44 special

.38 Special said:

I use quite a bit of 700x in the .44 Special and have solved the issue by only occasionally weighing a drop! As long as the measure has not gone out of whack and is dropping 30 grains or something, I just ignore it; the holes in the target are what matter in the end.

Click to expand...

That’s not right. I think it’s supposed to be 3.0, not 30.

GeoDudeFlorida said:

That’s not right. I think it’s supposed to be 3.0, not 30.

Click to expand...

Read it again, dude!

<edit> In case it is clear to no one but me, I mean that if the measure is out of whack it might drop 30 grains, which is bad. Otherwise, if it is off a tenth or two of a grain, I ignore it.

I had a Rossi, now have a Taurus. Neither one would I use with +P. My 624 is a different story. The original Bulldog was a handful with factory stuff until I replaced the tiny stock grips.

joneb said:

Am I being to fussy about flake powders metering poorly?

Click to expand...

LV Gun said:

I have never understood the issue with flake powder I really like them.

Click to expand...

People get used to metering to .1grn, even in rifle cartridges. In the reloading realm, PRECISION is the key to success. Powders like Unique can tend to open up a bit compared... and so it sends up alarms. What I have found... and reading the other comments here... is, the end result is usually a satisfactory load, anyway, even given the charge variations. I would not hesitate to use a flake powder in any handgun cartridge I load for.... oh, wait, I do already...!

Little bit over 8gr hs6 for any weight .44 special bullet will make you smile

I use unique and I get within .1 grain when I'm consistent in my throws.

I use mostly 700X and Unique in .44 Special.
I shoot them out of a .44 magnum Super Blackhawk and mostly I shoot the Skeeter load, which is 7.5 grains of Unique and a 245 grain SWC.
That will be stout in that snubbie.

Like others have said, consult a manual and use published data.

My favorite general load for the .44 Special is 6.5 gr. of either Unique or AL 20/28 and a 250-ish gr. cast SWC, both of which are under maximum. Velocity will be 850-900 fps depending on barrel length. Always a very accurate load for me.



35W

I am a fan of a lead 200 gr RNFP over 6.2 gr Unique for a light recoiling .44 Special load.

Stay safe.

Charlie98 said:

People get used to metering to .1grn, even in rifle cartridges. In the reloading realm, PRECISION is the key to success. Powders like Unique can tend to open up a bit compared... and so it sends up alarms. What I have found... and reading the other comments here... is, the end result is usually a satisfactory load, anyway, even given the charge variations. I would not hesitate to use a flake powder in any handgun cartridge I load for.... oh, wait, I do already...!

Click to expand...

Electronic measures make it easy. Every charge shows perfect or I fix it. Then my only variation is the accuracy of the scale...

Just make sure you clean out the dispenser tube if your using a electronic dispenser. A lot of powder can be stored in one. I normally set the load range real high to make it spin at max speed. Then tilt the unit to help the small flakes come out. Once done I will use some compressed air.

When I loaded .44 special using full wadcutters, I found WST was a perfect choice. Almost identical to loading .45 acp with 200 swc.