.44MAG lever-action loads

[Irelander]

OK, I got my first lever-action yesterday, a Rossi 92 in .44MAG with a 16" barrel. I'm going to reload for this gun since my father-in-law has tons of .44MAG reloading components for his Ruger Super Redhawk and he offered them for me to use with my new rifle. Now I just need a little information and a good starting point. I am going to mainly be using this rifle for deer hunting, camping/hiking security, and plinking...maybe CAS someday.

I know that the .44MAG is a pistol round so standard rounds will use a fast burning pistol powder for pistol length barrels. Is it common to use a slower burning rifle powder to get the most out of a rifle length barrel? I need to check with my father-in-law to find out what type of bullets he has. Is there a load that most guys use in their .44MAG's?

I will probably want two different loads: one hotter one for hunting and one lighter load for plinking. Any help you all can give me would be greatly appreciated. I do reload for my .308 right now so I am not totally ignorant but I have never reloaded for a pistol round especially one that is being used in a rifle.

[OldWin]

I have a Browning 92 and a 16 inch 94 Winchester in 44 mag. I use a 240 Hornady XTP over 22.0gr. IMR4227. This load also shoots well in my S&W 6" 629 so I can use one load for all. I find this quite simple and very handy.

[Stan in SC]

My favorite .44 magnum load is almost the same as that posted by Old Win.IMR4227 and H-110 are almost identical.My load is a 240 grain cast semi wad cutter over 23 Gr. of H-110.I also use that load for my .44 mag Handi rifle.It works well in both the rifle and my Super Redhawk.
I also have shot some of the 225 gr. Hornady Leverrevolution ammo and like it really well.Try it and you might be surprised at the performance.
I just don't think I would try rifle powder.

Stan in SC

[mikld]

Not being a smart aleck, but you need a reloading manual. If you haven't done any reloading I'd suggest you read The ABCs of Reloading. This will give you a good in depth explaination of reloading for rifles, pistols, shotguns and give a lot of good info on casting, powder bullets and shot, then follow that up with a good manual with load data. Best place I know of to start....

EDIT; Sorry, I guess I didn't see the part of your post that says you reload , but the second paragraph lead me to believe you didn't have experience with gunpowders.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

OK, I got my first lever-action yesterday, a Rossi 92 in .44MAG with a 16" barrel. I'm going to reload for this gun since my father-in-law has tons of .44MAG reloading components for his Ruger Super Redhawk and he offered them for me to use with my new rifle. Now I just need a little information and a good starting point. I am going to mainly be using this rifle for deer hunting, camping/hiking security, and plinking...maybe CAS someday.

I know that the .44MAG is a pistol round so standard rounds will use a fast burning pistol powder for pistol length barrels. Is it common to use a slower burning rifle powder to get the most out of a rifle length barrel? I need to check with my father-in-law to find out what type of bullets he has. Is there a load that most guys use in their .44MAG's?

I will probably want two different loads: one hotter one for hunting and one lighter load for plinking. Any help you all can give me would be greatly appreciated. I do reload for my .308 right now so I am not totally ignorant but I have never reloaded for a pistol round especially one that is being used in a rifle.

Before you get too deep into reloading for a levergun you may want to make up some dummy rounds from the componets you wish to use. Then, try them throuh the rifle to make sure they feed. All leverguns are length and bullet shape sensitive to some degree. Like semi-auto handguns, they can be picky about what they will run and the faster we try to go with them the more these problems tend to show up.The very best feeding cals are the bottleneck cals these guns were originally chambered for. You have a little bullet going into a big hole funneling down. Straight walls like 44mag can be problematic with the wrong bullets and OAL's.
Try the dummy first before you load a batch of ammo that won't feed.

[jd45]

That is good advice, Steve! That is why you are THE MAN!!! I'm gonna make use of that myself. It never occurred to me, honestly. Thanx for it.....hope you & yours are well, jd45.

[COSteve]

44mags and 357mag leverguns love Hodgdon H110 powder. It's the best slow burning powder to give you max velocities from your levergun. Be sure to use a magnum primer and you'll be set.

