A Few Notes on History, Bullet Mould Design, and Bathroom Humor
by Glen E. Fryxell
There was a lot of firearms history made in 1873! Winchester introduced its iconic Model 1873 levergun in .44-40, Colt introduced its equally iconic Single Action Army (aka “Peacemaker”), and Colt also introduced the .45 Colt cartridge as the first chambering for the SAA. The original .45 Colt bullet was a 255 grain lead RNFP, loaded to about 950 fps from a 7 ½” sixgun, that soon developed a reputation as a reliable man-stopper. Within a few years, Lyman (Ideal) started making bullet moulds for this design so that the sixgunner could cast this bullet to handload it. Lyman listed it as the Ideal 454190. They still make it today as the Lyman 454190 (over the years other mould-makers have also made bullet moulds for this design, Lachmiller, RCBS, H&G, etc., as well as commercial casters offering similar bullets). The 454190 has a small meplat (about 220”), 2 grease grooves, and no crimp groove, being designed in the black powder era, to be loaded on top of a case full of BP and crimped over the ogive.
As ammunition became more modern and made the transition from black powder to smokeless powder, there was less fouling accumulation to negatively impact the revolver’s function and accuracy. This eventually led to tighter gun tolerances, which in turn allowed shooters to see not only how accurate this bullet was, but also how well it carried out to long range. This is an outstanding long range plinking bullet.
In Sixguns, Elmer Keith reported that the .45 Colt RNFP bullet penetrated extremely well, but was a poor killer. Entry and exit wounds tended to be small, and there was a relatively little damage to the vital organs in between. He shared hunting stories about killing a variety of big game with this bullet (mountain goat, mule deer, etc.), and the only case where the animal died on the spot was a black bear that the shot placement resulted in the removal a large chunk of the animal’s spine. It was these experiences (among others) that led Mr. Keith to use a larger meplat in his landmark SWC designs.
Lachmiller version of the .45 Colt RNFP.
As a result of this history and reputation for fine accuracy, my late friend Dave Ewer had developed a fondness for the 454190 in the .45 Colt, and had often wondered why the factories had never made a similar bullet in .44 caliber. In the early 2000s Dave attended one of our summer Pacific NW Sixgunner Rendezvous. There he met one of my other shooting buddies, Rob Applegate. Rob had been making bullet moulds for a number of years, and has a similar fondness for old traditional designs. Dave pulled him aside and spent some time bending Rob’s ear on the subject. When he got to the “.44 version of the 454190” the concept really resonated with Rob and he agreed to make a cherry for such a design, and make a bullet mould for Dave. When the mould eventually arrived, Dave was delighted, and he told me about how beautiful it was (Rob does spectacular work) and how easily it cast. I knew Dave was working up some loads with his new bullet, and on a couple of occasions we discussed how this bullet at .44 Special speeds would be very similar to .45 ACP hardball, but then I didn’t hear much about the project after that.
The Ewer/Applegate .44 mould, and loaded .44 Special ammo.
Sadly Dave died in 2017. When I was helping the family go through his stuff, we found the Applegate bullet mould, carefully tucked away in a sealed plastic Tupperware container. Knowing the backstory, and being a sentimental sort, I bought the mould from his wife. Some time later, we happened across several of Dave’s stashes of ammo, in various difference places around the house. One of these stashes had a couple thousand rounds of .44 Special ammo loaded up with the Ewer/Applegate bullet, loaded over 5.0 grains of Bullseye. Rather uncharacteristically, there was no chronograph data with these boxes of ammo (Dave was usually quite meticulous in labelling his ammo), but this load should be going about 800 fps.
This mould casts just as sweetly as Dave said it did. Bullets drop at almost .432” (not quite), so they can be put to good use guns with oversized throats. For example, I used to own a 4 ¾” Colt Single-Action Army .44 Special that had throats that ran a little over .432”. Using a .432” sizer die, resulted in the bullets being lubed nicely, without being sized at all. Loading these bullets over a mild load of 6.1 grains of Unique gave the best combination of group size and shooting to the point of aim that I was able to get from that gun.
Colt SAA and the Ewer/Applegate RNFP.
