Light 44 mag loads w/ 231, Titegroup, Bullseye

Well I just got back from my indoor range to try out some 231 with a tighter crimp and some loads with 5.2 gr of Bullseye. I definitely noticed a slightly cleaner burn but some cases still had a good amount of unburnt powder.

But the Bullseye loads burned much more cleaner. There was little to no unburnt powder which I did like. Kinda kicking myself for selling off some bullseye. But I'll continue using the 231 until I run out then continue with Bullseye. They shoot accurately enough so the only issue is the unburnt powder. I just tap the cases to get the powder out before bringing them home and making my tumbling media even more dirty.

This was at ~35 ft:
View attachment 128368
View attachment 128369

The other question I have is with the OAL using the X-treme plated bullets. I have the OAL at ~1.603" with still quite a bit of the cannelure exposed. I don't want to seat any deeper as my reloading manual suggests 1.610" for 240 SWC loads so I'm already below that but the OAL for jacketed 240s is 1.600". View attachment 128370
 
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Seat them to the top of the cannelure.

The cannelure wouldn't be there if the bullet was designed to be loaded to a different length. You're not going to go over pressure on it with the SpongeBob loads you're shooting.

It's a .44 Magnum.
 
Seat them to the top of the cannelure.

The cannelure wouldn't be there if the bullet was designed to be loaded to a different length. You're not going to go over pressure on it with the SpongeBob loads you're shooting.

It's a .44 Magnum.

Yeah I was wondering if it would really make a huge difference in pressure if I seated them slightly deeper. But these are such light loads (SpongeBob as you said haha) that it shouldn't be an issue.

Thanks Jim! Always like to hear your advice/knowledge.
 
So I made up 24 more loads with 5.7 gr of 231 and seated to 1.580" which just left a small amount of the cannelure exposed. I just got back from the range and it seems like that did nothing. Still lots of unburnt powder but still plenty accurate.

This was all the unburnt powder after 24 rounds
View attachment 128449

You can see the unburnt powder stuck to the inside walls of the case
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So is this characteristic of 231 at low charges and a lot of empty space in the cases? Bullseye burned cleaner for sure so maybe I'll switch to Bullseye when I use the rest of this 231 or I could use it for 9mm. I also have plenty of Titegroup which I haven't tried with 44 mag yet. The starting charge for TG with 240 gr lead bullets is 4.8 gr. I could try 5 gr and see how that burns? Any experience with TG and light 44 loads?
 
Yes. Light charges of 231 (and other powders) result in some unburned powder.

If you are happy with the way they shoot, then don't worry about it. It's really not a problem.

Oh alright that's what I thought. Yeah they shoot very accurately so I guess it's not that big of a deal. I'll just have to clean the gun more often to get the unburned powder out of the barrel which takes all of a minute.

I might try some titegroup just for the hell of it for one last test. Thanks again Jim.
 
Did my last test loads, this time with 5 gr of Titegroup, 1.590", and a light crimp. They were more snappy than the 231 and Bullseye loads but burned fairly clean. Only a few rounds had decent amounts of unburned powder.

Only issue I had was they shot high at 35-40 ft. Groups were good but just shot high. I had to use a 6 o clock hold to hit the black bullseye. Might have overcrimped who knows.
View attachment 128619

I think I'll just continue with 231 and when I run out, switch to Bullseye.

My next test is to make up some powder puff 357 mag loads using one of these powders and plated 125 and 158 gr bullets. Probably just go with Bullseye first.
 
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