I know tons of guys who own, and supposedly, shoot 44 mags. Few of them reload, and none of them ever seem to have any once fired brass. New brass is ridiculuosly expensive. Once fired brass in non existant. Surely I'm not the only guy around who actually SHOOTS his 44.

I shoot 44 mag but I don't leave my brass . I have about 700 cases that I've been shooting and reloading for years .

I have shot some .44 mag brass two-three times. My loads aren't really that hot and you're right, brass is too expensive. I remember going to the local range and seeing alot of brass on the ground that is too expensive to leave in my opinion. I found 20 .300 Weatherby mag cases and about 12 .257 Weatherby Mag cases. I also remember finding nearly 50 .45 GAP cases, and I have a few .357 Sig cases that I am waiting to get to someone who shoots that caliber and reloads.

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Vaya con Dios

No, other folks 'round here shoot them. Mostly close to hunting season. They leave their brass lay at the indoor range I frequent. One of the guys there saves them for me!

Just cranked off about 50+ rounds of 240gr JHP with a full load of Lil' Gun out of son #2's Marlin 1894!

Believe it or not, most folks that "talk" about shooting their 44Mag anything are just that, "talk". I know that amazes you!

Ordered 400 240gr XTP for our rifles just tonight. I cast for the handguns.

I use maximum charges of W296/H110 under my H&G #503 copy from mp-molds.com. Very accurate out of the M629 Classic and effective!




Check here for your brass: http://www.patsreloading.com/patsrel...category=Brass
I have bought from them before and they are decent folks. I bought R-P primed brass to load for my friends that use there Marlin's for deer hunting here in Indiana. They neither reload, nor have once fired brass. As soon as they get some, they want it reloaded again!

Thursday it was too cold and rainy for any outdoor recreation, so I reloaded 200 rounds of .44 Mag in cases that had somehow emptied themselves ..., and probably will do so again...

Starline 44 mag brass in stock at Midway.

I've never had a piece of 44 mag brass fail, but I wouldn't give away any of my brass either. Feeding a 44 mag can be quite inexpensive if you do it right, or very expensive if you are careless with buying components and saving brass. Buy yourself a nice stash of Starline cases and it will last you for years of shooting.

There's kind of what I'm thinking. I can get brass for $20 per 100. I can get loaded JHP ammo for $60 per hundred. It seems about as economical to buy the loaded ammo and "unload" it.

". I can get brass for $20 per 100. I can get loaded JHP ammo for $60 per hundred. It seems about as economical to buy the loaded ammo and "unload" it."

.....you ain't using .gov statistical analysis are ya?

I figure my own costs are around 16 cent/round for 44 mag bought pre-cast 240 grain loads, and the brass serves many multiple reloads quite nicely.

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Dum vivimus Vivamas

I DO work for the Government.

I also aquired a model 57 a while back. It came with two boxes of ammo. After looking at ammo and brass prices for the 41, I think I'll put the ammo in the safe, and leave the revolver out. I can already see it won't get shot much.

If you think mag is tough, try .44 special!

Oh, wait, maybe all the special shooters have cut down that mag brass??

try brassmanbrass.com, you should be able to find some reasonable .44mag brass among others.

Dillon has it.

I just ordered 100 .44Spl for $25. Had it in a few days.

I've been reloading the same .44 mag brass since 1985. Two years back I ordered 500 pieces of Starline just because, but the original stuff is still good.

The only brass I ever lost due to wear was nickel, it was range pickings and most are still good, I use it for my hunting loads.

My load is 22g W296 and a 265g GCSWC, not the most stout, but no weakling either.

At $13 / hundred for once fired...and $19/hundred for new..nickle Starlines....I dont consider that to be outragious. After all...you DO use them over and over again. Lord knows how many reload a person can get out of a casing. I buy mine from a place right down the road from you....

$25/hundred for mixed...once fired 44 Mag. No way Id pay that. Might as well buy new factory ammo for that sort of price

Link please?

I load and shoot .44 in Russian, Special, and Magnum brass. I find that it lasts a LONG time, even with hot loads. Depending on the degree of crimp, I find a few pieces with "worn" looking necks, so I pitch them, not wanting to take any chances, but they've been fired quite a few times. I don't even keep track.

Link sent!

I shoot 23 grains of W296 under 240 gr XTPs for whitetail hunting out of my scoped 9 1/2 inch Super Redhawk. Does wonders on big bucks here in Missouri. I get multiple loadings out of my cases and usually shoot at least 20-30 rounds a week at the range. Brass is not cheap for sure and most of what I have probably about 1000 cases that are from factory loads that I had the pleasure of shooting and comparing to my own handloads.

I fully understand what your saying. There is a spot up the road from me where we mostly shoot so as not to piss off the neighbors. I regularly find piles of once fired brass in 44mag, 45-70, 357, and recently 50 cal. Yes, I start out each session there combing the ground, and now have others doing the same. We now trade the brass in calibers we don't need for ones we do. There is one or two that but the fired brass back in the box for me to just latch on to! Kyle

It's my lucky day! Some guy on a classified section of another forum I frequent just popped up with some 44mag and 41 mag brass for sale. Looks like I'm set for a while now. Thanks for the link Sully.

