44 mag bullet test

[Rick]

Did you radius the nose?

 

[Brad]

No. I left it as is. I decided that I could agonize over minute details forever or get a mould to make bullets to shoot.
I can always take what I learn from shooting this bullet and make some changes in the future. I bet Tom will make me another....

 

[Brad]

Not sure why it is the 45-287B but that is what it is. I sure won't get it anything bigger than than .431!

 

[Ben]

Looks like something someone would draw up from Tulsa.

 

[Brad]

Drawing is right, name is just a bit misleading? I'm sure it is a typo by Tom and nothing more. Either that or he is burying this so nobody else can find it?

 

[AMTom]

It was late. I had drawn about a dozen designs. I was getting dizzy and thought for a moment it was a 45...

I'll change it.

 

[Brad]

Order has been placed. Will report back when I have the mould in hand.
I ordered a new mould for the 375 Win too.

 

[Brad]

Hey Rick, I have 100 445 cases coming from Midway. Will trim them once they get here. That isn't going to be very fun.

 

[Rick]

Do you want to have fun or shoot great long range groups? I've been told golf is fun.

 

[Brad]

Both? I'm kinda selfish that way.
The cordless drill and Hornady trimmer will make it less of a chore but I still hate trimming cases.

And golf? You know people who do that?

 

[Kevin Stenberg]

2 reasons for golf. To keep fumblefingered people from hurting themselves at casting. It keeps them off of the lakes.
DON'T tell my inlaws I wrote that.

 

[Pistolero]

OK, for the dummy here, explain why buying 445 cases and trimming back. Y'all experts have to
remember to help drag along the dummies sitting in the back of the class, too.

Bill

 

[Ian]

'Cuz the Redhawk cylinder chambers are so long that they make .44 Magnum brass act like .44 Special. The consensus of Gurus says that gap is no good for accuracy at long range.

 

[Pistolero]

OK, thanks for the remedial update.

 

[Brad]

It also moves the bullet forward with crimp in crimp groove. A change of .050 may not sound like much but nose support in the throats is vital, why not get more?

Rick suggests it and he has WAY more long range handgun experience than me. He says it helps, I listen. Well, he would say I sometimes listen.

 

[Pistolero]

Ok, makes sense. Watching and trying to learn.

Thanks.

 

[Brad]

Holy cow! I got my 445 cases. There is no way I'm trimming them by hand. Must be close to 1/4 in to remove. Powder drill will make short work of this.

Might even look at boring soft jaws for the lathe to really speed it up.

 

[gman]

If this bullet was to be made with a larger meplat for use as a hunting bullet would it throw things off or would it still be an accurate bullet? I realize until you shoot it you won't know for sure but in theory what say you?

 

[Brad]

Go to a .3 meplat and it would be fine. That would be a 70% meplat, just fine.
I would have no problem with this design for hunting. It would penetrate like to tomorrow and open a nice long wound cavity.
I went with this meplat size for long range accuracy and to keep weight down.

 

[Rick]

This meplat is for long range, by increasing the meplat it would still shoot fine but at decreased distances. 65-70% of bullet diameter should shoot well to 100 or so. The more the meplat is increased the shorter the accurate range. A wadcutter may possibly be fair out to 50 yards but I never got that much from them. Another consideration is the BC of the bullet, for long range beside accuracy a wide meplat is like a parachute and slows the bullet dramatically.