What you will have to contend with is case length. In its most powerful loads, the .44 Mag is as sensitive to case length as a rifle can be. For the standard loads, the IPSC or pin-level loads and the standard hunting load, I don't trim brass. I make sure the cases are clean and not cracked, and I load them. The taper-crimp station on the "IPSC/Pin/Mag" diehead setup crimps evenly and consistently enough to hold the bullets. However, the 260-, 280- and 310-grain bullet loads need more. I trim the cases used for those loads to 1.275 inches. I also polish down the belling-stem diameter. In the standard diehead setup, the belling stem mikes at .427 inch while the diehead for the top loads has a belling stem that mikes .425. Additionally, I use a heavy roll crimp to keep the bullets in the case under the recoil.

The author has two dieheads set up to load .44 Magnum. One is for standard loads, the other for heavy-bullet, heavy-crimp loads.

The .44 Magnum uses large pistol primers. Unless the powder manufacturer specifies a magnum primer, I stick with standard primers.

At the basic level, we're talking loads that run at .44 Special or .45 ACP pressure levels. Maybe .45 ACP +P. But the difference between a 15,500-psi .44 Special load and a 23,000-psi .45 ACP +P load is nothing to the .44 Magnum case and the firearm for which it is chambered. The SAAMI ceiling for the .44 Magnum is 36,000 psi. You do not want to approach that with any of the fast-burning powders that are appropriate for the softer loads. Powders do not always respond in a linear fashion when you get out of their comfort zones. So do not try to equal factory full-power ammo while loading with Bullseye or other fast-burning powders.

My new favorite powder for the .44 Magnum is Titegroup. I have loading data in my reloading logbooks dating back to 1976. Back then we had few choices. Since everyone was trying to load to the maximum, there was little data except for slow-burning powders.

For general fun with a bigbore and plinking, I load 5.5 grains of Titegroup under a 240-grain lead semiwadcutter (like one of the ones from Oregon Trail) and plink away at 850 fps velocity. While it seems sedate, the load delivers a Power Factor of 204--stouter than almost every factory .45 ACP load.

Some great .44 Mag bullets, left to right: the 240-grain Oregon Trail, Berry 285, Oregon Trail 300 Truncated Cone and 310 True Shot.

For a lighter load, I substitute a 180-grain lead bullet and slow down even more to five grains of Titegroup. At its 925-fps velocity, the load just makes major for USPSA/IPSC shooting, the cost in powder is cheap, and the bullet shape is conducive to quick reloading. Were I loading for better accuracy--say, for a match where I'd want to use jacketed bullets--a 180-grain Hornady XTP over 6.3 grains of HP-38 would deliver just under 950 fps--a soft load with plenty of accuracy.

The loading manuals do not have a lot of data on powder-puff loads for the .44 Magnum. One approach you can take is to use .44 Special loading data and load from the top. For example, Vihtavouri shows its "softest" load with N-320, a 180-grain Hornady XTP, as being 10.2 grains and 1,300 fps. (It is all of that!) If you want a softer load, the .44 Special data tops out at 7.5 grains of N-320 for 1,033 fps. In the longer Magnum case, 7.5 grains and a 180 Hornady delivers 959 fps out of my 4-inch Model 29.

Loading the .44 Magnum to full-power levels is what everyone has looked toward for decades. When it first came out, there were dire warnings that you could injure yourself shooting a full-power magnum. When the Dirty Harry craze hit, you had to get on a waiting list to find out if the predictions of injury were true. In the late 1970s you could walk into more than one gunshop and buy a Smith & Wesson M29 that had been fired a grand total of six times. I remember one such incident: A fellow dressed in a suit stepped to the firing line at the state range in the summer of 1974, a box of .44 Magnums in one hand, a pistol case in the other. Six one-handed full-power .44 Magnum shots later (with no hearing protection), he zipped the 4-inch M29 back into the case and left. I never saw him at the range again.