44 magnum round ball load needed

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max503 posted this 03 November 2018

Anyone have a light, round ball 44 handgun load they care to share?  I have balls cast up and lubed with LLA. 

 

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Wheel Weights posted this 16 July 2021

Did round balls a few years ago in my 45-70.

TrailBoss, over powder wad, coarse Cuban cornmeal filler, one, two or three balls, light crimp.

3" to 6" groups at 25 yards.

Blew water filled gallon jugs apart.

"Big Medicine"

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Lee Guthrie posted this 15 July 2021

Frank Marshall in his Speaking Frankly series in "The Fouling Shot" discusses round balls in rifles at:

 

Roundballs in rifles                                                            #28-8, 85-6, 165-6

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Elmer posted this 12 July 2021

Dear Gary,

Old Lee Loader. 410 shows 15.2 gr Herc 2400 with dipper "069."

Current Lee dipper chart shows 13.5 gr H 2400 with dipper "1.0."

This gives 12.2 gr Bullseye. Ed Harris recommended 5 gr BE.

Have you shot this approx 12 gr BE, and what are the pressure signs? Thanks

JSM

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 19 November 2018

Bud ... i like that story ....

i suppose one of the prime originators of the myth of the 30 carbine being really weak was my hero, philip b. sharp ; i memorized his " handloading" when i was in the 7th grade ... ....  it wasn't until in 1962 and i bot an nra 30 m1 carbine for $22 and started blowing terminally ill farm animals and feral cats carrying quail in their jaws .... in half  ....  that i thought he might be wrong ....   those 3118 in hollowpoint were slower to cast but dang they were impressive ....  

more toward this thread ... my round ball 45-70 popper loads with 3 gr. hot powder have plenty of power ... just that so far i can't hit much with them ...  6 inch groups at 35 yards ...  i ain't giving up ... i am thinking about my old herter's  split shot fishing sinker mold ....

ken

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Bud Hyett posted this 19 November 2018

Four decades ago, I bought a Ruger Blackhawk in .30 Carbine. My uncle had one and his experiments with it fascinated me. This seemed the ultimate farm handgun, plenty of power and flat shooting. I killed several dogs in the yearling calf crop with it.

I had a good supply of the Speer 100 grain Plinker to start with. And one local gun store had a special on W-W factory 110 grain hollowpoint ammo.

My uncle and I developed a round ball load using #1 Western buckshot that measured .31 and Bullseye.

3.5 grains of Bullseye, set the round ball inside the case and add a dab of lubricant over the ball. The load would group in the black on the standard 50 foot pistol target.

Then we discovered the long .30 Carbine case will hold two round balls. That was the next step in experimentation.

Our thought was to double the chance of a hit. This load would put one ball in the black and one ball in the white scoring rings, sometimes both in the black on the 50 foot indoor bullseye target..  

I did not yet have a .45 for the match course, I tried shooting the Blackhawk in practice timed and rapid fire and was often caught with four shots in rapid fire. 

Enter the dubious mind, I loaded the cylinders for timed and rapid fire, One case had one ball and two cases had two balls. I was now able to make rapid fire with three shots and five hits.

This worked well until the shooter next to me counted shots and not hits. 

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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Bud Hyett posted this 18 November 2018

The ground glass is microscopic, it will not scratch the bore in a detectable way in an individual shot.

The particles are set in the compound to absorb heat and glow, being carried forward by the gas flow and igniting powder in the case and sustaining ignition in the bore.

Over the course of many rounds, the cumulative effect of these glass particles will add to throat wear.

The main ingredient of glass is silicon dioxide, sand. It is of interest that this one ingredient in natural size is a scourge for the shooter, but in altered form is one of his best friends.   

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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max503 posted this 18 November 2018

A tarnished case sets off a shiny boolit nicely.

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Brodie posted this 18 November 2018

Back in the 60/s before ;people started becoming obsessive about shinny brass nobody polished cases.  Sometimes we washed them or treated them chemically (ie. white vinegar) but hardly anybody polished them.  I never noticed any bad effects from it either and I ran a heck of a lot through my 38spec. and 45acp hand guns.  When you used them in the field they were kinda hard to find though.  As to grit in the priming compound: I have heard of ground glass being in there, but all I personally am aware of is lead styphinate.

B.E.Brickey

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 16 November 2018

in my good ball loads in my 44 mag, i seated the ball all the way down with the eraser end of a lead pencil .... punched out primer with a punch and hammer, reprimed by punch and hammer, finger pinch some bullseye, and seat ball with pencil ...  BAM! ... ruin another pop can !! ...fun times for my young daughter and i ..

so far, no joy with round balls in my 45-70 ... probably my balls are too small ( g ) ... 

ken

 

 

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max503 posted this 16 November 2018

I was under the impression that primers had a small amount of abrasive material, and any black smut within the case would get on the ball and into the bore.  IDK.  My hands needed washing anyway...………….

