Does anyone here have experience reloading for the Ruger 44 mag semi auto carbine? I have one that was made in late 80 or early 81 and am wondering what burning rate powder is ideal for these guns or does it matter with them. Will any powder for the 44 mag do? I have 44 mags from Marlin, Rossi, T/C and at one time had a Remington bolt action in 44 mag so I have reloaded it a lot but this is my first go round with the semi auto. I have a good quantity of 240 gr xtp/hp's and Nosler 240 gr jhp's for it. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Steve.........

I use the powders on the slow end of the scale, like H110, but for sure, they don't like light loads or cast bullets. They can plug up the gas hole. But I have used them.

Hi Steve E,

I had one of those years ago. It was a good shooter, traded it for something or another, don't remember. I agree with dpcd, medium to heavy loads with jacketed bullets. It required a pretty good crimp too. Kicked like hell, could have used a better stock design or restocking.

I know about the lead not being good for them. That reminds me of a buddy of mine while stationed in Hawaii with his Desert Eagle 44 mag, he read on the 'net' where you could shoot lead in them and it wouldn't build up. Well he shot several hundred (maybe a few more) hard cast lead bullets and it got to where it would fully extract the fired case. When he tore it down guess what he found, looked like paper thin lead strips.
I wonder how Lil'Gun would be in the Ruger?

Steve.........

Mine sees either the 270 gr GD or 250 gr Partition over max book loads of H110/W296 or Lil'Gun. Reliable, as accurate as the deign allows and a proven killer.

Good to hear that about Lil'Gun, that is one of my favorite powders especially in the 357 Maxi. The common theme I see in reloading for these guns is run the reloads on the hot side.

Steve.......

I loaded for the little Ruger 44 magnum carbine, one about the same era as the one you have acquired and from the Hornady 3rd edition manual I chose IMR4227 which was the powder they said gave the most uniform results in their Ruger carbine test gun.

Having lost some of my early reloading data I don't recall the exact charges of this powder I used for both the 240gr and 265gr Hornady bullets but from memory I think they were the listed maximums and were certainly accurate enough for the closer range shooting I used the little Ruger for. The little carbine took my fancy for a while but it didn't last long as it was pretty limited as to what you could use it on.

Just finished load development for a newly acquired 44 Carbine. Near max H110 with Hornady XTP and Nosler Partitions yielded 1.5" groups at 100 yards. Not a tack driver, but with all touching, I'm good with that.

Actually, I used to shoot only lead bullets in my Desert Eagle. Never had a problem; I think the system kept the gas port clean; anyway, it always worked fine, but it did need a slow powder and heavy crimp. When it showed any lead streaks, and they were very light, just shoot a couple of jacketed bullets and that would clean it out.
This reminds me that I have a 44 Carbine that I need to put up for sale; has the integral Williams peep; fairly uncommon variation.

ghostrider
I was thinking I might stick with H110 also.

dpcd
Don't doubt you a bit, too many stories on the net about people using lead in their Eagles. I would love one in 50 AE but they are just too expensive now. My buddy tried it a couple of times with the same result and finally gave up on lead.

Steve........