I am getting ready to get a 7.5" SRH 44 mag, but have some concerns. My girlfriend likes shooting a ported 6" 357 with 110 grainers (no recoil issues there). For things to go smoothly, I need to find a 44 load for her (357 has to go). I would like to stick with a jacketed bullet for now. Also, could you tell me more about shooting 44 specials? Recoil and accuracy are my two concerns.

Do you reload?

Jason

Go with a 44 special with a light bullet - say 180 grains.

I use 250 grain SWC lead bullet in 44 special brass with 5.4 grains of Unique for a plinking load in my 7.5 " Super Blackhawk. Recoil is not that bad.

BrandonB,

Try 8 to 9 gr of Unique with a 245 Keith type SWC in a 44 Mag case. That load has shot 1" or better for me at 25 yds in 5 or 6 Smiths. There is very little recoil and I've never had any leading issues. I also shoot 6 gr of Unique in a 44 Special with a 190 SWC. 7.5 gr of Unique and a 190 SWC makes a great defense load in the 44 Special. It virtually duplicates the 40SW.

knobmtn

Yes, I do reload. I appreciate you guys giving me a starting place. I can play around with the suggestions you gave and see what works the best for me.

10/Unique/240 SWC shot superbly in several 44's for me. I did not recover the bullet from the deer I killed with it, so it's no lightweight. MV is about 1,100 in a 4" barrel, and HS6 or HS7 might burn a little more cleanly. Hope this helps, Okie John.

I load 7.5 grains of Unique behind a 200 grain Lasercast RNFP in 44 mag brass for a plinker load. The "cowboy action" shooters use a lot of loads like this. You can shoot a 100 rnds without batting an eye or developing a flinch. I would suggest 44 mag brass instead of 44 special brass because it will save you the hassle of cleaning the crud out of the cylinder that builds up with 44 special brass.

Elmo

Big thing over nothing! Every woman I taught to shoot was worried about recoil in their mind but once shooting, it never bothered them. Gave the wife my .44 with light loads with a few full house loads mixed in. Only thing she said was that some of those were loud. Never seen a woman flinch either, they are good shooters.

My favorite 44mag "lite" load is 8.5 grns of Hodgdon Universal in 44mag brass with a 240 grn cast semiwadcutter. Light recoil, accurate, minimal leading, and the universal is a little cleaner than Unique.

John

If you want to stay w/ jacketed bullets, a 200grJHP o/ 10gr Unique , will give you about 1150fps. A pleasent light .44mag load.

bfrshooter is correct in my experience. Years ago, before I married, my then girlfriend wanted to shoot my .44 SBH. My grandfather (He started the loading bug for me.) watched as she chased a can across his pasture with some hot loads he had made up. He looked at me and said "Son, don't ever make her mad. She's better at this than you." So, get her some good hearing protection and good shooting.

Out of the Speer #13-7.5grns SR4756 with a 240grn swaged or cast bullet. Very nice light load. BM

Bill

I use Unique for my light to medium .44 mag loads and get very good accuracy. If you reload why are you using jacketed bullets for this? Cast are much cheaper and perform better anyway.

This load is a real cream puff in the .44 Mag.
6 gr Bullseye and a 200 gr hard cast. Just under 900 fps. You can load it down to 5.5 and it'll still work well.

I've started a couple of women shooters with both ear plugs and ear muffs, and a glove on the gun hand. Seems to work.
Art in Wyoming

My many years favorite "plinker" load for the .44 Mag., in my Ruger S. B. H. and my S&W 29, 6 1/2" bbl., is a 240 grains hard cst SWC in front of 8.5 grains of Unique.

Works fine, too, in an "emergency."

L.W.

JBD,
The reason I am thinking about using a jacketed bullet is because, from what I understand, they are cleaner shooting bullets in most scenarios. Plus I figure that the cast bullets are only going to save me a couple bucks no more that I will be shooting this load. But if cast are more accurate (I assume that is what you mean by "perform better") then I may revise my thinking.
Again I want to thank you guys for your responses. This will be handy to print off and save.

My 44 magnum practice load is a commercially cast 240 gr swc over enough WW231 to start at 875-900 fps from my four inch Mtn Gun. (It also served successfully as last November's whitetail load.) This sort of load will scarcely bump a SRH but you could still use lighter charges and lighter bullets to further reduce recoil and muzzle blast. I use cast lead bullet handloads primarily for economy; it is easier to get a little lead out of the barrel now and again than it is to scrape more cash from my wallet. Good hunting! mb

BrandonB-There's one other consideration: jacketed bullets have a velocity window within which they are intended to perform. Shooting them in too light of a load (i.e. too slow) could result in the jacket stripping away from the lead and remaining in the barrel as the core continues downrange. An undetected obstruction in the bore could be the end result...

Yes, semi-jkt bullets with much lead exposed has a chance of leaving the jkt in the barrel and regular jkt bullets might stick in the barrel with too light of a load. But it would have to be pretty light or a rough long barrel. But jkt bullets are made to be the most accurate at certain speeds and can't compete with a lead one at slow speeds.

For plinking accurate loads, I use the soft swaged lead bullets made by Hornady or Speer. For some very fast lead bullets, I cast my own using some pretty hard alloyed lead. I think lead bullets are more accurate for plinking but that's all I use in my .357 or 44 for target shooting. The good side is you can buy a box of 300 or so swaged lead bullets for a fraction of what jkt bullets cost. The down side is you should have a gun that's had all the jkt material cleaned out of the barrel before shooting lead bullets. BM

Bill