I've been experimenting with different bullets in my .44-40's for several years, always searching for something that's easy to load and accurate.
I have come to the conclusion that John Korts' excellent design in the form of Accurate Molds 43-215C and 43-220C has proven to be the most accurate. I don't know why but something about the length and the nose profile seems to be conducive for good accuracy. However the deep narrow crimp groove and the nose being smaller than the driving bands has always been a minor annoyance in trying to get an effective crimp. I've used roll crimp, Redding Profile Crimp, Lee Factory crimp and taper crimp.
Roll was the best but needed to be quite heavy to get under the nose when the bullets were oversized for my bores (.430-.431). I was always concerned this was damaging the case mouths.
I experimented with an angled crimp groove which became the 43-220CC. It worked ok and became my standard bullet.
I was making up some ammo with Hornady XTP's using the Lee Factory Crimp die. On the .44-40 the Lee FCD is the collet "squeeze" type of crimp die. I was really impressed how well Lee crimp fit in the cannelure of the jacketed bullets and that got me thinking if a cast bullet with a crimp groove made to the same dimensions as a cannelure would work.
I came up with the 43-219M which is basically a 43-215C with the crimp groove widened and shallowed. The nose was widened slightly to match the driving bands.
I took a little bit of length out of the lube groove to compensate for the wider crimp groove. I also made it shallower for smokeless loads. If you want to use the design with black powder you could easily specify a deeper lube groove.
Tom added the design to the catalog. I promptly ordered one and 2 weeks later i was casting with it.
The bullets came out looking great, weighing an average of 223gn naked. I loaded a few up and am really happy how well the Lee crimp fits the groove.
I shot a few groups with them and found them to be every bit as accurate as the 43-220C so i was very pleased with the results.
While loading up some more this weekend i made a few with the Hornady Cowboy seating die. This die is a taper crimp and it worked great with the shallower crimp groove. I would even say that the taper crimp from the Hornday die looks better than the Lee crimp but either are great.
I have come to the conclusion that John Korts' excellent design in the form of Accurate Molds 43-215C and 43-220C has proven to be the most accurate. I don't know why but something about the length and the nose profile seems to be conducive for good accuracy. However the deep narrow crimp groove and the nose being smaller than the driving bands has always been a minor annoyance in trying to get an effective crimp. I've used roll crimp, Redding Profile Crimp, Lee Factory crimp and taper crimp.
Roll was the best but needed to be quite heavy to get under the nose when the bullets were oversized for my bores (.430-.431). I was always concerned this was damaging the case mouths.
I experimented with an angled crimp groove which became the 43-220CC. It worked ok and became my standard bullet.
I was making up some ammo with Hornady XTP's using the Lee Factory Crimp die. On the .44-40 the Lee FCD is the collet "squeeze" type of crimp die. I was really impressed how well Lee crimp fit in the cannelure of the jacketed bullets and that got me thinking if a cast bullet with a crimp groove made to the same dimensions as a cannelure would work.
I came up with the 43-219M which is basically a 43-215C with the crimp groove widened and shallowed. The nose was widened slightly to match the driving bands.
I took a little bit of length out of the lube groove to compensate for the wider crimp groove. I also made it shallower for smokeless loads. If you want to use the design with black powder you could easily specify a deeper lube groove.
Tom added the design to the catalog. I promptly ordered one and 2 weeks later i was casting with it.
The bullets came out looking great, weighing an average of 223gn naked. I loaded a few up and am really happy how well the Lee crimp fits the groove.
I shot a few groups with them and found them to be every bit as accurate as the 43-220C so i was very pleased with the results.
While loading up some more this weekend i made a few with the Hornady Cowboy seating die. This die is a taper crimp and it worked great with the shallower crimp groove. I would even say that the taper crimp from the Hornday die looks better than the Lee crimp but either are great.
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