44 Mag rifle powder choice?

AR10ShooterinNC

AR10ShooterinNC

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I've loaded a lot of 44 Mag for wheel guns, I like W296, with 240gr and 300gr bullets. But, 44 Mag in a rifle is new to me. I have an T/C Encore with a 20" barrel on the way, is it better to use something a tab slower for a better burn in the longer barrel.
 
You can get good loads with H110/W296 even in rifle. But for more velocity (in a rifle) with less pressure, I like Alliant 300MP. You can load up with a wider charge range, and it works well with regular primers.
 
The same with longer barrels still applies.....Lil gun, win 296, h110 will continue to give good results as the barrel length increases. I cant remember the exact charge, but it was around 27 grains of H110 or win296 that gave me 2000+ fps with a 200 grain bullet from a ruger 77-44...barrel is 18-20 inches or so.
 
I've always used the same loads for both handgun and carbine. I have a Marlin lever and Ruger .44 Carbine.
 
I do not load any 44 Magnum rounds that I can not shoot in all my revolvers and rifles. I generally use stiff loads of 2400 for hot loads and Unique for the lighter loads I shoot most often in my revolvers. My Ruger 44 Carbines seem to like 180 grain jacketed bullets with heavy loads of 2400. I have not found any load that my Marlin lever action does not shoot well.

I am not too crazy about H110 except in 30 Carbine loads. It seems to put on an annoying sound and light display without much if any gain in velocity in my handguns. I loaded up some Lil Gun but have not shot enough of them to make a good evaluation.

I frequently use Trail Boss for light Cowboy loads in both my Marlin and revolvers.
 
As Toprudder said, I've "heard" 300MP is where to go with long guns and magnum pistol cartridges. When shooting it out of handguns, I found it was exactly the same as H110. I'd love to hear opinions on VV 110 as well. I managed to get 2lbs of that, and a lever 44mag will be my next purchase.
 
clay_fv said:
As Toprudder said, I've "heard" 300MP is where to go with long guns and magnum pistol cartridges. When shooting it out of handguns, I found it was exactly the same as H110. I'd love to hear opinions on VV 110 as well. I managed to get 2lbs of that, and a lever 44mag will be my next purchase.
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I've had direct experience with 300MP. When I first started testing it, in a 5" 357mag pistol, I did not see any advantage over H110, except for lower pressure. Halfway through the charge range, it reached a velocity plateau, where the velocity did not increase any regardless of the increase in charge. It puzzled me. Later, when I started working up loads in a 16" carbine, I decided to try it again. I saw a linear increase in velocity all the way up to the max charge. I saw the same results in my 20" 44 mag rifle. I get about 150-200fps more velocity, with less pressure, than I do with H110.

As for N110 vs H110, when I tested 44 mag pistol loads, I saw similar velocity with max charges, but H110 was noticeably louder, and a lot of muzzle flash. I saw very little muzzle flash out of a 6" Desert Eagle with the N110 loads.
 
I've got probably 7.5lbs left of an 8lb jug of 300MP. I'll definitely be using it once I finally get ahold of a 44 mag lever.
 
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