"Rifle Shooter" Jan/Feb 2021

Looking at my notes from years ago when using Andy Horvath’s .44 Special Winchester 20” Model 92 I found some pretty potent loads. All of these were assembled using the Lyman #429421 and some of the loads which were marked “Very Accurate” are 17.5 grains of #2400 for 1,630 fps; 18.0 grains of H4227, 1,400 fps; 16.0 grains of Accurate #9, 1,460 fps; and 14 grains of HS7 clocking out at 1,535 fps. I had one jacketed bullet which I used at that time and that was the Sierra 180 JHC using 20.0 grains of #2400 to achieve 1,700 fps. All of these loads were not only very accurate but certainly powerful enough for hunting deer-sized game. Note the original .44 WCF barrel had standard rifling, not the Micro-Groove found in Marlin barrels which I have found not to be very friendly to plain-based lead bullets.
For testing my new .44 Special I loaded up 35 different loads using jacketed bullets, cast bullets, and powder coated bullets. Just as with .44 Magnum sixguns some will shoot some .44 Special loads very accurately while others simply will not perform, I expected to find the same thing with this .44 Special Trapper and that is exactly what happened. All of my test-firing was done at 35 yards as this is an everyday packin’ rifle designed for close range work. Seven of my loads, or 20%, did not perform satisfactorily enough for me to use them even for relatively close range hunting, and of those seven, four loads either grouped poorly or key-holed, or both. This once again points up to the obvious which is to not load a large batch of ammunition for use in a levergun until dummy loads without powder or primer have been tested for feeding and chambering. Once a load is known to function perfectly then the next step is to check its accuracy.
I do have one original .44 Special levergun, a Uberti replica Model 66 which is mostly used with Oregon Trail .44-40 bullets namely, 200, 225, and 240 RNFP hard cast and these all perform very well when loaded from 900-1,100 fps with Trail Boss or Tite Group. The purpose of a dedicated .44 Special Trapper was to be able to use heavier loads. I did come up with one plinking load for the Trapper using the OT 225 RNFP over 7.5 grains of Unique for 1,100 fps.
The Hornady 240 JHP over 18.5 grains of H110 clocks out at 1,375 fps and groups four shots just barely over 1” at 35 yards. The Rossi Trapper does not have what one would call long-range rifle sights, however I do like them for close work as they are basically sixgun sights with a black post front sight mated it up with a square notch black rear sight. I also had very good luck with the Hornady 200 XTP-JHP using 22.0 grains of H110 for 1,625 fps and again just barely over 1” for four shots at 35 yards as did the same bullet over 16.5 grains of #2400 at just over 1,400 fps. The long discontinued Speer copper-cupped 240 grain led bullet has long been a favorite for .44 Special and .44 Magnum sixguns and loaded over 15.5 grains of #2400 it clocked out at just over 1,400 fps with four shots just barely over 1” at 35 yards. Basically what these loads do is give me .44 Magnum sixgun-style performance in a .44 Special levergun.
I was most anxious to see what cast bullets would do. With cast bullets I expected my best results to come from those with gas checks and that is exactly what happened. The Lyman/Thompson #431244 GC, a 255 grain bullet, over 17.0 grains of #4227 is an easy shooting 1,200 fps which basically equals Keith’s heavy load in a sixgun. Again the grouping is right at one-inch. Ray Thompson also designed a lighter-weight bullet, #429215GC which weighs right at 220 grains with my alloy. With 16.5 grains of #2400 velocity is right at1,475 fps while 8.5 grains of Unique gives about 200 fps less muzzle velocity with both loads right at one-inch.