Heavy cast bullets in the .44 Special

[Biggfoot44]

Been there, done that.

Commercial 300gr "Flat point", kind of resembled a magma 240 swc, with very wide meplat and slightly longer nose. Used Unique and WLP for 750fps from 4in M624, low vel spreads.

My motivation was for Club bowling pin matches- lots of momentim, dig into pins even on curved surfaces, but still controlable. Did all that, and the pins flew off the table in a graceful arc.

Also took that combination deer hunting, but Bambi didn't cooperate that trip.

Can't say it was *better* than a Keith at +/- 950fps, but certianly a viable alternative.

 

[fredj338]

Fred, that looks like a damn nice bullet. Is that the Devistator?

Yes with the gc removed now, & an extra pin to cast the cup point as shown. The orig Dev comes in about 250gr & fragments badly above 1000fps. It's very accurate. I have shot a couple 3" groups @ 100yds off a rest in my RBH Bisley Hunter, 2xscope.

 

[ppro]

Ballard...
Did you ever get your 280gr. cast bullets working to your liking and if so, what did you end up using for a powder and charge. Thanks...

 

[venomballistics]

I've noodled with heavy 44s in velocity ranges a special could be expected to achieve.
I couldn't think of an off range application for the load that could not be addressed with a much lighter bullet to equal, or better result.

It can be done.
Nothing wrong with doing it.
Just not sure why you would want to.

 

[ppro]

I like to standardize my die settings with particular bullets wherein I simply pulling my die spacer rings (Dillon press) and only reset my powder bushing plus, I have a preference for particular bullet designs which aren't always available in the 250 ish weight and the 280 weight.
I never comment about preferred bullets because it part of what the reloading experience has always been about. Rather, I try to help reloaders achieve what they are wanting to experiment with where possible. So......

 

[ppro]

Here's a Glen Fryxell article on heavy bullets in the 44 special . I just ran across it.. experiments with cast hollow-points in the .44 Special by Glen E. Fryxell