Originally Posted by
Old School Big Bore
I got my first Bulldog, a 3", in '75 and added the 4" Target Bulldog soon afterward. I worked with everything available at the time, from the Lee 116 gr WC (!) to their 255 gr SWC, including the 208 WC, 210 SWCHP and 210 SWC, and including a 429421. I went fairly hot with some of the development, and found that the 3" Bulldog likes to keyhole when you get too heavy a boolit going too fast; I theorize that the muzzle flip exerts a vertical rotation to the departing slug. I worked mostly with Bullseye and Unique. Two of the 116s over 6.0/Unique was a fairly tractable load and the "two holes for the price of one" won me a lot of bets against my agency's range creeps who were in the habit of sharking beer money out of rookies... The only jacketed bullet I ever got to expand worth beans was the (sadly discontinued) Speer 225 gr 3/4 jacket SWCHP. The similar 240 would almost go fast enough but I ran into the recoil wall with any of the 240s before they would 'work'. When Speer developed the GDHPs, they dropped the JSWCs like crazy girlfriends, but while they were available, I worked that bullet up in the 4" M29 to 10.0/Unique and carried that load forever. I still have a partial box that I load in the 29 when I carry it, and a precious few of the bullets rat-holed. I found out that both Jim Cirillo and Jerry Miculek had worked up that identical load; JM said it was his favorite .44 Mag load, and one year I killed the South Texas Mini-Slam with it - a whitetail, a javelina and a coyote. The fully exposed, butter-soft core just makes this genius bullet outstanding. If anyone still has any of those I'd sure like to buy 'em.
I eventually obtained the said M29 I carried for decades, and recently found a 4" 624 and had to rediscover that despite the N frame, the skinny barrel means the Skeeter loads are on the ragged edge of high-speed controllability and shooter comfort. I had some with 8.0/Unique and a 429421 and after shooting a few in the 624, ended up shooting them out of a pair of 4-5/8" Super Blackhawks and my B92, then loaded some with 7.0/Unique for the 624 instead.
When I warm the Bulldogs up lately, I use the Lee 208 WC, the Lee 180 RN, the RimRock 200 DEWC or similar over about 4.0-4.5/231. This shoots pretty mildly. But if I were going to carry either of my Bulldogs 'seriously' again, I would work with 231, 700X or TiteGroup, in the neighborhood of five-ish grains, and the M-P HBWC out of a fairly soft alloy, inverted 'cup point' style. The fifteen I put in the 3" Bulldog and its speedloaders when I carry it are of that type. The inverted HWBC shatters the first water jug, splits the second and stops in the fourth, with textbook blossoming of the hollow, and shoots to the sights as well as any other load I've tried in it.
Good luck finding your perfect Bulldog load - Ed <><