RS Powder choice for Marlin 1894

[Plecotus]

I recently purchased a Marlin 1894 in .44 Magnum (20" barrel) from a chap on here.  I'm very pleased with it.  He gave me some Red Dot and some bullets as part of the deal and as a consequence, I've been using 6.5gr of red dot under a 200gn bullet for target shooting at 25m.  I'm currently using Starline brass and CCI large pistol primers.  This combination appears to shoot well.

One thing I've noticed though is that compared to other people I shoot with, my home loads seem to be very dirty, producing quite a lot of smoke and very mucky cases.  When I've finished this tub of Red Dot I'd like to try one of the RS powders, not least because I use them for all my other calibres and find them to be excellent....concistant and very clean.  I was planning to use RS30....unless there is something more appopriate mroe expert people think I should be using?

Problem is, I can only seem to find load data for .44 Magunum for pistols.....i.e.short barrels.  I have read that the characteristics of RS30 are very smiliar to N110.  My Lyma suggests a starting load of 18gr of N110 for a 240grn bulllet so I presume something close to that would be OK for RS30.  What I'm not sure about though is by how much I can reduce the charge still further to create a low-power target load for short range.

Suggestions and thoughts welcome.

[Catch-22]

I too have a 20" .44mag under leaver, just a cheap Rossi 92 for range giggles.

Im using 240gn lead bullets from Shell House - they're very good.

Ive started using Viht N340. It's a bit slower than your Red Dot but I like it because it gives the versatility of loading powder puff .44spl loads or mid range .44mag power loads. Red Dot is very fast. The sootyness is likely due to a lack of powder generating enough pressure to seal the case wall in the chamber. Moving to a mid burning powder and upping the charge will likely help you with that.

Rs30 looks to be similar (ish) to Vhit N340, meaning you should have the flexibility to make lighter loads through to mid/upper loads. You'll run into pressure problems if trying to hot load them, but I gather that's not your intention anyway. I've read good things about RS30.

 Personally I wouldn't worry about RS30 pistol data because it is a pistol cartridge after all! I would start with mid range charge weights and work up. Just note that for each given charge, you'll get a bit more actual velocity as you have a 20" barrel rather than the usual 6-7" pistol barrels.

[Plecotus]

You make a very valid point about picking a powder that I could use for both light, short distance target loads and heavier loads for longer range.   I've been looking at the comparison table (see below) and am now wondering if RS20 or RS24 would be a better bet.  I've run RS24 through QuickLoad this afternoon and 10gr predicts a MV of 1,185 fps, which is very similar to what I'm getting with Red Dot and 15gr would increase that to 1,610.  I always take QL predictions for RS powders with a pinch of salt though because measured velocities vs predicted have been up to 170 fps in variance.

You don't shoot with either MDRC or ODRC do you, Catch-22?

[Plecotus]

You make a very valid point about picking a powder that I could use for both light, short distance target loads and heavier loads for longer range.   I've been looking at the comparison table (see below) and am now wondering if RS20 or RS24 would be a better bet.  I've run RS24 through QuickLoad this afternoon and 10gr predicts a MV of 1,185 fps, which is very similar to what I'm getting with Red Dot and 15gr would increase that to 1,610.  I always take QL predictions for RS powders with a pinch of salt though because measured velocities vs predicted have been up to 170 fps in variance.

https://www.reload-swiss.com/en/media/editor_media/reload_swiss/pdf/Burnrate_Chart_dt.pdf

You don't shoot with either MDRC or ODRC do you, Catch-22?

[Catch-22]

Yep I've heard that QL isn't particularly accurate with RS powders. Best look at their reloading data to be on the safe side 💥

Before getting into N340, I actually wanted to pickup a few tubs of RS20 because the burn rate was right around the ubiquitous Unique / Herco burn rate. Those powders have a very good reputation for both accuracy and flexibility (able to make up light & mid loads) for the .357/.44 spl -and mag/.45LC cartridges. For me, light to mid range flexibility, I think RS20, RS24, N330 and N340 would be perfect choices.

I didn't really fancy going with RS12 or similar fast burning powders as they give you little margin for error before generating high pressure. The fast powders generally have poor case/fill ratios too. I also didn't fancy going with the RS30 or N110 equivalents because they're for full power and again don't give the flexibility to do light loads like the midrange RS20, RS24, N330, N340 powders do.

Yep, im a member of ODRC. I've been out of the game for a while as my rifle took an age to finish (due to the original smith who went rogue), did my back in and having two young kids. But when I am on the range, I enjoy Rogiet, Sennybridge F & J3a for the long range or Sennybrige G for the underleaver fun!

Are you a member of ODRC too?

[Plecotus]

I'm hoping they'll address the rather strange RS powder anomalies in the next QL release.....or that RS themselves will update their own QL data file but no lick yet. 

In the absence of commentary from anyone else, I am going to pick up a tub of RS24 next time I'm in a place where I can do that.  I think the nearest place that stocks it is HPS in Newent.  I have work around Gloucester from time to time so not a major detour.  I'll let you know how it goes.

I've been getting back into shooting after a break of nearly 30 years.  Been a member of ODRC for about 2 years now and I really enjoy it.  I'm a regular at Warminster and Rogiet now (was there on Saturday) and have managed J3A once thus far to.  I'm really looking forward to giving my No4 and Marlin a go on G range too.  Only real pain about ODRC is that many of the shoots are on weekdays.  Not a problem for me running my own business but my local shooting mate who really enjoys outdoor longer range stuff has recent;y gone from being self-employed to working for a corporate so he struggles to make as many shoots as he did.

Let me know when you are back to attending and we can say hi.

[Catch-22]

Nice - will do.

im actually in the opposite situation as your mate. Until recently I was doing the Mon-Fri routine but now contracting so I've a lot more flexibility. I've never made the Warminster shoots due to work during the week and lack a 2nd car atm. But I am hoping to make more weekday shoots - Warminster is definitely on my list to visit. Still a bit tricky with two girls under the age of 5yrs though.

If you see someone shooting a big boomer that looks like it's made from a few sections of scaffold tube stuck together...that'll be me! 😁