Making 44 Special cases

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  • Last Post 12 May 2018
rmrix posted this 25 February 2018

Just wondering who has experience with making 44 Special cases from range pick-up 44 Magnum cases. Being mostly a CB rifleman, I rarely play with my revolvers. In contrast, I often have one (a revolver) with me outside here in the high country. I like the compact S&W 696 44 Special for size and power.

I like oldtime stuff and that includes bullet molds. I came across an Ideal single cavity mold for the 246 gr RN 44 Special and cast up 50. I see that all my 44 Special brass is full. ....full of 250 gr Kieth SWC.  Likely a far better design than any RN for the reason I carry it, but that is beside the point.

In my odd brass bucket are 39 mixed brands of 44 Mag brass, cleaned,BTW. I am cutting them down to correct length to use in the 44 Special. I used a tube mic. to measure the case wall and I think it should be fine.

Any ideas or words of wisdom beyond inside case diameter farther down the case?

My plan is to load with 6grs of Unique and the 251gr RN (my bullet's real weight) and crimp. Then give it a go. BTW- I also have a Model P in 44 Special too. We'll see if it shoots to point of aim, ...or not.

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Pigslayer posted this 25 February 2018

I too have a .44 Special which I love. I have never tried cutting down .44 magnum cases for it. Hmmmmmmmmmm. I need to check the specs on both cases. I'm sure that I could use my Lee case trimmer with the .44 Special collet. Hmmmmmmmm.

 

-Pat

If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.

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RicinYakima posted this 25 February 2018

Check the case wall taper! Some .44 mag brass is quite thick where the base of the bullet will be when trimmed to .44 special length. It will expand the case so that it will not seat in the cylinder. HTH, Ric

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rmrix posted this 25 February 2018

Check the case wall taper! Some .44 mag brass is quite thick where the base of the bullet will be when trimmed to .44 special length. It will expand the case so that it will not seat in the cylinder. HTH, Ric

(Hmm, I can not get anything to type outside your Quote????? Anyway.)

Right. That was my first thought too. That is why I mentioned in my post "Any ideas or words of wisdom beyond inside case diameter farther down the case?" I addressed this by seating a bullet in a trimmed dummy round and both mic'ing and chambering the round then pulling the bullet with hammer puller and re-mic'ing the bullet to the base to make sure it did not get squeezed down.

I think they will chamber and go bang in both revolvers ... We'll see how they shoot.

For no more work than it was to trim range finds to the 44 Special, I may not feel the need to buy any new Starline brass.

 

Did I mention, the bullet were sized to 0.430" and the loaded rounds drop into the cylinders of both revolvers.

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R. Dupraz posted this 26 February 2018

No problem with shortened WW 44Mag brass in a Ruger NMB 44 Special. Can't beat Starline though.

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JeffinNZ posted this 26 February 2018

Not wanting to hijack but ain't there just something nice about a RN bullet in a pistol case?  I know it's not the best for all jobs but it just looks right.

Cheers from New Zealand

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BigMan54 posted this 27 February 2018

Used to trim .44spl cases down to .44 Russian for my Dad's old S&W #3 Breaktop, back in the early 1960's. Never had a problem. 

If trimming the cases are a simple expedient until proper .44spl cases can be obtained, go for it. About 25yrs ago I trimmed 50 .44MAG cases to .44spl length to load SPEER shotshell capsules.  Have about 15+ left. They fit in 9 different .44spl handguns & 1 Italian 1873 replica .44spl, slipped into the chamber by hand. Used once and crushed so no one could put a .44MAG load into one of them.

Don't ask me why I did it that way, someone suggested it and I can't remember why.

Long time Caster/Reloader, Getting back into it after almost 10yrs. Life Member NRA 40+yrs, Life S.A.S.S. #375. Does this mean a description of me as a fumble-fingered knuckle-draggin' baboon. I also drool in my sleep. I firmly believe that true happiness is a warm gun. Did I mention how much I HATE auto-correct on this blasted tablet.

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rmrix posted this 27 February 2018

You make a good point about the case being marked 44MAG. That was one of the things I wanted to address after the first firing. I may just lightly mess up the 'mag' with a punch so as not to move or remove much of the case base metal.