Other .44 Special revolvers with oversized throats have likewise had their performance improved by using this Ewer/Applegate RNFP bullet (e.g. my 4” S&W Model 1950).
For general purpose use, Dave sized these bullets .430” and lubed with 50/50 beeswax/moly grease. For guns with throats in this size range, these bullets shoot very nicely. I was recently down at the range with a 4 5/8” SS Ruger Blackhawk .44 Special that Dave built for me back in the mid-90s. I had some of Dave’s ammo with me, and was repeatedly rewarded with groups like this one….
Ewer stainless Ruger BH .44 Special and the Ewer/Applegate RNFP.
But some guns have tighter throats, and may need to have these bullets sized .429”. For example, I have a 3” L-framed S&W 696 .44 Special that I am very fond of. Initially, I sized all my cast bullets .430” for this little belly-gun, but eventually I learned that it has .429” throats and shoots better with .429” cast bullets, so now I size everything .429” for this little gun. Muy bueno. Shooting oversized cast bullets and sizing them down in the revolver’s cylinder is not an optimum recipe for good accuracy (and it can change the point of impact too).
Many years ago, my friend John Taffin wrote an article about “Bathroom Guns”. The basic gist of the piece was that home-invasion can happen at any time, and while one may have guns ready in the bedroom, or living room, or shop, or wherever, what happens if the bad guys come in when you are in the shower, or ensconced on the throne? Are you going to try to defend yourself with a toothbrush? It’s doubtful that you’re going to be wearing a gun-belt at these times, and John was presenting concise, logical arguments for stashing a handgun discretely in the bathroom as a last ditch line of defense, in the event of “bad guys crashing the party”.
About 20 years ago, Dave and I were having breakfast, and I brought up the subject of bathroom guns. Dave had not heard of the concept, so I outlined John’s arguments for him. The idea resonated with him, and we discussed it in detail over a hearty breakfast of sausage and eggs, biscuits and gravy, and homemade hot sauce. Then we wrapped things up and went out to some BLM property outside of town and spent several hours shooting on a sunny Saturday morning. I don’t recall Dave ever so much as mentioning “bathroom guns” after that.
A couple of years after that conversation, I recall going in to Dave’s garage and finding him working on a 4 5/8” Ruger Super Blackhawk that he was converting to a free-wheeling cylinder. Earlier, we had talked about “the perfect hog gun” and I had given him a few of my thoughts on modifying the SBH grip to be more like the FA grip, as well as thoughts on sights and loads. He had modified the grip, converted the cylinder to free-wheel, then he put on a taller front sight so it would shoot the 300s to point of aim, gave it a trigger job, then bead-blasted the whole thing. He was very excited about this gun, and test-firing revealed that it shot very nicely indeed. There were lots of gun projects for Dave and me in those days, so when this one kind of faded into the background, I didn’t think anything of it.
A couple of years after Dave died, I got a panicked email from his wife “OMG! I found a GUN!” She went on to tell me that she didn’t know what it was, or how to tell if it was loaded, and if it was even safe to have in the house, and she wanted me to come over and look at it, and she wanted it to “go away”.
It was the highly tuned 4 5/8” Ruger Super Blackhawk that I had watched him work on many years earlier.
She had found it in the bathroom, in the bottom drawer of the vanity, in a pistol rug, right next to the commode. This was Dave’s bathroom gun. Stainless steel makes sense with the humidity common to bathrooms. Ruger has an outstanding reputation for making rugged, durable, reliable guns, so that makes perfect sense too. What has me shaking my head to this day is that my friend, the finest double-action revolver shooter I have ever known, had chosen Ruger Super Blackhawk, a single-action revolver, as his bathroom gun, his last line of defense in the event of home invasion. I wish Dave was here so I could ask him about that, but I suspect that this was his punchline for one last joke that he could poke my ribs with….
