44 Mag with 240gr bullet

Starting to reload the 44 Mag after 10 years. Loading for a T/C contender with 10" barrel. How low would you start and how high would you go?

44 mag with 240gr bullet, Starline cases, Win primers and Win 296 powder.

After looking through my current manuals I came up this:

Nosler #8 22.8 to 23.8
Hornady #10 24.0 to 25.9
Speer #14 22.0 to 24.0
Speer #10 22.7 to 24.7
Lyman #50 23.0 to 24.0
Hodgdon site 23.0 to 24.0

I'm thinking of starting at 23.0 and working up .3 grs a step to 25.0

Out of what gun?

big difference between an 8” Ruger, a 2” Taurus and a 20” Marlin.

10 grains of Unique and call it a day.

Tim said:

Out of what gun?

big difference between an 8” Ruger, a 2” Taurus and a 20” Marlin.

Click to expand...

T/C contender with 10" barrel

I’m running 21g of Alliance 2400 in an 8” Anaconda.

The bullet can make a big difference, too.

FWIW, I have used H-110 (same as W296) along with Zero 240 JSP bullets, and tried a charge range from 23.0 to 24.0, where I got from 1216 to 1267 fps from a Desert Eagle 6" barrel. From a 20" rifle, a charge of 23.5 is 1700fps. Your results may vary, start low and work up. I think 23.0 is a good place to start.

H110 with a 240gr XTP in my 16" Win 94 Wrangler gets around 1650fps with 23.5gr of H110 as well. It's a narrow range with H110/W296 but yes 23gr would be a starting point with max being around 24.5-25. Do not download H110, and watch for pressure signs on the upper end as always.

In a 10" barrel I would think the lesser amount of powder the better, unless you just like flash and boom close to your face

For 10" and longer barrels, I really like 300MP powder. It does very well with regular primers, and runs lower pressure than H-110 for more velocity. I can get ~ 100fps more velocity in my 20" barrel than H-110, and no pressure signs. In 6" or shorter barrels, I don't see much improvement over H-110, though.