Good morning everyone,
First time posting and extraordinarily happy to be here.
Just picked up a 624 pre lock 3” in very good shape. Am looking to load cast only, preferably 240 grain swc. I have in my possession 1 lb of hs-6 with 2 lbs of hp-38 possibly available at my lgs (Pickings are very slim around here and I really do not want to pay hazmat or other shipping fees), large magnum pistol primers and I can get brass. The 624 will mainly be for piece of mind whilst walking my heavily wooded property in N.H. Hungry deer defense, possibly a black bear or 2 (more worried about the deer *chuckle*), a rare moose, and the possibility of 2 legged critter defense. Sad but true.
Any help is appreciated.
Thank you.
jerffey

Here is the info you need:

http://www.goodrichfamilyassoc.org/4...%20Special.pdf

Congrats on your acquisition. The 3” 624 is a very sought after piece; I have its brother from a different father, the 3” 24.

For purposes similar to yours, I use a cast 240 Keith over about 7 grains of Unique. I’ve never tried the powders you mention, but I am sure they’ll work just fine. With these components, I use large pistol and large magnum pistol primers interchangeably without any perceivable difference.

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Thanks to you both for the info. Great read elgato, interesting stuff.

Jeffey

FYI HP-38 and WW231 are the same powder, just different cans. I have loaded 6.0 grains with mild recoil and great accuracy behind a 240 grain SWC. Velocity will be near 800 fps in your 3” gun.

HS6 is a great powder but I haven’t loaded it in the Special. I imagine you can safely load them a bit hotter than the HP38 loads, I just can’t answer that one with any experience.

Hodgdon manual shows HS6 starting load 6.5 grains and max 8.0 with 240 lswc.

Dan

Nice piece! I’m lucky enough to have a 24-3 3” Lew Horton along with a 629 3”. Love “slightly spicy” 44 Special in both. I use Herco but I’m betting you could come up with an HP-38 duplicate of this load:

240gr Acme SWC
7.5gr Herco, 1.47” COAL, Win LP

8.8” Contender: 972fps
4” 624: 899fps
3” 629-6: 850fps

My Herco load is a slightly lighter “Skeeter” load.