Oh yeah, it was loaded. The cylinder held 6 rounds of the Ewer/Applegate RNFP over 5.0 grains of Bullseye. Hardball in a stainless Ruger SA revolver – rugged, reliable, and very accurate. If Dave had ever needed to use his Bathroom Gun, he wasn’t going to miss.
by Glen E. Fryxell
There was a lot of firearms history made in 1873! Winchester introduced its iconic Model 1873 levergun in .44-40, Colt introduced its equally iconic Single Action Army (aka “Peacemaker”), and Colt also introduced the .45 Colt cartridge as the first chambering for the SAA. The original .45 Colt bullet was a 255 grain lead RNFP, loaded to about 950 fps from a 7 ½” sixgun, that soon developed a reputation as a reliable man-stopper. Within a few years, Lyman (Ideal) started making bullet moulds for this design so that the sixgunner could cast this bullet to handload it. Lyman listed it as the Ideal 454190. They still make it today as the Lyman 454190 (over the years other mould-makers have also made bullet moulds for this design, Lachmiller, RCBS, H&G, etc., as well as commercial casters offering similar bullets). The 454190 has a small meplat (about 220”), 2 grease grooves, and no crimp groove, being designed in the black powder era, to be loaded on top of a case full of BP and crimped over the ogive.
As ammunition became more modern and made the transition from black powder to smokeless powder, there was less fouling accumulation to negatively impact the revolver’s function and accuracy. This eventually led to tighter gun tolerances, which in turn allowed shooters to see not only how accurate this bullet was, but also how well it carried out to long range. This is an outstanding long range plinking bullet.
In Sixguns, Elmer Keith reported that the .45 Colt RNFP bullet penetrated extremely well, but was a poor killer. Entry and exit wounds tended to be small, and there was a relatively little damage to the vital organs in between. He shared hunting stories about killing a variety of big game with this bullet (mountain goat, mule deer, etc.), and the only case where the animal died on the spot was a black bear that the shot placement resulted in the removal a large chunk of the animal’s spine. It was these experiences (among others) that led Mr. Keith to use a larger meplat in his landmark SWC designs.
Lachmiller version of the .45 Colt RNFP.
As a result of this history and reputation for fine accuracy, my late friend Dave Ewer had developed a fondness for the 454190 in the .45 Colt, and had often wondered why the factories had never made a similar bullet in .44 caliber. In the early 2000s Dave attended one of our summer Pacific NW Sixgunner Rendezvous. There he met one of my other shooting buddies, Rob Applegate. Rob had been making bullet moulds for a number of years, and has a similar fondness for old traditional designs. Dave pulled him aside and spent some time bending Rob’s ear on the subject. When he got to the “.44 version of the 454190” the concept really resonated with Rob and he agreed to make a cherry for such a design, and make a bullet mould for Dave. When the mould eventually arrived, Dave was delighted, and he told me about how beautiful it was (Rob does spectacular work) and how easily it cast. I knew Dave was working up some loads with his new bullet, and on a couple of occasions we discussed how this bullet at .44 Special speeds would be very similar to .45 ACP hardball, but then I didn’t hear much about the project after that.
The Ewer/Applegate .44 mould, and loaded .44 Special ammo.
Sadly Dave died in 2017. When I was helping the family go through his stuff, we found the Applegate bullet mould, carefully tucked away in a sealed plastic Tupperware container. Knowing the backstory, and being a sentimental sort, I bought the mould from his wife. Some time later, we happened across several of Dave’s stashes of ammo, in various difference places around the house. One of these stashes had a couple thousand rounds of .44 Special ammo loaded up with the Ewer/Applegate bullet, loaded over 5.0 grains of Bullseye. Rather uncharacteristically, there was no chronograph data with these boxes of ammo (Dave was usually quite meticulous in labelling his ammo), but this load should be going about 800 fps.
This mould casts just as sweetly as Dave said it did. Bullets drop at almost .432” (not quite), so they can be put to good use guns with oversized throats. For example, I used to own a 4 ¾” Colt Single-Action Army .44 Special that had throats that ran a little over .432”. Using a .432” sizer die, resulted in the bullets being lubed nicely, without being sized at all. Loading these bullets over a mild load of 6.1 grains of Unique gave the best combination of group size and shooting to the point of aim that I was able to get from that gun.
Colt SAA and the Ewer/Applegate RNFP.
