Redhawk 44 mag

[Frank46]

I have a redhawk in 44 magnum that I would like to develope a cast bullet load for. It has never seen a cast boolit just them j word bullets. A buddy of mine has the same revolver and he complains that the forcing cone and the shoulder of his revolver lead up something terrible with store bought cast boolits. I slugged the bore and got .430 and the six chamber mouths slug out at .433. I'm thinking that I'll need a .434 dia boolit to make this work. I'd prefer a gas check design. And when I get started I have a funny feeling that my buddy will be "borrowing" some of my cartridges. No problem there as he doesn't cast but that may change. Is there a 44 boolit mould out there that will cast this big or will I have to go for a custom mold?. H&I dies pose no problem as I can open them up in my lathe. I also plan on using wheel weights as I have plenty already melted down into ingots. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Frank

[Bass Ackward]

I have a redhawk in 44 magnum that I would like to develope a cast bullet load for.

I slugged the bore and got .430 and the six chamber mouths slug out at .433. I'm thinking that I'll need a .434 dia boolit to make this work. I'd prefer a gas check design. Frank


Frank,

When you get them smoothed up by shooting the other kind of bullets, they usually do just fine. What you may want and need to do is try several sizes of bullets because it can depend on a lot of other factors and it depends what kind of load you are looking for.

If you want to shoot Keith style with undersized bullets, faster powders are going to work best for mild loads. But as your burn rate slows, a larger diameter "might" just come into play. Especially if you want to operate a somewhere above plinking and below full power. A lot depends on the bullet weight, hardness, and style that you want to shoot. My bore slugs .4302. and my throats are an even .4322 now. Believe it or not, I have loads that work with diameters from .4295 up to .4335. I can make any powder work well because it is pretty much all about good ignition. Just my style. I can tweek the other stuff later.

I start with one diameter and work up a load with a powder I want to use or simply go to a velocity range I want operate in. Then I use the most accurate charge in that range and I just change diameters. One will shoot better than the rest and once in a while you get really happy. This way I don't have to have 50,000 can of different powders on the shelf.

So if you are open minded, I would come up with a system for handling everything. There are many ways to make push through sizers for a reloading press. Or Lee's are chaep at about $10. Then just open them up to what you want. This way you only need apply lube through one .433 sizer. (Lube before reducing size) That is about as big as you can go without opening your seater die. Unless you have Lyman's. Mine will seat a .434 without maring the bullet or it sticking in the die. .435 is the absolute max.

Get ahold of a several sourses for information or just go back through the archives here. Then be prepared to ask someone questions.

[7br]

Somewhere on this board was a sticky note on how to Beagle a mould. Might do a search on beagling. Basically, you put a piece of aluminum tape on the face of a mould half to increase bullet diameter. Never done it myself.

[9.3X62AL]

I have a Redhawk 44 mag x 5.5" that I got VERY lucky with--.4295" grooves, .430"-.4305" throats--so the .431" die processes both Lyman #429244 (Thompson SWC/GC @ 245 grains) and The Lyman Keith #429421 at just slightly under their respective as-cast diameters.

My preference is boolits at or .001" over throat diameter, and hopefully the barrel's groove diameter is within .001"-.002" smaller. Throat diameter boolits might work just fine, and usually do. Other folks have done well with boolits a little under throat width, possibly with softer alloys--I think boolits can bump up a little under the right conditions.

There are so may variables in the revolver ballistic equation, that I think the old maxim "each firearm is a law unto itself" applies with a vengeance to wheelguns. You pays yer money, and takes yer chances. When you consider the operating principles a revolver uses, it's a wonder to me how accurate and reliable they are.

[Frank46]

Thanks for the posts. Methinks I will get the mould, quite possibly a keith type and play with softer alloys and either 2400 or titegroup. The hard cast bullets my buddy shoots while halfway accurate really lead up the cylinder in his redhawk. His S&W in 44 mag is even worse. I have been using full house loads in my redhawk w/j bullets with not much success. Just found out last summer that I have cataracts, no wonder
I was having so much trouble with the iron sights. Do you think Ruger would take back my redhawk and cut the revolver for the scope rings?. That may be one of my problems. Regards Frank

[Scrounger]

Thanks for the posts. Methinks I will get the mould, quite possibly a keith type and play with softer alloys and either 2400 or titegroup. The hard cast bullets my buddy shoots while halfway accurate really lead up the cylinder in his redhawk. His S&W in 44 mag is even worse. I have been using full house loads in my redhawk w/j bullets with not much success. Just found out last summer that I have cataracts, no wonder
I was having so much trouble with the iron sights. Do you think Ruger would take back my redhawk and cut the revolver for the scope rings?. That may be one of my problems. Regards Frank

No, Ruger won't modify a gun once it leaves the factory. There are some after-market mounts that go on pretty easily, or you can sell the RedHawk and buy a Super RedHawk with the rings. Probably less expensive than getting a mount put on yours. Check this link:

http://www.auctionarms.com/search/auctions.aspx

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/SearchResults.asp

[BlueMoon]

Thanks for the posts. Methinks I will get the mould, quite possibly a keith type and play with softer alloys and either 2400 or titegroup. The hard cast bullets my buddy shoots while halfway accurate really lead up the cylinder in his redhawk. His S&W in 44 mag is even worse. I have been using full house loads in my redhawk w/j bullets with not much success. Just found out last summer that I have cataracts, no wonder
I was having so much trouble with the iron sights. Do you think Ruger would take back my redhawk and cut the revolver for the scope rings?. That may be one of my problems. Regards Frank


I have a GP100 Ruger in .357 and my eyes and glasses don't work well with open sights. I bought a scope rail made by B-Square, I think, and it fits on where you take the front and rear sights off. I think mine is about the same as a Redhawk. The rail uses regular Weaver rings.

Bill

[fecmech]

Frank--I beagled my 4 cavity Lyman "Keith" mould as per the sticky and size .433 for my Ruger sbh which has .434 throats. Using straight WW air cooled before and sizing .430 I had little to no leading using full house loads with 296 but the gun would lead badly with light loads of green dot or bullseye. Since sizing to .433 no leading at all mild or wild and accuracy improved on the wild side which had always been pretty good. You mentioned a lathe so I guess you do some machine work. Weigand makes a nice Ruger scope mount that requires drilling and tapping 2 holes in your top strap, I'm not a machinist but did both my SBH and GP100 on my drill press with no trouble. Good luck Nick

[Frank46]

fecmec, do you have a web site address for the weigand scope mounts??. I mentioned that I have a lathe. Its a jet 13x40 w/qc gearbox. So opening up a sizing die would be no problem. When I started reloading cast in my moisin nagant the .313 H&I die from lyman would chew up the boolits something awful. It wasn't properly reamed or bored out. Went through my reamer collection and found a .313 & .314 dia reamers. The .313 took off the high spots and the other reamer just removed powder. Bullets come out at .314 and shoot fine. But if and when I get the scope mount will have a gunsmith do the honors. My layout isn't the best. Frank

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
I had a SBH & have a RH both shot/shoot Pb bullets just fine. My favorite powders are 700X & 2400, I use the Lyman 250gr gc bullet out of a 4 cavity mold.