Does anyone reload .44's ?

[ursavus.elemensis]

I have a .44 Mag/.44 Spl lever rifle, and I usually shoot .44 SPecial through it. Prices of ammo are ridiculous. I can find some PCI ammo, for about $20 per 50 rounds (I think it is reloaded), but most of the ammo I find is about $27-$31 per 50 rounds. That's more than 50 cents every time I pull the trigger, so I am thinking about re-loading my own.

Questions:
1. Assuming I have a press and dies, and lots of once-fired brass, etc, what's the approximate cost per round for bullet, powder, primer for a .44 Special load?
2. I have a bunch of .44 Mag brass as well as .44 Speical. Can I use the .44 Mag brass too and just load it like it was going to be a .44 Special load? The .44 Mag rounds beat up my shoulder too much and make me flinch when pulling the trigger. And, the scope has to be zero'd differently for .44 Spcl and .44 Mag rounds.

If I can get this down to like 20 cents a round, it would be worth my time.
Thanks !

[C. Cash]

Can't give you a cost analysis on #1, but for #2 the answer is absolutely(just use 44 Mag. load data to approximate your 44 Special loads). The challenge is to find a bullet which will flawlessly feed in your rifle and that it also accurate. Just have to do a little experimenting. Some CB manufacturers will send you a sample before you make a large investment, and others here can comment on bullets that work in their rifles. What rifle are you shooting? I would slug the barrel to find out what diameter it is and go with bullets .001" over the groove diameter.

[Buffboy]

1. Without going into a specific load. You can reload 44mag for about $22.00 @ 100 using store bought components. Midway pricing buying 500 cast bullets at a time gets you that number(you can beat their pricing, with shopping, trust me). For about $3 more you can go with lower priced jacketed bullets(again using midway pricing).

2. You can load your 44mag brass to 44Special ballistics though it won't be the "same" load as in 44special brass. The different case capacity will change velocities and pressure.

PS: Get the 44 special dies. Not all 44mag dies will work for 44special, I've never seen the reverse to have that problem. 44Special dies will load 44mag just fine.

[tcomer]

You can do it for under 20 cents a pop. Plus, go to 200gr bullets and it won't thump your shoulder so hard. I just got 500 of the 200gr round nose Oregon Trail Lasercast bullets for around 50 bucks plus shipping. They're sized at .431, but my Rossi likes a bullet a little oversize. If you go to Powder Valley, they will ship powder and primers with one $20 hazmat charge. Some places charge a hazmat fee for both powder and primers.. I use Ramshot's True Blue for my pistol loads. I use about 11.2grs of powder for my 44 loads using the mag brass. That's midway between the special and magnum loads. That's not much powder in that large case so you do have to be careful about double charges. If you buy in bulk, you can reduce the price to reload. I could never afford to shoot all the different calibers I have without reloading.

[Buckeye]

http://www.georgia-arms.com/index.asp?P ... =44&Page=1

Heres a link to high quality ammo at affordable prices ,I've used the LSWC before they are great ! I handload but i'm lazy... and there brass is high quality ! and Georgia Arms are a first rate all the way !

[alnitak]

I've been reloading 44's for a few years (still a neophyte compared to many on this board, though) and find I can do it for $5-7/box of 50. If we were on the old board, I'd give you links to threads where I went into detail of the costs. Do a Google for "reloading calculator". Some of the better known reloading sites have an Excel tool you can use. Roughly, here are the costs:

Brass -- I call this free, since you can get 10+ reloads per case and you already have some.
Primers -- Anywhere from $25-30/1000...so call it .03 per round
Bullets -- the most expensive element; I try to buy cast at $30/500 shipped, so .06 per round
Powder -- powder runs $17-22/pound; there are 7000 grains per pound, and .44 mag will take 15-20 grains (e.g., AA#9 or 2400, light to full loads). For easy math, let's say 400 loads per pound at $20 per pound = .05 per round.

Not counting your time, reloading components (one-time investment), and plastic ammo boxes, that's about $0.14 per round, or $7 for 50 rounds on the high side.

Depending on the powder you choose, you can cut that cost by 30-40% (e.g., AA#5 at 10.5 grains for light loads). However, if you buy factory bullets (e.g., from Midway) the per bullet price can jump to $.20 per (or more).

I stopped using .44 spl cases, as I just download the .44 magnum cases. That way I avoid all the carbon build up from using the shorter cases. Works great! And with reloads, you can dial in the recoil you want -- from cowboy loads, to .44 spl to .44 mag, and everything in between.

[Rod WMG]

The above cost analysis is pretty good.

Go ahead and reload them. Components are plentiful and load data is literally everywhere.

I'd use mag brass if you don't already have a supply of .44 Spl. (which you apparently do).

[RIHMFIRE]

It all depends what you like to shoot
I shoot lead for all my plinking and target shooting...
99% of my reloading
and jacketed hollow points for hunting....
Lead bullets are somewhere between 5 and 6 cents....
just bought 500 rounds..semi wad cutters
Primers...2 to 3 cents....pending on make...I use win mostly...
Powder....mmmm Yesterday I paid 20 bucks for 1 lb of unique..
so its about 2 cents a round
and my brass is free...collecting it for years at the range
but starline brass is 20 cent per case..So once have the brass
you can reload them over and over
so I pay about 11 to 12 cents per round...

[wm]

I reload for everything I shoot (including 44spl/mag) because I just feel I need to be as independent about such things as is humanly possible.

