Henry Rifle Forums

Well, after a few months of research, purchasing, and reloading I have finally completed the changeover from jacketed to hard cast lead bullets for my .44Mag BBB. I had been using Hornady 240 gr XTP HP's and was getting acceptable accuracy at 75 yards (factory sights). However, in 2016 I read an article describing that the Hornady bullet had poor penetration, and that a whitetail's shoulder bone would make the bullet shatter. That was enough to start me to research data on .44 Mag hard lead bullets. So, from Beartooth Bullets I purchased 100 .431 dia. and 100 .432 dia. gas checked bullets. I bought new Winchester .44 Mag brass, and stayed with Accurate #9 Powder. I worked up 4 loads for the .431 dia. bullet starting at 15 grs of powder and increased 1 grain up to 18 grs. I did the same thing with the .432 dia. bullet. Thus,, I ended up taking to the range 8 handloaded recipes of 10 rounds each. I did the testing at .75 yards. With 15, 16, and 18 gr. loads, the groups were disappointing at 3 - 5'. Howver, the 17 gr. loads grouped more tightly at 2 - 3". I heavily lubed the bullets before seating them and after 80 rounds there was no trace of leading in the barrel.
For many years I have read that to get the best accuracy when loading hard lead bullets, the bullet's diameter should be at least .001 " larger the rifle's bore diameter. Surprisingly, there was no discernable difference in accuracy between the .431 and .432 dia. loads. I had slugged my rifle with sinkers Beartooth had included in my bullet order, and the barrel was precisely .431 in in diameter, which exactly what a Henry customer service rep. had told me it would be. Based upon these limited test results, I will load the remaining 250 gr Bear Tooth bullets with 17 grs of Accurate #9 and take those rounds deer hunting in the densely wooded Adirondack Mountains where most shots are in the 50 - 75 yard range.

report appreciated .... happy to hear you have found a load that works well in your Henry .... I find myself headed in the opposite direction; that being, moving from cast to jacketed .... looking forward to hearing your post hunt reports

Thanks for the report. Always find it interesting how things that are supposed to work in theory sometimes don't when you actually go out to the range and shoot. Might make things easier to figure out if things were nice and tidy and black and white, but it would also be a bit more boring.

As for me and my 44 mags, jacketed bullets have been consistently the most accurate, though some lead bullets have done well, too.

Hello North Country Gal, Thank you for the response! In 1975 we lived for a year 25 miles west of Milwaukee. Never got to hunt around there and was not yet into handloading. However, from 2012 - 2016 I hunted deer on a buddy's farm outside of Viroqua, Wisconsin, about an hour's drive south of Lacrosse. Got a nice buck there 2 years ago with my Marlin .45-70 1895 CB. Hit him at 125 yards with a handloaded 405 gr. Oregon Trail hard core lead bullet. It was a heart shot, and he went down like a sack of potatoes. For my upcoming deer hunt in the Adirondacks of upstate New York, I am a little concerned about the "knock down" power of my .44mag hard lead load. If I put a good shot on a buck and he doesn't drop in his tracks, I'll probably limit the .44mag to southern hogs.

based on decades of hunting white tails with our Ruger Redhawk, within its range, a properly placed 44 mag will stop any black bear, boar, or deer out there .... did have a few run a short ways but that has been true with calibers up to 300 WBY Mag ....

That's some mighty pretty river country down in the SW corner of the Wisconsin. Beautiful area.

As JEBar, says, not to worry about the 44 mag. A 44 mag revolver was actually my first deer "rifle" and it never let me down with a well-placed shot and, keep in mind, a rifle pushes the 44 mag close to up 454 revolver energy territory. Those were plain jane 240 grain factory JHPs, too, nothing fancy like we have these days.

Also, on the Hornady XTPs, which version was being discussed? The version for the handgun is not to be used in rifles because a rifle gives it too much of a velocity boost. The pistol version at such velocities would have problems with penetration. Then, too, there's still the big 300 grain XTP to consider.

By the way, be sure to check the retained entry of a 44 mag in a rifle at 100 yards and compare it to a 30-30. Yup, at that distance, it edges out the 30-30. Leaves a bigger hole, too. Out to 100 yards, it's no slouch.

