HS-6 For 44mag

[Mr.Revolverguy]

All,

Has anyone had any success with hs-6 in 44mag? I was given 3 pounds of it unopened by a friend. He got it to work up some 40 S&W loads but got discouraged with the snappy recoil and sold is 40 in favor of an XD45. I do have load data from hodgdon that reads

240 HS-6 .429" 1.600" 12.0 1144 22,800 CUP 15.1 1417 38,200 CUP

I was thinking about starting off with 13grs of hs-6 over 240gr hp but there seems to be a bit more space between the bullet and the powder than what I want or am used to with my normal load with blue dot. I am looking to change because my blue dot loads seem to be a bit dirty which I have been using for years. I know I can use h110 and it is the preferred but I am not looking for max loads I am only loading middle of the road.

Danger Danger Danger
For those just cruising for loads I recommend before using this load I posted above that you follow your loading manual or visit hodgdons website to see if it is safe or has changed.

 

[dcloco]

I prefer HS6 or HS7 in my 357 and 44 magnums. I LIKE the clean burning powder. I do use a magnum primer though.

Accuracy is excellent. The recoil is about the same...come on...you are shooting a 44 magnum! LOL!

My revolver is an SBH with a 7.5" barrel.

 

[CZ57]

Looks good to me. The velocity rating from Hodgdon is a bit high, but that's par for the course since they use 10" test barrels for chronographing. I have a SPEER #11 that goes a bit higher, so your load looks like it will be right where you want it: middle of the road, but still plenty for a lot of chores. SPEER recommends a magnum primer when using HS-6 in any magnum revolver cartridge.

Great powder that works well in many cartridges including .40 S&W and the .45 ACP, but best performance in those 2 will come with higher end loads. Ditto for the 9 X 19mm.