Company ownership has changed hands at least twice since mine was made. Lifetime warranty does not apply if it was built by a previous owner/location.Whose lifetime? Yours or the company’s ?
Help with 44 Special load for 3" barrel
- Thread starter PED1945
- Start date
Petrol & Powder
Well-Known Member
Yes, I know. I was being facetious.
Lifetime warranties are of no value if the company is defunct.
A lifetime warranty from Packard, Studebaker, Iver Johnson or Hopkins & Allen, will do you little good.
Petrol & Powder
Well-Known Member
They are still only as good as the company that offers them.
If the company goes away, so does the warranty.
I still remember cranking away at a OLD Redding Trimmer to make .44Russian cases from old .44Spl cases for My Dad's S&W #3. 60yrs ago.
The first round I ever loaded completely by myself was a #358250 over 3.5grs of Bullseye. I crimped on the ogive.
I've crimped most round nose revolver bullets on the ogive, never had one leap forward out of the crimp yet.
For the .44Spl, My favorite light load (Cowboy) is a light load of Titegroup under a 210gr #429478 RN. And I've shot many thousands or the Skeeter load out of Colt SAA's in .44Spl
A S&W M24/624 is very much different then a M29/629. The bbl's on the .44Spl revolvers are much lighter & thinner.
The .44Spl out of an old Bulldog with the Skeeter load was real snappish.
The recoil broke My grip once or twice. Bloodied My thumb on the cylinder latch too. Preferred the old #429348 over a bit of Bullseye. It shot a bit low but an inch at 50ft isn't a problem.
The first round I ever loaded completely by myself was a #358250 over 3.5grs of Bullseye. I crimped on the ogive.
I've crimped most round nose revolver bullets on the ogive, never had one leap forward out of the crimp yet.
For the .44Spl, My favorite light load (Cowboy) is a light load of Titegroup under a 210gr #429478 RN. And I've shot many thousands or the Skeeter load out of Colt SAA's in .44Spl
A S&W M24/624 is very much different then a M29/629. The bbl's on the .44Spl revolvers are much lighter & thinner.
The .44Spl out of an old Bulldog with the Skeeter load was real snappish.
The recoil broke My grip once or twice. Bloodied My thumb on the cylinder latch too. Preferred the old #429348 over a bit of Bullseye. It shot a bit low but an inch at 50ft isn't a problem.
On the old Bulldogs with unshrouded barrel you could remove the cylinder latch and just pull the cylinder pin out slightly to open the cylinder. This made it a bit less unpleasant to shoot the Skeeter loads. It didn't help much with the Keith loads, but even a teenager could eventually figure out those loads might be a bit much for the Bulldogs.
Discovered that by the time I finished My 1st box of Skeeter loads.
Should've mentioned it.
Missionary
Well-Known Member
Had to go back to #1 post to remember what 3" this was about.
Got back here Monday and pulled out the HD hardware and in the box was our Ruger 44 Special 3" 5 shot.
Heavy little brute which will probably hold any sane pressure with 240 grain FN cast.
To bad Ruger does not make an "ultra light" 5 shot model for CC. Bet they could remove another pound and still have a great little revolver.
Got back here Monday and pulled out the HD hardware and in the box was our Ruger 44 Special 3" 5 shot.
Heavy little brute which will probably hold any sane pressure with 240 grain FN cast.
To bad Ruger does not make an "ultra light" 5 shot model for CC. Bet they could remove another pound and still have a great little revolver.
I've been loading for the 3" Charter Bulldog for many years, and have 2000 rounds through one specimen, which is running just fine. The key here is to select loads appropriate for a safe, but very lightweight revolver. The "Skeeter" load with 250 grain Keith bullet is frankly not that. Even Skeeter Skeleton wrote that he reduced his load from 7.5 to 6.5 grains of Unique in the Bulldog because of the recoil abuse to both the pistol and shooter. M.L. MacPherson did an excellent article on this topic some years ago, "Care and Feeding of the Charter Arms Bulldog", if you can locate it.
