44 special with round balls

[GunnyMack]

So Jim T posted about loading round balls for his Dad and that kind of sparked interest in trying to come up with a load.
I ordered a .433 double cavity and will break it in this morning.
Lee says it should produce 120+/- balls.
Now the question is powders/ charges.
My goal is 44 CB caps- ya know nice quite stuff.
Any ideas?

[JimT]

In the .45 ACP 3.0 gr. of Bullseye is quite mild with a round ball.

[GunnyMack]

Bullseye I have.
Also 231,cfepistol, hs6,700x, 800x, Universal, Longshot.
I was thinking Bullseye from the start.
Mold is warming up!

[GunnyMack]

The mix that is in my pot is dropping 114.5 @.435".
Well look there, a zip lock bag full of 44 spec brass!

[Nath]

Sounds like fun...and useful.

[Paul105]

I bought a .500 Lee 2 cavity round ball mold for the same reason. Haven't got around to casting any yet. Was going to use some liquid alox or powder coat for lube. Really interested to see your results.

Really like the gun, but more than I can handle anymore.

[GunnyMack]

I poured about 80 balls, a few culls that didn't fill out.
I used Jim's 3.0 Bullseye as a starting point and loaded 10 that I'll try out tomorrow morning.

20230902_102757.jpg

I didn't think about any kind of lube! See if I get any leading...

[Ysabel Kid]

I have an old Lee .429" mold that I found is not overly accurate when used in mouse-F loads in any of my .44's. I'm thinking maybe a .433 would be the way to go.

[Bill in Oregon]

Swell project Will. Eager for your report.

[JimT]

I poured about 80 balls, a few culls that didn't fill out.
I used Jim's 3.0 Bullseye as a starting point and loaded 10 that I'll try out tomorrow morning. 20230902_102757.jpg
I didn't think about any kind of lube! See if I get any leading...

Just smear a little grease or bullet lube on the "nose" of the ball before you stick 'em in the chamber. They will do fine.

[samsi]

I did it with Hornady roundballs, think they were .433". I went with an unsized case half full of Pyrodex with the ball stuffed down inside to compress the powder. They seemed to be accurate enough at close range with little noise or recoil.

[GunnyMack]

Well the results are in -
Per Jim I loaded 3 gr of Bullseye behind the .433 rb. Open the loading gate and slid in a loaded round, spin the cylinder and another slid in then one wouldn't go in! Try it in the next hole... nope. Pocket that one and try a different and it went in and then another. Ok 4 out of 5 is good enough for test purposes.
Thumb the hammer back and align the sites and squeeze... pfffffft!
The round ball lodged in the barrel about 1/2 way down the bore.
Me thinks it needs more powder!

[Grizz]

I have an old Lee .429" mold that I found is not overly accurate when used in mouse-F loads in any of my .44's. I'm thinking maybe a .433 would be the way to go.

could you paper patch that .429 for a better fit? or would masking tape work? just fishing around with the concept...

[samsi]

I have an old Lee .429" mold that I found is not overly accurate when used in mouse-F loads in any of my .44's. I'm thinking maybe a .433 would be the way to go.

could you paper patch that .429 for a better fit? or would masking tape work? just fishing around with the concept...

You can also place them on a hard surface and give 'em a tap with a mallet to swell the diameter, if it's too much they can be run through a LEE sizer. The caveat is that keeping the elongated round balls squared up through the sizer will cause you to use your non-polite company vocabulary.

[JimT]

Well the results are in -
Per Jim I loaded 3 gr of Bullseye behind the .433 rb. Open the loading gate and slid in a loaded round, spin the cylinder and another slid in then one wouldn't go in! Try it in the next hole... nope. Pocket that one and try a different and it went in and then another. Ok 4 out of 5 is good enough for test purposes.
Thumb the hammer back and align the sites and squeeze... pfffffft!
The round ball lodged in the barrel about 1/2 way down the bore.
Me thinks it needs more powder!

Yikes. Yep. The .45 ACP has quite a bit less room. And we were using an oversize ball which acts like a crimp.

[44shooter]

Maybe Russian cases would work better? Will the 45 acp loads cycle an auto?

[GunnyMack]

I just loaded 5 more, this time with 5 5 of 231. It's just over starting for a 210/220 gr bullet. I know these won't be CB Cap quiet but now it's just a matter of getting them down the bore!
I'll go back to 4.0 of bullseye and see what another grain does.

[JimT]

Will the 45 acp loads cycle an auto?

No. Did not move the slide.

[elmo123]

My Speer #10 reloading manual lists .433 round ball 120 grain loads for the 44 Spl along with loads for the 44 magnum, 45AR and 45 Colt.