That idea is kind of primitive, but I am not feeling very creative.

Any great ideas on remarking the cases?

I do feel strongly about changing the case marking in some way for safety. ...Mine and someone else. Senility is not pretty!cool 

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 27 February 2018

marking cases .? ... i find fingernail polish of different colors on the case head lasts a long time .  keep the codes in your little book however .   or hobby paint for plastic model cars .

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TRKakaCatWhisperer posted this 27 February 2018

dremmel mototool - ball endmill 1/8"

 

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2coldhere posted this 27 February 2018

Would anyone like to buy some actual .44 Special cases?  I just acquired about 400 of them that came in a box with other stuff.  Make an offer.

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rmrix posted this 27 February 2018

In my case, I would need to know what what kind and if fired and how much.

I am not in charge here but maybe post them on the FS ?  I don't intend that last point to be critical. Just helpful.

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BigMan54 posted this 27 February 2018

I marked the shot cartridge brass by dragging the edge of a file through the "MAG" on the headstamp. 

Long time Caster/Reloader, Getting back into it after almost 10yrs. Life Member NRA 40+yrs, Life S.A.S.S. #375. Does this mean a description of me as a fumble-fingered knuckle-draggin' baboon. I also drool in my sleep. I firmly believe that true happiness is a warm gun. Did I mention how much I HATE auto-correct on this blasted tablet.

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R. Dupraz posted this 27 February 2018

Good idea Roger..

I have a few 44 Mag cases that I cut down while I was waiting for my Starline 44 specials. Don't use them any more and didn't think too much about it but think I'll dig them and a file out and fix them. 

 

R.

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pathology101 posted this 09 May 2018

It would easier to just order from starline. I just bought 500 .44 sp. from them .$115 with free shipping. That is cheaper than buying once fired brass.

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rmrix posted this 09 May 2018

 "It would easier to just order from starline."

Nope.

I had a coffee can of free range discards and a trimmer hooked up to a drill.

Quick and easy.

 

Starline is GREAT. And, I would buy from them in a heartbeat. I just did not want to. I wanted to use up available resources.

As with most things, there are a lot of best ways to do things.

Take care and enjoy your 44.

Great caliber.

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BigMan54 posted this 09 May 2018

I reload A LOT OF .44MAG for my Chiropractor buddies COWBOY SHOOTING.  I just got him to finally buy 1000 new Starline cases. So I can finally retire the 720 odd cases out of the 1000 he started with 15yrs ago. Those cases have been loaded at least 25 times. But It's a very light load of 5.0grs of TITEGROUP over a 240gr RNFP. 

When a case splits or gets messed up in a expander die, I trim to .44Russian and load 3.0grs of TITEGROUP over a 212gr WC out of an old Lee mold. Barely any airspace left in the case. Between his brass & mine I've 3 boxes of this load and have yet to toss a case due to loose primer pockets. At least 15 different head stamps. Makes a powder puff load in my COLT SAA or S&W 624. Chambers in every gun I tried it in.

And I just loaded 50rds of Starline .44Russian brass with the old LYMAN #429251 RN dipper cast from an OLD IDEAL single cavity mold. Charged with UNIQUE,  seemed appropriate. 

Long time Caster/Reloader, Getting back into it after almost 10yrs. Life Member NRA 40+yrs, Life S.A.S.S. #375. Does this mean a description of me as a fumble-fingered knuckle-draggin' baboon. I also drool in my sleep. I firmly believe that true happiness is a warm gun. Did I mention how much I HATE auto-correct on this blasted tablet.

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rmrix posted this 12 May 2018

This is a BTW-

Again yesterday, after shooing some load work up for the rifle, I shot three cylinders full of cut down 44 brass in my 5-1/2' single action Uberti. Very nice handgun for the price. Actually, very nice at any price. This one is a good one.

The load, Lyman 246gr RN copy cast in 10 BHN range scrap and 6grs Unique in the mixed cut down 44Mag cases.

The revolver will hit chickens at 50 meters. Shoots this to point of aim. No idea of the velocity. 800 - 850 fps maybe. Easy recoil. Makes me smile when I shoot it. 

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