'Light' .44 mag rifle loads

[Ranger J]

I have a couple of questions. My wife had an accident that has put her 1894C out of action for a while. Because of this she will be shooting an 1894 in .44 mag this deer season. While she can handle full power 240 gr. loads and shoots well with them she is uncomfortable shooting a lot of them. The .44 has a Limbsaver recoil pad on it and I went to the precaution of also putting a strap on shoulder pad on her but she still doesn't like to shoot a lot of full power loads. I have loaded up some Red Dot loads in 240 JSP and 180 gr. Hornady XTP hoping to duplicate the 158 gr. H110 loads she used to shoot all day in the .357. She hasn't got to try them out yet but I shot a couple of the 240-gr. loads and to me they seem like pussycats. Of course I weigh 240 lbs. and shoot a 45/70. Does anyone else have any suggestions as to 'light' loads for the.44?
I also have a supply of Laser cast bullets in 180 gr. and 240 gr. I don't have a lot of experience in developing loads for cast bullets. The loading process is no problem. What I want to avoid is leading. I read that you can get leading if you push these bullets too fast or too slow. What would be say a Red Dot load for these bullets that would put them in the no leading range? If not Red Dot, what other powders. Please remember I am trying to keep the recoil down so she can shoot until her beloved .357 gets back from Marlin. Thanks for any suggestions.

RJ

 

[rcmodel]

240 grain lead with 5.0 - 6.0 grains Red-Dot in .44 Mag cases would give you a very light practice load.

You could try the 180's, but I think the rifles sights will be so far off you won't be able to adjust them far enough.

You can also use .44 Special Cowboy Action factory loads, or reloads using that data. Nobody is gonna be bothered with that level of recoil.

Leading should not be a problem until you get up past 1,000 - 1,200 fps or so.

If your Marlin .44 has Micro-Groove rifling, you may run into accuracy problems with soft lead bullets stripping out in the rifling at higher velocities.


rcmodel

 

[Walkalong]

Blue Dot works well for 3/4 type loads in the .44 Mag. My son shot many of them before he was ready for full loads. I agree that Red Dot makes for good "light" loads.

 

[Mr.Revolverguy]

Blue Dot is surely the way to go.

 

[GaryL]

If you just want to take the edge off (i.e. not an H110 load), 2400 does pretty well. I loaded some 44mag with Unique that would barely cycle a carbine, but made quite a nice pistol round.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Since you already have H110 on hand I would use that. I would use the 180 gr Hornady XTP bullet instead of the 240 gr bullet because felt recoil is usually less with a lighter bullet. 29 gr of H110 will probably be light enough for your wife to shoot without being uncomfortable. That is the starting load and is reported to yield just over 1700 fps, probably more from your Carbine. If you were loading the 158 gr .357 Magnum rounds with 15 gr H110, that load develops the same pressure as 29 gr H110 under the 180 gr bullet in a .44 Magnum case. What charge were you using in your .357 Magnum rounds with a 158 gr bullet?

I wouldn't use the Lead bullets at higher speeds because of Leading unless they are Gas Checked. You can use Lead bullets as long as you keep them under 1200 fps which means you should load them using .44 Special load data. But if you do that it probably won't be an effective hunting round past 50 yards.

 

[Ranger J]

She will be hunting with either a MagTec 240 SP or a Hornady 240 XTP with a goodly load of H110 behind it.
What I am looking for is advice from someone that has loaded light 'fun' loads that she can shoot until her .357 comes back from Marlin. Has anyone loaded the laser cast bullets with light loads?

RJ

 

[Bula]

Try those hard cast 240's with 8-9 gr of unique. That would be a nice easy shooting load from that 1894.

 

[rcmodel]

Has anyone loaded the laser cast bullets with light loads?

Yes! No! Maybe!
I tried to answer your question earlier with a Red-Dot load, because thats what you ask about.

I shoot light-load lead bullets in my Marlin 1894P all the time.
But they are cast 240 gr SWC, not Laser-Cast commercial bullets.
Over 7.5 grains Unique, not Red-Dot.
In .44 Spl. cases, not .44 Mag cases.

And they break 1,000, don't lead, and don't kick enough to bother anyone.


rcmodel

 

[Roger the Shrubber]

A guy I know shoots his .44mag levergun with TrailBoss exclusively, and loves it. I have used TB with my .357mag and Laser-Cast bullets with great success. It burns cleanly and without a wallop.