The Spl loads are as follows
3.0 Unique 470 fps
2.8 231/HP38 488 fps
2.6 700x 509 fps
2.4 Green Dot 498 fps
2.3 Bullseye 504 fps
2.2 Red Dot 506 fps

The revolver used was a 4" Charter Arms Bulldog

[GunnyMack]

My bullseye is old, maybe it has lost some of its oomph.
700x is another ill try as well. That's in the velocity range I'm thinking about.
It could be that this mix is a bit too hard?

[Rockrat]

When a lot younger, I used to load round balls in a 45 auto "Star". Had to cut a coil off the recoil spring, but they shot well and functioned the action. I have used a .500" ball, powder coated, in a 50ae BFR that shot very well at 50 ft.

[Paul105]

What powder charge in the 50 AE?

Thanks,

Paul

[Rockrat]

I tried 8gr Unique, but pretty dirty and pretty light. I will try 10gr. next and try some 231.

Grizz---those .429 balls could be powder coated and would bring them up to around .431"

[Grizz]

I tried 8gr Unique, but pretty dirty and pretty light. I will try 10gr. next and try some 231.

Grizz---those .429 balls could be powder coated and would bring them up to around .431"

Oh Yeah! thanks for that...

[Ysabel Kid]

I tried 8gr Unique, but pretty dirty and pretty light. I will try 10gr. next and try some 231.

Grizz---those .429 balls could be powder coated and would bring them up to around .431"

Great idea!

[marlinman93]

I made up round ball loads for several Ballard rifles in .44 Long, .38 Long, and .32 Long using dead soft ML balls I bought. Honestly never found any loads that produced very good accuracy, so I stopped messing with them. But it was a fun way to shoot those old rifles before I bought proper heeled bullet molds and cast my bullets.

[Paladin]

Thanks all, I have tried this since I was a teenager will give it another go with the information you shared.

[JimT]

To make round balls shoot really well I found they have to be over bore size. In the .45's I like a .457" ball. In the .357 I like the .375" ball.

DSC00322.JPG

I shot this target back in the early 1960's. The gun was a Colt 1911 WWII pistol. It was worn, rifling was shallow. Dad had me sit on the ground and lean back against the front tire on his car. I held the gun between my upraised knees. He would load the case, hand it to me and I would stick it into the chamber and drop the slide. It was either a .456" or .457" round ball over 2.5 gr. of Bullseye. Dad wiped a little grease on the front of the ball before giving it to me. The distance was 25 yards. The 5 shots made one ragged hole as you can see.

[Malamute]

Ive loaded a few in 44 spl and mag cases but its been a long time ago and I dont recall the load or results. I only tried a few.

I have loaded round balls in 45-70 for grouse and snake loads, they work pretty well, though I had problems with the 6 1/2 gr Unique powder charge if I didnt have any fluff holding it near the primer. They worked fine pointed upwards, but downwards, not so well. I bounced a round ball off a rattlesnakes head once, it seemed to irritate it. I went back to using the little tuft of dacron pillow stuffing and they worked well again.

A .310-.315 round ball with 3 grs Unique with a small tuft of dacron pillow stuffing works well on small critters up ti bunny size and are great on grouse at close range. They make about as mush noise as a std vel 22 lr in a rifle.

Same basic thing in the 348 with a .350" ball, I think I want to 5 grs Red Dot. All those had a bit of Lee Liquid Alox lube. Great grouse loads single loded with the magazine full or regular loads, you have a real rifle in hand if you bump into something large and with sharp edges.

I have a .360" RB mold Id like to try in the 357 carbine.

Need to try the 44 loads again.

[Bullard4075]

I tried this years ago. I'll try to did out my findings, It was with Red Dot if I remember.

[GunnyMack]

So I loaded 5 more yesterday, 4.0 Bullseye. Then I realized they wouldn't drop into the cylinder. So that led me to removing the decap pin from my size die so I could resize the case down to fit. Now they fit. So I also discovered that belling the case mouth step isn't actually necessary- will help the round ball to shave for better fit.
I'm off to test them !

[GunnyMack]

Cb caps on steroids? Not so much but they shot reasonably well.

20230911_121219.jpg

I decided to try these from my 629( a bit more cylinder wall thickness) just to ease my thoughts of detonation with such light charges. Now that I know those 2 loads work I'll try them again in the Single Six.

Then I broke out the Single Six and shot at paper just to check zero. A bit high and left so I made some adjustments to get it closer. I didn't take but about 25 rounds so instead of getting thorough sighting in I shot some steel, 50 yards off bags I was able to get hits!