which do you prefer and Y. just ordered some h110 and lilgun,few primers,brass for my 44 bhk. now all i need is bullets. i no nothing about cast but it seem like a lot of people like them.

Havng used both, I prefer a good jacketed bullet. Except when hunting huge game such as Buffalo (all makes and models). Going after dangerous game I would use both. A premium jacketed bullet behind the shoulder then hard casts for any quartering shot, Texas heart shots, or a shot to the shoulder.
Ed

One of the main reasons folks like cast is because they are much less expensive than jacketed bullets. I practice a lot with cast and do hunt with them out of revolvers - I never practice much with jacketed bullets except to zero the gun.

I'm with Gary on this one. I shoot cast bullets in my Anaconda for the economy. However, I have been using my Contender (7X30 Waters) for most of my hunting, and I use only jacketed bullets due to the velocity.

I too like cast for my .44 mag. 240 gr cast are cheaper than jacketed for plinking, but I also like cast for hunting. Mind you I have never taken a big game animal with a handgun, but at least in theory I like 320 gr hard-cast gas check wnfp for hunting in my neck of the woods, primarily for moose, with black bear a secondary target. By the way, I pay as much for the heavy cast as I do for 270 gr Speer Gold Dots for my .444 Marlin Contender. I'd shoot the cast in it but the maker of the muzzle brake said no gas checks.

I personnaly shoot alot of cast bullets at the range. I even have some Penn 320gr cast 44 bullets. I bought a lot of the BRP bullets in 44 and 45 with every intention of hunting with them. However, everytim I head to the woods my guns are stoked with good old Hornady XTPs. So now I have just expensive plinking bullets

Vance,
What kind of powder and how much do you put behind your 240gr cast

Right now I'm using Unique, but I don't remember how much. I'll take a look & let you know tommorow.

That all depends on what you want to do. Most cast bullets that cost less work best at reduced velocities. Unless you get specailty cast that are hard and or with gas-checks you will have to keep velocity down under 12,000 fps or suffer the consequence of significant leading. Heavy for caliber cast kill by creating a big deep wound channel. Elmer Kieth (arguably the father of the 44 mag)specialized in hard cast bullets heavier (usually heavier that 255 gr.) in the 44 mag. He pushed them to rediculous levels in strong guns. (But he also blew some guns up doing it). Jacketed bullets can be pushed faster without leading but most expand more and therefore penetrate less, they kill with shock and tissue damage. There are exceptions to both generalities of course.
I load my Ruger 45 Colt to very near 44 mag levels with 250 grain Horn. XTP's for hunting and use 255 grain Shooters Choice with Unique and TiteGroup laoded to 1050 fps for plinking and practice. But I'd be very comfortable with them on deer, say at 50 yrds.
The two powders you mention will likely work best with jacketed bullets. LilGun did not produce good results when loaded down to cast velocities in my gun.It does work well with jacketed bullets. And W296(the same powder as H110) was a real disaster when tried with cast. This powder works best at high pressures. It has to be laoded at suggested max and with a heavy crimp. Lighter powder charges will get you "squib" loads (some of mine hit only 4,000 fps!)and result in severe residue fouling of cylinder and chamber. I think you could use it in hot laods with heavier, hard cast bullets (and of course jacketed bullets at max loads) but there are better choices for run of the mill lighter cast.

Builder45, sorry to take so long to get back to you. Been fighting a bad cold & hadn't even made it out to the garage to look at my data.
The load I was using was 9.1 gr of Unique behind a 240 cast bullet. It was a nothing special load, pretty much the first one I tried. Accuracy was so-so with my gun, but recoil was very mild. Didn't chronograph it.

By the way Mstake, H110 works great for me with the 300 & 320 gr cast bullets in the 1250-1350 fps range. I've gone as high as 21.5 gr, but settled on 20.5 as the most efficient. With an 8&3/8 barrel it shot 1356fps avg. 21.0 & 21.5 both shot 1362 fps, virtually no gain, so the powder was being wasted. 20.0 shot 1278 fps.
If you're looking for a heavy hunting load, start around 20.0 & you SHOULD be OK. Consult the manual first. I think 22.0 is max in the Hodgon manual, but DON"T trust my memory!!!!!!

I have used h110 and w296 behind heavy cast bullets in both my s&w 500 and my custom 475 linebaughs. In my 500 I've built loads with both powders with velocities running 1800 and 1850 with 370 grain cast performance bullets producing 3/4" groups @ 50 yds. With my 475's I'm getting 1350 with a 425gr hard cast and 1425 with 375gr, with accuracy at 2" @ 50yds. (groups were shot of a bench)