Problems I have had reloading the 44 Remington Magnum

I have been reloading ammunition since 1974. I do centerfire rifle and pistol cartridges. I have the ability to load .223 Remington, 6mm Remington, 7mm Remington Magnum, 300 Remington Ultra Magnum, 375 Remington Ultra Magnum, 416 Remington Magnum, 45-70 Government, and the 44 Remington Magnum.

Over the years I have tried a lot of different procedures, a number of different loads combination for each of them, and I have run into my share of problems with each of them. None of these cartridges have been as problematic as the 44 Remington Magnum.

To start with I selected a light weight bullet (Sierra 180 grain Jacketed Hollow Point) and loaded it to what my Sierra manual said was a pretty High Speed load (somewhere around 1,800fps). It turned my Ruger Super Blackhawk into a real flamethrower. It made learning how to shoot and deal with the recoil a real challenge. A friend of mine recommended I load some light loads for practice. So, I returned to the manual and found a load that should produce bullet speeds in the 1,100fps range and I loaded about 50 and headed for the range.

When I got there, I hoped the Fire-Breathing Dragon would be gone. It was, but in its place was a new problem. When I loaded the gun and laid it on the bench I had pointed it at a downward angle. The powder I was using (H110) all settled to the bullet end of the cartridges. When I fired the cartridge, I got a sound kind of like a person thumping a cardboard box. No Boom. Obviously, this caused me some serious concern and upon investigation I found that the primer had fired, but the powder did not ignite. I had powder leaking out of the cylinder. When I pulled the pin on the cylinder the whole powder charge fell out in the floor. The bullet had left the cylinder and had traveled about an inch down the barrel. This terminated the shooting session for that day. The Range Manager saw it and said he had never seen anything like it. So, I went back to Carter Country in Houston, where I had purchased everything. First, to buy a brass rod to drive the bullet out of the barrel.

Carter Country had no idea what to do about the problem except to pull the bullets on all the cartridges and go back to heavier loads. One of the clerks announced that they had just received a new batch of Sierra Reloading Manuals. We busted them open and quickly looked up the section on 44 Remington Magnum. Guess What. It had been revised. It no longer had the recommended light load in the previous manual, but now had starting loads in the 1,400fps range. I guess I wasn’t the only one that had the problem. It’s amazing how much information can be derived from allowing your customer base do your product testing for you.

Some of the other problems I have had with this cartridge. Including bullet length, not crimping the case around the bullet, and the type of weapon it is used in.

Barnes builds great hunting bullets, but they are made from a copper alloy that is lighter than lead. So, to produce the same weight bullet for that purpose the bullet winds up being much longer. A bullet that is longer take up more space in the case. So, there is not as much room for the powder. Making the cartridge slower. Something that is not totally obvious when you go to buy the components.

I have gone to the range with cartridges load with 220 grain Remington JHP to somewhere around 1,600 fps. I fired several cylinders full and on about the third cylinder the third round jammed. I was in front of a crowd and had several other guns there to shoot, so I put it up to figure out the problem later. It turns out the bullets in several of the cartridges had slid forward in their cases far enough to stick out the front of the cylinder and jam up against the side of the barrel as it rotated. Ain’t Recoil a wonderful thing. Reseating the bullets solved the problem and I ordered a Lee Factory Crimping Die and ran all of my loaded ammunition through it.

Last, but not least, I traded my Ruger Super Blackhawk and some cash off for a Desert Eagle chambered in 44 Remington Magnum. It was a wonderful pistol. Every time I took it to the range it attracted a crowd. It was very accurate and because it used a gas operating system it reduced felt recoil. Wonderful.

I took it hunting in West Texas, Southeast of Fort Stockton. Late one evening a friend of mine wounded a Javelina (collared peccary). I volunteered to finish him off. One minor problem I had, It was getting late. The Desert Eagle had dark brown standard sites with no optical enhancement. When I tried to focus on the Javelina I could see the Javelina, when I tried to focus on the sites on the gun I could see the sites on the gun. I went back and forth a few times, decided that I was on target, and I fired the gun. I had never fired the gun in the dark before. The gun went off and flames shot of the gas ports on the pistol about 4 feet on either side of the gun. Have you ever had a photographer fire a flash bulb in your face in a dark room. For about 5 minutes I could see nothing. Now I am reverting back to my hunter’s religious prayer. “Please, Lord, let that bullet hit that pig”. If I missed, he is chewing on my leg. If I hit him, he is dead. And it took a while to find out.

Isn’t Reloading all the fun you can stand.

I'm very familiar with your light load problem. I had an S&W 25-5 45 Colt.

Long story short my buddy who reloaded some ammo for me didn't check his scales the result was a mixed box of light loads where the bullet became lodged between the cylinder and the barrel or hot loads. After 6 rounds I put that box of reloads aside and continued shooting 24 rounds of my reloads.

Ended up disassembling and weighing powder and bullets. Since I'm the one who taught him how to reload ammunition I rudely chastised him for failing to check his reloading equipment prior to, during, and after reloading ammunition.

I use 240 grain JSP Magnus Bullets for inexpensive target shooting bullets, initially using Winchester 296 but switched to H110. I'll PM you my recipe later today.

To help fill your cases when using short bullets you can use felt wads.

H110 is a great magnum powder but it likes speed and high pressure to burn good. It’s not a good powder for reduced loads. I shoot bowling pin matches with a 44 so you want medium speed for quicker recovery from recoil. I use 250 grain cast bullets with HP38 or Unique for about 1000 fps. Hodgeons online manual has data for HP38 and Alliant had data for Unique. Like you found out, revolvers need a heavy crimp to work well.

