44 Remington Magnum load data

[PaCowboy]

I have an older gentleman that wants me to reload some 180gr loads for his lever gun. I am having a hard time finding any load data for any bullets under 200 grains. He plans to use this for short range deer hunting. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

[earlmck]

I have loaded some for a friend, used WW296 and they really smoked right along. I just looked and Hodgdon has quite a good batch of 180 grain info http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol. Their velocities are for a long barreled pistol, so you are going to see a fair amount more out of the rifle. But the loads should be the same.

[AJMD429]

I used to only use printed manuals, but they become out of date, are expensive, and often have limited data. They are very useful for other things though, like reloading techniques and so on, so I do recommend buying serveral printed manuals. I like the Lyman, Lee, Sierra, and Barnes manuals for that sort of content.

For current load data, I mostly use the internet, and my go-to source is AmmoGuide.com. Mostly because they have such a wide variety of searches and comparative data you can access. They clearly indicate which loads are from manufacturers, and which ones are from website users. If a load is from a user rather than manufacturer, then before I use that data, I go to manufacturers websites or other resources to make sure it seems reasonable.

Another website with quite a variety of loads is LoadData.com, but it doesn't have quite as many search options or comparison features.

AmmoGuide shows 53 loads for 180 grain bullets, out of 611 loads for 44 Magnum. The annual subscription fee is trivial and the site also has interesting articles and so on. Ethically I'm not going to give load data from their site because they are trying to run a business and their fees are fair. I hope that doesn't offend anyone.

As a side comment be sure you use a solidly constructed bullet, because I have seen cases where 180 grain jacketed soft point factory loads would hit a bone and explode and tear up lots of meat plus result in a fair amount of tracking because the deer went quite a ways. On the other hand a nice hard cast or other solid bullet that diameter that goes clear through the thorax will generally result in a deer that only sprints a couple dozen or so yards before dropping, and you'll be able to eat right up to the bullet-hole.

I assume you must be a fairly experienced reloader, or your friend would not have asked you to reload for him, but in case you weren't aware of it, be sure to use the same type of bullet specified in the reloading data, and if possible the same brand, because there can be enough differences in diameter, jacket thickness, friction coefficients, and so on, that results might not be consistent, and could potentially be dangerous.

Good luck, and please share the results....we just LOVE huntin' pictures, especially if they involve leverguns....!

[vancelw]

Accurate #2n44 Mag rifle data.jpg

Click on the pic to see it bigger.

[GunnyMack]

I always ran the Remington 240 semi jacketed HP. they get the job done. I even used some 300 XTP's for a couple hog hunts. My Ruger Carbine didnt like to feed the 300s though, just too long.
I did use Rem 180s in my first online muzzleloader, a lot of deer were DRT , good expansion and most found under the hide on the off side... me likes that!