Best Powder for Short Barrel .44mag

[fredj338]

^^^^^While your thought process is correct, introducing light for caliber bullets on any caliber makes the slower powders less efficient. Try normal at bullets, same test parameters. The slower powders win & with less pressure, but always more blast & flash.
I'm quite happy running my 3"/629 with Unique or WSF, under 240-270gr lscw or lhp.

 

[Nemo288]

I have pretty much given up on 296/110 unless loads were made fresh for hunting.
All other serious 44 revolver rounds use Unique, Universal, N105 or 2400.
I use IMR 4227 in the 445.
Unique and Universal make up ~90% of what I shoot regularly although Tin Star and Trail Boss
may be getting more of a workout in the future especially in the 3"ers.
The main problem, of course, is finding Unique or Universal.
Most medium-fast powders can do the job as shown above.
I consider a 240 @ 900-1K fps to be enough medicine for most applications. Even deer if it came down to it.

===
Nemo

 

[fredj338]

WSF is available right now. I find it a tiny bit slower than Unique, so data is almost interchangeable, almost.

 

[Nemo288]

Data at Hodgdon is very limited.
Only listed for 32 H&R, 327 Fed Mag, 9mm, 38 SA+p, 357 SIG, 40 S&W, 10mm, and 45 ACP.
This leads me to believe WSF is at its best at higher pressures in handgun brass.
Do you have any good recipes for revolvers?

AutoComp and CFE Pistol have very similar loadings to Universal in the 44 Special at the Hodgdon site.

As a stopgap measure I got a jug of Spanish shotgun powder (Maxam CSB-1) that I am using for these loads too.
Not exactly a mainstream powder and I think it is close to drying up as well.
Sure burns clean though. Burn rate about like green dot.

===
Nemo

 

[BLUEDOT37]

Speer #14 has a Short Barrel section for the 44 Mag, 4" bbl., 200gr JHP, using (8) different fast powders with Unique being the slowest, if that's the way you want to go. But if you want the highest velocity just go with a full load of a slower magnum powder & don't worry about "wasted powder", & enjoy the light show.

.

 

[aurora40]

In theory, I could see how it's possible that with a super slow powder, you might not be able to fit enough into a case to reach max Magnum pressures. Or perhaps to do so requires it to be compressed enough that it's spikey or inconsistent or something. In that case, I could see how over 3 or 4 or more inches, it would perform awesome because it keeps the pressure up the whole way, but perhaps in a shorter barrel a faster powder would do better because it can reach max pressure, even though it's totally petered out by 2-3".

In the case of H110 or W296, this doesn't seem to be the case, as there is plenty of published pressure data for it that indicates the top loads are hitting the same max pressure as other powders.

In the case of BB57's test, that may be what is happening, though. His top load with a 125gr XTP was 9.0 gr of Unique. Lyman's shows a max of 9.7gr for that combo and a min of 7.0. Granted this is likely not how pressure works... But comparing where 9.0 falls in the range of 7.0-9.7, and applying that same factor to the starting and peak pressure, it results in an estimated pressure of 35,700 CUP.

His W296 load was 19.5 gr. For the same bullet, Lyman's lists 21.0-22.0 as the start and max (of H110). The pressure for the start load is 33,500 CUP. The same kind of extrapolation would suggest a pressure of 19,850 CUP. That said, with such a tight range and the actual load falling outside of said range by a larger amount than the total width of the range, this is probably a pretty dubious number.

Anyway, I'd guess that this general phenomenon is why BB57 sees slower speeds with this load from his 3" gun, but faster speeds from an 8". That while the pressure might start out lower, it drops off significantly less over the course of the longer barrel, so the average pressure acting on the bullet is higher.

 

[tjpopkin]

I have a couple of 3" .44 Mags and I have had great success with 8.5 gr. of AA#5 with a 215-240gr cast bullet (with & without gas-check). Chrono at 900-1000 fps, and very accurate. Works well in longer barrels as a medium level load as well… again, remarkable accuracy.

 

[muddocktor]

Another powder you might want to experiment with in your short barrel 44 is Longshot. I haven't used it in 44 yet, but have been playing around with it in 357 Mag and it makes a nice round that has much less flash than H110/296 in my 3 1/2" barrel M27. Burns nice and clean too. I'll probably do some experimenting with it in 44 Mag with some Hi-Tek coated 240 SWC bullets next time I load some 44's to see how my 629 likes them. It's not a short barrel gun, but if it runs in it like it does in 357 it should make some clean burning, economical range loads.

 

[shocker]

I do not know where Shocker came up with that load data for Accurate #2

Scott Ziebarth
Ramshot Accurate Powders
Western Powders Inc.
Miles City, Montana

Caliber: .44 Remington Magnum.
Barrel length: 8" (for Rifle barrels 20-24" add ca +18% to velocities indicated below)

Powder: Accurate – No 2®.
Bullet weight: 185 grains. WC - Target
Low load: 5.5 grains (ca 950 Fps)
Intermediate load: 8.0 (ca 1200 Fps).

Bullet weight: 180-185 grains. SWC
Low load: 6.5 grains (ca 975 Fps)
Intermediate load: 9.2 (ca 1225 Fps).
Maximum load: 12.3 grains (ca 1450 Fps) LD ca 60%.

Bullet weight: 200 grains.
Low load: 5.7 grains (ca 900 Fps)
Intermediate load: 6.5 (ca 1050 Fps).
Maximum load: 10.0 grains (ca 1275 Fps).

Bullet weight: 240 grains.
Low load: 6.0 grains (ca 850 Fps)
Intermediate load: 7.5 (ca 1025 Fps).
Maximum load: 9.0 grains (ca 1200 Fps).

Bullet weight: 265 grains Cast Lead.
Low load: 7.2 grains (ca 1000 Fps)
Maximum load: 8.5 grains (ca 1140 Fps).

Bullet weight: 300 grains.
Low load: 5.0 grains (ca 750 Fps)
Intermediate load: 6.3 (ca 875 Fps).
Maximum load: 7.5 grains (ca 1000 Fps).

NOTES:
It' important to note that SAFETY is our prime concern therefore we strongly recommend.
1. TO ALWAYS BEGIN LOADING AT THE RECOMMENDED MINIMUM "START" LOAD and develop loads in 2% increments towards the MAXIMUM load.
2. If at all possible, measure the velocity and correlate with our data.

 

[Gamecock]

Try some Blue Dot.

Yep. Bust muzzle flash EVAH!