Questions from a newbie on .44 Special

[04hunter]

Hey, I'm new here and looking for some advice. I have a Ruger Blackhawk in .44 Special and am looking to start casting bullets for it. I will mainly be plinking with it and want to shoot a lot cheaply. My questions are these. First, what weight and shape bullet mold should I get? I was thinking that 200gr. bullets would give me a higher yield per pound of lead, but are they as accurate as 215's or 240-250's? Also, would the bullet profile matter much if just punching paper? Next, if I am planning on keeping velocities below about 1000fps, what BHN should I look for to aid in accuracy and avoid leading? If these are dumb questions, let me know. I am really excited about getting into casting, but am lacking in basic knowledge. Thanks for any and all info.

[canyon-ghost]

I think my Avatar will show you mine. The Lee 200 grain RNFP does great. If used on paper, the holes are just more indented than cut. I've shot paper with it. It's originally for 44-40, but does good in 44 Special. I shot some steel silhouettes with my flattop at 50 meters, great accuracy from the 5.5" barrel.

Bhn? Wheelweights, air cooled. Good enough with Carnuba Red Lube.

The standard loads for 44 Special run 7.0 grains to 8.0 grains of Unique. Skeeter Skelton's load of 7.5 is good, I used 7.4 grains behind the 200 grain Lee.

This was the first Lee mold I'd ever used, I like obsolete Lymans and RCBS. The Lee is fine. My friend, Jerry sent me a sample in a trade.

http://carolinacastbullets.com/


Also, would the bullet profile matter much if just punching paper?

No, it doesn't. The SWC (semi-wadcutter) just has a paper ridge on the front of the bullet, all it does is CUT really nice round holes in paper (looks like they were made with a hole punch, they are perfect). Other than that, I've shot flat point, round nose and SWCs all at paper and steel silhouettes.

I don't get worried about the little stuff, just shoot.

[Wolfer]

I've got a Lipseys 44 spl with 5.5" barrel. I've only shot the Lyman 429-421 at 250 gr because I'm mostly interested in hunting but I would think the 200 gr would shoot just fine.

My revolver has 432 throats and my mold dropped at 430. I like a pretty soft alloy so it still didn't shoot too bad. I recently lapped my mold and sizing die to 432 but haven't had a chance to give it a good test

If your looking to go cheap just buy a flat based Lee mold and tumble lube. Use anything from three parts lead to one part wheel weights to straight WW using any of the medium powders such as unique, power pistol etc. I've also had good luck with titegroup

[462]

I use Lyman's 429421 -- good enough for Elmer Keith, good enough for me --with air-cooled wheel weights and various amounts of Alliant 2400. The boolits, sized to. 433", weight 259 to 260- grains.


Be sure to slug the cylinder throats. In my case, boolits .001" fatter than the largest throat work best.

[beagle]

Another plus for the 429421 in a Lipsey 5 1/2". I've tested half a dozen bullets so far and that's the hands down winner./beagle

[stubshaft]

The 200's should shoot great I used to shoot a SAECO 200gr boolit out of the special and magnum. My favorite now is the 44-245-KT RCBS. The one advantage with a 240 - 255gr boolit is that if you ever decide to hunt with it you don't have to look for a other load.

[runfiverun]

i hate to jump on the bandwagon.
add another to the 429421, i have an older square grooved mold.
i also like 7grs of unique and a primer.
the wife seems to like it also, as i have one blued, [she picked it out] one stainless,and one bisley model, all the lipsey models.

[Larry Gibson]

The 200's will shoot fine if that's what you want. Tale a look at Lee's 6 cavity in 429-200-RF. I've done a bit of load development for cowboy action and they shoot very well out of revolvers under 1000 fps. If you want a SWC the the 429-215-SWC is a good one also. Nothing wrong with the 240+ gr SWCs if you want to sling that much lead. The TL429-240-SWC is my standard 44 SPL bullet. I use the RCBS 44-250-K or the 429421 for 240 SWCs for the heavier 44 SPL loads (Skeeter's in particular).