I find heavier bullets at lower velocities are more manageable from a recoil perspective.

Look up some of Elmer Keith's loads with 250-260 grain lead bullets. They are great on Texas whitetails.

Interesting problems you are experiencing. I met Elmer Keith and read everything he wrote when I was a kid, and got my first 44 mag (a Ruger Old Model Super Blackhawk) when I was 14. I have reloaded and fired thousands upon thousands of 44 mag and 44 special loads through various revolvers. I have always crimped to the point it is shaving the mouth of the brass and then backed off the crimp die a 1/4 turn or so. A Lee crimp die is your best friend for heavy handgun loads.

The powders I use are Unique, 2400 and H110. Of those three, Unique and 2400 are used more than H110. I have found H110 to be very temperature sensitive and as you experienced, your handgun also becomes a flame thrower. The bullets I use are 250KT lead, 240 Remington jacketed bulk bullets and Hornady 240 or 300gr XTP. I have killed a lot of game with those bullets but the 250KT and Rem 240JSP/JHP are my favorites. Doing a recent ammo inventory, all my 44 special and 44 mag loads are with those bullets over Unique or 2400. As @Russ16 stated above, a KT bullet is more than enough for deer and I will add for pigs as well. Maxed out loads are not needed.

Safe shooting

The necessity of using solid crimps and not using H110 for reduced loads has been common knowledge (and written in loading books) for probably the entirety of my reloading years since 1974 or so. I'm not sure how you missed it. I've loaded hot 45 Colt, 3 different 44 mags and 454 Casull without problems, and have burned a lot of H110 and 296.

Like previously stated H110 does not work well with reduced loads use 2400 instead. I had the same issue with my S&W 500.

44 mag is a wonderful cartridge. As has been said above Winchester 296 (H110 is 296) can not be downloaded and is best used with Winchester primers. All 44 mag loads should be firmly crimped.
Mid range 44 loads (I prefer a 260 Kieth at 1000-1100 fps) are great for general shooting. Save the heavy dinosaur killing loads for when they’re needed.
Some great mid range powders are Winchester 231 (HP-38 is 231) 244 and Autocomp. Hodgon Longshot, HS-6 and CFE pistol.
Reloading for sixguns isn’t hard, just a few rules must be followed. Expander must be the correct size, heavy crimp must be used, an appropriate powder for the application and the appropriate primer for the powder.

I’ve loaded more 44 mag than I could count on a calculator.
Using H110 the standard 23-24g load was min and max for the 240g.
I’ve reduced to 22.5 and it works flawless but for my normal Skeeter loads or light Elmer loads I use unique running 240’s from 900-1100 fps depending on what I want.
That 1100 fps and a 240g swc really does the trick of 90% of tasks you’ll need.
75 yards is the furthest I’ve taken my 44 mags with consistently to stay on target.

SFRanger7GP said:

Interesting problems you are experiencing. I met Elmer Keith and read everything he wrote when I was a kid, and got my first 44 mag (a Ruger Old Model Super Blackhawk) when I was 14. I have reloaded and fired thousands upon thousands of 44 mag and 44 special loads through various revolvers. I have always crimped to the point it is shaving the mouth of the brass and then backed off the crimp die a 1/4 turn or so. A Lee crimp die is your best friend for heavy handgun loads.

The powders I use are Unique, 2400 and H110. Of those three, Unique and 2400 are used more than H110. I have found H110 to be very temperature sensitive and as you experienced, your handgun also becomes a flame thrower. The bullets I use are 250KT lead, 240 Remington jacketed bulk bullets and Hornady 240 or 300gr XTP. I have killed a lot of game with those bullets but the 250KT and Rem 240JSP/JHP are my favorites. Doing a recent ammo inventory, all my 44 special and 44 mag loads are with those bullets over Unique or 2400. As @Russ16 stated above, a KT bullet is more than enough for deer and I will add for pigs as well. Maxed out loads are not needed.

Safe shooting

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2400 powder I think I’m more In the heavy 44 special load range for my loads and that’s still dropping critters.

As others have said, H110 likes lots of pressure to work properly. I have burned through many pounds of it over the years, mostly in 44 mag revolvers. Based on my experience, I would avoid the lighter bullets using H110. I've had much better success with many other faster burning pistol powders. I find the 240 grain slugs work best in my revolver (new production Colt Anaconda). My go-to load in this revolver is 24 grains H110 behind a Hornady XTP or Speer Deep Curl. I get 1500 fps out of my Anaconda with a 6" barrel.

Does anyone have a good load for a 44 mag for a rifle? Have a friend who recently bought a lever rifle and he is struggling for groups at 100 yards. Seems to be able to get good groups at 50 however. Maybe too much to expect at 100?

Eric Zelanko said:

Does anyone have a good load for a 44 mag for a rifle? Have a friend who recently bought a lever rifle and he is struggling for groups at 100 yards. Seems to be able to get good groups at 50 however. Maybe too much to expect at 100?

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240g xtp and 24.0g of H110 is what I run in my marlin and Henry 44 mags.

The 44 Mag is a great round. But as you have discovered it REQUIRES a good crimp.

If you want to do reduced loads the only powder I have found that just plain flat works is "Trail boss"

For my wifes super blackhawk I load 240gr hard cast at 44 special level and she shoots them great as she said the 320gr bear stompers are a 12 shot per range session kinds option. The also work well in my SBH and SW 629.

Second if you don't trust and know the capabilities of the person who reloaded your bullets DON"T shoot them!