[.44 Special and .44 Magnum]

I've been a fan of the .44 for years, used it in a Redhawk shooting bowling pins, shot bullseye matches with the same, even shot my first deer with that wheelgun.  I  occasionally will shoot an IDPA match with a 629 that I had cut for full moon clips.  I was a dedicated .44 shooter for most of my years in SASS (I've retired from participating now).

 

I used various OM Vaqueros in .44 Mag and would load in either .44 Special or .44 Russian brass.  I typically used a 200 grain RNFP I cast from a Lee mold, but would sometimes use a 160 grain RNFP I bought from Fireball back when he was running a bullet casting business (great bullets, by the way).  When I was feeling the BP vibe, it would be cases full of BP and the 200 grain bullet, lubed with a homebrewed BP lube.

 

For rifles, my main rifle was a Marlin Cowboy II, back when they first made the .44 Magnum model, and it was slicked up by Bill Oglesby.  It'll feed Magnums, Specials, and even Russians if I use a longer nosed bullet (Russians work best with the 240 grain semi-wadcutters).  I've also had a .44 Rossi that fed both Specials and Magnums, and I had an 1866 Cimarron short rifle in .44 Special that I foolishly let a pard talk me out of (and I've regretted selling that one for years).

 

For loads, I used to use up Clays powder by the 8 lb keg, but the fall back load of 7 grains of Unique worked also.

[SOLD Non-SASS 1911 45ACP Springfield 4” Barrel]

Yep, it sure does.  I'm looking for an alloy framed version.  I've got a Stainless Ruger 'commander' sized and love the size, would like to lighten the load a bit.

 

Thanks for checking.

[SOLD Non-SASS 1911 45ACP Springfield 4” Barrel]

Is the lower frame steel or alloy.

[When to cock Hammer Doubles]

Back in the day I shot a Rossi Hammered double (sometimes).

 

Being a southpaw, after the shot I would switch the thumb of my strong hand and press the break lever to the right, break open the gun and as I was shucking the shells catch the right hammer and draw it back.  As I was loading the shells I would switch over and cock the right hammer back, close the gun up and get back to work.  After doing it a while, it became muscle memory and I wasn't even thinking about cocking the gun while reloading.

[Marlin 336 35 Remington $700]

Dang, a day late and a dollar short.  

 

I've been looking for one of those for a while now, and that was a fair price. 

 

If anything falls through, let me know.

 

[Retirement of Marlin 1894C]

Not a Marlin, but here's what I did to a Winchester 30-30 that I retired from the "Intermediate Long Range" game.

[500-Grain Bullets from a Marlin 1895?]

I have, and those loads killed on one end, wounded on the other.  I don't remember the power charge, but they had to be single loaded because the round was too long to run through the magazine.  I no longer see any reason to do so as the 405 grain loads I use do just fine for anything I need to do.

[This is what 5 years of cowboy action shooting looks like!]

I've moved brass in the other direction.  A while back I was at the scrap yard buying up some scrap wheel weights for bullet casting when I noticed some 55 gallon drums full of brass casings.  As an experiment, I bought a 5 gallon bucket full and was amazed at how many usable casings I got out of it.  I had a bunch of 9mm, .40 S&W, .38 Special, 5.56 and .45 ACPs.  Additionally I had dribs and drabs of things like .25 and .32 acp, some .458 WM, 30-06 and .308.  

 

I told a new reloader in our club about it, so he did the same thing, and then I traded him my 9mm for his .45 acp brass.  Worked out well for both of us.