Playing With Light .44 Special "special" Loads

(I have mentioned these before ..messing with 'em again and decided to post this)
I take no credit for this loading method. My Dad started using it before WWII when components were hard to get. In the 1960's he started experimenting with it again, making his own molds and eventually patented them. In the early 1960's he was written about in what passed for gun magazines and he sold a number of them around the country.

After shooting my USFA .44 Special for some years I "rediscovered" some of the .44 bullets and started to play with them a little. They make fun plinking loads as well as great loads for practicing drawing and hitting a target, shooting moving targets and all that sort of fun. The cases can be loaded indefinitely. Using lighter loads and no crimp, the do not wear out or develop cracks. Dad had one case he had reloaded over 1200 times and it was still in perfect condition.

I start with the bullet. It is a copy of the original .44 Colt bullet. The .44 Colt was an American centerfire revolver cartridge produced commercially from 1871 until the 1940s. The cartridge was developed for the United States Army, and introduced by Colt's Patent Firearms around 1871. The Army used it until 1873, at which time it was replaced by the better known .45 Colt cartridge used in the then-recently adopted Colt Single Action Army revolver.

The .44 Colt was used in the Richards-Mason conversions of Colt's 1860 Army percussion revolver. The conversion process involved boring through the chambers of the obsolete cap and ball revolvers to enable them to chamber centerfire metallic cartridges. This process left a chamber of uniform diameter, with no step at the front. Thus the bullet and the brass case were made the same diameter, with a short "heel" section at the base of the bullet of smaller diameter inserted in the mouth of the case.

The bullet is Lyman #430185 .. a heel bullet design. The body of the bullet is approximately the same diameter as the cartridge. It is an outside lubricated bullet. It is nominally 210 grains and has no lube grooves or crimp groove. The heel is .430" and the bullet body is .441".

I use cases that have been fired in my gun. I do not size them or neck expand them. What I do is remove the crimp and take about .080" to .100" off the cases in my case trimmer. I remove any burrs inside and outside the case mouth. Once that is done no more operations on the case are necessary.

The loading process is:
1. deprime
2. prime
3. add powder charge
4. seat the bullet by pressing it into the case with your thumb
5. if the bullet is not lubed with something like Lee Liquid Alox, wipe a little lube on it and it is ready to fire.

The oversize front part of the bullet acts as a crimp. It butts against the "step" in the chamber when it is loaded in the gun and holds the bullet back for a micro-second just like a crimp does, allowing the powder to burn properly. It is completely sized by the chamber before it enters the barrel.

BULLETS

.44 Colt on the left .. one of my special .44 Specials on right.

Left .44 Special Right trimmed .44 Special

THE LOADING PROCESS
- add the powder to a primed case

- seat the bullet with thumb pressure

It's ready to fire.

These are -for me - a fun way to shoot the .44 Special.

NOTE: If you are shooting a .44 Magnum you can use regular .44 Special cases and these bullets without having to trim the cases. They work just fine in the .44 Magnum.

The bullet mold is a hard one to find these days. However cast bullet - lubed or unlubed - are available from
WESTERN BULLET CO.
904 Kensington Ave.
Missoula, MT 59801
Phone: (406) 728-4801
Email: info@westernbullet.com
On The Web: http://westernbullet.com