Gregory Hardy
Member
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2019
- Messages
- 7
Anybody out their reload and shoot a TC Encore 12" 44 mag? Any favorite whitetail hunting loads?
TC ENCORE 44 mag
- Thread starter Gregory Hardy
- Start date
- Status
Barry loyd
Member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2018
- Messages
- 291
A 240gr bullet over a slow powder like H110/W296 will be plenty for whitetail deer. The longer T/C barrel will make good use of a slow powder. Deer aren’t hard to take down. A .44spl 240gr swc would do the trick.
Hooda Thunkit
Member
Even Elmer once said something like '1200 fps is all you need', referring to his 240-250gr projectile.
For deer, I think a good bit less velocity is suitable.
For deer, I think a good bit less velocity is suitable.
Yes, but the bullets in Elmer’s day were complete fecal matter....
I would take advantage of the velocity potential of the closed breech Encore, and run a premium expanding bullet to maximum velocity, or there’s no point. XPBs and A-frames come to mind...
That said, it doesn’t take much to kill deer.
sparkyv
Member
Whoa Dude! Tell us what you really think!
It’s true. It’s intellectually dishonest to suggest otherwise. We are in the golden age of bullet quality as far as I’m concerned. I have spent a good portion of my career on testing the limits of various bullets on animal flesh, and there are some truly stellar options available nowadays. This is what I really think.
The only reason to limit speed is a bullet that is not up to handling the impact velocity (assuming the shooter isn’t recoil sensitive). Speed kills.
sparkyv
Member
I don't dispute that today's projectiles benefit from modern improvements, I disagree that the Keith bullet is complete fecal matter. It's been used with great success since the late 50's...and continues to be used with great success. BTW, I'd like to hear about your test results.
Arkansas Paul
Member
I don't think he's calling the Keith style SWC bullet fecal matter.
He can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he's referring to the common bullets of early 1900s. Round nose bullets were pretty common back then.
Paul is correct, I wasn’t referring to the Keith bullet. I was talking about bullet technology at the time of Elmer Keith’s tenure.
Now, as far as cast bullet designs are concerned, there are much better choices (for hunting) than Keith’s semi-wadcutter. The smallish meplat is my biggest criticism. Veral Smith’s (LBT) designs are vastly superior. The various semi-wadcutter designs do work and will continue to work, but there are better designs available that don’t appeal to nostalgia.
Hooda Thunkit
Member
More true words will be hard to find.
When I first started casting, I fell in to the Keith SWC trap. They work fine, but there are weaknesses in the design. For instance, lube technology has progressed, and the huge lube grooves in his designs are usually no longer needed with newer formulae.
Mr. Keith and the 44 Associates did groundbreaking work almost 90 years ago, but several people have continued and expanded on that work.
As to the effect on live game, I shall defer to Mr. Prasacs' vastly larger experience.
buck460XVR
Member
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2007
- Messages
- 10,051
I would consider giving IMR4227 a try. In my 77/44 it gives me the best accuracy of any other powder I have tried(and I've tried most of them). It will not give you the max velocity of H110/W296, but it won't give up much in the long pipe of your Encore. While it also gives me excellent accuracy in my 629s, those I stick with H110/W296 for the velocity, as the little bot of accuracy difference doesn't make that much difference in the shorter distances I shoot with them.
mcb
Member
I have found H110/W296 is just to slow for most handguns, hence all the muzzle blast and flash. I have been using HI-Skor 800-X in my 44 Mag loads. Though that 12 inch Encore barrel might actually benefit from H110/W296. My brother has the same barrel for his Encore and with 300 gr JHP it has been a very accurate handgun from the bench but I don't know what his load is. I will ask him.
gotboostvr
Member
Im a big fan of 4227 under a 240grXTP in my 44 carbine/pistols. Plenty of velocity for deer, enough to blow apart both front shoulders on a large Ohio
Whitetail doe at least.
Accuracy is one ragged hole at 50yards for 5 rounds out of my 16" Rossi 92. Dunno what more I could ask for from a PCC thumper.
Whitetail doe at least.
Accuracy is one ragged hole at 50yards for 5 rounds out of my 16" Rossi 92. Dunno what more I could ask for from a PCC thumper.
