What is your favorite light .44 Mag lead loads. I'm shooting a Ruger Super Black Hawk with 10" barrel that just shoots awesome with 23.5 gr of 296 and 240 jacketed bullets, but I found a great deal on 1000 Hard Cast 240's I'm going to try.

Try 5.0 grs of Bullseye ,Red Dot , titegroup or 700x with your 240 gr bullets . For light fun shooting . Regards Paul

7gr 700x

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8-8.5 Power Pistol or 8.0 Unique

I like ten grains of unique,but I’ve gone as low as 7 grains using data intended for swaged lead rather than cast. If you go that low watch out for bullets sticking in that long barrel

Lately I’ve been using a 250-gr LFN and 7.0-grs of W231 or HP38. Its a real cream puff - about like a .45 Auto, but with a 20-grs heavier bullet. It clocks 840 FPS from my 4-inch M29. A firm crimp helps keep the velocities to less than 50 FPS extreme spread for six rounds, according to my initial tests. I’ve only tested accuracy to 25-yards. It shoots better than I can hold. FWIW...

Consider Trail Boss - designed to fill the cases of older cartridges and shoots accurately and burns clean. It is a bit more expensive but great for 700 fps loads with 240 gr hard cast lead.

One of my most accurate really light loads is 5 grains of Bullseye under a Campro 240 grain plated bullet. Though with that ten inch barrel I’d probably go a bit higher as I’m shooting it out of a 5-1/2” SBH.

For a .44 mag target load, I use 7.5 gr Winchester Super Target (WST) with a 240 gr LSWC. Easy to shoot, all day long.

In fact, I use WST (different grain weights of course) for all my target loads of .38 spl, .357 mag, and .41 mag. One powder does it all and is not a dirty powder.

Depends what you mean by "light."
The 5 grain Bullseye load pushing a 240 grain hardcast is 44 special territory

Or you can do what I did. Make a load of about 1000 or 1050 fps. Stronger than a special, fun to shoot. But not a magnum.

I use Accurate Arms powder. They don't list such a load, but they do for .45 Colt. The case capacity and bullet weight are close enough, so I extrapolated. These are fun accurate loads.

Some years ago I got two 5$ cans of 800X, I'm cheap. I've been running 8.2 - 8.4 g under 240g LSWC for 800 to 850 fps using WLP primer. It does not meter well so I won't get anymore. I don't want to go lower in mag cases but a IMR Handloader's Guide listed 6.9g MAX in 44 SPCL case for 695 fps. Also Max in magnum cases was 13.4g at 1395 fps. Expect leading at that pressure. Once I'm out of 800x I'll go back to 6g Red Dot taken from Speer #10 for similar performance.

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8.5 grs of Unique under hard cast 240 gr SWC.

I use 44mag brass!

I have a 629 2" snubby! This load is a great load for my 64 year old thumbs! Off a sandbag rest, this load holds 2" to 2.5" at 25 yards for 6 shots! Snapping off a fast 6 at 10 yards is about 6" I smile at the thought of SIX 240 grain SWC's and what a 6" cluster would do to the center mass of a breathing target!

Ivan

Try 7.0 grains Titegroup under any 240-250 grain bullet.

If you have some Unique on hand, work up some loads of 8.0 to 10.0 grains in 44 Magnum brass. Odds are, somewhere in that range you are going to find a mild shooting, very accurate cast 240 grain load.

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My current, go to, plinking 44 Magnum reload is;
240gr .431dia Lead Semi Wad Cutter Laser Cast bullet
5.6grs Alliant Red Dot, CCI LP #300 primer
Brass is Winchester, Remington, Federal, Starline.
Crimp is what I call medium roll crimp.
FPS approximately 825.
Bullets tumbled lube with Ben's Liquid Lube,
for Lead free barrel performance.
Primers no where near flat.

44 S&W Special reload; .431dia. 240gr Lead
SWC Semi Wad Cutter or RNFP round nose flat
point works also..
5.0grs Alliant Red Dot, S&B LP primer or CCI LP
Brass is Winchester, Star Line, or R-P.
Crimp is what I call medium roll crimp.
FPS approximately just under 800?
Bullets tumble lubed with Ben's Liquid Lube,
for Lead free barrel performance.
Primers no where near flat.

The thing about Red Dot is it has enough bulk, that it is easy
to visually see a double charge. Also if you were to over charge
it fills the case. I'm a single stage, small batch reloader anyway.

Other powders I've used and like are; Bullseye,
Unique, American Select, and Long Shot (not much
info out there on this one), and Trail Boss.

Be safe, the Best to you and your Endeavors.

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I loaded up some 8 and 8.5g Unique under 240g Missouri "44 Keith" hi-tek projectiles (in 44 magnum brass), took them out last weekend. They shot very well at 25 yds and were very comfortable to shoot.

...then I broke out my thunder-crackin' 180g XTP over 25g of 2400...boy, what a difference.

Your load works great with hard cast SWC's. That is the favorite load with most of the Magnum Match shooters at My Club. Leading is minimum.

Whatever load you choose, make sure your bargain bullets fit your gun."Normally" commercial cast bullets are way too hard and many too small in diameter. Measure your cylinder throats and size/purchase bullets the same diameter...

I started reloading 44 Magnums in '88 and have reloaded everything from 123 gr balls to 310 grain ingots. For light loads I often use 44 Special data, right out of my reloading manual(s). The listed velocity in the 44 Special section will be higher than the same load in Magnum brass, No big deal, and I have never stuck a bullet in any of my 5, 44 Magnum's barrels...

All the throat's on my cylinders measure out at .430, and I always use Lee's tumble lube on all my cast bullets. I've found that bullets end up a .001 bigger after a tumble and I've never had leading problems. If I keep them in the 900-1000 fps range. Ive shot A Lot of cast out of .38/.357 , .41 even 9/45's but never out of a .44 Mag.

I like Green Dot for my .44 target loads

I like 8.6g of Green Dot behind a 429421hp. Rem2-1/2 primers.Oal 1.710 Velocity is around 1050fps depending on bbl length.

When you say "light .44 Magnum", do you mean light .44 special, or loads that are in the realm of the .44 Magnum, just on the lighter side?

My light special is 3.5 Bullseye and a 200 grain LFN cowboy bullet. Accurate, and shoot them all day. My light .44 Magnum load is 17.5 2400 and a 250 grain Keith. Actually ,that's my ONLY .44 Magnum load, as it will do anything I need it to do, and I don't like to beat up either my gun or myself!

I've been goofing around (again) with those 240g Missouri 12 hardness projectiles that have been causing me some leading.

Last weekend, I ran them over 7-7.2g of unique in magnum cases (it was the best my Dillon thrower would do with Unique, so I allowed a range). They were extremely mild loads in my 7.5" S.Redhawk, but shot perfectly fine at 25 yds. After running a few hot FMJ loads down the barrel afterwards, there was no notable leading.

220 grain SWC, pushed by 9.0 grains of Unique. A very comfortable, accurate load! memtb

7.3 grains of Trail Boss in magnum cases with magnum primers. Assure that it isn't compressed.

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You might want to try 7.5 grains of Unique under that cast 240 grain bullet , this seems to be just about the right combination .
Load them in 44 magnum cases .
Gary

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