For the Skeeter fans

[BobM]

Now that my reloading rig is mostly dialed in, I’ve been sorting through a 5 gallon bucket of mixed caliber brass and plastic coffee cans of caliber specific brass I’ve been accumulating for, oh…15 years or so. I knew I had some .45 Colt brass mixed in that bucket and was planning on eventually getting a 4” Blackhawk to make use of said brass.

What I’d forgotten about was the can of .44 Special brass I’d stashed away after the last time I swore off .44 caliber revolvers. Turns out I’ve got at least 250 once fired cases which is probably 4 times the number of .45 Colt cases I’ve found so far. Plus I think I’ve got at least 1 bag of Starline .44 Russian brass thanks to some posts by @Lost River over the past couple of years. And a set of .44 Special dies because the Magnum is a no-go for me.

So now I’m rolling my pennies and looking at my options while reading up on and getting reacquainted with the .44 Special. Which lead me to this:

THE .44 SPECIAL …
THE PERFECT LOAD?

You should probably go with the 45 and offer your Special brass for sale here. (Thinking that I should shoot my Bisley Flattop more often).

[1911Nut]

Just received a call from the gunsmith at Wyoming Gun Company advising me that they have finished the action work on my Ruger Blackhawk 5 1/2" Bisley .44 Special that I picked up a couple of months ago, and it is shipping back to my FFL here in AZ tomorrow.

I have some new and once-fired Starline brass loaded with Oregon Trail 240 gr. SWC's over 7.0 and 7.5 grains of Alliant Unique powder awaiting. Looking forward to accuracy and chronograph testing.

[awp_101]

I got back into hand loading recently after 17 years . Being able to afford to shoot the big bore revolvers helped send me down that path , 44 Special mainly. The Skeeter load is really hard to beat for what it is and the accuracy , although I just got some velocity data from a few other powders that where surprising .

Cost was a big reason I got out of .44 Special so finding that brass was a pleasant surprise.

You should probably go with the 45 and offer your Special brass for sale here.

If I find enough Colt brass in this bucket, I'm fairly certain I'll end up with both. This afternoon I found 50-100 .45 AutoRim cases I traded into 10-15 years ago so that helps but I also found the 2 bags of .44 Russian (200 cases total) I bought late last year which pushes me towards the .44 first.

[Colt191145lover]

Just received a call from the gunsmith at Wyoming Gun Company advising me that they have finished the action work on my Ruger Blackhawk 5 1/2" Bisley .44 Special that I picked up a couple of months ago, and it is shipping back to my FFL here in AZ tomorrow.


I have some new and once-fired Starline brass loaded with Oregon Trail 240 gr. SWC's over 7.0 and 7.5 grains of Alliant Unique powder awaiting. Looking forward to accuracy and chronograph testing.

My 5.5 inch Bisley seems to have a quick barrel on it. Pardon my scribbles but this is what I got a few days ago.
Load was with Matt's Bullets 255gr coated bullets in Starline brass and CCI standard large pistol primers.

[1911Nut]

My 5.5 inch Bisley seems to have a quick barrel on it. Pardon my scribbles but this is what I got a few days ago.
Load was with Matt's Bullets 255gr coated bullets in Starline brass and CCI standard large pistol primers.

Thanks for that info. It will be inteersting to compare with the 240 gr. bullets.

[Colt191145lover]

Forgot I had some with a 240gr Missouri bullet company coated bullet with 7.5 gr of Unique.

1-1033 fps
2-999 fps
3-1057 fps
4-1029 fps

Average - 1030 fps
S. D.- 23.7 fps
E. S.- 58 fps.

These were random plinkers I wasent planning on testing when I had the Lab Radar set up, I think a few of those had older Remington primers in them. Would explain the variations in velocity.

[BobM]

Just received a call from the gunsmith at Wyoming Gun Company advising me that they have finished the action work on my Ruger Blackhawk 5 1/2" Bisley .44 Special that I picked up a couple of months ago, and it is shipping back to my FFL here in AZ tomorrow.

I have some new and once-fired Starline brass loaded with Oregon Trail 240 gr. SWC's over 7.0 and 7.5 grains of Alliant Unique powder awaiting. Looking forward to accuracy and chronograph testing.

Nifty. I have a 4 5/8” version, seriously considering getting a 5 1/2” also.

[Colt191145lover]

I have a 4 5/8 as well, I'm waiting on a bullet shipment to test the same loads in it and a 4 inch S&W model 29-10

[awp_101]

What primers are y’all using for the Skeeter load? I don’t think I have any LPP on hand…😱

[Colt191145lover]

What primers are y’all using for the Skeeter load? I don’t think I have any LPP on hand…😱

Standard CCI and Remington so far ,picking up some Federal's soon.