Another reloading question

So if your reloading 44mag which of these 3 powders would you use and why
#1 Unique
#2 Blue Dot
or #3 Hercules 2400??
Been using the 2400 but thinking about trying the Blue dot or unique and see how each work with a 240 grain hollow point bullet.
Thanks

I use Unique in the 44 mag, Why? Cause it also works with 357/38, 45 acp and all the other pistol cals I reload.
Makes it nice to have just one powder for all of the pistols instead of a seperate one for each.

Yep I understand the one powder for more then one gun I do the same with 7.62X54 and 308 and 3006 and 30/30 and use IMR 4350 in all of them. I have all the powders I listed on hand due to auction buys and other such things. Still trying to figure out what I can use a 3lbs keg I have of bullseye since my book does not list it for any thing I reload

As for your keg of bullseye find an older Lyman manual or some older Hercules data, plenty of data for lots of cartridges, mainly in reduced loads.


All of those can be decent powders for the 44 mag depending on the the bullet weight and performance levels your after.
Unique will "work" in about any 44 mag bullet weight. It is at it"s best in the 44 Mag when used in cast bullet reduced loads. It is too fast for best performance with heavy loads and bullets. I have loaded many 1000s of soft cast 240 grain Keith semi wadcutters and 8.5 grains of Unique for plinking. I have several buddies who use nothing but Unique in all of their 44 mag loads.
Blue dot is not popular but I have several loads for it that work well in my two 44 mag rifles. It will put up some pretty impressive FPS numbers in both of them with 240 or heavier bullets. It is not good for reduced loads or light bullets and I have never have found it to be anything special in the pistols. A tip is to try both magnum and standard primers if your going to play with Blue Dot in a 44. I have found big differances in accuracy by switching (and working back up) Actualy BD is seldom mentioned as a 44 mag powder except in Hercules data. It is on the fast side of optimum for heavy loads except with light bullets.
2400 and 240 grain hard cast bullets are about as good as it gets in a 44 mag. The classic Keith load as printed everywhere is 21 grains. In some guns this is right up there pressure wise.

I know you didnt ask this but my current favored powders are none of the above actualy. 296 gets tha nod for anything heavily loaded, 231 for plinking loads. I dont load anything in between.

The manual shows loads for all of them.

I tend toward the 2400 in Mag loads, both for .357 and .44

Unique or Bullseye is nice for lower power loads.

Old,
My Lyman manual (46th ed) also lists Unique as being the most accurate (10 grain Min load).
You also use less Unique to get the same performance. Min 10 max 12.2.
2400 does get you more velocity.
Keith

One of the problems with some powders in large cases is the risk of an accidental double charge.
Sticking with a powder that nearly fills the case at the required charge weight really does add a safety factor.

I would think you could easily sell the big can of bullseye and then go get your favorite powder.

I use 2400 in lots of things and had gotten good groups with it , but it does leave alot of residue.

Hey Rich, here ya go Alliant website with info for that Bullseye powder.
Just scroll down to your caliber of pistol then click.

None of my manuals shows any data for Bullseye.. I have a #8 Speers floating around some where, I'll see if I can find it. I'm not to keen on Lyman, so I don't have one on the place
Reload info

Hi Rich,

I've used Bullseye for reduced power .38 spcl target loads. It's pretty good behind 148 gr lead full wadcutter bullets, although it's not my powder of choice.

I have lots of 2400 which I use for magnum handgun loads. In case you don't already know this, here's something not to try with 2400. Don't use it for reduced power loads. The only time I ever had a bullet not get all the way out of the barrel was experimenting with reduced power .38 spcl (or possibly .357 mag---although now it's hard to see what the point of that would have been) loads. I was target shooting with a .357 mag with a 4" barrel. I was wearing so much hearing protection that I didn't fully hear the difference in the sound of the discharge. Fortunately, something felt not quite right, and I must have had some inkling about what could happen, so I didn't fire another round until I investigated. A second round might or might not have blown up the revolver. A S&W certified gunsmith once told me that he had worked on a S&W revolver that had three bullets lodged in the barrel, and hadn't blown up. The final bullet was stuck in the end of the cylinder and the forcing cone of the barrel. That locked up the revolver and kept the careless owner from squeezing off a couple more. The gunsmith had to use a jewelers saw to cut the bullet in half before he could get the cylinder open to drive out the the others.

