The SSK .44 Magnum Heavy

This article was written for JD JONES and his SIXGUNNER publication back in the 1980's. Thus the data, addresses or other things are OUT OF DATE. Thanks.
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I have always been a believer in heavy bullets in sixguns. Especially since I read Elmer Keith while I was young! I found out early on that the heavy bullets were the way to go.

In the .357 I liked the heaviest bullet that I could safely run around 1300-1400 fps out of my old Ruger. It did nice work out to 300-400 yards, but I noticed that the bigger calibers took over at those distances.

Eventually I worked up some heavy loads for the .45 Colt using 300 gr. slugs and stayed with it for years. (John Taffin was a big help when I did that.) My dad shot the .44 mags but I never did. Not that I had anything against them, it’s just that the .45 did all I needed and I was satisfied.

Then, a few months back, I was talking with J.D. Jones of SSK Industries and he mentioned that he was redesigning his heavy .44 mag bullet and it got me interested.

The first one had only one crimp groove and several small rounded grease grooves. The "improved" version had two crimp grooves and a wide, shallow, flat-bottomed groove. The reason for the two crimp grooves was to take advantage of the longer cylinder in the Ruger Redhawk.

J.D. asked me if I had a .44 and I didn’t, but my friend, neighbor and hunting partner Jim Mork had two Redhawks! (I had corrupted him away from rifles earlier, and when he started buying pistols, he did so with a vengeance. A fact that his wife still holds against me.) I knew that Jim would be glad to experiment with some new bullets. I borrowed a 10 -1/2 inch Super Blackhawk from another friend and we were set.

In a few days the mold arrived, and we went to casting. The molds are made by NEI exclusively for SSK and are available only through SSK. They are the usual fine work that NEI does.

Out of wheel weights the bullets cast right at 320 gr. – a real heavyweight for the .44 magnum. To me the grease groove looked kind of shallow, but we began to size them and get them ready to load. All were sized to .431- inch, the diameter of the guns we used.

As we began working up loads it became apparent that the bullets were running out of lube. At around 1300 fps leading would begin to appear about a third of the way up the barrel and get progressively heavier toward the muzzle. As velocities got nearer 1500 fps the only way to control the leading was to use the Freechec made by Hanned Precision, or to heat-treat the bullets, or both!

Heat-treating lead bullets really increases the hardness, but is a lot of work for most people. By heat-treating you can make wheel weight bullets harder than linotype. But to be honest, most re-loaders do not cast bullets and of those who do, few ever try to heat-treat theirs.

Accuracy was from mediocre to lousy until we added the Freechec or heat-treated the bullets. By careful weighing, heat-treating, using the Freechecs and watching the loading closely we were able to shoot some good groups. Most averaged around 1-1/4 inches at 25 yards, with the best running under an inch. (This was off sandbags using the scoped Redhawk, both of us taking turns shooting.) Two hundred yard groups ran from 16 inches to under 12 inches, with the 150 yard groups going 10 inches and under.

I talked with J.D. and told him what we had run into, and he said that he had come to the conclusion that the grease groove was too shallow. He had redesigned the grease groove and was shipping me another mold! I couldn’t wait to get the "new improved model."

As soon as it arrived I hit the shop and warmed up the lead pot. I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand having a mold around that I haven’t run some bullets through! I love to see what they look like after they have come out of the mold. After casting a few I weighed and measured some of the bullets. The grease groove was deeper by almost .025 inch and the overall length was shorter by almost .040 inch making it cast right at 305 gr. out of wheel-weight metal. (Approx. 285 from Linotype).

To my way of thinking it is almost the perfect bullet for the .44 magnum. The length was apparently taken off the base of the bullet, making it take up less space in the case. This has the effect of lowering chamber pressures with loads of identical powder charges. (Hercules put out the chart some years ago showing that a 1/8 inch charge in seating depths could in some situations double the pressures of the load.) The crimp grooves were deeper also. You get this baby up near 1500 fps and you need to crimp it! We began to load some up for all the guns.

On the range it told to story. Fifty shots fired through the SBH rather rapidly with the velocity near 1400 fps, and the barrel stayed clean. Accuracy was great, too. In the Redhawk, with its longer cylinder, we pushed the bullets over 1500 fps with ease but I don’t recommend it!

Now, I don’t mind using the Freechec on bullets, and I don’t mind heat-treating them, but it sure is nice to have a bullet that drops from the mold right at the diameter that you want it, be able to lube it, then load it and go out and shoot it at high velocity and get groups that make riflemen look twice!

At 1400 fps out of the Redhawk groups of 1-1/2 inches at 50 yards were shot fairly easily (I say "fairly," although you still have to work for them. At 150 yards I watched Jim shoot a palm-sized group that didn’t seem too hard for him. Out of the SBH my favorite load has become 17.5 gr. 2400 for 1380 fps. I shot some real tight groups with this combination. The best was 3/8 inch center to center for four shots at 25 yards. Dad says I should have stopped there, but I went ahead and fired the fifth shot. I pulled it out and made the group of 1- ¼ inches over all.

Shooting this heavy bullet in the different guns showed how they took the recoil. The 7-1/2 inch Redhawk with the scope on it was pleasant to shoot, even with the heavy loads. All that weight dampened the recoil considerably. The SBH would hurt you if you held it wrong when the velocity got up there. The 5-1/2 inch Redhawk will take a big bite out of you if you don’t watch it. It’s light enough that it wants to get frisky when the velocity climbs up there.

While shooting some 1500 fps loads out of the SBH, I noticed a "funny" feeling in my gun hand. I changed hands on the gun and found that the right hand grip panel had broken. The recoil had split it through the locating pin hole and the whole corner of the grip had come off!

As I said earlier the 305 gr. bullet is almost perfect to my way of thinking. You can run it to fairly high velocity easily, it is accurate, it doesn’t lead and it is heavy enough and long enough that if you get it over 1300 fps it will retain that way out there! Sighted in 2 inches high at 50 yards it hits almost dead on at nearly 150 yards. Killing rocks at 300 yards is not a problem. If you miss it’s your fault. Who needs a rifle?

At this writing it is the opening of black bear season here. Jim and I have been out once so far without connecting. If we do we will let you know how the bullet performs. I am sure it will be just dandy!

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This part was not in the original. Jim Mork and I went up into the Sierra Ancha's to hunt Black Bear. We saw them .. it's said to be the most populated with Black Bear in the State. When we saw them they were doing about 40 MPH uphill in the trees!

After 4 days of hunting I had to leave but Jim stayed another 3 days. Early one morning he woke up with a bear leaning against the tent. He grabbed his pistol, got up and unzipped the tent and stepped out. By this time the bear had reached top speed going away and Jim did not get a shot. I told him I would have shot through the tent. He said he did not want to punch a hole in the tent and was not exactly sure where the bear was. Later I found where the bear had leaned up against the tent. It's claws left nice little holes about 3 feet above where my head was resting when I slept. I was kinda happy I was not there.