Im loading a 44 mag with h110 and a 300 gr Missouri cast bulllet. My lyman manual list 18.5 as max, but I have blow-by on the brass like its under pressure. I see loads for 310 up to 22 grains. Any ideas?

I have no recommendations but that is for sure under pressure brass. I have never played with H110 and a 44 Mag. I am on the other hand well educated on .357 and .45 Colt with H110.

H110 is sensitive until it reaches max pressure. At that point you get a good seal and a jump in velocity. It isnt predictable until then. NEVER load H110 down. It will cause ugliness.

If you don’t want to shoot max do not run H110, look into 2400 or other powders.

I'm not trying to download. Thats a max charge with a magnum primer in the lyman book. I don't have the experience with h110 to start guessing where to go due to its sensitivity. I would guess I'll need 20 -22 gr, but I don't know.

data.hodgdonpowder.com

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

This is my problem.

What charge do you use in 45 Colt with 250-255 gr cast? My old Speer manual shows 23.5 as max, I use 23gr

I have only loaded H110 in 44 Mag with jacketed bullets. I do know for a good burn you need a good roll crimp for tart pressure to be where it needs to be and Hodgdon doesn't recommend reduced loads with H110 so there is a small window of the best loads with it. Great powder for full house loads though.

Hodgdon lists 18 for starting and 19 for max with the 300gr XTP. I am not sure what you need for that weight cast though. A lot of the time Cast Bullet will max out with a little more powder with the same weight bullet when compared to jacketed. A lot depends on the bullet though.

Give the bullet manufacture a call and see what they recommend

For the lighter bullets like 255 I use unique. 11.0 for Ruger and 9.5 for Colt and clones. Note this is top loads.work up.

Lead bullets and jacketed bullets will have different needs in powder amount requirements. Lead bullets do not generally take as much pressure to engrave the rifling into the bullet thus pressure buildup there is less with a lead bullet. Also some led bullets will start moving easier from the pressure of the crimp.

I would still call the bullet manufacture, most of those guys have loading info for their bullets.

I can't even go that way.

Well that leaves them out.

For lighter loads with cast bullets I usually use Universal as the powder and have used it in the 44 for loads up to 300 gr cast bullets. Accurate powder has loads for 300gr cast with 5744 which I use a lot of in the 357 Max which is an easy to ignite powder.

Pokearound the links on NOE molds and there is a little data.

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/loaddata.php

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive/index.php/t-73371.html

Most of the data I see for H110 and cast bullets calls for gas checks on the bullet.

Thank you. I'll check them out.

I've worked up to 22 gr of h110 and I am still getting sooting. Any suggestions?

I get some sooting on my 357 shells at max pressure as well. Even when I start to see some flattening of primers, I'm still seeing it. What do your primers look like? Are your cases starting to stick?

It doesn't look too flat to me but I'm used to loading rifle. It seems to be cleaner burning now then when I started.

They slide out fairly easy. They don't fall out but come out easily enough.

Too me those look good. Keep going up the ladder until you start to see signs of pressure. either sticking cases, flattened primers, or craters around the firing pin. As soon as you see one of those signs, stop. The last one before you started to see pressure is Max load. Now, just because it is max load will not mean that it is best accuracy.

I understand about the accuracy. Im just not used to cast, handguns, and h110. I didn't think I could get this far over max with a handgun round. I may load a few of the 21 and 22 and see how they shoot.

Do you have a chronograph?

I'd like to see Chad or Jason or someone who knows more than I do Chime in on this thread, because I have always been bothered by sooting on my 357 cases when I know I am at or near max pressure.

Yes but I didn't use it. Its a magnetospeed and a pain to use on the 3.75" barrel.

Had a 44 Mag lever action that would actually split cases and never seal off. I had two identical Marlin 1894s, one would, one wouldn’t. Same load. The problem was an oversized chamber. I found from research that it’s fairly common on Marlins and it’s a toss up when you buy it.

That’s a long way of saying you may need to slug your cylinders and see what you have.

Also If the cylinder/chamber is too big you might not see pressure signs until the case [censored] the bed. Do you have calipers to measure with?