I am thinking of buying a .44 Mag for hunting and am wondering how light it can be loaded for plinking. What is the lowest load you have used that produced decent groups for paper pucnhing and plinking?

The lightest load I have shot in my .44 mags is about 9 grains of Unique. I do not remember the velocity, but it was a pleasant laod to shoot and accurate in my SBH.

I should have also said this is with a 240 grain cast SWC.

I load 4.2 gr of Clays with a 200 gr hard cast bullet in my 44 mag cases for 785 fps ( listed FPS).
This load shoots great out of my Redhawlk.
It and others are listed on Hodgdon web site under Cowboy action loads.
Here is a link to Alliant powder Cowboy action loads.
I use the clays because it is clean and I use it for 12 gau target loads also.
Hope this helps

Johnch

What is the recoil like in that range of load? In a full size steel frame revolvler it ought to be lighter than a standard velocity 9mm.

I load 45 cal. muzzleloading round balls over 3 grains of unique for my housecat load very accurate at 30 feet...................JJ

9 grains blue dot, 240 lead bullet. softer than 38special(although i"m shooting an 8 3/8 RB),
beautiful to shoot, accurate paper puncher, and those big slugs really knock steel plates.
the .44 mag must be the most versatile pistol(or any gun!) i"ve ever owned.

I usually run a 240 gr SWC at 900 fps from my four inch Mtn Gun using WW231 or Unique, but I have played with 180 gr wadcutters in the 700s and 180 gr JHP and 215 gr SWC in 800s. All but the 215s were plenty accurate and almost too pleasant...

Out of my 7 1/2" Redhawlk the clays load is closer to a 22 lr than a 9mm .

Fun to shoot , very little recoil.

Johnch

I shoot a lot of light loads out of a 4" 44 mag.
8 gr of Unique is always good with a 245 SWC. My favorite is 7 gr of 700X with either a 245 or a 200 SWC. This load is very accurate in all my guns. The lightest load that I've found acceptable accuracy with is 5.5 of 231 with a 200 gr SWC. In an N frame Smith this load is a pussycat.
knobmtn

For light load shooting, plinking & paper why not just shoot 44 Specials out of your 44 mag? It worked for me.

I have loaded 240gr swc over 3 grains of Bullseye with wad over powder.I checked the velocity over chrony 600 fps average if my memory is right.I shot these out of 44 superblackhawk 7 1/2" barrel no recoil fair accuracy.I tried 2 grains but bullet stuck about 1/2 way down barrel.

I use commercial 240gr lswc with 7.5gr unique from my 6" M629 with the underlugged barrel and unfluted cylinder. It's like the shooting .38 full wadcutter loads from a PPC pistol.

I've let several women in our CCW classes shoot it. It's fun to watch them beaming that they survived firing the mighty .44 Mag

In magnum cases, use listed .44 Sp loads plus about .5gr of fast powders (Bullseye, Titegroup) or plus 1gr. of medium powders (Unique, Universal). This is with cast or swaged bullets ONLY, NOT jacketed. Only use slow powders (110, 2400) in full magnum loads. Examples-5gr Bullseye and 240gr swaged for about 700fps or about 8gr Unique and 240 cast for about 900fps. Personally, I just load Special loads in Special cases and Magnum in Magnum cases. I just brush the chambers regularly and forget about it. Never had a problem.

I have shot a light charge of WC820 and a 250? KSWC at around 750-800fps out of my 44 Bisley. The accuracy was really outstanding and the recoil was very light.

I shoot those Speer plastic training bullets- powered by primer only. Hit a cat with one yesterday, and didn't kill it but I doubt it will be back . Just got some in .38 as well for teaching the wife to shoot.

About the same noise level as a .22 fired from a rifle, good accuracy at 10m and hits hard enough to break an Ice cream tub, but won't go through your shoe if you are slow on the draw and quick on the trigger .( Used to use wax bullets in my .41 which were great but slow to assemble)

Out of my Super Blackhawkes I have gone as low as 3.2 gns of ADI AS30 (similar to hodgdon clays or Red dot) behind a 240cast SWC with a fair accuracey & no felt recoil

I do 5.5 gr Bullseye with a 200 gr rnfp lead bullet. Thats the load the I use for single action cowboy shooting and I get great accuracy with it. Its light recoil makes kicking pop cans around the yard lots o' fun. I prefer shooting pop cans to paper because it more fun to watch the can fly in the air.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/570103904/m/514106935

Some additional reading.....

IC

7 gr of unique or universal clays under a 240-250 gr cast bullet for 700 fps is a very mild and typically accurate load.

I've gone down to 3-4 gr of red dot under a round ball, and it is on the level of a 22rf, ie basically no recoil. The problem with the really mild loads is they are filthy dirty burning.

For the effort of making a 22 lr equivalent load, handloading isn't worth it. You can buy cheap 22rf ammo for the same price as primers, and you don't have the labor of loading ammo. So, I'd say the 240 gr 7gr loads are are reasonable minimum. Light enough recoil for lots of shooting, and enough power for small to medium game.