Testing a 44-40 load you don't see.......

[fortyshooter]

My 44-40 derringer that is being built by American Derringer is still a good ways out but during the winter down time I wanted to try out a load just for
it. Load is a full 185 gr. wadcutter that should work well at the lower speeds of a 3 inch derringer and hopefully easy to control upon firing. Wanted to keep the speed in the 650- 700 FPS range out the short barrel.
Loaded up a few using 5.5 Red Dot and 7.9 Unique using 200 gr. 44-40 load data and the test gun was my 4 3/4 Cimarron six shooter with the Magneto Speed checker hooked up. Results were... 5.5 Red Dot 830 to 869 FPS 7.9 Unique was 880 to 916 FPS. Recoil seemed to feel a bit more with the Red Dot load than the Unique load even though it gave a slightly faster speed. No leading with these Matt's Bullets which was great and I like the feel of the Unique load and load a few more of those to try when the derringer arrives. Should be a fun time!

[Steve51]

i use 7.0 grains of Unique under a 200 gr lead DEWC loaded into .44 magnum brass for a nice shooting load in my 5.5" barrel Super Blackhawk. My chrono clocks them at 990 fps.
In a 3" Derringer, I think your load would be all I would want.

[fortyshooter]

i use 7.0 grains of Unique under a 200 gr lead DEWC loaded into .44 magnum brass for a nice shooting load in my 5.5" barrel Super Blackhawk. My chrono clocks them at 990 fps.
In a 3" Derringer, I think your load would be all I would want.

I might load up some at that 7.0 level too.