If I were going to get into reloading, I would want to do it for my 44mag. Cost is about a dollar a pop now.
On the other hand, the arthritis in my right thumb makes it pretty painful to shoot that 44 much. I'm thinking maybe I could load it with a lesser amt of powder, (after all, I'm not shooting a Kodiak bear) and that, and the cheaper price may make it so I could shoot it more.
Also, before my mom died last year, I could go into her back yard and shoot all I wanted to. Now, I don't go to the house much (got it rented) and they take a dim view of shooting in my back yard here in beautiful downtown Muscle Shoals.
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Yep. I bought a 25 rounds of Black Talon .44 mag for a trip out west in ‘93. Still have them.
I doubt I’ve fired over a couple hundred rounds of full house .44 mag loads both factory and hot reloads. But I’ve fired around a thousand of reduced loads replicating the .44 special.
Reduced loads puts less stress on the brass and leads to longer shot life. First thing that usually gives way is the mouth/neck will crack and the brass will ring like a bell and hot loads will cause that in as few as a couple of loads.
I knew a guy who blew up a S&W M29. He thought he was loading a compressed load of a slow burning powder but he mistakenly reloaded a fast burning powder. Those familiar... Bullseye instead of 2400. It blew not only the chamber out but the chambers on either side. And of course the top strap. I’ve a picture of it. He survived intact but his pride did not.
S&W replaced the gun.
Fortunately, I’ve a 100 yard range in my yard. Back stop is made from stacked truck tires filled with sand three rows deep and five high plus a pine forest behind that. So far, not even 7mm mags have penetrated the first row.
Safety first.
All guns are cleared and not handled anytime anyone is down range.