The typical 240-250 grain cast bullets generally give poor accuracy in the Bulldog, even at lower speeds, as they just don't stabilize. The standard 240 grain soft swaged lead bullets shoot better, but have to held below about 700 fps. If you are a fan of that kind of ballistics, have at it.
I've found the best results from a standpoint of cast bullet accuracy is in the range 165-200 grain bullets. Rimrock makes a 200 grain sharp wadcutter which gives very good results launched anywhere from 700 to 850 fps. This might be a good defensive bullet as well. My usual practice loads are 200 grain cast RNFP bullets at 750-800 fps. I've used 165 grain TC bullets up to 850 fps and these are also quite accurate. The advantage of these loads for practice are obvious: less abuse of shooter and firearm, with good accuracy. I have used either 700-X or Titegroup mostly for these light bullet loads, but Win 231/HP-38 is also a good choice. With a 200 grain cast bullet 5.0 grains of Win 231 in the Bulldog will average 750 fps +/- 25 fps. There is plenty of suitable mainstream published loading data available for these types of loads.
For cast bullet loadings against pests and noxious animals of many varieties, either a 200 grain WC or SWCHP at 850-900 fps will work just dandy. As Charter Arms used to advertise, "Carries like a .38, Hits like a .45". GT Bullets sells an excellent 190 grain SWCHP that in my testing at 870 fps, expands to over .630 diameter and penetrates 13"+ in ballistic media. The WC will penetrate to 20"+ - no expansion but a lot of disruption. For these loads I have used HS-6 and Power Pistol, but currently prefer Accurate No.5.
Like all things .44 Special, the powder companies and loading manuals will show weak loads that are well below even the anemic original 1908 ballistics, which have never been updated. Brian Pearce authored an excellent article in Handloader concerning the .44 Special using modern propellants and discussing modern pressure levels. You can find loads in that article, and also on the loadata.com site if you are a member.
Jacketed bullets are a different story but you asked specifically about cast. Be safe and enjoy loading and shooting for the Bulldog.
The typical 240-250 grain cast bullets generally give poor accuracy in the Bulldog, even at lower speeds, as they just don't stabilize. The standard 240 grain soft swaged lead bullets shoot better, but have to held below about 700 fps. If you are a fan of that kind of ballistics, have at it.
I've found the best results from a standpoint of cast bullet accuracy is in the range 165-200 grain bullets. Rimrock makes a 200 grain sharp wadcutter which gives very good results launched anywhere from 700 to 850 fps. This might be a good defensive bullet as well. My usual practice loads are 200 grain cast RNFP bullets at 750-800 fps. I've used 165 grain TC bullets up to 850 fps and these are also quite accurate. The advantage of these loads for practice are obvious: less abuse of shooter and firearm, with good accuracy. I have used either 700-X or Titegroup mostly for these light bullet loads, but Win 231/HP-38 is also a good choice. With a 200 grain cast bullet 5.0 grains of Win 231 in the Bulldog will average 750 fps +/- 25 fps. There is plenty of suitable mainstream published loading data available for these types of loads.
For cast bullet loadings against pests and noxious animals of many varieties, either a 200 grain WC or SWCHP at 850-900 fps will work just dandy. As Charter Arms used to advertise, "Carries like a .38, Hits like a .45". GT Bullets sells an excellent 190 grain SWCHP that in my testing at 870 fps, expands to over .630 diameter and penetrates 13"+ in ballistic media. The WC will penetrate to 20"+ - no expansion but a lot of disruption. For these loads I have used HS-6 and Power Pistol, but currently prefer Accurate No.5.
Like all things .44 Special, the powder companies and loading manuals will show weak loads that are well below even the anemic original 1908 ballistics, which have never been updated. Brian Pearce authored an excellent article in Handloader concerning the .44 Special using modern propellants and discussing modern pressure levels. You can find loads in that article, and also on the loadata.com site if you are a member.
Jacketed bullets are a different story but you asked specifically about cast. Be safe and enjoy loading and shooting for the Bulldog.
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