[Stan in SC]

I disagree on using only magnum primers.I use both standard or magnum and find no difference although I am sure there is a difference.I just don't see any evidence of it.

Stan in SC

[alnitak]

I use standard primers as well, and prefer powders like 2400 and AA#9.

[AJMD429]

Here's a thread I posted about working up loads for our 'family' .44 Magnums:

http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=21695

Here's a thread where the fellas here educated me so's I could crimp them right:

http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=21325

(Thanks, fellas, by the way. . . )

[O.S.O.K.]

Not being a smart aleck, but you need a reloading manual. If you haven't done any reloading I'd suggest you read The ABCs of Reloading. This will give you a good in depth explaination of reloading for rifles, pistols, shotguns and give a lot of good info on casting, powder bullets and shot, then follow that up with a good manual with load data. Best place I know of to start....

If you read the last line in the OP he states that he currently loads for his .308 rifle.

Never hurts to mention the reloading manual though and the ABC's is a good one.

Steve already hit on what came to my mind when I read the post - lever guns are a bit picky about bullet nose shape.

If you stick with jacketed bullets - especially most of the hollow point variety, you should be fine. Cast bullets can be more tricky. But do follow Steve's advice and make dummies regardless - it will save you a lot of trouble...

I would recommend a cowboy type round nose flat point for the plinking load - a good load for this would be 240 grain rnfp laser cast bullets (Oregon Trail) over 8 grains of Unique for around 1100 fps from your carbine. This load gives around 900 fps from a revolver. You can try 8 to 11 grains in small increments to find the sweet spot for your carbine...

I will second the H110/W296 powder suggestion for the max loads - that's what I use with my 310 grain load with very good results. This is a cast bullet (I cast it using a Lee Precision mold) with a wide flat nose profile and a gas check - needed for the hotter/faster cast bullet loads. 1600 fps and will take any animal in the lower 48. A very good bear protection load.

Here's a picture of a little hog that had a run-in with that load: (from one of our levergun hunts! Thanks again rkrodle and 86'r!)



That was way more than was needed to take him and in fact the first load listed above would have been more than adequate for the task...

[Im3wheeln]

I found this post very timely. I to have a Rossi 92 in .44MAG and had loaded up some, what I thought, were fairly mild loads for it and my new Uberti 44 mag Colt clone. I had spend days researching for just the right plinking load and settled on 8 gains of Unique over a 240 gr Xtreme plated bullet. I thought this would be a nice mild load , but after checking Alliant's reooaders guide I found it calls for a max of only 7 gr for a 240 gr LSWC??? This seemed odd as this same guide recommends 11 gr max of Unique for both a 220 gr and 250 gr cast bullet??? I'm glad to hear others have used a similar load successfully and it is in fact the mild load I was looking for.

PS I'd also recommend you listen to Steve's advice. When I first got my Rossi I loaded up 50 rounds using Hornady XTP 200 and 240 gr HPs and found they wouldn't feed worth a darn. I ended up having to feed each round manually each into the chamber just to get them to get rid of them. I'm not saying you'll have the same issues with the XTPs, only that it's best to test before loading a bunch and finding out otherwise.

Eric

[jlchucker]

I found this post very timely. I to have a Rossi 92 in .44MAG and had loaded up some, what I thought, were fairly mild loads for it and my new Uberti 44 mag Colt clone. I had spend days researching for just the right plinking load and settled on 8 gains of Unique over a 240 gr Xtreme plated bullet. I thought this would be a nice mild load , but after checking Alliant's reooaders guide I found it calls for a max of only 7 gr for a 240 gr LSWC??? This seemed odd as this same guide recommends 11 gr max of Unique for both a 220 gr and 250 gr cast bullet??? I'm glad to hear others have used a similar load successfully and it is in fact the mild load I was looking for.

PS I'd also recommend you listen to Steve's advice. When I first got my Rossi I loaded up 50 rounds using Hornady XTP 200 and 240 gr HPs and found they wouldn't feed worth a darn. I ended up having to feed each round manually each into the chamber just to get them to get rid of them. I'm not saying you'll have the same issues with the XTPs, only that it's best to test before loading a bunch and finding out otherwise.

