Your guns will get higher velocity due to your longer barrel length. Better accuracy is generally attained with those loadings where shot-to-shot variation is low. Again, use manufacturer's data ONLY.


S&W 29-4 3" barrel .44 Magnum Cartridge - mid-range loads, defensive loads

powder grains fps (low-high) fps(avg) Mean deviation Notes
2400 15 823-898 854 28 fps, 3.3%

Unique 8.5 863-903 881 15 fps, 1.7% good choice

Unique 9.0 866-944 914 20 fps, 2.3%

HS-6 9.8 766-796 780 6 fps, 0.78% excellent

W231 8.4 885-896 890 4 fps, 0.47% 1st choice

H4227 17.1 854-870 853 8 fps, 0.98% excellent

H4227 18.5 886-962 912 21 fps, 2.23% not liked.

Gun in 98% condition. Barrel/cylinder gap is 0.003". THESE WORKED IN MY GUN. NO GUARANTEES OF ANY KIND. BE CAREFUL. PUT YOUR TRUST IN MANUFACTURER'S DATA SUCH AS HODGDON.COM
Five rounds fired for each test. Notes: All extractions of fired cases were easy.
1.72 cartridge OAL Starline case, WLP primer, hard-cast bullets
All powder loads measured within +/- 0.1 grain using RCBS digital scale, verified with Ohaus balance scale.

PM44-250K .44Mag .431" diam hardcast 253grains SWC
0.300" meplat, 0.800" OAL
Leadheads Bullets, Inc., St. John, KS 620-549-6475
www.proshootpro.com