Best Bang for Your Buck: 44 Magnum

Shooting 44 Magnum is a lot of fun but with factory ammunition it gets expensive in a hurry! A handloader can greatly reduce the cost of practice ammunition by loading 44 Magnum ammunition with Berry’s plated bullets. In this video we continue our “Bang for the Buck” series and take a look at Berry’s 44 Magnum 220 grain Flat Point and 240 grain Target HP Bullets. We’ll cover two different bullets loaded to different levels and fired from a sturdy revolver.

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Cartridge Background

We’ve had fun doing several stories regarding the 44 Magnum cartridge.

A 44 Magnum revolver can fire either 44 Magnum or 44 Special cartridges and can handle light target loads up to very powerful hunting and bear-defense loads.

44 magnum revolvers are available in a wide range of sizes and weights. One of the lightest on the market is the S&W 329PD which weighs only 26 ounces! On the heavier end the S&W Performance Center 629 Magnum Hunter weighs in at a whopping 62 ounces. Most 44 magnum revolvers fall somewhere in between those two examples. Lighter weight is obviously easier to carry, but the recoil with full power loads can be brutal.

There are also 44 magnum lever action rifles such as the Henry H12 Protector Carbine. Unfortunately we didn’t have one on hand for our testing. Perhaps in the future?

Components

We chose two different 44 caliber Berry’s plated bullets for this story; the 220 grain Flat Point and the 240 grain Target Hollow Point. Each of these bullets is rated for a maximum velocity of 1850 fps, which makes them ideal for use from a carbine or from a revolver. The Flat Point designs make them safe to use in traditional tubular magazine lever actions. Flat Point bullets are also the traditional shape of revolver bullets.

I’ve worked with the 240 grain Target Hollow Point bullet before. Check it out here!

I decided to use Hodgdon’s Titegroup powder for the lighter loads and H110 for the heavy load since those powders had worked so well for us in the past.

Load Data and Chronograph Results

All chrono data is from a 7.5” Ruger Super Blackhawk Bisley Hunter.

Aside from the expense of shooting full power factory ammo, the 44 magnum has pretty obnoxious muzzle blast and recoil. There are two ways a handloader can reduce recoil. First, lower the bullet weight. All else being equal a 220 grain bullet is going to produce less recoil than a 240 grain bullet. Next, reduce the powder charge and muzzle velocity. The 220 grain Berry’s Flat Point bullet seemed a natural for me to reduce the recoil of the mighty 44 magnum.

6.0 grains of Titegroup averaged a mild 819 fps and was a joy to shoot!

8.0 grains of Titegroup was more robust producing 1080 fps.

These numbers correlate closely with Hodgdon’s published data, which uses the same bullet.

A 240 grain bullet has become standard for the 44 magnum and can be used in light loads or more powerful loads. Our two powder charges produced quite different results.

9.0 grains of Hodgdon Titegroup averaged 1103 fps with a tight SD of 11 fps. This was a very satisfying load to use at the range. Enough power to feel like a magnum revolver but with very good accuracy and easy-to-manage recoil from my 7.5” Ruger.

23.5 grains of H110 is a stout-recoiling load that produces a lot of muzzle flash. It too had a very tight SD of 11 fps, but averaged 1330 fps. This is a near-maximum 44 magnum load. Hodgdon shows a 24 grain max load at 1522 fps, but that’s from an 8.275” pressure barrel – which explains the difference from my 7.5” revolver which has a barrel-cylinder gap.

Slow burning H110 is ideal for very powerful loads along with several other slower burning pistol powders.

Titegroup has proven very good for producing accurate, economical and easy-shooting 44 magnum revolver loads. H110 is more useful when full 44 magnum power is desired. It’s great that both of these Berry’s bullets can handle up to 1850 fps, which we never even approached using our revolver. It would be fun and interesting to shoot these loads from a 44 magnum lever action rifle!

Economics

The Berry’s 44 caliber 220 grain Flat Point bullets are available for as little as $0.19 per bullet and the 240 grain Target Hollow Point can be had for as low as $0.21 per bullet. I used primarily once-fired R-P brass which I obtained by shooting factory ammo earlier. Since the brass was sitting here on hand I didn’t add the cost of brass into the calculation for the cost.

Conclusion

Firearms manufacturers often put a lot of effort into building high quality 44 magnum revolvers and owners of them are often proud of their 44 revolvers. Instead of just keeping them at home, it’s great to get out and shoot the big revolvers be they double action or single action. Handloads with Berry’s plated bullets are a great way to reduce the cost of shooting these wonderful guns.