And besides once you get into reloading as a hobby it is actually pretty enjoyable.

Wm

[Jeff Pitts]

I can only figure it up the way I load .44's. The last case of 5,000 WLP primers cost me $75. That is 1 1/2 cents per shot.

The last 8# keg of Unique was $98. That is 56,000 grains and figuring it up at an average of 10 grains per load (I probably average 7 1/2grs) that is at least 5600 loads per keg equaling 1.75 centers per shot. For my 7 1/2gr loads, it comes out to 1.3 cents per load.

For bullets, well, at the price of bullets now a days I am casting close to 100% of my bullets. Both target AND hunting bullets. The last 5 gallon bucket of WW's I picked up was $40 and it weighed 167lbs. Cleaning it up netted me *about* 150lbs of clean bullet material. 150lbs of lead, casting .44 caliber 250 gr bullets on average, gives me give me 4200 bullets which comes out to slightly less than a penny per bullet. Add the cost of a stick of lube (which will lube many many hundreds of bullets) and we can round it up to a penny.

So assuming we all have brass laying around, or at least once fired stuff, I don't count the cost of the brass. My labor is also free. So lets add 'er up.

Bullets .01
Powder . 0175
Primers .015

That all works out to a grand total of $2.06 per 50. Of course all this hinges on my math which is also dependant on how sick I am right now with the flu

Everyone should cast and load their own!

Jeff

[WyrTwister]

I have a .44 Mag/.44 Spl lever rifle, and I usually shoot .44 SPecial through it. Prices of ammo are ridiculous. I can find some PCI ammo, for about $20 per 50 rounds (I think it is reloaded), but most of the ammo I find is about $27-$31 per 50 rounds. That's more than 50 cents every time I pull the trigger, so I am thinking about re-loading my own.

Questions:
1. Assuming I have a press and dies, and lots of once-fired brass, etc, what's the approximate cost per round for bullet, powder, primer for a .44 Special load?
2. I have a bunch of .44 Mag brass as well as .44 Speical. Can I use the .44 Mag brass too and just load it like it was going to be a .44 Special load? The .44 Mag rounds beat up my shoulder too much and make me flinch when pulling the trigger. And, the scope has to be zero'd differently for .44 Spcl and .44 Mag rounds.

If I can get this down to like 20 cents a round, it would be worth my time.
Thanks !

I load my own cast bullets .

I had been loading Semi-WadCutters for my S&W , but when I bought a .44 Mag lever gun , I found out it likes Rounf Nose Lead bullets .

This is very common for pistol caliber lever guns .

So I bought a new .44 caliber RNL mold from Lee .

Have not figured up the cost per shot , with current prices . But I guss some where around $ .05 - $ .10 per pop ?

If your rifle feeds .44 Specials OK , you can use either brass , Special or Mag and adjust the powder charge to suit the amount of recoil you wish to tolerate .

God bless
Wyr

[stretch]

What everybody else said. You will definitely save money rolling
your own, especially if you have lots of brass already. You'll also
be able to tailor the loads to what YOU want instead of what's on
offer or available in your locale. It's not expensive to get started
for one caliber, and the payback on your equipment is pretty fast,
depending, of course, on how much you shoot.

[cpt Dan Blodgett]

Get the 44 Spec Dies, a true 44 Mag die will be much to long to crimp 44 specs when the die contacts the shell holder, the 44 Spec die just needs to be screwed out about .1 inches to seat and crimp 44 Mag.

I use Nitro 100 for cowboy action loads something less than 5 grains, used Acccurate Arms Data for both 245 semi wads and 200 grain flat point round nose. My Rossi does not like to eat semi wad cutters very well. Eats the 200 grain round nose just fine, but that bullet seated to the crimp groove in a 44 spec case is so short the bullets fly out of the top of the rifle when the elevator pops up, so I use 44 mag cases in the rifle. The 4.6 or 4.7 grains of Nitro 100 move the bullets at about 930 from the rifle. Same load in a 44 spec case make right at 700 fps from a 7.5 inch vaquero.

[dr walker]

uvasavus.elemensis,
Reloading never saved me any money, I just shoot more.

[Chuck 100 yd]

The RCBS dies I have are for .44Mag/.44special and will crimp both just fine. The die set came with a spacer ring you can put under the die in the press to switch from one to the other without and adjustmens needed.

[MikeS.]

Where do you guys get good prices on cast bullets?
"Bullets -- the most expensive element; I try to buy cast at $30/500 shipped, so .06 per round "

Where was this?

Using cast do you find many problems with leading?

[GANJIRO]

Been reloading 44 mag for 30 years yet never did a cost analysis to see what I save, I guess reloading has never been a means of saving money but instead a way of satisfying the pyromaniac in me.
I JUST LOVE TO RELOAD REGARDLESS OF SAVINGS OR LACK THEREOF.

[claybob86]

uvasavus.elemensis,
Reloading never saved me any money, I just shoot more.

I resemble that remark...

[Bronco]

Howdy,
Yep, as has been stated! You will not save any money but you will get a lot more BANG for the buck , cuz you shoot more .
John

[Hobie]

Been reloading 44 mag for 30 years yet never did a cost analysis to see what I save, I guess reloading has never been a means of saving money but instead a way of satisfying the pyromaniac in me.
I JUST LOVE TO RELOAD REGARDLESS OF SAVINGS OR LACK THEREOF.

That's me for sure. I reload everything but rimfire. It seems to me that cost per box has held pretty steady up to the point that lead prices took off.