recoiljunky

This forum has been moving a little slow lately so I figured I try to spark a conversation on reloading the 44 mag or 454 Casull. I just started reloading each, so I'm sure there's a lot of useful info out there like the importance of case trimming, bullet selection, powders, seating depth. Can you load the 44 mag with blackpowder? Who makes the best dies? How exact do you measure your powder? How much life do you get out of your brass? Does anyone have a hunting story about using their reloads on game?

eldeguello

It is important to have all your cases the exact same length so you only have to adjust your crimping die one time during a reloading session. Yes, you CAN shoot black powder in either the .44 Mag. or .454 Casull. IF you don't mind cleaning ALL the BP crud out of your gun after shooting, and likewise don't mind scrubbing the fouling out of each fired case, assuming you plan to use the case again!! I weigh each charge when using Unique, because it does not meter uniformly through my Redding powder measure. HS6, HS7, 2400, H110 and WW296 seem to meter very accurately. I do check my powder measure setting with a scale every 25 rounds to ensure the setting has not changed while throwing charges. I use the cast SWC 255-grain Keith bullet from Lyman (452424?) for my .45 Colt and .454 Casull loads. Also use the Cast Performance LBT 265-grain gas check in .452 diameter. In the .44 Mag., I use the Lyman-Keith .429421 SWC. I seat them all so the crimp is applied at the crimping groove. These bullets are generally superior to any jacketed bullet in heavy handgun loads!! RCBS dies are excellent, as are Redding and Forster. Other brands are also good, but these are the ones I have the most experience with. I have never worn out any pistol brass!!

Keep yore powder dry!!

recoiljunky

Thanks for the info EL. I didn't realize pistol brass doesn't wear out.

MR300WM

I have used Oregon Trail cast bullets in my 454 Casull, 255gr SWC and they did a very good job. I had very little lead fouling. My hands seem to shake a lot more now than they did so I won't try to tell anyone if they are accurate or not. I was pleased with them. I use RCBS dies, Star brass, CCI 350s and 296 powder. Isn't life grand. I have the Raging Bull with 8 3/8 inch barrel.

eldeguello

recoiljunky, I suppose pistol brass will wear out, but I haven't reloaded any of mine enough yet to wear any of it out!!

Keep yore powder dry!!

recoiljunky

I just got through shooting 50 rounds of Hornady xtp 300 gns pushed by 31 gn H-110 through my FA .454. I guess I should have checked the bore after every few rounds, probably should have cleaned it after every few rounds. I didn' t do either and the Hornadys made a mess. I' ve never seen so much copper in a barrel. The Hornady tech rep said that I could load the bullet up to 31.5 gn H-110. After 3 days of scrubbing and soaking the barrel now looks ok. Oh yeah, the Hornadys are .452 in diameter. Any thoughts on this?

propmahn

eldeguello, have you had problems with brass streching enough to be trimmed?
i havent seen any that presented a problem to me. but i only reload a large number of 38spl and the loads may be too light to do it.

445 supermag

recoiljunky just wanted to let you know that when you load the hornady xtp' s you should load the xtp mags as they were intended for the use of the 454 in mind. the standard ones regular xtp are or can' t stand up to that kind of speed. THat is if you are going over the 1600 fps. I don' t know but that might be why you are having copper fouling.

Brian

recoiljunky

Just checked the Hornadys, they' re regular xtp. The recipe I got from tech help was for xtp mags. I' m glad to know that they didn' t give me bum info. Thanks for the help!

Jake

7MM MAGMAN

i use my taurus raging bull with a 4x 32 scope on it i use the winchester260 grain partition load and it groups well out to 150 yds , after that i' ll use one of my rifles