I have been reloading for my 44 mag for 25 years. When I was in high school I reloaded some nickle cases. I found that the nickle cases would start to split at the case mouth after 2 reloads. These were upper end loads but well below max loads. I have used this same load for 25 years - using a Speer 240 gr JHP with 20 gr sometimes 21 gr of 2400 powder. I finally shot everything up and it's time to reload.

I am going to develope a new load this summer to hunt deer with in the fall with my Ruger SBH 44 mag, 10-1/2" bl. I am going to use Hornady 240 gr XTP with H110. I have become a Hornady/Hodgdon fan only using their bullets and powders for the past 2 years. What would be a good starting point in grains using H110 with this bullet. I'm going to load groups of 10 with 1/2 grain increments for load developement. I know I don't need full power loads for deer. I'm just looking for a good load that is not a handbuster. After I find that sweet load that works I plan on loading 500 rounds, 400-450 to practice with the rest to take hunting. I have never used H110 before.

I need to buy some new brass. I'm going to buy Starline, it is offered in brass or nickle. Is nickle better than brass?
Can nickle be reloaded as many time as brass? Can nickle take full end loads?

In a nutshell - what case material would be better to use.

Thanks for any comments.

Rick

Easiest on your dies and on average the most durable would be brass. Have not reloaded with nickel plated brass in over 40 years. If that stuff comes off it will score your dies and that's speaking from experience.

Agreed. Once the nickel starts flaking off it's no end of trouble. Anyone want a pre-carbide RCBS .45 ACP sizer die, cheap? :(

Bye
Jack

I've been reloading my 45/70 with nickel plated starline brass for the past 6 months or so. I've only gone through 2-3 reload cycles with it thus far, but no problems yet with nickel plating falling off. It might be a bit stiffer working in the die, but it definitely cleans up easier and feeds/ejects very slickly in my lever actions.

Don't really mind nicked cases...don't particually like them, but in handguns or in genrnal hunting rounds, it's not somthing that is a plus or a minus.

Do belive it's reloading life is slightly less....perhaps hydrogen embrittlement...whtever the reason, find it neck splitting sooner.

For detailed accuracy work or for feeding wildcats, will never use nickel. Neck tuned, it looks stupid...annealed it looks burned.

The nickeled cases will not corrode as easily as brass in a leather cartridge belt. They will also clean up much quicker in a tumbler. Most of them are harder to resize buts thats not really a problem. They do seem to split sooner. I use them for hunting loads. The plain brass are better for long term reloading use.

I have used a lot of nickel and brass in my .357 and the nickel tends to need to be tossed after about 3-4 loadings. The exception was a partial box of Speer Lawman ammo that I got and shot then reloaded 8 times. Nickel cases used for heavy to moderate loadings. They were nice and yes, nickel cleans up faster in the tumbler but you do use a bit more effort to size then than brass.

For my new .45 Blackhawk I ordered Starline Brass.

I'm with everyone here, the only advantage I can see for nickle brass is it stays clean. Brass will tarnish and may not "look"as nice, but who really cares? After you do finally fire it, clean it up in a tumbler and you're good as new.

I've got maybe 40 pieces of Rem Nickle brass for my 45 LC BH when I had it other than falling out of the chamber nicely they split too easyly with stiff loads great for light loads!

Thanks for all the advice on brass. I figured brass was the
way to go. I got 500 Starline on the way and my Hornady 240 gr XTP's on the bench.

Back to one of my original questions. Has anyone used H110. From what I have read here it works best at the higher end loads. I don't want max loads. I know the deer never feels difference in FPS. What I am looking for is a good starting point. The Hornady manual has some loads listed for this bullet/powder combo. I'm just looking for info from people who have used H110 with the 240 gr XTP and the pro/cons and likes/dislikes.

I have a friend who states I should use 2400. This is all he uses in the 44 mag. He does not like H110 but he can't give me a reason why he dislikes it. Is H110 a good powder for the 44 mag?

Since I have the 10-1/2' barrel I should get higher pressures and more speed from the same load shot out of a 7-1/2" barrel. Am I correct in my thinking? Thanks for all the advice

Back to one of my original questions. Has anyone used H110. From what I have read here it works best at the higher end loads. I don't want max loads. What I am looking for is a good starting point. Is H110 a good powder for the 44 mag?
Since I have the 10-1/2' barrel I should get higher pressures and more speed from the same load shot out of a 7-1/2" barrel. Am I correct in my thinking? Thanks for all the adviceFor the .44 Magnum, Hodgdon lists 24.0 gr. H110 with the 240 gr. Nosler JHP and 19.0 gr. with the 300 gr. Hornady XTP, all maximum loads. They recommend no more than a 3% reduction because it causes inconsistent ignition. This translates to starting point loads which are 97% of maximum and some reloaders would just rather work with other propellents that offer more flexibility. It's almost like the starting load IS the maximum load since the two are nearly identical.
Yes, you would expect higher velocities with your 10 1/2" barrel compared to the same load shot out of a 7 1/2".