Why do you want to use black powder in a calibre which was developed with and for smokeless?
Fred

My understanding is that 1Fg and 2Fg are for larger bores, and rifles. 3Fg would be appropriate for the .44 Magnum.

I have tried all three granulations in quite a few rifle and revolver cartridges to see how original black powder load duplications from the old books performed, using original balloon head and later smaller capacity solid head brass.
The different granulations do give different results.
And the old catalogs from the different ammo and black powder suppliers like WRA, Rem-UMC, Dupont often differed on the granulations they themselves mentioned for use for a particular cartridge, and it's not always mentioned.

Longcarbine wrote on Mar 31^st, 2017 at 4:47pm:


Pretty good with round ball, bot not really so with conicals.  Rifle and handgun is also different...  Still, both should work acceptably.

George Babits wrote on Apr 1^st, 2017 at 9:31am:


What problems did you run into.

The 44 Magnum being a straight wall case with black powder - as is incurred with any straight wall case - will generate substantial blow back if the reload charged with low powder charges and the case crimp is light.
OK, my recommendation is Olde Eynsford FFFg, charged so the base of the bullet not seated touches the top of the charge that has not been settled with no wad.  Then just seat the bullet that compresses the powder no more than 0.25" and put a hard factory crimp on the case

Approximate solid head case capacities in grains H2O:
44 S&W Russian       22.76
44 S&W Special        29.61
45 S&W Schofield     30.87
44 Colt                    30.93
44 Rem Mag             33.94
45 Colt                    37.45
44 WCF (44-40)       38.42
Add in the old balloon-head cases and you've got more case capacities to add to the list.
All of the above, except the 44 Mag, were factory loaded with black powder, using various powder grades and powder granulations from various powder suppliers to the ammo manufacturers.
There were a wide variety of bullet weights and styles, black powder charges and granulations used for those cartridges...  the standard full charge loads using the standard configuration and weight solid and hollow-point bullets, the reduced loads using lighter weight "sharp corner lead" etc for mid-range target, and light conical and round balls for gallery use.
Standard rifling and revolver twists varied among manufacturers.

Here is a very small sampling from early WRA catalogs...     
     Dupont Rifle F.F.G. shown as suitable for:
44 Win (44-40)
38-55 Short Range
32-40 Short Range
32 S&W Long
32 Win (32-20)
25-20 Single Shot
25-20 Win
22 Winchester Single Shot (22 WCF)
     Dupont Rifle F.G. shown as suitable for:
44 S&W Russian
44 S&W American
44 Webley
38-55
32-40
32 S&W Long
25-20 Single Shot

Note that on the abbreviated listing above, the 38-55 and 32-40 used different granulations for their different respective loadings.
Also note that the 32 S&W Long and 25-20 Single Shot are shown using both granulations without any notation of different loadings.
Be glad you chose the 44 Mag instead of the 32 S&W Long, as there is an additional footnote for the 32 S&W Long that states... Can also use Hazard Powder Company's "Kentucky Rifle F.F.F.G." , which shows that WRA used three different granulations of black powder in that little bitty case.
Winchester (and others) didn't use one specific granulation of black powder for a specific cartridge case.
You'll have to experiment with the different granulations to work up a black powder load that works for you in your 44 Mag case in your particular gun.