I bought a box of cast performance brand hard cast bullets for my 44 mag pistol. The bullets are 300 grain WFNGC. It's a taurus revolver with a 6.5 inch barrel. My question is what amount of powder should I use for this bullet. I have W296 powder and am using CCI Large pistol magnum primers. I can't find any loading data for this bullet. I've used 19 grains with my 300 grain XTP bullets. I'm not interested in increasing powder to get the maximum velocity. I just want a moderate velocity that I can load all of these bullets with. I wonder if 19 grains would be suitable for this bullet.
ps. What does the gas check do?

If your cartridge OAL (overall length) is the same, your load of W296 should actually produce a little lower pressure behind the cast bullet than behind the jacketed. If your CP bullets are seated deeper, then you will have to find a suitable starting load and work up to whatever velocity you're looking for.

The gas check helps protect the lead bullet from the gases generated by the burning powder and should allow you to achieve higher velocity without leading than you could using bullets without gas checks.

Hodgdon lists a very narrow range in W296 loads with the Hornady XTP. 18 is the starting load and 19 is listed as maximum. That's with an OAL of 1.600". If your CP bullets seat to that length or longer (seating depth determined by the crimp groove), then I'd say you're good to go, but I would try a couple at 18 gr. first, just to be sure.

There is quite a bit of data on 300 grain cast lead bullets in a 44 mag. Try Paco Kelly, Jim Taylor and John Linebaugh. The gas check should reduce leading if you are getting velocities above, say, 1300 fps which you will not with your proposed load. If you have safely used 19 grains with jacketed bullets in your Taurus then I would think that you would be OK with lead bullets. Should get a little more velocity. Why not do some load development and find a really accurate load around the power that you want before loading up the whole box?
Peter.

At one time, Cast performance posted loading data on the webiste for various cartridges.

FWIW, I have used jacketed load data to load cast bullets of the same weight in my revolvers for approximately 20 years without incident.

In one particular load, 21 grains of IMR-4227, I interchanged the Remington 210-grain soft point with the Lyman 410459 and had absolutely no problem at all in my model 57 Smiths. Matter of fact, the jacketed 210s and my own cast 220s from the Lyman mould would all go into the same hole if I did my part.

Thanks for the info guys. I went ahead and loaded a few with 19 grains of W296 at an OAL of 1.610. If there's no pressure signs and they shoot with decent accuracy I'll go ahead and load the rest. I decided on this bullet because of the recommendation from people here. I'm sure I'll like the results. Thanks.

I shoot the 320 gr WLNGC with 21.5 gr of 296 and my 330 gr with 21 gr's. I use the Federal 150 primer.
19 gr's is only a starting load and you will not see accuracy until you get to 21.5 to 22 gr's with the 300 gr.
Unless you shoot in BITTER cold, dump the mag primers, they will triple group size in the .44.

quote:

Hodgdon lists a very narrow range in W296 loads with the Hornady XTP. 18 is the starting load and 19 is listed as maximum. That's with an OAL of 1.600". If your CP bullets seat to that length or longer (seating depth determined by the crimp groove), then I'd say you're good to go, but I would try a couple at 18 gr. first, just to be sure.

The max for 300 gr jacketed is shown as 20 gr's in my book but the 300 XTP shoots best at 20.5 gr's. These loads and the above for the LBT's are for a Ruger.
They are too heavy for a S&W, not from pressure but recoil is what damages them. Very heavy bullets in a Smith pounds them.

The Taurus is a strong revolver, don't be afraid to work up some.
The big problem with the S&W is the unlocking pin in the center of the cylinder. It is soft and will peen so the gun will get hard to open. Then the cylinder lock is too heavy and inertia will make it unlock and allow the cylinder to turn. It's design and position makes it a poor lock for heavy bullets.

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:
I shoot the 320 gr WLNGC with 21.5 gr of 296 and my 330 gr with 21 gr's. I use the Federal 150 primer.
19 gr's is only a starting load and you will not see accuracy until you get to 21.5 to 22 gr's with the 300 gr.
Unless you shoot in BITTER cold, dump the mag primers, they will triple group size in the .44.

All the reloading data I've read using W296 and H110 powders used a magnum primer. Although, the ones using the WLP primer didn't specify a magnum primer. I think the winchester primer might be hotter then other non magnum primers. I just guessing, though. I have both the CCI magnum and non magnum primers on hand. Should I just try both and see what gives better accuracy. Any safety issues with using the non magnum primer?

Each firearm is a law unto itself. Try both and see which works better for you.

I have been shooting the .44 and .45 for more years then I will mention without a hitch. All of my IHMSA shooting was with fed 150's.
I use mag primers when I go up to the .475 and 45-70 revolvers because accuracy is better in the big cases.
There are no safety issues as long as you don't try to load 296 or H110 under the listed starting loads.
There is only one caliber that drives me nuts and that is the .454. SR primers should never have been the ones used. Even with max loads and mag primers, I notice different recoil every shot. Lots of fliers. Reduce the load to starting and many fail to fire along with hang fires. The caliber should use LR primers. I have never seen a harder caliber to find accuracy with and am glad I never bought one.

I have been using the above mentioned 21.5 gr 296 with 320's since the early 1980's. I have shot lots of them with no problem. I think that JD Jones is the one that came up with it..