Stan

Winchester 296 is my powder of choice in Magnum loads, with 2400 next.

I general it is better to use a powder that comes close to filling the case. First theres an indicator of a double load, when it flows out over the top, and then with powders like 296 and 2400. You have to be careful, if the load is small there is the possibility of the case exploding rather than launching the bullit as the pressure peaks to soon. Like when your trying to lauch a light bullit weight at the bottom of the pressure scale.

It depends on what you're trying to do: Full power magnum hunting loads, or plinking loads loaded to 44 Special velocities?

Assuming you mean full-power loads, then 2400 is the best choice of the three. But either Hodgdon H110/Winchester 296 or Accurate #9 are better than 2400. (H110 and 296 are the exact same powder in different packages.)

I used to use Blue Dot for my hot 9mm loads, but I stopped after Alliant started issuing warning about its use in .357 and .41 Magnum. If you go to the Alliant site, you'll see they only list Blue Dot loads for .44 Mag for a couple of bullet weights, and in both of those cases 2400 delivers better velocity than Blue Dot.

By the way, I now use Ramshot Silhouette from my 9mm loads, and I'm very happy with it. Muzzle flash is much less than with Blue Dot.

Unique is fine for light loads, although there are plenty of other powders just as good if not better than Unique for this purpose.

All three of the powders you mention are pretty old. Unique came out over a hundred years ago, 2400 dates back to the 1930s and Blue Dot came out 40 years ago. There are newer powders that have better characteristics. For example, Hodgdon Universal is a good substitute for Unique. Power Pistol and Ramshot Silhouette are similar to Blue Dot, and AA#9 is an excellent powder for magnum cartridges.

H110 and WW296 may give higher velocities, but they have idiosyncrasies that don't outweigh the small velocity gains you get over 2400.

For full house, or heavy loads in a 44 mag, 2400 is hard to beat. Very consistent , easy to light, and acts predictably(can't be said of 296/110). It is my go to powder for 44 mag. Lots of usefulness in reduced rifle loads too.

Any fast powder is fine for plinking loads in a 44 mag, unique among them.

Not a fan of blue dot.

I do almost no plinking but do use the 44mag for deer hunting and other such things. Been using the 2400 up till last night when we ran out and switched to the unique in the last 19 rounds out of the 100 we did last evening

I do almost no plinking but do use the 44mag for deer hunting and other such things. Been using the 2400 up till last night when we ran out and switched to the unique in the last 19 rounds out of the 100 we did last evening

They will all work. As someone else said, depends on what you want to do. I adore Unique and use it for many rifle and pistol rounds. 2400 is hard to beat for mag type loads in your 44 though. Blue Dot has some hardcore followers.

Hey, you need to take up bullet casting, it should be right up your alley! Make it yourself, more shooting, less cost. How can you loose?

I have a bullet casting die for making bullets for the 44mag but no way to heat the lead up and do all that type of stuff. Shoot as it is I never have enough time to get every thing I want to get done or need to get done. Seems the older I get the less I get done LOL

OLD
I cast alot of the handgun bullets I target practice with. I use a small cast iron pot and heat the alloy on a propane camp stove. I surround the pot with a metal coffee can to consentrate the heat up to the pot. It melts pretty quickly. I use recovered range lead and linotype that I buy off of ebay. A pellet of bees wax about the size of a pea mixed into the melted alloy will bring impurities to the surface where it can be scooped out. Pretty low tech but it works well. As you know, lead fumes are toxic so I do all my casting outdoors.

Yup, no need to get fancy with casting. An old sauce pan on a hot plate works fine and a big serving spoon will work for a ladle. Better than any wax for fluxing is a dry wooden stick, stir and scrape. No flames, not much smoke. And lead won;t create fumes till it's up around 1K degrees F, not a lot of risk as long as you wash up after casting.

Well if I did cast my own I would then need to find where to get lead. Years ago I would just stop at a tire shop and get wheel weights but now days I do not think that would work but then have not checked either

Yeah, I know. Times change. I'm down to about 1K lbs of 40 year old wheel weights.

Note I just posted another question about gun smithing and the problems I am having with this Argentine Mauser