I never did anything to my 44 but shoot it. It was a little erratic at first, but after a few hundred rounds it settled down and shoots great. My single best load is a Speer Gold Dot 270 grain over 21 grains of H110, lit by a Winchester primer. I took two deer with that, exellent performance, travels at 1570 fps and shoots five shot cloverleafs at 75 yards.
My next favorite load is a 256 grain cast bullet over 11.3 grains of Blue Dot. This load travels at 1250 fps and accounted for 2 deer as well this season. It puts 10 shots into 1.25"-1.5" at 75 yards. I also use a 200 grain cast bullet over 8.6 grains of Blue Dot. Yeilds a nice leisurely 815 fps and shoots inot 1.5" at 75 yards. A nice economical plinker.
The handi 44 barrel shares the parent companies micro groove rifling, and makes it hard to get good accuracy from cast at velocities aboue 1400 fps. After soing extensive shooting, targeting and chronographing of my 44 Handi ove the last year, and studying the bullets available for it, I am convinced that either the Hornady 240 grain XTP or the Nosler 250 Partition will offer the best combination of trajectory, velocity, energy and range, driving them at velocities of about 1700 fps will yeild a point blank range of 150 yards with 2" above and below the line of site. Not bad for pistol cartridge. And it is very pleasent to shoot with the 270 grainers to boot. Recoil does pick up with 250 grainser at 1700 fps but nothing unpleasent to shoot.
Trapshooter; I've got a 44mag and 280 being fitted now,and when it gets back I'll try some groups with JPH 45's loads and let you know how it turn's out. If it don't turn out like I think it should, I'm thinking rechamber to 445 super mag. Digger
I was thinking about the rechamber to .445 supermag, but if the .44 ends up shooting like it should Im not gonna mess with it. The .280 is a barrel that is on my list to get fitted in the future along with many others.I belive Ive got Handiitis. Have you been to www.martscustoms.com and looked at their custom chamber offerings. They are claiming they can safely recamber the Handi to magnum rifle cartriges like the .300 Win Mag., and 7mm Rem Mag, But since the Handi's frame can only take around 45,000 psi if someone without the proper knowledge of the frame had the barrels made and got hurt while firing it that company is gonna have some lawsuit's on their hands.
Posts: 188 | Location: Ohio | Registered: 24 September 2002
Just got the gun in tonight. Im fixin to put all my parts on it and clean it up. I will post pix of the rifle as soon as I can get out to get some batteries for my digital camera.
Posts: 188 | Location: Ohio | Registered: 24 September 2002
Trap, it ain't the pressure that worries me; it's the case base size. The Handi handles 60k psi (or 55k cup) just fine in cases with a .473 base. (That's about the limit for brass cases of any size.) Increase the base area and you increase case head thrust proportionally.
Posts: 1570 | Location: Base of the Blue Ridge | Registered: 04 November 2002
Trapshooter, marts customs is full of it. BS that is. On the old H&R talk site, hardly a week went by that someone didn't ask if the handi could be rechambered to one magnum or another, each time one based on the H&H case. If the Handi could safely handle the case thrust (breech face pressure, or what ever other name)os the H&H case, H&R would be making it themselves. There is simply too much demand to ignore. If H&R/NEF is not doing it, them it probably shouldn't be done.
datil, (Please forgive if my spelling is wrong) Congrats on the 44. I have found this to be one of my favorite rifles. It has been user friendly in every aspect. when I purchased it, I never dreamed that it wod be such a nice little rifle. Keep us posted, JP
Mine is in house and completly built. I went and shot it on Monday and it was shooting 1" at 50 yds. This is my new favorite rifle. Its fun to shoot and it packs a nice punch. I will post pix as soon as I go get some batterys for the digital camera.
Posts: 188 | Location: Ohio | Registered: 24 September 2002
I did a lot of experimenting over the past summer with mine and cast bullets, 1450 was the most velocity I ever got out of cast bullets without the groups just blowing up, that was with the Magnus Bullet Co. #704 300 grain. That bullet shot great. Every thing else, I hae had to keep below 1300 fps, but the reward has been very nice groups. 10 shots nto 1.25-1.5" at 75 yards, all day long. Blue Dot has given the best results, 8.3 grains under a 200 grain bullet gives a mild 815 fps, makes a really nice plinker. 11.6 grains of Blue dot under several different 255 grainers gave 1250 fps, and call you shot groups. The loads are a bit dirty, but tht is of little consequense and are much cleaner than 5744 loads. You may want to try faser powders like Titewad or Greendot. Check out the loads at www.gmdr.com Those guys have done some extensive research into light loads using the faster pistol powders. In my Handi, at least so far, full power loads that are as accurate as the gun have only come with jacketed bullets. I am not however displeased or disheartened. The little rifle filled my freezer this year, and while this years pet project is a 45-70 Handi, I fully expect the 44 Handi to make more than a few trips afield next year. Let us know how the rifle works for you, JP
Have you been to www.martscustoms.com and looked at their custom chamber offerings. They are claiming they can safely recamber the Handi to magnum rifle cartriges like the .300 Win Mag., and 7mm Rem Mag, But since the Handi's frame can only take around 45,000 psi if someone without the proper knowledge of the frame had the barrels made and got hurt while firing it that company is gonna have some lawsuit's on their hands.
