to anyone that has. 44 16” leveraction, im looking for factory loads that are subsonic from 16” barrel. I ordered hornady #9070 180 xtp 1000 fps. I hope they will stay sub in carbine. Any info is greatly appreciated. Running a tirant. 45
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Winchester 16” leveraction 44
- Thread starter Tiamat
- Start date
is that a 44 special load or 44 mag? never mind I just googled it and it's special. They should be fine, depending up on the length of barrel, temp and altitude, the actual velocity/speed changes. If it's 1000 out of your rifle you should be good to go. but the rated velocity could be from a pistol with a 6" barrel so your speed could be 1100 out of a rifle, etc.
there are conversion charts online that you can use. I found one that just shows the speed of sound at sea level with different temperatures. at 32F it was 1087fps at 95F it's 1155fps.
http://convertalot.com/speed_sound_calculator.html
I have a 45 Ghost in jail and I talked to Dead Air about shooting 44 special subs thru a lever rifle and they said subs would be fine. I reload so I will just pick the right bullet/powder combo to see what works in the rifle as it'll still be a few months before I see the Ghost.
there are conversion charts online that you can use. I found one that just shows the speed of sound at sea level with different temperatures. at 32F it was 1087fps at 95F it's 1155fps.
http://convertalot.com/speed_sound_calculator.html
I have a 45 Ghost in jail and I talked to Dead Air about shooting 44 special subs thru a lever rifle and they said subs would be fine. I reload so I will just pick the right bullet/powder combo to see what works in the rifle as it'll still be a few months before I see the Ghost.
“Ballistics by the Inch” didn’t test any heavy bullet loads for the 44 special, but they do have a handy chart showing actual chronograph velocities fired from real world weapons ranging from little short derringers to 20 inch barrel lever action rifles.
For the inch-by-inch cutting and chronograph get tests, they used a break- open action Thompson/Center with a barrel starting from 18 inches, cut down to 2 inches, one inch at a time, cut at the range.
http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/44special.html
It looks like the difference in muzzle velocity between a 4 inch barrel 44 special and a barrel length anywhere between 13 inches and 16 inches would give you 300 ft./s difference.
So as you search the internet, if you find anybody who reports getting 750 to 800 ft./s from a 3” to 5” inch barreled revolver, that would be a load that may work out to be subsonic in your 16 inch carbine.
For the inch-by-inch cutting and chronograph get tests, they used a break- open action Thompson/Center with a barrel starting from 18 inches, cut down to 2 inches, one inch at a time, cut at the range.
http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/44special.html
It looks like the difference in muzzle velocity between a 4 inch barrel 44 special and a barrel length anywhere between 13 inches and 16 inches would give you 300 ft./s difference.
So as you search the internet, if you find anybody who reports getting 750 to 800 ft./s from a 3” to 5” inch barreled revolver, that would be a load that may work out to be subsonic in your 16 inch carbine.
I wish gun companies that make a lever action big bore rifles would team up with ammunition companies and produce 44 special and 45 Colt subsonic loads with very heavy bullets —I’m talking 300 grains pushed to a velocity that would only be 1050 ft./s from a rifle up to 20 inch barrel length.
However, the rifles made specifically for this application would only have 16 inch barrels, and they would have an unusually fast rifling twist to stabilize the long bullets.
But for marketing reasons, I think the ammo should have a gunpowder charge that would keep them subsonic even if somebody used them in their 20-24” inch barreled rifle that they had threaded for suppressor use. I’m not sure if that would require downloading the round from what you would put in it if you knew that only 16 inch barrel guns would be shooting it. Perhaps not, because it could be that 16 inches is enough for a complete burn of all the gun powder anyway
However, the rifles made specifically for this application would only have 16 inch barrels, and they would have an unusually fast rifling twist to stabilize the long bullets.
But for marketing reasons, I think the ammo should have a gunpowder charge that would keep them subsonic even if somebody used them in their 20-24” inch barreled rifle that they had threaded for suppressor use. I’m not sure if that would require downloading the round from what you would put in it if you knew that only 16 inch barrel guns would be shooting it. Perhaps not, because it could be that 16 inches is enough for a complete burn of all the gun powder anyway
I plan to find someone to thread my 96/44 Ruger and will develop some subsonic loads for it. I've got 240 and 300gr XTP's but ideally would like to find a good load for cast and powder coated bullets (I have 240 and 300gr molds as well). Should be fun to have a short throw lever gun with a mag full of 300gr cast bullets at 1000fps. Pretty sure the Ruger is 1:20 twist (faster than most 1:38 44 mag rifles AFAIK) so I'm hoping i'm good with the heavies. 18.5" barrel I think.
click THUMP click THUMP click THUMP click THUMP
click THUMP click THUMP click THUMP click THUMP
I shoot a 300gr nosler jhp with 7.5ish gr unique out of a 44 mag case in a 77/44. Tried but failed to bag a deer with it this year. Also found a very comical load with trailboss that poops that bullet out at 450fps. Rainbow slugs at 100 but you can see the bullet in flight when backlit.
I really wanted a lever gun but none have a proper twist for heavy bullets.
I really wanted a lever gun but none have a proper twist for heavy bullets.
