Old School

[JimT]

I enjoy reading the posts about powders and lubes and all the new suff folks are trying out ... but ... I seem to have no interest in trying them myself. Years ago I wrote to Elmer Keith and shared with him some of the things my Dad and I were doing. He was interested in reading about it but had no interest in trying it. Basically he told me that many years before he had worked up loads for his sixguns and learned where they hit and what they did. Now that he was older he found the newer stuff interesting to read about but did not care to switch from what he knew. I now understand that and pretty much find myself in the same place. I know what my 2400 load in the .44 Special will do and where it hits. The same with my Unique load. I am not gonna load anything else. I have 2 basic loads for the .41 Magnum .. a cast bullet load and a jacketed bullet load. I know where they hit and don't want to use anything else.

I like the old traditional lube in the grease groove. I have friends who powder coated some bullets for me and they worked just fine. But I ain't gonna start powder coating. For my .38/357 ... .41 ... .44 and .45's the old school way of doing it is ok for me. That does not mean it's "better." It just means that is the way I prefer it.

It's a good thing that we all have differing ideas and preferences. This old world would get pretty dull if we all did everything just alike. So keep up the expermenting and trying stuff. It makes for great reading and is much better than watching the nightly propaganda shows that masquerade as "news."

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[samsi]

I try to stick with one load per gun, but sometimes I get itchy and try something new. I usually go back to what I was using before but not always. One new thing for me in recent years is Power Pistol. I've had such good luck with it that it's become my go-to in standard pressure 45 Colt and the 38 & 44 Specials.

[bcraig]

Exactly

[GunnyMack]

Please Jim what is your 44 special load?
41 load ?
I never spent much time searching for loads in either of my Rugers. Of course I try to keep my 44 special load lite as I'm shooting them out of a single six frame.
My 41 Blackhawk I'm just beginning to work with, I have a 210 and 245-ish moulds to use. Some experienced loads would be nice to compare to book loads.
Thanks.

[JimT]

Please Jim what is your 44 special load?
41 load ?
I never spent much time searching for loads in either of my Rugers. Of course I try to keep my 44 special load lite as I'm shooting them out of a single six frame.
My 41 Blackhawk I'm just beginning to work with, I have a 210 and 245-ish moulds to use. Some experienced loads would be nice to compare to book loads.
Thanks.

My .41 Magnum loads are:
cast NEI 230 gr. FP - 15.5 gr. 2400
Hornady 210 gr. XTP 20 gr. WC820 (military surplus H110)

.44 Special
#429421 Keith 250 gr. cast 16.5 gr. 2400
#429421 Keith 250 gr. cast 6.5 gr. Unique

I worked up the .44 Special loads in my USFA single action. Both hit to the sights which is why I use them. The 2400 load is fairly hot.

[GunnyMack]

Thank you Jim, I'm not sure I want to try the 2400 load out of my little special.
I'll certainly look at those in detail and give the 41s a go !

[bcraig]

Please Jim what is your 44 special load?
41 load ?
I never spent much time searching for loads in either of my Rugers. Of course I try to keep my 44 special load lite as I'm shooting them out of a single six frame.
My 41 Blackhawk I'm just beginning to work with, I have a 210 and 245-ish moulds to use. Some experienced loads would be nice to compare to book loads.
Thanks.

44 Special on a single six frame sounds interesting,Like to hear more about it

[JimT]

Thank you Jim, I'm not sure I want to try the 2400 load out of my little special.
I'll certainly look at those in detail and give the 41s a go !

Yeah ... they are too hot for the little gun. We shot some in a Charter Arms years ago and stretched the frame in less than 10 shots.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I’m doing much the same. I’m using the .45 Colt mostly these days and I load either the swaged Hornady 255 gr Cowboy bullet or a 270SAA both over 8 grains of Unique.

The 270SAA probably gets more out of the Unique than the lighter bullet but they both shoot to the sights on my SAA.

I’m not sure I need anything else in a sixgun. And it’s nice to know where a single gun shoots over a variety of distances.

[Griff]

I pretty much have one favorite load per cartridge, and in some a second or third because I've found them more suitable for a particular purpose. That often entails a different firearm. While I've experimented a little with powder coating bullets for my .30-30, I haven't seen any marked improvement over my traditionally lubed and GC bullets for target work. Imran thru 2500 powder coated in the C445S case for cowboy action and they worked well in that non precision environment. Nice not having to glove up during loading or stopping to clean lube from inside the seating die.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Them, when you think everything is right in the world, somebody decides to make Unique powder unobtainable and you have to experiment to find a satisfactory replacement!!!

7 gr of TiteGroup under a 270 SAA in the .45 Colt will get you there.

912 fps in the Ruger and 1104 fps in the 20 inch Marlin.