Beginner 44 mag loads

[drband]

For a light load try 7.5gr Unique over a MBC 240gr HiTek coated LSWC in a magnum case. It's hot enough for plinking--really a hot .44special load in a magnum case. Works quite well in a SBH.

 

[OrangePwrx9]

Thanks for this thread. Have a new 2.75" Model 69 that hasn't been shot yet. I've been looking for suitable non-magnum handloads.

 

[Typetwelve]

Reminder, the OP is loading for a Smith and Wesson M69. While chambered in 44 Magnum, the M69 is a small (L) frame 5 shot revolver. It weighs in at 37.4 oz, lighter than a GP100 357 Magnum, which weighs 40 oz, so full house 44 Magnum loads are going to be quite a handful. I have one and shooting 240 gr bullets at anything over 1000 fps is not what you want to put in the hands of a beginner.

You know what...I didn't even notice that. I initially read it as a 4" 629, not 69.

Yeah...I wouldn't want to run anything even close to 1000 fps through that for a beginner. I wouldn't want to run anything over 1200 fps for the sake of my own hands.

It's a load for special brass, but those Missouri 240g SWC over 5g of Unique are really nice shooting. I run those through my 19oz Bulldog and they're *almost pleasant to shoot.

 

[santacruzdave]

You make a good point, but I would rather think of the L-frame as "medium", in light of the K-frame .357s and certainly J-frames being more trim. In the S&W spectrum, I think a J-frame is "small".

You are right, the L frame is a medium frame, I got that wrong. Thanks for the straight info!