44 Special "Lite" Loads Magnum cases, wadding necessary?

[Gunzuki]

I use Hogdon titegroup all the time. 4.7 grains in a regular mag case. magnum primers 240 jhp . shooting out of a 6 inch 629 (it is my carry gun btw) and I load the same powder at 9 grains for magnum loads. I have NEVER had a problem. I can shoot the low special loads all day. I don't bother trying to find .44 special cases just load regular .44 mag works fine and No you do not need any kind of filler. the ONLY problem if you can call it that I have had is that I think it is kind of a dirty powder.

 

[Forrest r]

What does my advice to use .1 or .2 grains of powder in a .44 Magnum case over the shorter .44 Special case have to do with the wadcutter chart you posted with the words "not good advice" aimed at me?

My recommendation was the starting charge in the .44 Magnum case, not a low pressure load. The part about the case being 1/8" LONGER, not shorter, was in reference to needing a filler or not.

I use W231 in soft shooting 45 Colt loads all the time and it performs just fine and that's also a high volume case.

In my opinion And it's just that, another opinion. Saying 1/8" difference is no big deal is not sound advice. It doesn't matter if it's with large cases like 44cal's or small cases like 9mm's or 38spl/357's (that you brought up, hence the 38spl picture). A 1/8" difference in case lengths or bullet lengths/seating depths can have huge swings in pressure. To me it's a good thing to be mindful case volume.

Going too low with powder charges can be just as bad as over charges. Things like kabooms for small amounts of powder in large cases that burn all at once start to come into play. High energy powders like titegroup have been known to have problems with kabooms with extremely small amounts of powders in cases with large case capacity.

I'm not promoting 1 powder over another or trying to tell people to use a different powder. Myself I tend to use these powders for low pressure/low volume loads.


Compared to hp-38 these powders take up a lot more space for the same load.

Clays takes up 50% more volume for the same load compared to hp-38.
AM-select takes up 38% more volume for the same load compared to hp-38.
Trail boss takes up 125% more volume for the same load compared to hp-38.

It doesn't take much difference in case volume to make huge differences in accuracy/consistency.

Your 1st clue is when your load is extremely dirty.

 

[cowboy4evr]

For me , in the " low pressure " rounds ( 38spl , 44spl , 45acp) I really like WST . I'm just not a fan of W231 / HP-38 . For me it's one of those " in between " powders . For years I used Red Dot and liked the " bulkiness " of it . Just started trying out some IMR 700X in 44 spl . Looks good so far . After the fast burning powders , I go to WSF for the bulk of my reloading . Those 2 powders , WST , WSF both burn very clean and are extremely accurate , in my guns .

 

[orenp]

I load 44 mag target loads with 5.3 grains of Hodgdon Clays and Missouri Bullets Cowboy #5 200 grain LRNFP. I've had zero problems of any kind. It's a clean, accurate, soft shooting load. I've never chronographed this load but it should be around 900 fps and 14,000 psi. No fuss no muss no fillers no problems....

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