I recently bought a new Ruger 44 Special (small frame, not a 44Mag), and have been looking for loads using the old 250 grain Keith bullet. It seems just about EVERBODY claims the 2 best loads are 17 grains of 2400 or 7.5 grains of Unique. Not wanting to see my investment turned into shrapnel, I checked Alliant and it seems they list the max load for 2400 is 13 and Unique is 6.9. I know Keith liked his loads hot, but that’s about 30% over max. What gives gentleman?

Old Elmer liked to live on the edge. His loads won't hurt a Ruger; but no reason to hot rod them either.

AA #9 is a good 44 mag powder probably good in the special also. very accurate.

When old Elmer was blasting away at gnat's gonads or whatever it was at 600 yards, 2400 was reportedly slower burning than it is today. Also, brass was thinner at the base which meant case capacity was greater than that of today's brass.
Why hot rod a nice Ruger? Shoot a comfortable load. No need to always choose from the far right side of the loading table.

The nice thing about the 44 special in medium frame revolvers (as opposed to the 45 Colt) is that there is enough more metal in the cylinder to allow a bit more leeway in experimentation. As always, proceed at your own risk...

Keith did his load development in an N frame S&W.

In my new Flattop Ruger, I'm shooting the 7.5g Unique load.
Brian Pierce did a write up in Handloader for your pistol listing a large # of safe loads. It tells you what is safe to use and their various pressures. Handloader # 236. You can get it on your smart phone.

I am using the 250 gr. Keith style RCBS mould, with wheelweight metal with just a little Ludlow metal (about like linotype) added to make the mould fill-out well. I use 8.0 gr. of Power Pistol with a standard primer. The load came from Brian Pierce's article in Handloader. I have not chronographed it but should be about 950 fps. It is accurate and should be easy on the gun.

I grew up reading Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton and their writing got me started on the .44 special. It is my favorite handgun cartridge. I had an old Ruger flat top .357 converted to .44 special many years ago and it is still my favorite handgun. It has consumed 1000's of the 250gr KT bullets with 7.2gr Unique. I use 7.2 because that is what my LiL Dandy powder baffle throws.

I have the new model Ruger .44 special in the Bisley and Blackhawk handle configurations. Great guns! All I have fired in them is that KT-Unique load and they shoot it great. By all means follow safe reloading processes and develop what works best in your revolver with the components you choose.

I have killed a lot of game with that load to include many deer. No 600yd Elmer shots; all under 50yd.

Speaking of Elmer's 600yd shot, I believe it. I also believe it was a stunt that was successful due to a lot of skill and some luck. 44 mag and 44 special are my favorite handgun cartridges. On one of my overseas stations, my room mate and I were within walking distance of some of the cuartel's ranges. We were both gun nuts and would shoot almost daily when we were in garrison. Long story short, we set up a deer shaped target at 600 yds. After a LOT of practice, we were able to hit the target enough times to make it interesting with our different 44 magnums (including my 4" M29) using a load with 2400. It was rare when we could not get 1-2 hits per cylinder. Would I ever shoot at a deer at that range, heck no! That type of shooting is a heck of a lot of fun but it is a stunt best left to the range or the well practiced stunt "experts". I was never one of those stunt experts, just a Redneck soldier boy that loves to shoot, hunt and reload.

Enjoy your .44 Special.

Larry