I went out to the range today with my Outfitter and a box of reduced loads consisting of 240 gr. OregonTrail SWCs and 10.5 grs. of Unique. The load is a pleasure to shoot and when I got 'er dialed in I was hitting a 3# coffee can every time from both a sitting and kneeling position at about 80 yards. I don't have a chronograph, but from info I've gleened from this site, I would guess the velocity at about 1200 fps. This got me to thinking that at about that distance and velocity and with a 240 gr. WFN bullet that might be an all right combo for deer and antelope. Has anyone ever used reduced loads for close in hunting on such critters? Just wondering.

I went out to the range today with my Outfitter and a box of reduced loads consisting of 240 gr. OregonTrail SWCs and 10.5 grs. of Unique. The load is a pleasure to shoot and when I got 'er dialed in I was hitting a 3# coffee can every time from both a sitting and kneeling position at about 80 yards. I don't have a chronograph, but from info I've gleened from this site, I would guess the velocity at about 1200 fps. This got me to thinking that at about that distance and velocity and with a 240 gr. WFN bullet that might be an all right combo for deer and antelope. Has anyone ever used reduced loads for close in hunting on such critters? Just wondering.

That's abpoutnwhat a typical 4" 44mag. revovler will get with average loads. Oddly, handgunners have a differnt view of what's acceptable killing power...odd as the game hasn't got a clue where the bullets came from, so there really shouldn't be any difference in what's a minimum.

Get under 50 yards and taht bullet will make the same hold and have the same effect as a 4" 44mag. would have. Could load a 4" 44mag. to higher levels than this, but the basic .44mag with basic 240gr. loads is in this general area of effectivness.

Does seem like you're handicapping the .444 rather excessivly. Would be better to use these plinking loads for plinking, and a hunting load for hunting...if you're happy with the vleocity level, why not move up to a heavier weight bullet at the same speed? Puts you right in the center of a lot of BP rounds in terms of killing ability (and BTW...if you load black powder in a .444, the speed of your plinking loads is about the speed you'd get).

Wyonative...

I've did quite a bit of messing around with the 444P and Unique last year with bullets from 200-grains to 318-grains. I got to face the fact that I bought this rifle for my grandson and one day I will have to turn it over to him... that's why I was checking out the Unique powder as he will start deer hunting with this rifle when he is 7 or 8 depending on his attidude about life in general.

With the Unique I was hanging in the 240-grain bullet range with 10 to 13 grains of powder. I could turn up to about 1450 FPS with those loads over a chrony.

I have started to use 48 grains of BL-C(2) with a 318-grain cast bullet and I get the same velocity, the velocity averages are more stable, and you don't need to use a filler in the case. This is the Lee C430-310-RF mold... once the gas check is on the bullet it scales at 318-grains.

Basically what I get with the heavier bullet is a smaller kill zone out to 100-yards, 2.4" vs. 2.6", and 300 FP more energy. The FPE for recoil does increase from 10 to 17 but that still is not much for the young lad as the rifle has the LimbSaver recoil pad on it.

Ranch Dog,

I didn't use a filler in these loads, and I seemed to have no problems. Should I have? Is it dangerous not to?

I ordered some heavier bullets today from BTB (280 gr. and 300 gr.), so when they arrive I will work on other reduced loads for short work on deer and antelope. The full power loads I'll save for elk (and moose, if I can ever draw a permit).

There is a concern with some of the fast burning powders becoming a shaped charge rather than a load of powder. For instance, if that charge of Unique is allowed to settle in a string the length of the case and then ignite all the pressure is against one side of the case.

I think the first thing to remember is that a load of 10 to 15 grains of Unique in a 444 case really isn't a reduced load. The pressure is up there, it's unknown without pressure measurements of some kind, but it's up there. You are getting a light report because it is a small amount of powder and less recoil because the physical weight of the charge plays into a foot pounds of recoil calculation but the pressure is there.

The only recently published max load data I can find for Unique is through Lyman's cast bullet handbook. It shows 17 grains as a maximum load with their 245-grain cast bullet. Unfortunately they don't show what pressure that is producing... one of the faults I find with their manual especially when cast bullet performance is so tied to pressure. This data is not designated as an accuracy load so I've got to assume that it was delivering at or slightly below the SAAMI standard for the cartridge according to the introduction in the manual. If 17 grains is conservatively 10% under the max pressure of 44,000 PSI for the rifle (40,000 PSI), 10 grains is still delivering over 30,000 PSI!

Max loads of Unique can be reduced up to 50% before other problems start. You would be safe with a load as little as 8.5- grains but that is still producing approximately 28 to 29,000 PSI. I would like to burn up my Unique but these unanwsered questions about pressure bug me. Similar reductions with rifle powders like BL-C(2)* will produce similar velocities with 20 to 23000 PSI or less.

This is just my take on using Unique after working with it.

Michael

*Hodgdon has made their powder pressure/velocity factors known which is a great value when working with reduced loads.