Reloading .44 Russian - Questions

[Exmilcop]

Well! It's nice to see my old thread updated. Since I first posted on this site, I've had the opportunity to greatly advance my knowledge, thanks in most part to all you gentlemen who so generously shared your experiences. The 4" model I first had was sold and I picked up a near pristine 5" barreled pistol. Alas, it shot WAY high and left, to the point that it was near useless for my intended purpose. I took it upon myself to fabricate a new foresight that was both aesthetically pleasing and more accurate (see pic). For such an early production pistol (ser.#1840), the condition is nothing short of astounding. The grips are Asian hardwood replacements but well made for all that and not a bad fit. I shoot 4.6 gr. of HP38 with the 200 gr. soft cast lead flat nose plinking rounds and 4.8 gr. with the 240 gr. hollow points with no signs of stress on the old girl. You can see from the second pic how far to the left I had to make the blade.

 

[DWalt]

Phil Sharpe's 1937 reloading handbook for the .44 Russian recommends 3.0 grains of Bullseye for the 205-grain bullet, and 5.5 grains of Bullseye for the 246-grain bullet. Probably the same loadings would work OK for propellants very similar to Bullseye, such as Red Dot, AA #2, 700-X, or Clays.