That price ($20 per 100) at Midway (surprisingly)is really good considering it is less than the other brands which may not even be as good a quality.

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Still Running Against the Wind

Sgt Preston here.
We sell used reloading brass.
We have 100 picese listed on GunBroker today (1/2/11).
The GB Auction number is 209339365.
The "buy now" price is $14.95 + shipping.
Hope this helps.
Semper Fi.

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NRA Life Member

Sgt Preston!

Glad to see you are still around. Missed reading your posts.
Must have been working hard on the Brass O Matic sorting machine.

Happy New Year!

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Still Running Against the Wind

You can buy it directly from Starline. $84.55 for 500 pieces postpaid. I have ordered from them when they say it's backordered and it still makes it to my door before the expected availability date.

I have been reloading the same Winchester .44 Special brass for about 10yrs. now, I get some split mouths from time to time and some loose primer pockets. If a primer goes in really easy when reloading that case gets a stripe of red Sharpie and is tossed after firing. I have recently ordered 500 .44 Special and .44 Magnum directly from Starline, I reserve 100 .44 Magnum cases for making up hunting ammo. I like to use new brass with full power hunting loads. I am fortunate to have two family members who shoot .44 Magnum and do not reload, they keep me well supplied with once fired brass. If you are looking for .44 brass you might try putting up a want ad at your gun club or shooting range, some shooters are still willing to sell their once fired brass for very little or swap for something they need. I have obtained brass this way several times in the past.

Yeah, ole' Sarge is pretty cool for an old retired guy!

Good to see you here, Gyrene!

what would be the average amount of reloads you guys get from a case using mid powered loads??

I'm just guessing, but I'd guess 10 or better. I rarely ever throw away a cracked case.

So are you saying you are one of the few he-men in a crowd of posers, or are you just a mooch?

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Idaho , Elmer and Milt

Pretty much a mooch.
I just noticed your Avatar. You aren't, by chance, the guy who has the monkeys who ride dogs while pinning sheep are you? I saw them at a rodeo one night, and I'll have to say that was one of the most entertaining things I've ever witnessed. I'd drive a long way to see it again.

If anyone is in Washington State (preferably central area Yakima/Ellensburg) I keep all my brass but do not reload, currently I have 120 rounds of .44mag and 150 rounds of .38spl. I'd like to get my brass to a good home, and make a bit of money back and or trade for ammo (new). I will keep collecting, so this could be an ongoing swap. PM me.

I'm a brass snatching machine. I scour ranges before and after I shoot. I take breaks from shooting to look for brass. I dig in range trash cans for brass. I rake the dirt and grass for brass. I have sheets, nets, and other contraptions for making sure I don't lose brass. I have dug through a range dumptser for brass. I sift through dirt for used bullets for scrap lead. I save empty boxes for re-labeling for my own reloads. I'm that guy that quietls asks if you keep your brass or if you wouldn't mind me policing it up for you. I pick up .22LR brass and save it in a bin for scrap. There isn't much I leave behind. When I do shoot .44 magnum, rest assured I don't leave brass behind. I'm kind of an junky horder of reloading stuff. I will tape the boxes back again, print labels, and whatever it takes to set up a stash and keep the hobby funded and going. I even save the empty primer trays. I don't know why yet. I started saving the spent primers when I found out if it came to it you can reload those. Kind of an end of the world thing, but hey, it's a hobby. I save it all.

P.S. - I'm that crazy guy wandering the parking lots with his head down looking at the ground. I'm looking for lost wheel weights...

I think that you just answered your own question.It's crazy only if you never found any. . . yet.

Anyone shooting a 44mag w/ factory ammo isn't shooting it much IMO. For the serious magnum shooter, handloading is the only real answer. You get a much wider ammo selection that way & can use inexpensive lead bullets for more shooting & in some ways better performance w/ less wear & tear on the gun. I think a lot of 44mag owners are not 44mag shooters. At least a few of the guys I know shoot less than 100rds a year.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

It's amazing how many nice 44 revolvers I've adopted used that appeared to be barely used at all.
I haven't been able to shoot a lot over the last couple years and find my hand strength is down below what it should be for comfortable shooting of my 44's. I'm working on building it back up so that I can once again handle the guns instead of them handling me.
As for brass, I got most all of mine from shooting Federal factory ammo (back when it was much less expensive) and I shoot it until the case cracks.

