I have never really gotten into shooting my .44 Magnum in volume, but with my kids growing up and wanting to shoot, it seems it would be a bit cheaper than the high powered rifles they alway seem to grab.

Anyway, several years ago...probably 10 or so, I bought a box of 500 hard cast bullets manufactured by a bullet company out of Nevada. I thought it was Western Bullet Company, but all that comes up is a company out of Missoula Montana and they don't list the bullet in their inventory.

They are a SWC in 240 grain weight. The have lube in the grooves (blue) and a slightly beveled base.

My main question is this: Should I be putting gas checks on these bullets?

My secondary questions are: Should I limit the velocity to 1,000 fps or lower, and is Unique a good powder for this application?

Any other advice and suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to this, it has been a long time since I just got busy and loaded up a bunch of "plinker" ammunition.

I shoot 9 gr. of Unique as a "plinker load" in the .44 mag. No gas check. It is a comfortable load to shoot.

You can't put a GC on it because the bullet has a bevel base (it's a common desing from many comm. casters). Leading may occur do to bullet size vs throat size but I would run them to 1000fps, see what happens.

I use commercial 240gr bullets with between 7 and 10 grains of Unique depending on who is probably going to be shooting the ammo.

I believe the 240gr bullet at about 1,100fps would work for about anything wandering in my neck of the woods and it's a great target/plinking/IDPA load.

1) No, don't put gas checks on cast bullets unless you drive above 1200 fps.

2)Limit velocity between 1000 and 1100 fps

3) Unique is a good powder but burns dirty

4) Go to a 300 grain bullet

I have shot hard cast 240 SWC over 1200fps with no gas checks or leading problems. OB

quote:

Originally posted by 300winnie:
...Should I be putting gas checks on these bullets?

Hey 300winnie, I agree that a Copper Gas Check should not be swaged into that Bullet. But, there a couple of other things you can do.

1. You can invert the Gas Check and place it in the Case Mouth just before Seating the Bullet.

2. You can take a "Fired Case", drill out the Flash Hole, and sharpen the Case Mouth with your Chamfer Tool. Then use that Modified Case to cut Disks from either a Waxed milk carton or thin cardboard like is found in Cereal Boxes. Then push the Disks out with a wire.

Put them between the Powder and Bullet and they work as a fairly good Gas Check. Not perfect, but worth the effort depending on the Alloy of your Bullets and the Powder you use.

quote:

Should I limit the velocity to 1,000 fps or lower, and is Unique a good powder for this application? ...

I'd offer that it just depends on the Bullet Alloy, the particuler Powder and amount you are using, and of course the Bore condition.

You just have to check the Barrel and see what is happening. "Leading" is not always due to excessive velocity. You can also go too slow, get Blow-By, Base Melting, insuficient Lube and on and on.

By the way, if you have any young'uns and they want to start Plinking with the 44Mag, a good number of companies make "Round Lead Balls" of about 0.433" diameter. Almost no recoil at all and adequate accuracy for 15-20yds to hit soda pop cans.

Lead makes fine Bullets. Best to use it while it is still available. And create a stock pile of the ones you like.

Good Hunting and clean 1-shot Kills.

Generally speaking, if cast bullets are "shiny" as opposed to being dull, they're hard. Unique is an ageless powder and a classic for use with cast bullets. If you're worried about smoke and mess wipe the bullet bases with a hard cloth (like denim) before loading.

Moderate charges of Blue Dot and 2400 work well too -just remember to use a moderately hard crimp. I don't care for the 4227 as that powder will leave a BIG GOOEY mess if not loaded toward the top end.

All good responses. The bullet you mention is not designed for a gas check so don't use one. You can get a feel for the hardness of the cast bullet by trying to push something sharp into it. I would suspect that, if it is a commercial bullet, then it is probably cast pretty hard.The blue lube is pretty common. So, work up to what ever load you want, but no higher than 1200 fps. At that point things start to get pretty uncomfortable anyway. There are plenty of powders that will do the job. Just check the various reloading manuals, many of which are available on line.
Post added to: I believe that seating a gas check is done at the bullet lubing stage. That is when I have always done it. So, it is a non trivial project to seat a gas check, as the side of the check have to be "crimped in" so to speak.
Peter.

Thank you all for the reponses. I am trying to get a light load for the kids to shoot comfortably as well as exterminate whatever vermon I come across.

Thanks again.

IMHO for the kid's shooting ammo and vermin under 200# you couldn't go wrong with any of the Cowboy Action Shooting type handloads.

Do not use inverted gas checks or any wad unless the volume of powder is high enough to hold the check or wad against the boolit. If there is an air gap and the check or wad falls down in the case, you will have a big problem. You could ring the chamber.

10,5 grs VV N 340 recoils about the same as 8,5 grs Unique, but gives lots more velocity ( should take care of nearly anything in my area ) and burns cleaner.

I would look for VV N 320 for plinker loads ( I will do so in the future ).

H