My new molds from swap/sell

[Brother_Love]

I got these yesterday and cast with them today. The 44 is a 2 cavity and I have high hopes for this bullet in my Ruger GP 100 44Spl. It cast great and drops the bullets as quick as can open the mold.

The other is a 6 cavity .358 190 grain Ranch Dog mold. I have looking for this one for a while. I know RD primarily designed this bullet for a 35 Remington. I've always liked the design and I'm thinking it will be a humdinger in my 358 Winchester.

I'm also trying my hand a a grind to fit recoil pad, I'm using an old 1148 16 ga as my volunteer. More about that tomorrow.

 

[bns454]

Now you have to go shoot them !

 

[fiver]

is that the 240 swc?
I got ahold of some of about 500 of those and they have been pretty good.
we had been shooting them in 44 special cases on top of 4 grs of titegroup for lever gun silhouette shoots with good success.
I keep hemming and hawing over the mold since I have a couple of 44 molds already.

 

[Brad]

That 240 gr 44 bullet should be good for 44 special fiver. If I was a mould buying fanatic like some of you I would go for it.
I have a newish 240 gr RD plain base I need to try in my 44 special.

And 4 gr of Titegroup seems to be a good load for 44 special.

 

[oscarflytyer]

Malcolm - glad they are working out for you and you are happy with them! I have to admit I am a bit of a Keith 429 design snob... Reason I let that 44 go... I now have the 429 design for the 38/357, 44 SPC and 45 Colts. Now I just need to sit in front of a pot!

 

[waco]

I'm down to only two 44 molds. A Lyman 4 cavity Square lube groove 429421, and an Accurate mold that drops a 240gr RNFP TL design and a 310gr plain base version of the Lee mold.

 

[RBHarter]

I don't understand the draw of the 44 .........
Yes there's this part of me that screams "yes a 444 is a 44 mag super mag and you can feed it as such !" Then the other side says " but it's a 43 called a 44 billed at .429 that runs .431 and it makes me whiny and BP 44s are .450 except that one you have that's got a .429 groove with .448 chambers and now our head hurts" .

At least the 452/458 45 Colts thing makes sense in terms of 1873 tooling . Because all those .357 38s make perfect with the 36 cal C&B requiring a 375-380 ball ........

I do have a 429421 that was adjusted to .448 through a series of attempts to get a yard sale $5 mould to drop .434 . It is a perfect fit for a paper patched 452 and might be exactly right for the Dragoon repro with .447 chambers and the 45 Raptor ....... I can only imagine the explosive shock of that big flat with a 1600 fps plus impact speed .

What is the draw of the 44 ? Is there something about the energy exchange ? Sec density ? Is it the 3 cartridge 1 rifle thing ? Is it the rifle shares bullets with the pistols thing ?
It's the it's not a cowboy cowboy cartridge thing isn't it ?

 

[Brad]

A 44 special revolver just needs to be fired to be appreciated. A 250 gr bullet at 750-800 fps is pleaseant to shoot but packs some wallop.
They are very accurate as a rule and easy to load for.
I own a 444 Marlin but shoot it little. The 45-70 in a lever action makes far more sense to me.
A 44 mag revolver is about as much recoil as most people can realistically handle. They are generally accurate and again, easy to load for.

What is the draw? Hard to say for others but for me that fill a niche. That niche may not exist in the world of other shooters.

 

[RBHarter]

I was just poking fun ....
I shot a single shot 45/410 and fell for the 45s . Can't see the point of the 454 if a guy has BlackHawk to feed .
I worked around a Colts carbine with that 32 twist and got to a place where I had it all ........and when taking stock of it all I bought a 45-70 because it does what I was after so much safer . Not of course without stopping off and turning the 460 6 ways from Sunday trying to get it in a repeating rifle ...... Maybe I should have been a 44 guy .
Oh well I'm stuck now too many .454 and .460 moulds too much brass and all I need to make the collection complete is to ream the spare BH cylinder to 45 mag/Schofield find the 44 mag N frame cylinder to ream for Colts and moon clips and get the 16" twist carbine barrel on the carbine with the carrier extended to 454 length .

 

[Rally Hess]

Well my first 44 was a redhawk to hunt deer and bear with.i just didn’t, like the gun. In all honesty, I was more into s&w,s, so bought a 629. Loved it so much I bought a 624. Then of course a trail of.levers had to come home with me under the guise of being good starter deer rifles for the kids. Then of course had to have a boat gun so a 77/44 ended up in the truck. Between myself, my kids, my nephews, and one brother, my .44,s have brought home around 25 deer and several bears. My old 336 in .44 has accounted for at least two pickup loads of beaver. They just work well for us. Just cast about a gallon of 265 RD’s yesterday in dimple point.

 

[oscarflytyer]

44 SPC - Brad beat me to it! Do damn near everything practical that a 44 Mag will do ( and no I won't argue that...), especially when you get older and recoil ain't near as fun as it ONCE was! And, at least in my experience, it is hard to put together a bad cast load for it! Most of my revolvers have a list of tries, and 1-3 good Go To loads. My 44 SPC revolver has almost a full page list, AND only 1-2 are nor preferably repeatable... And just fun and comfortable to shoot!

 

[Rally Hess]

I could argue the case for the extra 250-300 FPS when shooting fat fall bears, but I don’t feel under gunned for deer in the bush.

 

[Bret4207]

The 44 Spec is a draw on many for the same reason the 45 Auto Rim is. Big bullets at moderate speeds in accurate guns that don't make ear muffs an absolute necessity or twist your wrist around back by your ear are just nice to use. They shouldn't work on flesh as good as they do, and they are at no disadvantage on charging rocks and cans. The sole downside to them is they use a lot more lead than other smaller calibers. I'm speaking of revolvers, not the rifles. Thats another, different issue.