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A Country Boy Can Survive

I'd say he cut the heart right out of that spade.

I had a group like that one time and it only took me one shot.

Charlie

Nice Ace of Spades.......

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I believe it. I saw Elmer fire a .44 Magnum at 200 yards once, in his mid-70's, and he could still shoot!
Thanks for this post.

I am not a reloader but isn't 6.5 grains of Bullseye under a 250 grain Keith semi-wadcutter a pretty stout load?

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Possum—The other white meat!

Keith was very fond of stout loads.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

I haven't spent a lifetime messing around with Elmer Keith's favorite loads for a .44 special. Recently I have been fooling around with a 3" model 24 and started out using 5.9gr of Bullseye, ended up with 6.5 gns of Bullseye and it is a stout load even with a 180gr bullet which is about where I'm fairly happy with the results in recoil and accuracy.

That's what I was asking and not very well--that is not a "target" load is it? Isn't that close to a .44 mag load?

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Possum—The other white meat!

You can quite easily look at tables in reloading manuals online to see the differences between .44 special and .44 magnum. A starting load of 5.9gr of Bullseye for the same 180gr bullet I have been using in a .44 special is around 10gr of Bullseye in .44 magnum, going as high as 11.5 gr...that is a 5gr difference in powder and almost triple the difference in pressure.

My "standard" .44 Spl load is 6.5 grains Bullseye and a 180 grain lead bullet. That is fairly mild, just a shade under 1000 ft/sec from a 4-3/4" barrel.

Thanks Dwalt. I have never looked at a reloading manual nor did I know they were online.

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Possum—The other white meat!

If you notice , in the upper left hand corner it says " #5 ". that was shot using his famous Colt SA custom conversion . Harold Croft had Colts numbered 1-4 , so Elmer , of course numbered his #5 .

...I was wondering if someone would notice that #5 in the corner...

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A Country Boy Can Survive

If you can get a copy of his book "Sixguns" it makes a good read , still some relevant information in there. That photo and many more are in it .
Who would have thought that old Bullseye powder would still be around and useful in target loads, I haven't found another powder that's better for target loads.
Gary

Not for Elmer!

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You're shy a few manners.

It seems like Mike Venturing had an article in Hand Loader magazine . One of his favorite loads for the 44 special w/the Keith 245gr swc was 6.5 grs of IMR 700X , its about the same burn rate as bullseye . He went to say that the same load using Red Dot worked well also . Mikes a good man , he knows his stuff .

I haven't fooled around with my 44 for many years, but IIRC my "mild target load" for the 44 Spl round used his 240 gr bullet over 6.5 or 7 gr of Unique. I never remember loading Bullseye in my 44s. Please don't take my faulty memory as gospel, but I believe you'll find the Unique loads in manuals of the time.

Froggie

One of my favorite guns. First Gen 38 WCF owned by Skeeter.

For target shooting I use 5 gr of BE with a 204 gr WC I mold in my .44's.

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Only difference Fool/Mule-ears

That's more in line with the high end load I find printed in Hornady's manual.

Just speaking in general (not aimed at any one post here):
The standard advice is to only use reloading data from a reliable source, and not to exceed the max printed in that source. I sure wouldn't, but I am not everybody.

Also, look at the date on the playing card: 1930. It's just possible that today's Bullseye is different. So I sure would seek up-to-date data rather than what was written on a playing card almost 90 years ago.

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You're shy a few manners.

From Lyman 49th:

205 gr lyman #2 SWC :
Starting load - 5.1 gr BE Max load 5.8 gr BE.

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Only difference Fool/Mule-ears

Phil Sharpe said
246 gr factory bullet seated .393" + 6.5 gr Bullseye = 950 fps 16500 psi.
But then 18 gr 2400 = 1080 fps 13500 psi.
(Yes, I know those are crusher gauge readings that would now be shown as CUP.)

Elmer was using balloon head cases, and getting data for the .44 Associates.
Triplex loads were next.

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Good shooting.

And when solid head cases came out, he reduced the powder charges.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

That's interesting! I looked in my Lyman Pistol & Revolver Reloading Handbook, Second Edition and did not see any .44 Special loads using Bullseye, for any bullet type or weight. That's why I went to Hornady.

But like I said, I was speaking in general, not aimed any anyone's post. As long as a person uses data published by a reputable source, and works up carefully, he should be fine. He should just be careful about what "some guy on the internet" tells him.

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You're shy a few manners.

The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook 4th Edition also shows the 205 gr. #427098 bullet with the 5.1 gr. to 5.8 gr. of Bullseye loads.
Interestingly the 3rd Edition of the LCB Handbook shows no data at all for Bullseye and that bullet or any other cast bullet whatsoever in 44 Special ......at a loss for that one !
But there are powders and bullets in the new edition that aren't in the old and vice versa . I guess it shows that buying new manuals and keeping the old one is a good thing .
Gary