I am going to set my bait station this evening and need a medium load for a 300 grain cast bullet. ASAP 44 mag

greg P,

The load I use for hunting black bear with my .44 mag is:

Starline Brass
CCI Lg Pistol Magnum Primer
22.5 Grains of W296 (or H110)
Cast Performance 300 grain WFNGC

Used in a Ruger Super Redhawk which is a very strong pistol. I would start at 20 grains and work up.

That is the load I will be using soon when Blackie makes his apearance up here around Fairbanks. Should start seeing him in about 2-3 more weeks. Good luck with your hunting.

JD

akjd, thanks. My bullet is a gc 300grain. What sort of fps would 20 grains give?

greg p.

I am loading the Lyman 429650's (approximately 315+ grains) using H-110. I am loading 19.5 grains with a CCI-350 primer. The velocity is 1258 from a 9.5" SRH handgun. Accuracy is mostly one inch at 50 yards and around 3 inches at 100 yards from my bench rest.

This weight of bullets and charges of 19 or greater grains of H-110/296 are hefty and recoil is noticable. Be sure whatever weapon you are using is capable of handling these loads! Good-luck...BCB

What would be the least amount of 296 powder i could use for my super blackhawk 4-5/8"? I would like to see around 1000 fps.

sorry, duplicate

[ 04-26-2003, 03:03: Message edited by: greg p ]

Greg,

22 is a top load for H110/W296. NEVER go lower than 90% (10% less or 20 gr.) of the top load with this powder. IME, 9-10 gr. Unique will do about 1000 fps and is bettr suited for this application. Of course, you realize that:

1. You are responsible for the safety here, not me.
2. Your velocity may vary from what we've experienced.

That said... Good luck and good shooting!

I have just loaded 20 rounds with 18 grains of powder(w296)! I have not fired them yet. Can you tell me why i should not load less than 20 grains with this load??

Your 18gr load should be fine. Hodgdon shows 19gr as max w/ a 300gr JHP. I have used 19gr/300gr LFP in my BH .45colt w/ a 4 5/8"bbl. & get just under 1000fps. 22gr of H110 or W296 will give you about all you want to hang on to in the light BH.
You should never down load (blw. manuf. sugg. start loads) slow pistol pwdrs. like H110/W296 because detonation could occur.
Hobie is right though, there are better powders like Unique, Blue Dot or 2400.

[ 04-26-2003, 04:47: Message edited by: fredj338 ]

gregp,

I shoot the LBT 300gr LFN which casts out at 315grs.

I use 22.5grs of W296 and it chronographs at 1875fps out of a 14" contender bull barrel. These are what I would consider right at max. 20grs of 296 should not be too much to handle.

These are very hard, heat treated gas checked bullets using LBT blue lube, and very accurate.

Good Shooting,

HBL

I load a 310gr WNFP gas checked bullet over 20.5gr. of H110, in Winchester brass with a winchester large pistol primer. I haven't chrony'd it out of my superblackhawk yet but it does 1575fps from my carbine. and even at 150 yards it will penitrate like theres no tomorrow.

It seems to me that if the goal is merely 1000 fps, Unique is the powder to use. Frankly, I'd be uneasy using H110/W296 in less than max effort loads. 2400 will do OK, but I don't think it is the best choice. IME, Blue Dot will not be successful. The ONLY cartridge in which I've had success with Blue Dot is the 10mm Auto.

Of course we are now a day late on this, but I have to ask, why do you not want a max effort load? Recoil?

My personal opinion is that in the short barreled .44 Mags (I have a S&W 4" M629), the 240s are king. I've been using a supply of BullX 240 gr. Keith style on 18 gr. (formally 20 gr.) of 2400. I always felt that Keith's load of 22 gr. of 2400 was just too hot for the S&W and didn't feel comfortable shooting it in this make of revolver although it did very well in the Ruger SAs. I've not run this over the chronograph but it shoots well and works. OR, I've used the Hornady 240 gr. swaged HP with 8 gr. of Unique. I did have a supply of the Remington 240 gr. SJHP factory loads which were REALLY good for all around use. I'm now very interested in moving to the 240 gr. Hornady XTP.

