Hawkeye84

First, sorry for the stupid questions, but here goes....

I just acquired a 1980 Ruger .44 Mag carbine. Thinking this was mainly a pistol bullet, (yea I know) I've made up about 30 rounds of 240gr Hornaday XTP, but used a pistol receipt; 13gr of Blue Dot. After making this batch, I found the .44 Mag rifle info in my reloading manual and after comparing the two chapters, I see that my first batch was on the low end of the spectrum for the rifle chapter.

Question; in your opinion will the rifle still function with the load I stated above? Or should I flip them to a buddy who has a .44 Mag pistol (now don't all of you try to become my buddy! ;-) )?

Thanks for your opinions.

Breadman03

I would only use it if the load falls within the range for rifles. You could always grab a kinetic puller and redo them with the right load.

bobkk

I had one years ago and had to load it near max by the manual. It shot good but if I backed off the powder a little it wouldn't cycle. Don't remember what weight but I used 2400. IMR4227 worked good also.

elrondo

Brother in law uses a 240 gr. jacketed bullet with 22 grains of h110 in his 44 Ruger Carbine. His favorite deer rifle 50 to 75 yds heavy woods, got lots of deer threw the years. He owns 2 one with scopoe and 1 with iron sights. He'd buy another one if he could find one he likes it so much. Shoots the same load in his 44 Blackhawk. ( no lead bullets in Ruger carbine as per Speer 14)

countrygun

I think it would function just fine. Remember the carbine was designed to work with factory .44 magnum loads intended for pistols. Most 44 rifles CAN handle a bit more but do not NEED to.

Hawkeye84

Thanks to all. Country, you make a lot of sense and normally I load my reloads hotter than most factory.

I promise to us the rifle charts from now on. ;-)

454PB

I owned one of those many years ago.

Your "recipe" is not a wussy load, more of an upper mid-range load, and I suspect it will cycle the action OK.

sailorb

I have a 70s vintage .44 Carbine that I love. Been in the family forever. I usually use either H110 or 2400 as the go to powders. My favorite is a Speer 270 gr Gold Dot, now Deep Curl, over 17 gr of 2400. I also use some Hornady 240 gr XTPs over 23 gr H110. One day at the range, I got a bunch of failures to eject/cycle properly. Checked the ammo and low and behold, it was 240 gr XTPs with 13 gr of Blue Dot. This happens to be one of my favorite and most accurate loads in my Super Blackhawk Hunter. If you check the loading data in manuals that list both rifle and pistol loads for the .44 Mag, you will find that none of the faster powder loads are listed for the rifles, especially if the test gun was a Ruger .44 Carbine. My guess is that the rifle needs the longer pressure curve of the slower powders to cycle correctly and give the best velocities. In a lever or bolt gun, I am sure you could shoot just about any .44 Mag load, but for best velocity or cycling a gas operated action, the slower powders are required

Grampie not Grumpie

Shoot one of your loads and if the gun cycles OK you are good to go.

Grampie not Grumpie,