbing at straws for recommended Start Loads and Max Loads for this bullet as there just doesn't seem to be a lot of "current data" available, but was comfortable enough with what I loaded as being in the safe range of the powders. A few weeks ago I tested 10 rounds of 2400 at 17.8 gr and 10 rounds of AA#9 at 17.8 gr and neither was really impressive on accuracy, and velocities were 1469 fps and 1499 fps respectively.... but the accuracy/group size just didn't do it for me (but it was two 5 round strings per target that may have been a factor). Today with the Lead Head 265's the 18.5 gr load of 2400 wasn't anything to get excited about, but the 18.5 gr load of AA#9 resulted in a 1.3 inch group and the 20.0 gr load of IMR 4227 a 1.3 inch group. Again, this was shot off a bench with my shooting bag as a rest, 20 inch barrel and factory Rossi iron sights (and a pretty poor sighted, but studly old guy :D ). I didn't take the chrony today as I knew there would be too big a crowd at the range (and there was), but was more interested in concentrating on accuracy anyway.

I know it's not pressure signs on the primers since it's apparent with even fairly mild loads, but the bolt/breach face at the firing pin tunnel on my Rossi sure does leave a noticeable bump on my primers.

I wish I knew the safe lower and upper limits for A2400, AA#9, IMR 4227 and Unique for the Lead Head 265 gr bullet.

JD


edit for correction: The two better group sizes were 2.0 and 2.2 inch for the five shot groups ..... the 1.3 inch measurement was the for tightest 4 of 5 for each. The group shot with 18.5 gr of A2400 was more in the 3.5 inch size which has seemed fairly normal until today.
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Re: .44 Mag Questions and Ponderings

Post by Ranch Dog »

mr surveyor wrote:I wish I knew the safe lower and upper limits for A2400, AA#9, IMR 4227 and Unique for the Lead Head 265 gr bullet.
Give me the bullet diameter and length plus the cartridge overall length and I will run the data through QuickLoad.
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Re: .44 Mag Questions and Ponderings

Post by mr surveyor »

Ranch Dog wrote:
mr surveyor wrote:I wish I knew the safe lower and upper limits for A2400, AA#9, IMR 4227 and Unique for the Lead Head 265 gr bullet.
Give me the bullet diameter and length plus the cartridge overall length and I will run the data through QuickLoad.

RD,

From my measurements these bullets are sized and gas checked at .430", the bullet length 0.792", the brass 1.273-1.274", and cartridge OAL 1.667".

I greatly appreciate your help. Seeing what these bullets do in the 20" R92 gives me a good bit more confidence in the capabilities of the rifle and makes it worth the investment in the Weaver Scout Scope and 500 or so of the Lead Head bullets.

JD

probably not a significant difference, but I just trimmed a batch of once fired Fiocci brass for the next load evaluation, and the Lee trim stud seems to take it down to 1.268-1.270
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Re: .44 Mag Questions and Ponderings

Post by Ranch Dog »

Here you go, this is what QuickLoad spit out given your specifics. These are the max loads, starting loads should be 10% below unless the powder manufacturer recommends something different. I have enough experience with QL that I would not hesitate to use the data.
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Re: .44 Mag Questions and Ponderings

Post by mr surveyor »

Thank You very much, Michael.

I suppose my guesstimates on the 18.5 gr for both A2400 and AA#9 were in the ballpark, as well as the 20.0 gr of IMR4227. None of the loads I ran yesterday seemed harsh, actually felt milder than my usual 19-19.5 gr of 2400 and 240 gr SWC's. Looks like I may be in my comfort zone bumping up to 18.7 for 2400 and #9, but I still don't dance on the edge. And for the 4227 I may bump up to 21-21.5 gr. Since I only have 10 of the Lead Heads left, and the #9 and 4227 loads seemed to pattern the best, I may load five each up to my "comfort zone" and slip out to the range during a week day so I can take the chrony this time.

Again, Thank You.

JD
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