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Brodie posted this 16 November 2018

Max503, You don't need to wash those cases if they didn't wind up in the dirt at your feet.  The current mania about shiny brass came from wanting to get the grit off of them so it wouldn't change the dimensions of your steel dies.  Now the practice seems to have gotten out of hand or at least I think so. Brodie

B.E.Brickey

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max503 posted this 16 November 2018

Yes.  The heavier loads hit just below and a little to the right of the aiming point.  They were .5 and .7cc dippers of Unique.  4.x and 6.x grains.  Figure if I need something that powerful I'll just use SWC's.

After de-priming with a punch I washed the cases with hot water, Dawn, and a bore mop.

My usual load is 8.5 grains of Unique under a Lyman 429421 cast from mystery alloy and lubed with Felix lube.  Any faster and that bullet leads.  

I've got lots of Unique. 

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M3 Mitch posted this 15 November 2018

Interesting that not many people seem to think to push the ball all the way down in the case.  Of course most loading dies are not set up to do that.   But if you are just putting an oversized ball into an unsized case, I guess it makes perfect sense, increases loading density.

Do heavier loads shoot closer to your aiming point?  And what load do you have that Contender sighted in for anyway?

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max503 posted this 15 November 2018

Here's the group I got at 50 feet with .3 cc's of Unique, a .431 ball lubed with LLA, seated down all the way onto the powder charge.  That's 2.x grains of powder.  

These were assembled in unsized cases.  I made some heavier loads and they performed as well, but they weren't quiet like this load.  Seating the ball down on the powder charge seems to make all the difference.  This is a useable load.  (I shot these out of a 10" 44 Magnum Contender with a 2X scope.)  That 3 inch note means the group was centered 3 inches below point of aim.  Looks like I'll be using some Tennessee Elevation.

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 07 November 2018

in general, round/ovulated balls have not much resistance on firing ... even distorted first, they still have little initial resistance ....  so::

in my adventures with these, i find the fastest  powders are preferred ... bullseye etc.,  to get cleaner burning ...  it is easy to go through a lot of easy-loading balls at a time, and unique and blue dot etc. usually leave me with too much unburned powder in the action.

btw, at 35 yards, round balls were my most accurate load in my 44 mag rifle ... so far i can't get them to work even for plinking in my 45-70 ruger3 ... ?? ...  but the lee 230 gr. rn " old army " works well enough even for 100 yard groundhogs ...  ( and 12 gr. unique burns ok ) .

ken, still looking for rule #2 for cast bullets ...

 

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max503 posted this 06 November 2018

Maybe this will help. It's an article on Cast Pics. Years ago, I used 0.454" round balls run through a series of sizers, until they were oblong 0.430" balls. I think I used 4.5-6.0gr of Unique. I wanted a quiet round to use on pests around the house. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.castpics.net/LoadData/Round%2520Ball%2520Loads.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjIk_SricDeAhWHzVMKHYbdB0IQFjANegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw3zQx98dxis_7s9svV4-Wek
Very good article.  Thanks much.

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jimkim posted this 06 November 2018

Maybe this will help. It's an article on Cast Pics.

Years ago, I used 0.454" round balls run through a series of sizers, until they were oblong 0.430" balls. I think I used 4.5-6.0gr of Unique. I wanted a quiet round to use on pests around the house.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.castpics.net/LoadData/Round%2520Ball%2520Loads.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjIkSricDeAhWHzVMKHYbdB0IQFjANegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw3zQx98dxis7s9svV4-Wek

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max503 posted this 06 November 2018

Wish I could find that article. 

This is another on my list of CB projects.  I'll throw together some RB loads for my upcoming trip and try them out on some small game.  But I probably won't spend a whole lot of time on this project.  When I get back from my vacation I'll need to load up some heavy bullet 30-30's and some 223's for the coyote shoot.  

The fun never ends.  Thanks for all the help.

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Ed Harris posted this 06 November 2018

Some years ago Ellis Lea had a "From the Loading Bench" short article in American Rifleman firing Speer .433" round balls in the .44 Magnum T/C Contender pistol with 10" barrel and he got best results flush seating these in .44 Magnum brass, and smearing lithium grease in the gap between ball and case mouth, with a heavy roll crimp and 5 grains of Bullseye.  I don't recall the specific issue, but have used this load with good results in both revolver and rifle. 

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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John Alexander posted this 06 November 2018

I agree with Ken. When I was shooting round balls out of a rifled 20 gauge at deer the best were oversizes never considered they were distorted  but just a very short bullets with short parallel sides. They shouldn't tumble out of a rifled bore like from a smoothbore.

Virtually everything I have shot seriously for the for the last 35 years has been from beagled molds.  I have seen no downside to oval bullets if needed for a better fit.

I'm not so far gone that I think oval is better than round if everything is otherwise equal, but angst over less than round bullets is misplaced agony.

John

 

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