Larry Gibson

[Forrest r]

Another option is to slug your cylinders/bore & get a custom mold made for your Ruger. The little bit of extra $$$ you spend on the mold will pay off in spades by being able to cast the bullets the perfect size for your Ruger.

The other thing a custom bullet mold will do is allow you to pick from a wider verity of bullet designs & have the ability to mix & match different bullets in the same mold.

I shoot nothing but WC's in my 624, the Lyman 429348, a 180g WC. It's hard to beat the accuracy of a WC bullet for target shooting or just plain old plinking. This pistol/bullet combo will easily rival my 38 WC's for accuracy.

That being said, I own 3 different 44 cal pistols & use the Lyman 429421 exclusively in the other 2. I shot that bullet for years in several different pistols & for some stupid reason I got away from using it, what a mistake. I bought another 429421 4 cavity mold this year & sold the other 2 I was using (lee 214g SWC & lee 240g SWC). The Lee's are good bullets but I've just have had better/more accurate loads with the 429421.

If I was going to buy a bullet mold for a 44spl it would be a special order mold with 3 or 4 cavities. 1 cavity would be 240/250g SWC Keith style bullet & the other 2 or 3 cavities would be a 180/200g WC.

[cbrick]

Welcome to CastBoolits 04hunter,

I've found the 44 spec an easy cartridge to work with but as had been eluded to the throats & bore need to be slugged. A mild snug fit in the throats is what I strive for. The groove diameter needs to be measured simply so that you know that it's at or a tick under throat diameters. If the groove diameter is larger than the throats leading and accuracy could suffer.

I'm a fan of the SWC but that's probably nothing more than a personal choice. My 624 loves the H&G #503 in an M-P mould with several loads and no soda can within 50 yards is safe.

The 44 Spec is a low pressure, low velocity cartridge and there is no need for anything any harder than air cooled WW, 10-12 BHN, even softer will work well. 1% or 2% added tin will aid in bullet fillout but isn't mandatory.

Rick

[captaint]

I have a 200 gr RNFP that M-P made on a group buy. My gun likes it a lot. The H&G 503 works well also. It is an easy cartridge to load for. I don't think my lead is harder than BHN 10. enjoy Mike

[Rocky Raab]

In my work with a Lipsey's .44 Special, I tested six bullets and 12 powders. I can't show all my results until it is published (No, I don't know when it will finally see ink in Handloader.) but I can tell you that 6.0 American Select was a very good load with ALL the bullets I shot, from 180 through 265 grains.

[cbrick]

In my work with a Lipsey's .44 Special, I tested six bullets and I can tell you that 6.0 American Select was a very good load with ALL the bullets I shot, from 180 through 265 grains.

Interesting, I've never used American Select, just may have to pick up some. Thanks.

Rick

[Dale53]

I have been casting bullets, reloading, and shooting .44 Specials for over forty years. My current favorite bullet is a 250 gr Keith (Mihec's clone of the H&G #503). Target use and plinking calls for a light load (5.0 grs of Bullseye or equivalent - my current favorite powder is Titegroup) while my "field" load is Skeeters 7.5 grs of Unique. In the past I have used a good Lyman 429421 with the same loads to good effect.

I have a group buy 200 gr Wadcutter that works well for gallery and target use with 4.0 grs of Bullseye, Red Dot, or Titegroup.

I use my "standard" alloy of A/C WW's +2% tin and size to .430" for my Smith Models 24, 624 (4" and 6.5"), my Cimarron SAA, and both of my Ruger Blackhawk (a .44 Lipsey Special and a TALO .44 Special).

Dale53

[Rocky Raab]

Rick, AmSel is a very overlooked and under-appreciated handgun powder. It sits in the tiny gap between Red and Green Dot burn rates. In the absence of exact data, use RedDot loads. It is a brittle flake about the same diameter as Unique, so it doesn't flow smoothly through some measures. I use a digital dispenser, so that is moot for me. It is exceptionally clean-burning at handgun pressures, delivers extremely low (single-digit) SD results, and does not seem to be especially position sensitive.