Marshal Stanton of Beartooth wrote an article about his test results with that bullet. If you scroll down on this page http://www.beartoothbullets.com/open_sight/index.htm it is the second article. I am surprised he didn't try some AA9 with that bullet. That is an excellent bullet that will be great for hunting. That would be my first choice.

David, Thanks for sending me the link to Marshall Stanton's article io Bear Tooth's 250 grain hard lead bullet. When I start to run low on Accurate #9 powder I'll buy a pound of H100. He range results with that powder are amazing both in velocity and accuracy.

Welcome to the forum from Southwest Alberta. Enjoy your time here.

My Lyman cast bullet handbook shows a starting load of 16.8 grains of AA#9 for a 250 grain cast bullet and a max load of 18.5 grains of AA#9 for the 250 grain cast bullet. I would expect best accuracy in the 17.5 grain range of AA#9 for that bullet.

My preferred powder for jacketed .44 mag rifle bullets is 2400 and AA#9 is my backup powder. In my lever guns, I only use cast bullets in the .45-70.

For deer hunting in Illinois, rifles are not allowed (except for blackpowder). Handguns are allowed but regulations do not allow the use of hardcast bullets. Only factory expanding bullets are allowed. I don't like it but it is what it is.

Pitchman1968 wrote:David, Thanks for sending me the link to Marshall Stanton's article io Bear Tooth's 250 grain hard lead bullet. When I start to run low on Accurate #9 powder I'll buy a pound of H100. He range results with that powder are amazing both in velocity and accuracy.

You are welcome. Let us know your results with it.

I missed it before, but I see you mention that you might save the hard cast for southern hogs. Where are you going to be hunting the hogs? Are you going to be in the Central Florida area?

Hello Steve, Thank you for sharing the input from the Lyman handbook. Does the handbook include any velocity data for the 17 - 18 grains AA9 loads on the 250 gr cast bullets in a 20" barrel?
Like you, I also load and shoot .45-70. Mine is the Marlin 1895 CB with the 26" barrel. After 2 years of frustrating testing with various cast and jacketed hand loads, I sent the rifle back to Marlin and they re-barreled it. It was better but not up to reasonable accuracy performance. So, I put a Leupold VX 2 scope on it and began installing gas checks on Oregon Trail 350 and 405 grain laser cast bullets. I also switched from Winchester 5744 powder to IMR 4198. About 6 months ago I began shooting 2-3" groups at 100 yards with 35 grains of 4198 and the 405 gr gc OT bullet. My next step will be to test that load at 150 yards. Before I have to cease hunting because of my advancing age, I want to take a moose in either Maine or New Hampshire. My research indicates that in those 2 states, most moose are taken between 75 and 150 yards. I will also determine if on the Leupold scope there are enough clicks to raise the point of impact from 100 to 150 yards.

Pitchman1968 wrote:Hello Steve, Thank you for sharing the input from the Lyman handbook. Does the handbook include any velocity data for the 17 - 18 grains AA9 loads on the 250 gr cast bullets in a 20" barrel?
Like you, I also load and shoot .45-70. Mine is the Marlin 1895 CB with the 26" barrel. After 2 years of frustrating testing with various cast and jacketed hand loads, I sent the rifle back to Marlin and they re-barreled it. It was better but not up to reasonable accuracy performance. So, I put a Leupold VX 2 scope on it and began installing gas checks on Oregon Trail 350 and 405 grain laser cast bullets. I also switched from Winchester 5744 powder to IMR 4198. About 6 months ago I began shooting 2-3" groups at 100 yards with 35 grains of 4198 and the 405 gr gc OT bullet. My next step will be to test that load at 150 yards. Before I have to cease hunting because of my advancing age, I want to take a moose in either Maine or New Hampshire. My research indicates that in those 2 states, most moose are taken between 75 and 150 yards. I will also determine if on the Leupold scope there are enough clicks to raise the point of impact from 100 to 150 yards.

Mine is the 4th Edition Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook
For .44 magnum rifle loads they used a Winchester 94AE with a 20" barrel length

With a 250 grain #2 alloy lead bullet and 16.8 grains of AA#9 velocity was 1390fps
With a 250 grain #2 alloy lead bullet and 18.5 grains of AA#9 velocity was 1499fps

Hope that helps.