Gregory Hardy
Member
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2019
- Messages
- 7
Thank you all for your imput.
sparkyv
Member
Understood.
Steve in PA
Member
I don’t have an Encore, but I do have a T/C Contender with a 14” barrel in .44 Magnum. While I have not used this particular handgun, I have used a 9.5” Super Redhawk revolver in .44 Magnum to take quite a few deer.
I love handloaded 240gr XTP bullets for deer, along with H110. Great combo for the .44 Magnum.
I love handloaded 240gr XTP bullets for deer, along with H110. Great combo for the .44 Magnum.
The Evangelist Cowboy
Member
I use the typical Winchester 240 gr soft point outta my 5 inch 629.... Nothing flashy but it works.
Gregory Hardy
Member
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2019
- Messages
- 7
Anybody have a GP 100 in .44 special? what do you think of it?
gotboostvr
Member
Tell us a little more about those homemade JHP's if you can
Making jacketed bullets out of free range brass is actually caveman simple to do and doesn't take a lot of $$$ in equipment. With nothing more than a rock chucker press and common reloading dies, cast bullets and push thru sizing dies. I can turn out jacketed bullets.
Take a little time and look in a book that have diagrams of the different shell cases and their dimensions. The 6mm & 244 Remington, 257 Roberts, 6.5mm x 257, 7.7mm Japanese all have .429" diameters at the shoulders of the cases. Any of those fl sizing dies can be used as a nose forming die. I use a 6mm/244rem fl sizing die simply because I don't want a wide flat nosed bullet.
Free range brass/ 40s&w brass tumble cleaned
For the lead cores I used a 41cal hbwc cast out of free range lead. Some of the different hbwc'sI cast.
I don't have a 40s&w shell holder so I use a 38spl/357 shell holder instead.
Use a 41mag expander die to expand the 40s&w case.
Drop a cast bullet in the expanded case (.401" 40s&w bullet or a .410" 41mag bullet) I prefer the .410" cast bullet.
Use the rod that goes into the shell holder from a set of lee push thru sizing dies. I use a .429" set
Set the expanded case with the cast bullet core on it and screw the 6mm fl sizing die in the press and adjust the fl die up/down until you get the nose profile you want. As your forming the nose of the bullet the body of the 40s&w case will be swaged/compressed into the correct diameter and the lead core will compress tightly against the 40s&w case.
Take the newly formed bullet and run it thru the lee ..429" sizing die.
When I make hp jacketed bullets out of shell cases I use a cast hbwc bullet for the cores. I also use a set of Hornady blank dies to put "XTP" notches in the nose of the bullets. If you look at the jacketed bullets in the post above you will see 2 lines/rings in those bullets. Those are there from the lube grooves in the cast hbwc. That's how tightly the core compress/expand/grab those 40s&w cases. They make excellent crimp grooves.
Making the bullet was simple enough to do, making the cores stay intact was a lot harder. It took 4 or 5 tries with different alloys to find a core that didn't implode. Testing @ 25yds into wet pack with a 1100fps load that simulates a 75yd to 100yd velocity/hit.
Anyway simple enough
clean the cases
expand the cases
drop a lead core (cast bullet) into the expanded case
Run the case/core up in a fl die and form the bullet
Run the formed bullet thru a .429" lee push thru sizing die.
Wash rinse repeat
Gordon
Member
I wish this amazing post was a sticky at top of page. Thank you for posting it so clearly explaining it ! Amazing !
GeoDudeFlorida
Member
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2020
- Messages
- 11,002
I'll need to double-check but I think the 10" Contender loads I made for deer a few years back were 300gr. Sierra JSP's with "around" 17gr. of 2400 making "around" 1000fps. I don't use a scope or max-pressure loads for hunting so if it was that load, they would have been setup for under 50 yard shots. Down here in Florida the deer are pretty small. I could have used a .38Spl hot-loaded with a 158gr. LSWC-HP just as easily but I wanted something for gators, black bear or panthers if I should have to shoot one of them. I have walked up on bears before and big cats too but they mostly skittered off like I caught them doing something naughty. About the only animals really dangerous in the swamps is gators and men - neither ones got any brains or sense.
- Status
