.44 mag VV powder range results

[.41 cal]

Shooting was done with a 629 no dash 8 3/8" barrel and a Ruger M44 18" barrel.




Chronograph is Oehler 35P


First up was a mid range load using N340. Little on the fast side for full magnum but I have a fair supply and wanted to see how it would perform.

N340 - 9.8g
Bullet - hornady 300g XTP JHP
SW 629 - 1030fps
Ruger M44 - 1110fps fair cycling not 100%

N340 - 10.1g
Bullet - hornady 300g XTP JHP
SW 629 - 1061fps little sticky on extract
Ruger M44 - 1170fps fair cycling not 100%

N340 - 10.8g
Bullet - 240g Hornady XTP JHP
SW 629 - 1073fps
Ruger M44 - 1264fps no cycle

N340 - 13.0g
Bullet - 180g hornady XTP
SW 629 - 1381fps
Ruger M44 - 1572fps

Not bad results and all had good accuracy. N340 is like unique in the VV line I have used it for 9mm to .44 mag but it works best with 158g to 200g bullet weights.

Next up a true magnum powder N110

Load data is all over the place with Hornady manual showing much lower load data than VV for all bullet weights. As an example:
180g XTP hornady manual has 20.1 start 26.2 max
VV manual 25.2g start 27.1g max
Picked somewhat of a middle ground.

N110 - 24.6g
Bullet - 180g XTP
SW629 - 1465fps
Ruger M44 - 1959fps very accurate in both guns

N110 - 20.5g
Bullet - 240g XTP
SW629 - 1265fps
Ruger M44 - 1630fps

N110 - 15.5g
Bullet - 300g XTP
SW629 - 1125fps
Ruger M44 - 1248fps

N110 - 15.8g
Bullet - 300g XTP
SW629 - 1145fps
Ruger M44 - 1263fps

N110 - 16.1g
Bullet - 300g XTP
SW629 - 1161fps
Ruger M44 - 1278s

N110 - 16.5
Bullet - 300g XTP
SW629 - 1180fps
Ruger M44 - 1296fps

None of the loads show any signs of being near max so in the next round I will expand on the 180g and 240g data.
The Ruger laid down some impressive velocity but none were hot enough to provide 100% cycling. The 240g did the best.

Just for fun I had clocked some Remington 185g .44 mag out of the 629 on a prior trip without the Ruger.

Remington 185g JHP factory load
629 w 8 3/8" barrel
1637fps
No watered down load here. Very sharp recoil and impressive fireball.
Thinking 26g and change of N110 would be close to this!

Will follow up with .38 and .44 special data at a later date.

.41cal