Got to rethink my house gun load

[getsome]

My house gun is a 5 inch barrel S&W 629 .44 mag revolver...I don't enjoy shooting full house mag loads and generally load mag shells with .44 special loads for home defense...My last loads used some 240 grain JHP remington bullets and a powder charge to equal .45 ACP velocity something like 900 fps or so...Well last weekend the wife was gone shopping and my neighbor was also gone for the weekend so I decided to do a red neck ballistic test of one of the rounds in the backyard to see how much they would penetrate and expand so I got 3 old towels and folded them and under this was three 2" inch wet phone books on top to two 2x6 pices of scrap lumber resting on top of a 5 gal bucket full of water....Now I was thinking the round would stop perhaps in one of the pieces of board but much to my surprise it went through everything then through the bottom of the bucket and I dug the bullet out of about 6 inchs of frozen dirt and it didnt expand at all...Now this got me to thinking that I might need to reconcider this as a house gun due to over penetration...Unfortunatully there are not many choices in factory ammo in .44 special....I guess the lesson learned here is that many of the calibers we might think of as mid level will over penetrate in case of a shot inside a house even if you do hit the BG

[Bawanna]

Maybe just load some straight lead bullets as long as your keeping the velocities down in the 900fps range or less. Some of the softer lead bullets would expand nicely and probably not over penetrate but would be good to do the same test again to make sure.
Using the 44 special is a good start too although if your reloading you can really detune the 44 mag too. Sometimes you even want to add buffer material to the case to make sure the powder stays down on the primer. Don't want to under load either, sometimes worse than a overload.

[getsome]

Thats a good idea on the soft lead bullets and the buffer....I usually stuff a little wad of paper towel on top of the powder charge to keep the powder down, don't know if it helps anything but it couldn't hurt either... Now that I think about it I remember what I did... Back during the ammo shortage I bought a box of Winchester white box .44 mag from Wally World and pulled the bullets and dumped the mag powder and loaded the new shells and bullets back up with Universal Clays at a mid .44 special level...I'm thinking the problem is with the bullets being a hard lead and not really designed to expand even though they were hollow point....I'm going to buy some good Hornady or Remington Golden Saber bullets and try them in the same test and I bet they will be much more likely to expand...

[Bawanna]

I loaded a bunch of the Hornady's way back when. I'll try to look thru my book and see what I did back then. I don't recollect any true penetration test like you performed for comparison but I got the load data and accuracy records.
You paper towel material didn't catch on fire when you shot those? That would be kind of cool. Buffer and a light for follow up shots?
I know it got to where no one wanted to hunt around me, they'd put me on a stand and I'd get bored in about 2 minutes and then start squirel hunting with my 29 or my Blackhawk. Didn't seem to bother the deer none, never did see any.

[getsome]

Naaa no big fireball effect but that would be cool if it did...:eek:...I know what you mean about the hunting thing...I never was one to be able to sit still very long and would get down and walk around.....Never did see much of anything either...I like what Ron White says about deer hunting...You take your bullet and mount two little headlights and a horn on it and the deer will literally jump out in front of the shot...:cool:

[100percent]

I bet that you hit the nail on the head, the 44 mag bullets like to fly at magnum speed in order to open. Then again I think expansion is over rated. When you punch a .429" hole you are going to deflate the water jug (on both sides) or what ever you are shooting at.

Comment on powder. Many powders about require a stuffed case to light up evenly. Some don't care much. I have not used the Universal clays. Winchester 231 seems very even no matter how much powder is in a case. If you are looking for a case load and not much speed and lead bullets consider Trail Boss. Also note that bullets cast for 44 mag will be pretty hard and will want considerable velocity to settle in the rifling when shot. I have tried wadding in large cases and have not been impressed with reliability. I think some of the powder got in front of my wadding.

I have shot fired 40sw cases in my 44mag. They weigh about 75 grains. Load them so that the rim is at the back They are kind of cookie cutters.

What ever you make up for HD loads make sure that they are reliable. For my HD an AR is ideal, your choice of a 44mag is great. It makes a pretty good club too.

[Tilos]

I have topped off light loads with creme of wheat cereal (uncooked:rolleyes:).
But CAUTION is needed here as it WILL increase pressure.

And please, only try this if you are an experienced reloader and never in a bottle neck rifle caliber.

Caution, I'm talking not even light loads...puff loads is a better term here.

Edited to add..............

Oh, you actually meter the cereal thru a secondary powder measure for consistencey to fill the case just above the bullet base position for some SLIGHT compression.
Again CAUTION is needed here, but this is way more repeatable than some "wadded up paper towel":D.
Just made sure you meter in the POWDER 1st:eek:

Caution,
Tilos