.44 Magnum Factory Loads - Why so light?

[metalken]

Im new to the whole .44 Magnum thing, and i really like shooting the loads i pick up from the local range, and walmart, but why is it so hard to find anything that even approaches the higher end of .44 Magnum power? Most of the ammo i've found has had around 1200FPS/780FP. I cant really find anything much stronger than that, despite the fact that some of the hot loads online come up with up to around 1450FPS/1260FP.

Is it just that the ammount of recoil is so much more that it makes them a harder sell? Do some .44s not safely support some of these hotter loads?

[Ace]

It's just that, you have a few guns that won't support full power loads. The tracker for one is designed to handle mid range loads at best, while a raging bull could take as much as a super redhawk or a freedom arms bfr. But in this litigious society ammo manufacturers have to make their ammo as if everyone has a tracker which means if you want the most out of the redhawk or raging bull you must reload your own or go buffalo bore.

[metalken]

I guess warning labels aren't enough, huh? lol

[clanger]

FPS/ME are performance indicators for a given recipe.

What one really needs to pay attention to is Pressure, and signs of same, when determening what is 'hot'.

Most factory loads for a given bullet weight should meet SAAMI pressure's and performance guidelines.

Generally a 'heavy' bulllet will have a higher pressure and lower speed for the same recipe with a 'light' bullet. (note- Never, EVER substitue a heavier bullet for a lighter bullet in a given recipe!)

A 'hot load' is a term that usually indicates it is near max safe pressures. Some guns handle higher pressures better than others.

Also- 'hot loads' are usually not the most accurate and wear out guns much faster.

I reload a small batch of 'hunting loads' each year (200rds, 240 Nos, 23gr H110, CCI350 primer) and, the rest are reduced loads with light bullets for training/plinking. Most are 200gr CPFP w/ very little recoil. Some are 240gr HP with mild recoil. The 'hunting loads' are a full power START load and will wear your gun 300 times faster than milder loads. However, it is good to stay aquatined with, and, sight in prior to a hunt your full power loads.

But for most purposes a much milder load works better for target/plinking.

And range re-loads will generally be a smidge milder than full house stuff for the same bullet weight.

If you really want the big boom....PMC makes some pretty loud stuff. Remington too.
Garret, Buffalo Bore etc make some obnoxious hunting loads too.
I just shot my last box of S/W 240gr HP factory loads. A classic combo 240gr HP over 21gr of 2400. I could hit steel pigs and such at 200y with it (1/6 usually). Not a bad load for factory stuff. But it was going on 30 years old so it needed to be shot up.

Had 5 boxes of this stuff left... sort of a shame to shoot it up but...


Edited to add pic....

[djones31]

Check your manual I do believe the 44 tracker suggests nothing faster than a 240 grain traveling at 1350 fps. Most 240gr hunting ammo is rated at that limit. I had the tracker in 41 mag and it was rated for a 210gr moving at 1300 fps which the specs on all the ammo I had for it in 210 gr was 1280 fps.

I work for Speer and used to work in the centerfire hand gun ammo dept so I can factually tell you that ALL Speer(Golddot,Lawman) CCI,American eagle,Independance, and Federal ammo meet SAAMI specs so they are more than safe in your Taurus. If you have any further worries about store bought ammo check there web sites they should give you the velocity of every type of round they make. We check 1 to 2 at random from every 500 we make for velocity and pressure to make sure none exceed specs.