[paul edward]

Been reloading .44 Russian, Special and Magnum for close to 50 years. Mostly with bullets cast in molds from Lyman, RCBS and Lee.

Among my favorite 44 molds is the Lee 429 214 SWC. For 44 Special velocities, a plain base design is fine and the SWC cuts clean holes in paper targets.

If I was to buy another 44 mold, I'd get the Lee 429-200RF.

Most pistol powders work in the 44 Special, including Bullseye, Unique, W231 and many others. Reliable loading data can be found online as well as in reloading handbooks.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Pretty well covered this topic but just to add a +1 to the Lyman 429421 or in my case Mihec H&G503 which is essentially the same bullet. this is pretty much the universal boolit for .44 Spec and Magnum.

The cool thing about the Mihec moulds is that they can be had with hollow point pins which create a variety of boolits with the same mould. This will give you versitility for your gun, as you can plink or hunt or shoot cars and trucks, all with variations of the same mould.

As far as powders,,, Unique, W231, 2400 and H110 are the goto powders for me, and plenty of others will work well too.

It is an easy cartridge to load for and get good results.

Randy

[williamwaco]

Your requirements are very easily met.

The answer to almost every question is:
"It doesn't matter"

I prefer any SWC bullet around 220 grains. but if you have a mold for 200's or 240's use it. You will be perfectly happy with the results.

At 1000 fps you need a BNH somewhere between 8 and 80. You will never know the difference unless you try to size some bullets harder than 30BNH - If you do, you will likely get them hung in your sizing die.

I am Scottish. I too like to shoot cheaply. I would recommend you try Bullseye or Accurate No2.

5.3 gr A No 2 will give you around 900 fps with a 240 gr bullet and over 1300 rounds per pound of powder.

You will like 900 fps for plinking.

Try them unsized first before spending money on a sizing die.

If that doesn't work for you buy the .430 or .431 die.

[04hunter]

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies. There is a ton of great information in here. I really appreciate it. I am sure I will have a lot more questions if the future!!

[Rocky Raab]

Ask away. One thing you'll learn is that no matter how many people tell you the right way to do something - all different - it is very rare that any of them are the wrong way.

[oscarflytyer]

Keith ~250 grn SWC. Mine is a MiHec mold.

1000 fps and under - Cast WW + 2% tin. Assume BHN about 12. Long as the bullet fits the bore (and you don't have a choked bore) should have no problem.

I am using homemade 45/45/10 lube, tumbled.

[MikeS]

To answer your question about which boolit is the most accurate, there's really no way to answer that question, only your particular handgun can answer it correctly. The choice of what style boolit is also one that has no right or wrong answer. I would say to pick a style boolit that you like, and go with that. No matter what weight / style boolit you use, the more important thing is boolit fit. You should slug the cylinder throats, as well as the barrel, and make your boolits so they are a tight fit in the throats. You can get a Lee tumble lube design, or a standard lube groove design, and tumble lube them to start with and not have to spend lots of money on a lubrisizer.

When looking at boolit designs, don't worry about the boolit weight, the difference between a 200gr boolit, or a 255gr boolit as far as saving money is so small that it really doesn't matter. ANY cast boolit is going to be cheaper than shooting jacketed ones.

[looseprojectile]

Elmer designed the semi-wadcutter so that the wide band on the front of the boolit fit the throat of the cylinder of the gun. Aligned the boolit to the bore and prevented tipping, thus they were and are more accurate. The front band was not to punch round holes in paper. Round sharp cut holes in paper are what you get from full wadcutters.
I think Elmer was looking for accuracy and performance in meat.

