For extreme accuracy as well as power, Hornady XTP bullets get the nod. Left to right: Hornady 240 XTP, Oregon Trail 240, Hornady XTP 300 and Oregon Trail True Shot 310 WFP.

Loading data for full-power 240s is easy to find. It is what everyone aspires to load and shoot. For the longest time I stuck with 2400, loading 18.5 grains over a lead or jacketed bullet. You can expect more than 1,300 fps out of an 8-inch barrel, just about 1,300 from a 6 and a very noisy 1,275 fps from a 4-inch barrel with that load (and a bunch of unburned powder). A much cleaner load is 9.5 grains of Titegroup, for 1,200 fps. The Hodgdon book shows that more powder gets you more velocity, but I prefer not to crowd the pressure limits with fast powders.

One load I am fond of in the 240-grain bullets is an old one: a 240 Hornady JSP (I lucked onto a bucketful at a gun show at a good price years ago) and 9.5 of WW-231. It delivers 1,056 fps out of a 4-inch M29 and is not painful to shoot. When I was offered a drum of HP-38 by a retiring reloader, I looked into loading data for it. I found that, for all intents and purposes, HP-38 and WW-231 are the same, so I've loaded that ever since. I've spent a lot of time on the range plinking at the 100-yard gong with that load, and if I hold at 12 o'clock I'll hit it every time.

If I need more than 1,050 fps, I'll go to a slower powder, and that powder often is Vihtavuori, either N-350 or N-105. N-350 is a moderate-speed powder that you can use to get to 1,300 fps and beyond (but not much beyond). In a 4-inch gun I can get 1,284 fps, and in an 8-inch gun I can stretch that to 1,321 fps. In both guns the load is 12.6 grains.

I can see someone in the back, scratching his head. "Add 50 percent more powder just to get 100 fps?" I learned from loading rifles that trying to stretch a fast-burning power for "just 100 fps more" can leave you with a rifle in which the bolt is locked shut. I don't need to replicate that in a handgun. If I feel the need for serious velocity, I load N-105, but I reserve it for Rugers-- Super Blackhawks, Redhawks, Super Redhawks. The top load I shoot is 16.1 of N-105 under a 240-grain JHP like the Hornady. It gives me 1,411 fps out of the long barrels of those guns. I do not shoot the load out of my S&W 29s. Even if they are up to it (we're talking a 338 PF), I am not up to it.

There is someone out there who is muttering, "A 240 at 1,400 fps? It isn't so bad. I could shoot it out of a Smith." Well, you're a tougher man than I am. I prefer that on the drive home from the range I be able to feel the steering wheel of the truck. I reserve the hottest 240 loads and all the heavier bullet-weight loads for Rugers.

While I've been loading the .44 Magnum for many years, I have not spent as much time loading the heavyweights as others have. Launching a 300-grain or heavier bullet at supersonic velocities struck me for a long time as riflework. However, the increase in interest in loading for them required that I take a look. Many range reloading and chronographing sessions for other calibers can last hours and have me launching hundreds of rounds over the screens. Testing the 300s was a 20-rounds-per-session exercise. Any more than that and I found my trigger control was seriously diminished. However, I did manage to work my way through a series of loads, enough to produce interesting data.

My time was spent with Hodgdon and Vihtavouri powders. I found that they all worked as advertised, and they were all more than I found fun to shoot for more than a few rounds. Two good ones that work well are the new Oregon Trail True Shot 310-grain Wide-Flat cast gas-check bullets and 21 grains of H-110. Out of a 7.5-inch Ruger, it will deliver 1,311 fps for an impressive 406 PF. The Berry Bullets 285-grain plated bullet and 20.6 grains of H-4227 delivers 1,292 fps.

The slowest Vihtavouri handgun powder is best when running super-heavies over the chrono (and through deer, bear and elk), and thus N-110 gets the nod for Hornady 300 XTP and Oregon Trail Trueshot 310 WFN bullets. And 17.7 grains of N-110 under either delivers velocities that bracket my old radio-station frequency: 1,269 and 1,271 fps, respectively.

WARNING: The loads shown here are safe only in the guns for which they were developed. Neither the author nor Primedia assumes any liability for accidents or injury resulting from the use or misuse of this data. Shooting reloads may void any warranty on your firearm.