CAS loads with Unique in .44Mag

[thisisdonald]

Anyone using unique for light gallery loads? Our range limit is 925fps for 240gn and the lightest load of unique is over by a few fps on average. It is 6.2gn. I've loaded up some magnum cases with upper special loads 6.0,5.9 & 5.8 to try.
I know this is lower than stated but I don't think I'll get a squib with this level of charge.
Anyone else loading with Unique have some insights for me?
I have a mold here for 215gn but not tried them yet.

[verminatormjc]

Yes I’m using unique in my .44mag, I’m loading 8.6gr with 240gn cast heads, shoots great and got some kick too

[thisisdonald]

Ouch! Unfortunately I'm only shooting on a 25m indoor range and that load is wee bit too stout for me 😂

[boff180]

Remember that most book values for .44mag/spl will be for a pistol barrel unless specifically stated otherwise. In a rifle barrel, the same load will produce a faster MV.

The Lyman 49th edition book lists load data for .44mag for both a 4" pistol barrel and an 18" rifle barrel.

For Unique with a 240grn lead RNFP it lists the same minimum charge for both - 10 grains - in the pistol barrel this load is recorded as doing 937ft/s, however in the rifle barrel the same load is recorded as doing 1,332ft/s.

However in regards to using .44special loads, I would strongly look at articles on the web coming out of the US... people report the loads working out of pistols (I have not yet seen a rifle report I stress) but because of the increased case size you get a slower velocity out of the .44mag than published for the load in .44spl - one article I saw suggested increasing .44spl loads by 1 grain to achieve the same velocities in .44mag cases. Of course you take any published online information at your own risk.etc.etc.etc.

Hope that is of help.

Andy

[Dogbert]

Take a look at .44 Special data. Whilst the .44 Magnum cartridge case is longer than .44 Special, the maximum overall length of the cartridge is the same. So the powder volume is the same for both, for a given bullet and given OAL.

Lyman 48th edition lists starting loads from 5.2 grains of Unique (1.570" OAL).

So you can be confident that there won't any ignition problems using this data in your firearm. (If that is what you mean by getting a squib load?).

[boff180]

Take a look at .44 Special data. Whilst the .44 Magnum cartridge case is longer than .44 Special, the maximum overall length of the cartridge is the same. So the powder volume is the same for both, for a given bullet and given OAL.

I don't think you're correct.

Lyman 49th using the same 240grn RNFP (Lyman #429667) states the OAL at 1.500" for its use in .44spl however, the OAL stated for .44mag is 1.645".
The SAAMI spec (from Quickload) for the cases in .44spl is 1.153" where as .44mag it is 1.275".

This is further corroborated by Quickload that lists the capacity of a .44mag case as 2.565 cubic cm.... yet for a .44spl case it lists 2.273 cubic cm.

[thisisdonald]

I think it's maximum overall length, they can be shorter.

[Dogbert]

I don't think you're correct.

Lyman 49th using the same 240grn RNFP (Lyman #429667) states the OAL at 1.500" for its use in .44spl however, the OAL stated for .44mag is 1.645".
The SAAMI spec (from Quickload) for the cases in .44spl is 1.153" where as .44mag it is 1.275".

This is further corroborated by Quickload that lists the capacity of a .44mag case as 2.565 cubic cm.... yet for a .44spl case it lists 2.273 cubic cm.

I am correct. Probable that my explanation was not sufficiently clear.

As you have noted and as I stated in my post, the .44 magnum case is longer than the .44 Special case (1.245"/32.64mm vs 1.160"/29.46mm, where the SAAMI specs are in inches and the CIP in mm). So of course the .44 Magnum case has a higher volume; it's longer.

However I said ".... the powder volume is the same for both, for a given bullet and given OAL....". What I meant from this is that if you load a .44 Magnum cartridge case and a .44 Special cartridge case with the same bullet and to the same Cartridge Overall Length, then the powder volume will be the same.

So using your example load above, i.e. a .44spl load with a 240gn RNFP (Lyman #429667) loaded to 1.500"; the load can be safely duplicated in .44 Magnum cases, by loading the same powder charge and the same bullet to the same overall length of 1.500".

The original poster appeared concerned about ignition problems with small powder charges in large volume cases. The purpose of my original reply was to offer a source of published loading data (.44 Special data) that could safely be used to assemble loads that would (a) not exceed his range limits and (b) because it was published data it would give him confidence that there would not be any ignition issues.

Obviously, a .44 Magnum case will have a very tiny bit smaller volume than a .44 Special case loaded with the same bullet and same overall length, because the .44 Magnum case will have thicker walls, because it is designed to operate at much higher pressures. At the load density we are discussing, i.e. small charges in a large case, this tiny difference in volume will have no practical impact at all. Case wall thickness can be an issue in maximum loads in high pressure rifle cartridges, but that's getting a bit off topic.