As to the 300 gr. bullets, I've used them in the Ruger Super Redhawk and my TC Contender (10 and 21") but not the S&W. The S&W cylinder simply does not have adequate length for correct use of most 300 gr. bullets.

I hope you had a good time last night and everything went well.

Thank's to all for the reply's. I discovered that 18 grains of w296 shoots very well from my 4 5/8" ruger s.b. 11/2 inch at 25 yards. Not great but ok for what i need. I shot through a 12"green tree (dont tell the friends of the trees people)at 25 yards with no sighns of slowing down. I had not considered using unique because of how dirty it is.Perhaps i should set that aside and try some, it seems to be very popular. I am not real comfortable shooting max loads ie: 22.5 grain of w296 because of what i feel is an obnoxious amount of recoil. My main objective is to put a heavy bullet into a brown bear from a distance of 10 feet or less. (worse case he's going to eat me type of thing) Because of the distance i dont believe a max load is needed. The load i just used was 18 grains w296,magnum primer and a 300 grain gas check of my own making. (I just started casting, lots of fun) By the way we almost have our bait station set up and should be seeing bears next week.

Greg,

Heck, I'd think that a MAX load WOULD be needed at the range you intend to be at! Also, most people I know can't shoot 1�" at 25 yards with ANY handgun, much less so with something in the .44 Mag class. If you can shoot 18 gr. of W296 with that bullet you can handle 22 gr. (especially if you're able to shoot it as well as you report).

As to Unique being "dirty", I have to admit that I've NEVER understood this complaint about any powder. Doesn't anyone clean their gun regularly? I mean do they expect to shoot 2-5K rounds without even wiping it down? It always seemed to me that if you go out in the bush, whether you shoot 2-3 rounds or not, you're going to clean the gun when you get home. How any powder, even black, can cause the problems some people seem to fear is just beyond me. Now if yours is not stainless, I'd think you would be cleaning it even more often, I know I would.

BTW, that Unique load will do ok on a small black but I would never use it on a big brown.

Whatever you do, however you do it, I want to hear more. If nothing else it should be exciting!

Hobie, don't get me wrong 1 1/2 inches was one group from the front of my truck into a tree and closer to 20 yards, I'm calling it luck but it sure felt good but, it sure penetrated well. I think that i will load some 22 grain loads to see how it goes, heck i may even use some of that unique stuff for a few. My buddy and i both feel the same way about unique powder. We have a standing christmas give that is exchanged back an forth every year, you guessed it , a 3/4 can of unique. I do shoot a stainless gun and clean often but you have to admit that theres alot more cleaning with unique than with other powders.
As a side note, having just started in the casting came i do not have a lyman cast bullet manuel. I have a box of .257 120 grain noslers i would trade for a copy. Well, off to the kid's soccer games. Greg

Actually, I won't admit that there's more cleaning with Unique than other powders. I use it in 9x19mm, .38 Special, .44 Rem. Magnum, 9x18mm, .45 ACP, and have used it for reduced loads in .30-30, 7-30 Waters, .30 Herrett, and .38-55 Winchester/Ballard. I just don't see the difference between Unique, H110/W296, 2400, Blue Dot (which I don't like), L'ilGun, Herco, W231, etc in this regard. Usually a single patch down the bore and wiping off the gun is enough.

However, you aren't the only one with this opinion and the arguments get very close to the "yes-it-is, no-it-isn't" arguments of our grade school years.

My point is that for 5 shots on a Brownie at 10 yards it doesn't matter but VELOCITY and BULLET WEIGHT and BULLET DIAMETER do matter.

Again, whatever you do please write about it. To me, it is darn interesting. Oh, and if you do get eaten have your friend post the results!

Since you said "medium" load, I would suggest 10 grains of blue dot. It is very uniform. I have shot 310 gr. bullets with 22.5 of H110 in a handgun identical to yours. It is BRUTAL. The same load in a ported Redhawk is very plesant.