Eric

This piece of Steve's advice is important. I had mysterious feeding problems with my 357 model 92 that I didn't expect, and it wasn't until after consultation with an old local gunsmith, extensive review of Steve's DVD, and an exchange of emails from Steve himself that the problem was instantly solved by changing my cast bullet handload's overall length. In Steve's DVD, he uses a 357 as a demonstrator and at the end, it works very well indeed. In the next addition of Steve's DVD, if he does another, though, I hope he stresses this issue of overall length and bullet shape with various calibers a little bit more. My own 44's, both Winchester and EMF, feed very well with semiwadcutters with no problems, and always have...I must have gotten lucky with these particular guns. That's why I was a bit surprised when I had issues with the 357, especially when trying to use 38 spl cases. Everything's fine now though. I bet a Rossi in 44-40, the design for which the Model 92 started with, feeds the best of them all, being of the original, bottleneck shape for which the 92 was invented.

[COSteve]

I disagree on using only magnum primers.I use both standard or magnum and find no difference although I am sure there is a difference.I just don't see any evidence of it.
Stan in SC

I use standard primers as well, and prefer powders like 2400 and AA#9.

While std primers also make the round go bang, I've found that the magnum primers give better ignition and a more consistent burn of H110 as evidenced by my chrono results. Using the same bullet, powder, and cases in the same rifle on the same day of testing, I got slightly higher velocities and much lower SD and ES (Standard Deviation and Extreme Spread) numbers on my chrono using the magnum primers over std ones. This is a common result that many handloaders find and why many reloading manuals recommend magnum primers with powders like H110.

[Chuck 100 yd]

I agree with Steve BUT have tried them all and went back to 2400.

[AJMD429]

I had spend days researching for just the right plinking load and settled on 8 gains of Unique over a 240 gr Xtreme plated bullet. I thought this would be a nice mild load , but after checking Alliant's reooaders guide I found it calls for a max of only 7 gr for a 240 gr LSWC??? This seemed odd as this same guide recommends 11 gr max of Unique for both a 220 gr and 250 gr cast bullet???

I know that the plated bullets generally say to use 'cast bullet' data, even though they look 'jacketed'. Also, since lead bullets have less bore-friction, they will give less pressure with a given powder charge. That may all be stuff you already know, but if not, hope that helps some.

[COSteve]

I had spend days researching for just the right plinking load and settled on 8 gains of Unique over a 240 gr Xtreme plated bullet. I thought this would be a nice mild load , but after checking Alliant's reooaders guide I found it calls for a max of only 7 gr for a 240 gr LSWC??? This seemed odd as this same guide recommends 11 gr max of Unique for both a 220 gr and 250 gr cast bullet???

I know that the plated bullets generally say to use 'cast bullet' data, even though they look 'jacketed'. Also, since lead bullets have less bore-friction, they will give less pressure with a given powder charge. That may all be stuff you already know, but if not, hope that helps some.

I've always heard it was the other way around because lead is softer, it obturates better, thereby increasing the pressure over a full jacketed bullet. That's why a plated bullet, with it's thin jacket and very soft lead, acts like a plain lead bullet pressure wise.

[Irelander]

I cycled through some of my father-in-law's reload yesterday. They cycled fine. Today I will hopefully get to shoot a couple.

[BAGTIC]

The general rule is that the same loads/powders that give maximum velocity in a handgun will give the maximum velocity in a rifle/carbine.

[Old Time Hunter]

23.5 Grains of H110 behind a 240 grain JSP for hunting, 9.3 grains of Unique behind both 240 gr LSWC's or 265 grain w/GC....w/std CCI primers. Worked for longer than I care to remember, use 'em in my '94 Trapper, my 7 1/2" Black Hawk, my 5 1/2" Black Hawk, and the kid's '94 Black Shadow 2/3 mag. Never a miss fire and always accurate.