Does anyone have any light loads for the .44 mag?
I have a bunch of 250gr cast Keith bullets that I would like to use but would like to keep the speed down to under 1000fps. Also they would be mag cases.

I use between 9 and 10 grains of Unique. Velocity runs around 900fps, depending on the gun.

Or Universal Clays, or N105 because they are both extremely close in speed to Unique. Depends on what you have on your shelf, or if should you decide to try something different than Unique for a change. ... felix

Meant to say in the post above that it is BlueDot which has a speed like N105 instead of Unique. Both UniversalClays and N105 are excellent in medium loads.

Unique form 7.5 to 10.0 grains.

A tad faster but very accurate for me has been 12.8 grns Bluedot. very pleasant .44 load.

Try 8.5 gr of Universal Clays with your 250 gr Keith bullets. Shoots cleaner than Unique and should provide between 850 and 950 fps depending on barrel length. That was my standard utility load back when I was loading and packing a .44 Mag.

Snother vote for Unique or Universal.

I had the same question a few weeks ago. I wanted some less-than-Godzilla loads for my Smith 329, so I searched around and came up with a load of 13.0g of Blue Dot, large pistol primers (not magnum), 240g Winchester JHP. I haven't chronoed them yet, but shooting them I would say they are somewhere in the 950 to 1150fps range. Much less recoil than the full house .44 loads but much more than the pip-squeek .44 Specials, which were at ~750fps. There, that was scientific, huh! As always, YMMV.

MKane160

I don't know if the powder is still available but 9.2 grains of SR 7625 behind a 240 cast bullet was a standard IHMSA load for years. This load chronos at about 1090 fps depending on gun/barrel, and was accurate enough to take chickens set at the 200 meter line if you did your part. Of course, it was equally accurate at 50 meters and shorter.

Another vote for Unique. 9 grains is what I use.

Been using 10grs. of Unique for so long I can't really remember when I started using it.

Start with 8 grains of Unique.
Go up in 1/2 grain increments untill 10 grains.
See which load is the most accurate in your handgun, and which load has the amount of recoil you wish to endure.
I load on a progressive loader [Star Machine Works] and I have a powder bushing that throws 9.2 grains of Unique. This has proved to be a good general purpose load in the 44 mag.

Very light load: 6 gr Bullseye w/ 200 gr.SWC. Chronos about 950 in cold weather

I go with Wyoming Art. With your Keith bullet and 6.5grs. of Bullseye you will get about 850fps in a 6 1/2bbl. It's very accurate in my 29.

WELL GUYS THANKS FOR ALL THE INFO. lOOKS LIKE I'LL BE A LITTLE BUSY AT THE RELOADING BENCH THIS WEEK TRYING SOME OF YOUR LOADS FOR NEXT WEEKEND. I'LL LET YOU KNOW HOW I MADE OUT.

Have also tried 4.7 grains of H Titegroup

or

7.0 grains of Unique

w/ a 240 grain cast. Sweet, can shoot them all day, very pleasant plinking loads.

Bo