.44 Mag 250 gr. Keith bullet loads...

[fortyshooter]

Big Al sent me some of these 250 gr. Keith style bullets to test out and suggested his 10 gr. Unique load.
I will shoot them with my Ruger SBH revolver and see how they shape up on a target. Will also test some with 18 gr. Alliant 2400 powder
as a comparison. The COL worked out to 1.700 and might be a bit long for cycling thru my Henry BBS carbine.
Many thanks to Big Al!
Range report soon!

[BigAl52]

Those look bad Forty hope they work for you like they did me.

[CT_Shooter]

Speaking of Elmer, I don't know where or when I found this article from Guns and Ammo, January 1969, My Favorite Loads by Elmer Keith, but it is interesting reading.

1969_01_Elmer_Keith_Favorite_Load.zip

PDF File from Guns and Ammo Magazine

(9.6 MiB) Downloaded 193 times

[Vaquero]

Good luck forty, they look bad ass.
Note; last week I loaded some 300+ 44's they ended up 1.71, and would not cycle through the BBB.
I later made a dummy round, and had to shorten it to 1.63.4 before it would cycle.
I haven't loaded any to test yet, soon as I finish with 357 and 45's I will see whats ,what.
Waiting to see what you come up with for now.

RP

[JEBar]

looking forward to seeing/hearing the results of your test

[fortyshooter]

May get a chance to test them Sunday I hope.

[BigAl52]

Forty have you tried any in the Henry to see if they would cycle

[fortyshooter]

Forty have you tried any in the Henry to see if they would cycle

Haven't tried that yet.

When I tried the those MB 325 gr. Hammers in my Rossi .45 Colt Ranch Hand It would cycle one but would jam if other rounds were in the magazine tube. Had to push the loading ramp down to get it out. From what I hear from folks here Henry don't like them over 1.6xx

[fortyshooter]

Nope...won't feed in the Henry!

[BigAl52]

You could seat them over that drivin band and crimp on that if you want to try them that way.

[Vaquero]

The longest 44 I could get to cycle in BBB 44 was 1.63
But the BBS 41 would cycle a longer load, I believe it was 1.69.
Yep, just checked the length of those Underwood 265's and they are 1.695.
Wonder why that is?

RP

[fortyshooter]

You could seat them over that drivin band and crimp on that if you want to try them that way.

Yes but how much would the pressure rise? There is a stop on the rear of lever ramp that looks like it could be trimmed back a bit
which would give some clearance for longer bullets around the chamber opening. But don't know of other issues that might cause.

My older Speer 13 loading book has a note about that exact bullet being for revolvers only.

[BigAl52]

Ive never used them in a levegun only revolvers. But I have read where someone I think on the forum made a mod to the lifter to accept the longer bullets. That Unique load isnt to the top of the scale either.

[fortyshooter]

I'll have to research that.