 

[wcwhitey]

RCModel's 7.5 grain's of unique in .44 Special cases is a great accurate load, will easily break 1000 fps in the carbine. If you have only Magnum cases 8.5 grains of Unique will duplicate it. A really nice do all load, not punishing at all but powerful enough to take care of most hunting needs is 10 grains of Unique under the 240 SWC. Very accurate as well. Laser cast bullets should do just fine in the Carbine up till around 1200 fps. Bill

 

[tbtrout]

I use trail Boss for my light revolver loads and it works great. I would start there.

 

[Asherdan]

I've used both the Oregon Trail 240g SWC and RNFP in my Marlin 1894 with 19.5g of 2400. The RNFP feeds nice and slick. Nice accuracy @ 50 yards tested, ~1450fps, zero leading. Low recoil.

Unique is a really good option for a reduced recoil load that is still fun to shoot. The 10g one mentioned above is classic.

 

[zxcvbob]

I just tried out a new .45 Colt +P recipe last night that might be about what you are looking for.

7.5 grains of Red Dot and a 230 grain soft lead bullet. Nice snappy but comfortable recoil, and no leading in my revolver. (revolvers lead a lot worse than rifles.) Use .44 Magnum brass and a 240-ish grain cast bullet (hard or soft lead probably doesn't matter) and you should be good to go. If the recoil is still too much, drop back to 7.0 grains. If it's not enough, you can go up in small increments as high as about 8.8 grains -- but I've fired some 8.5's and the recoil was pretty harsh.

 

[JG2000]

I have both the .357 and .44 Marlin. The .44 special factory load kicks about as much as the factory .357 if not a little less. I know your asking for load data but you might want to get a box of Specials to see if she likes it first. It will be cheaper and then you will have some empties you could work with too. She might have a new favorite deer gun
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=191493&t=11082005

 

[Drygulch]

I have a couple of questions. My wife had an accident that has put her 1894C out of action for a while. Because of this she will be shooting an 1894 in .44 mag this deer season. While she can handle full power 240 gr. loads and shoots well with them she is uncomfortable shooting a lot of them. The .44 has a Limbsaver recoil pad on it and I went to the precaution of also putting a strap on shoulder pad on her but she still doesn't like to shoot a lot of full power loads. I have loaded up some Red Dot loads in 240 JSP and 180 gr. Hornady XTP hoping to duplicate the 158 gr. H110 loads she used to shoot all day in the .357. She hasn't got to try them out yet but I shot a couple of the 240-gr. loads and to me they seem like pussycats. Of course I weigh 240 lbs. and shoot a 45/70. Does anyone else have any suggestions as to 'light' loads for the.44?
I also have a supply of Laser cast bullets in 180 gr. and 240 gr. I don't have a lot of experience in developing loads for cast bullets. The loading process is no problem. What I want to avoid is leading. I read that you can get leading if you push these bullets too fast or too slow. What would be say a Red Dot load for these bullets that would put them in the no leading range? If not Red Dot, what other powders. Please remember I am trying to keep the recoil down so she can shoot until her beloved .357 gets back from Marlin. Thanks for any suggestions.

RJ

In my lever Win 94, I used 5.5 to 6.0 gr of Trailboss in the 44 mag cases. Mild recoil and a pleasure to hit steel targets as far as 150 yards accuratly. A little slow, but the 245 unchecked cast grainers get there! Have fun;

Rod

 

[db_tanker]

I have loaded up some 240 gr LSWC loads for my 14" 44 mag and it was a sweetheart to shoot. Used 7 grains with that.

NOW...I DO have knowledge of some folk going a bit higher than that weight-wise and it was still well below even the likes of 231 or HS-6 loads. But I ain't gonna be targeted by the load nazi's so do your own research.

 

[zeke]

Have a Marlin 44 mag with length of pull shortened to 12.5 inches, including limbsaver recoil pad. Fitting a rifle to the shooter may make as much difference as using a lighter load.

11.0 grains unique under a 180 grain jhp (rem or hdy) in a 44 mag case and Fed 150 primer gets about 1500 fps from 16 in lever. Combined with the short LOP and good recoil pad, my 80 year old mother had no trouble using it on 25 yard targets. Also a very good vermin load.

With a little trial and error, an elevational sight adjustment (depending on the sights on rifle) may be establised for the heavier loads.