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Lynnie, Professional Pest

Over the years I have observed a lot of louisiana bugs, and other critters while plying my obsession as a brass rat. Last time at the range you could not walk without stepping on once fired cases in 9mm and 45acp. Broke my heart to being not able to scarf them up. Have enough problems standing straight and if I bent over to pick up the cases I might just keep on going. Then they's have to pick me up. In about 5 years time I had 10 5 gallon plastic buckets equal to a 55 gallon drum full of brass. Of course I kept the 38 spl, 40 S&W, 45acp for myself. Since a lot of members knew I scrounged brass occasionally I's get requests for certain calibers, always happy to help out. Frank

I guess I'll just have to quit being so tight and buy 44 brass, and be thankful I don't have any need to visit a public range. I have found and purchased several lots of once fired brass since originally posting this thread, but it is still hard to come by.

gregintenn,
You are getting a glimpse into one of the difficult areas of the guns and ammo culture in this country; that is, the lyrics don't always follow the tune. Or, put another way, what guys say doesn't always follow what they actually do. Ditto car culture. Psych 101 covers it pretty good.

So you are saying that 44 magnums aren't fired nearly as often as they are talked about? I'll buy that.

Found another one today. Little guy but he will make a .38 at least. Found in bank parking lot on way back to the car.

Very entertaining and informative thread. So there must be a lot of us serious scroungers out there. I've done most of the things MaximumBob admits to, but to cut out the middle man and save my back...not searching parking lots...I get my wheel weights a quarter ton or so at a time, from a large tire shop. And topping Bob, I use some of the empty .22 LR cases to make jackets for my .22 centerfire swaged bullets, for up to about 3000 FPS.

As for .44 Magnum case life, I still have all but about three from the original box I bought in 1960 with my Model 29. Those three reloads were discarded because of the failure of solidly hit Remington primers, before I knew about bullet pullers.

I've only had a couple split necks in my life. Those I cut down for .44 Russian. And I don't think I own more than about 400 - 500 .44 Mag cases, all but 51 loaded at the moment. I shoot them in the 29, an Interarms Virginian Dragoon SAA look alike, and a Winchester 94.

The secret to almost indefinite case life? I keep only a couple boxes of full power loads, using my 240 gr. lead gas check bullets and my swaged 240 gr. jacketed soft point hollow points. For all the rest of my shooting with these guns I load the cases to what amounts to .44 Special values. They are extremely accurate, don't punish me or the gun, are fun to shoot, the cases size easily, and they just seem to last indefinitely, like 9mm and .45 ACP brass. What's not to like about that formula?

I have a cousin who, every now and then, gets out his Ruger Red Hawk and pointlessly burns up a box of factory ammo at a cardboard box or something; penetrates every time. So every few months I have another box of empties.

If I could have only one handgun and one caliber to reload, it would be a 6" Model 29 in .44 Magnum and a few hundred cases and the necessary tools and lead. All of that I do have. This is how you measure happiness...or at least the handgun variety of it. That one gun and caliber can be loaded to do just about anything you want, from very accurate paper target shooting to shattering concrete blocks and hunting deer and larger game. I have no need for one of the .500 big boomers.

Oh yes, I also have the semiauto version of this, a first run Pasadena .44 Automag. But I rarely shoot it; I don't want to lose the cases, which I have to hand make.

"And topping Bob, I use some of the empty .22 LR cases to make jackets for my .22 centerfire swaged bullets, for up to about 3000 FPS."

If I ever buy the dies I intend to do that. The Corbin press is just a chunk of money I don't have in one shot. I have been thinking of trying to use some of the surplus .40SW to swage them into brass jacketed .44 magnum. 9mm can be made into .40SW bullets but I don't have nearly as many of those. The Rockchucker can do some but it can crack under the pressure. There is a guy on the castboolits forum that redoes by hand some CH4D dies to do this. I should PM him again to see if he has done another batch. My luck the RC will blow up on the first try...

I shoot about 50 to 75 rounds a month in my Super Redhawk. I shoot 240 gr JHP XTPs over 23.5 grains of Win 296. I hunt whitetail with this load and it serves me well. As for brass it does seem to be hard to get at times for a decent price. I shoot them till they crack which doesn't happen very often. I have a couple of hundred on hand that I reload and heep to hunt with made with new brass and each load double weighed and done on an RCBS Rockchucker. The other loads that I am going to be shooting just for fun and practice are done on my 550b. I traded a guy 200 new 44 special cases for the same in 44 mag just the other day. As for range brass where I shoot the owners of the range will allow you to pick up your brass only and they better not catch you straying to far from your shooting booth picking up brass as they recyle it all themselfs and resale what their customers leave behind.

annealing the brass also helps case life.

Get Starline Brass way cheaper then WW Rem etc.
Do not over crimp

I just ordered 100 unprimed cases (they are new and not once fired) for $28 Magnum and $28 special. The once fired was running anywhere from $25 to $35 and most of it is miced.

That is mixed brass versus starline new and I purchased it from, Midway

I agree, but make mine a 4". I could even ccw that if restricted to one handgun.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I started using .44 mag brass many years ago. Somewhere over 1000. I only load mag brass. Either to special specs. or mag specs.

Sent 100 rounds downrange today, milder handloads with 180 sjhp at 1250 fps (4 inch). Practicing fast da shooting at 25 feet. Bad grips for volume shooting 3 incher, cleaned blood off pistol while cleaning it this evening.

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