.44 spl load data

[JerryB]

Can some of you folks with the computer programs help me with some load info? I am loading some .44 special with the Skeeter load of 7.5 grains of Unique and a 240 grain cast. They shoot fine out of my Taurus 431 blue 3 inch gun. What I am I getting in fps and what would a load of 7 grains of Unique with the same bullet run? I do have a couple of loading manuals but they don't cover 3 inch guns. and feel free to TERRY ME IF YOU FEEL THE NEED TO. I have been chewed on by some good ones.

[Mescalero]

Ask Earl.

[Old Savage]

Speer #12 uses a 3" barrel Taurus. Extrapolating their data suggests about 890 fps for 7 grs. Lyman 46 sees about 100 fps less with a 4" barrel. So you see there can be big variances one to another.

[JerryB]

Thanks OS, my books are kind of old.
Mescalero I was thinking about Earl when I was loading and hope he reads this.

[Old Savage]

Point is Jerry, no way to tell what you are getting with YOUR gun without actually chronographing it. You are using about the most old standard components available so a wide range of manuals, new and old, will apply.

[earlmck]

JerryB, I would happily run the load thru QuickLoad for you. But seating depth and bullet shape as it affects case capacity have such a huge affect on pressures in handgun cartridges that I need at least two more pieces of info before I can do you any good. First is length of the bullet itself. Second is length of the loaded cartridge. Water capacity of your case in grains of water when full to overflow would also be good data to plug in but is quite a lot behind in likely change it would make to the outcome to the first two measurements.

And I'll second what O.S. says: there is no substitute for actually chronographing your load in your revolver. Guns as a whole and revolvers especially (with cylinder gap, cylinder length, throat diameter, forcing cone shape, etc.) can have large variations among a group all having the same barrel length. But go ahead and give me those measurements and I'll see what QuickLoad thinks. And then it would be interesting if you could compare the QuickLoad prediction to some actual chronograph data sometime.

[JerryB]

Earl, it's late in my part of Arkansaw so I will take the bullet and cartridge legnth tomorrw. I have an old friend that has a chronograph and when I can git together with him I'll put some across his screens. Thanks to all of you for the help. This .44 has become my main all day everyday carry gun.

[Mescalero]

JerryB,
Has me convinced enough, I will be looking for one this weekend at the Phoenix gun show.

[JerryB]

Mine is the 431 and my grandson that bought it for me has the 441 with adjustable sites. We both have CME holsters from south Texas, the "Tuleta" model. It carries high and tight to your body. A plain white T-shirt will cover it, look them up. Grandson bought both of these gun online.

[JerryB]

This is what I came up with for some measurements. I used three .429 cast swc bullets for an average of length of .717, three loaded .44 spl with the same bullet for an average col of 1.455 and three new Starline brass for the grains of water capacity with an average of 34.13. I hope this is what you need to calculate the velocity from a three inch .44 special with 7 grains of Unique and a 240 grain swc. I called my friend today with the chronograph, he said when the weather gets better wwe wil have a shoot and check this out.

[Scrateshooter]

I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

[earlmck]

OK, here's what QuickLoad says with those figures: 7.5 grains Unique gives 835 fps at 21.6K psi, while 7 grains gives 789 fps at 18.8K psi. This is somewhat above SAAMI specs of 15.5K psi max for the 44 Special.

And those were just the measurements we needed. And I looked to see if you could do a lot better with other powders as far as hitting that velocity and not getting that much pressure, and all I found was that Unique looks pretty hard to beat. You could get the velocity with less pressure, but not a lot less pressure. And likely candidates like Lil' Gun and H110 would take over twice the powder to get the job done with only a little less pressure. Your short barrel likes Unique. And Power Pistol wouldn't be bad either if the powder gods burp sometime and you can't fine Unique.

[JerryB]

Thank you Earl, it looks like I need to be looking at some thing a little lighter for my .44. I sure do like this gun and would hate to shake to pieces. I like the 240 swc so maybe I can find a good load with a different powder.

[earlmck]

Thank you Earl, it looks like I need to be looking at some thing a little lighter for my .44. I sure do like this gun and would hate to shake to pieces. I like the 240 swc so maybe I can find a good load with a different powder.

QuickLoad thinks you'd hit the 15.5K with 6.3 grains of Unique, giving 725 fps. The same pressure using H110 would be achieved at 16.6 grains and a velocity just 30 fps higher.

Also I don't know how excited you should get at exceeding those SAAMI specs. Lots of pistoleros were loading the 44 Special to much higher pressures for years before the manufacturers finally came out with the 44 mag. It's probably not all that different from the 45 Colt which has SAAMI specs at blackpowder pressures but there are a lot of newer revolvers that can (and do) handle much greater pressures with no problems. I am no expert and would have no idea where your particular gun fits in that scheme of things.

[JerryB]

Thanks Earl, the Taurus 431 and 441 are built on the K-frame size with a full barrel lug and is a heavy gun. The 7.5 grain load in the 3 inch gun is a lot like a 9 or 10 grain Unique load in my Colt SAA 5 1/2 inch .45, a little slower recovery for the next shot. I am thinking that maybe 6.5 might be good to try.

[Scrateshooter]

Thanks Earl, the Taurus 431 and 441 are built on the K-frame size with a full barrel lug and is a heavy gun. The 7.5 grain load in the 3 inch gun is a lot like a 9 or 10 grain Unique load in my Colt SAA 5 1/2 inch .45, a little slower recovery for the next shot. I am thinking that maybe 6.5 might be good to try.

It ain't that I want to hotrod it, but it the 441is my carry gun.