Got any pearls of wisdom/ideas/lessons on reloading a .44 mag for a 16 inch barrel? Thanks

What do you want to accomplish?

Welcome to the forum, by the way.

I got a pearl of wisdom for ya, stay within your reloading book's guidlines.

use a good bullet that will not explode at he higher vel. of the longer barrel.

300 grain Hornady XTP's...Powders? 2400, 4227, 1680, Lil'gun...if you like lots of muzzle flash then go with H-110/296...

I have a 14" TC that loves both the H-110/296 loads and 2400 "Elmer" loads. :)

16.0 gr 2400 with a WLP in WW case will give me very nice groups at 100 yards and not wear out my wrist...with this load I actually don't even need a wrist brace.

HOWEVER...

My 296 load DOES.
21.4 gr of 296 with WLP and WW case and a Hdy XTP 300 gr bullet will get me excellent groups at 50 and 100 yards, but I can shoot perhaps 25 rounds of this before I have to take a break. This load is shot with a modified bowlers wrist brace and on benchrest...so you have to consider that recoil will be a bit diffrent in the field...

16" barrel...you shooting a TC or a carbine levergun?

D

I'm shooting a T/C G2 with a 16 inchbarrel, carbine stock. I want a load within guidelines for our (Oklahoma) little deer out to 100yrds.

You really don't need a hot load to kill deer, even big ones. Heck, a 180 gr. JHP at 1200 fps will do the job if your bullet placement is good.

Ditto on what Dusty said...

Heck, I would actually look for a CB load using some of Marshall's goodies...he is the Bulletsmith around here. :)

I have some of his 430's that work quite well out of my 14"...I got some GC'd bullets that I can push a bit hotter than normal and they are the dogs bark with 2400...

Again, I must pimp the works that Elmer and Ackley wrote about this powder...I love it. :)


Anyway, MTCW
D

I don't know what the Oklahome guidelines are, but I shoot the Beartooth 280gr. WFNGC out of a Super Blackhawk, with complete confidence.

You ought to be able to run that bullet up around 1600-1700fps, and don't believe you'll find a whitetail on earth that will stop it.

I have not reloaded cast bullets before. I have some 200 and 240gr. XTP's, and some Red Dot. However, the hard cast bullets with 2400 sounds very interesting. Thanks for the advice. I think I.m ready for some summer shooting fun....