Most of the .357 and .44 boolits I shoot now are out of rifles so it doesn't matter as much what the front end of the boolit looks like. Gas checks are best in them.
The RNFP Ranch Dog boolits shoot well in my handguns and feed better in the leverguns too.
The only real answer is to have several moulds to cover all requirements, gas checked and plain base, not to mention hollow points. Six or eight moulds of each caliber ought to get you there.:groner:


Life is good

[Wolfer]

As far as the cost of the lead goes you can shoot most of your boolits into a five gallon bucket of sand and recover your lead. There are some pretty ingenious ways covered in this site on boolit traps. Booliteers are nothing if not cheap, oops I mean thrifty

If you get in the swapping and selling section there's a section where you can probably get people to send you a few different types to try. I have some 429-421 sized 430 I can send you if you PM me your address

[Leadmelter]

Group
I am considering picking up a Ruger in 44 Special: How do you like them in general?
I shoot most of my 44 Sp in Ruger Redhawk during the winter months. How much improvement is there in shooting in pistol designed for it?
Thanks
GJP

[SlippShodd]

... page 229 of "Sixguns By Keith:"
"I wanted this new bullet to seat out of the case as far as length of the cylinder would permit, the same as I had done with the Belding & Mull bullets, but I also wanted a wide, heavy band in front of the crimp groove to help true up the cartridge in the cylinder and so keep the bullet in perfect alignment with the bore while firing. This band would also act as a wad cutter for target and game shooting. But I wanted the front band of my bullet to finish the work of its flat point and to cut full wad cutter holes in anything it struck, and with its square shoulder it does just that." Here endeth the quoteth.
So, you're all correct.
Funny, I'd just been rereading this part of the book recently. Got me all nostalgic wanting my old one-holer 429421 back. I traded it off for something foolish I'm sure. These days I use either the gas checked 429244 or the plain-based 429360. Cast mild, cast hard, load mild or romp on it they work well. It's a hard caliber to screw up in that 7-9 grains of Unique range. And when you want to throttle up for a snappier load, the same bullet will still serve you well.

I been home with the flu today, harrassing everyone here, on THR and Facebook. I'm sure the cyber world is tired of me by now...

mike

[Irascible]

I have lipsy's in both barrel lengths. I'm currently working a lot with the 5 1/2 gun. Winner so far has been and old Lymen 429421 over 10gr of Accurate #7 for just over 1000fps. I had Mountain moulds make a close copy of the 220gr SSK bullet and its best load so far has been over 7 1/2gr of trail Boss for just under 900fps. All bullets are sized .431 and cast of 8ww to 1 1/2 lead + 1lb of 50/50 solder

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
I WOULD AS A BEGINNER GO WITH A Kieth swc about 250 gr. Plain base would be cheaper shooting & probably all you would ever need in the 44 spl.

[geargnasher]

I'm going to pile on the 429421 boolit bandwagon to, with a couple of reservations. For your purposes, low-velocity, likely 25 yards or less, .44 Special, cast from what ever scrap you can get (wheel weights, roof lead, range scrap with a little tin added, etc.) will probably suit you just fine. One of my reservations has to do with .44 Magnum pistols capable of extreme accuracy at long range (100 yards or more) in which case I tend to defer to 44Man's technique of round-flat-nose boolits or WFN designs like Veral Smith has made famous cast from very hard, tough alloys. The other reservation is that the 429421 has had many copies and iterations over the years, and some of them are much better than others. Look for a mould with all three bands of about equal width, many of the copies have a narrow, weak front band and that's not what you want. Some have rounded lube grooves and some squared. A true "Keith" SWC has a square-bottomed lube groove, although I haven't found it makes a bit of difference.

I'll also second Rocky's mention of American Select, pretty good stuff when you want a powder faster than Unique and cleaner at low pressures. I find it very similar to Hodgdon's Clays, but more consistent-burning in larger cases. I've had excellent accuracy using it in some brief experiments with .38 Special and .45 Colt with light boolits, should be about right for .44 Special too, although I'm sure you'll have good luck with many other powders.

Gear