Other .44 Special revolvers with oversized throats have likewise had their performance improved by using this Ewer/Applegate RNFP bullet (e.g. my 4” S&W Model 1950).
For general purpose use, Dave sized these bullets .430” and lubed with 50/50 beeswax/moly grease. For guns with throats in this size range, these bullets shoot very nicely. I was recently down at the range with a 4 5/8” SS Ruger Blackhawk .44 Special that Dave built for me back in the mid-90s. I had some of Dave’s ammo with me, and was repeatedly rewarded with groups like this one….
Ewer stainless Ruger BH .44 Special and the Ewer/Applegate RNFP.
But some guns have tighter throats, and may need to have these bullets sized .429”. For example, I have a 3” L-framed S&W 696 .44 Special that I am very fond of. Initially, I sized all my cast bullets .430” for this little belly-gun, but eventually I learned that it has .429” throats and shoots better with .429” cast bullets, so now I size everything .429” for this little gun. Muy bueno. Shooting oversized cast bullets and sizing them down in the revolver’s cylinder is not an optimum recipe for good accuracy (and it can change the point of impact too).
Many years ago, my friend John Taffin wrote an article about “Bathroom Guns”. The basic gist of the piece was that home-invasion can happen at any time, and while one may have guns ready in the bedroom, or living room, or shop, or wherever, what happens if the bad guys come in when you are in the shower, or ensconced on the throne? Are you going to try to defend yourself with a toothbrush? It’s doubtful that you’re going to be wearing a gun-belt at these times, and John was presenting concise, logical arguments for stashing a handgun discretely in the bathroom as a last ditch line of defense, in the event of “bad guys crashing the party”.
About 20 years ago, Dave and I were having breakfast, and I brought up the subject of bathroom guns. Dave had not heard of the concept, so I outlined John’s arguments for him. The idea resonated with him, and we discussed it in detail over a hearty breakfast of sausage and eggs, biscuits and gravy, and homemade hot sauce. Then we wrapped things up and went out to some BLM property outside of town and spent several hours shooting on a sunny Saturday morning. I don’t recall Dave ever so much as mentioning “bathroom guns” after that.
A couple of years after that conversation, I recall going in to Dave’s garage and finding him working on a 4 5/8” Ruger Super Blackhawk that he was converting to a free-wheeling cylinder. Earlier, we had talked about “the perfect hog gun” and I had given him a few of my thoughts on modifying the SBH grip to be more like the FA grip, as well as thoughts on sights and loads. He had modified the grip, converted the cylinder to free-wheel, then he put on a taller front sight so it would shoot the 300s to point of aim, gave it a trigger job, then bead-blasted the whole thing. He was very excited about this gun, and test-firing revealed that it shot very nicely indeed. There were lots of gun projects for Dave and me in those days, so when this one kind of faded into the background, I didn’t think anything of it.
A couple of years after Dave died, I got a panicked email from his wife “OMG! I found a GUN!” She went on to tell me that she didn’t know what it was, or how to tell if it was loaded, and if it was even safe to have in the house, and she wanted me to come over and look at it, and she wanted it to “go away”.
It was the highly tuned 4 5/8” Ruger Super Blackhawk that I had watched him work on many years earlier.
She had found it in the bathroom, in the bottom drawer of the vanity, in a pistol rug, right next to the commode. This was Dave’s bathroom gun. Stainless steel makes sense with the humidity common to bathrooms. Ruger has an outstanding reputation for making rugged, durable, reliable guns, so that makes perfect sense too. What has me shaking my head to this day is that my friend, the finest double-action revolver shooter I have ever known, had chosen Ruger Super Blackhawk, a single-action revolver, as his bathroom gun, his last line of defense in the event of home invasion. I wish Dave was here so I could ask him about that, but I suspect that this was his punchline for one last joke that he could poke my ribs with….
Oh yeah, it was loaded. The cylinder held 6 rounds of the Ewer/Applegate RNFP over 5.0 grains of Bullseye. Hardball in a stainless Ruger SA revolver – rugged, reliable, and very accurate. If Dave had ever needed to use his Bathroom Gun, he wasn’t going to miss.