44 mag. Marlin and Lyman 429360

[smkummer]

This bullet is dropping out almost .432. This should be good for my micro groove 1894 Marlin. This bullet does not give me the Marlin jam as its long enough but it sometimes has a slight hang up that is easily worked. I have some loaded with 8.6 grains unique and looking for a plinking load that will not lead. My older Lyman manual lists 13.0 grains Unique as max and as a accuracy load but that is almost 1600 FPS! It hard to believe it wont lead a micro groove barrel. My bullets are water dropped wheel weights. Its raining here right now so I wont go to the range today. What combo is working for you guys? thanks ahead of time.

[Hickory]

I was going through my collection of boolit moulds the other day and came upon a single cavity 429360 that I don't remember having, or maybe I just forgot.
I cast up about 50 and sized them and they sure look purty.

As soon as it quiets raining here I'll shoot what I have loaded for group.

Like yours mine come out of the mould at .432 with the driving band at .430.
Has sharp edges and weigh 234.3 grs.
I hope it does not shoot well, I wouldn't want to cast 5-600 ahead with a single cavity mould.

[rintinglen]

I hope it shoots well for you.
In my 1894 CB it didn't shoot for beans, mirroring the results I had from my Ruger Redhawk and S&W 544. I thought I was in the tall cotten when I "lucked" into a new-old stock 4 banger some years back at a gun show. It has not turned out so well for me.

[Shuz]

FWIW--There are many of us old .44 shooters who have experimented with the Lyman 429360, even in a hollow point version. The consensus is that there is an inherrant design flaw with this design that won't allow it to shoot well in the guns it has been tried in. I,too, "lucked" into a great deal on a 4 banger 429360, thinking, just thinking, maybe this one is different than my old 2C or my previous 1C. or the HP's that John sent me. Wrong! I dumped the 4 banger and promised myself to never again buy a 429360. YMMV, but I doubt it!
Good luck!

[Olevern]

I, too, have had nothing but bad luck with this boolit. Tried it with three differrent .44 magnums and one .44 special; definately would not recommend. I ended up tossing the remainder back into the casting pot.

[6pt-sika]

If they had made this mold in a GC version I'd try and find one just to see how it would do in one of my 444's .

I have a sneaking suspicion I could get it to shoot well enough in a 444 for deer hunting atleast . But only if it were a GC bullet .

[W.R.Buchanan]

smkummer: Chamfer the mouth of your chamber .040-.050. This will make the gun so it feeds anything.

Randy

[smkummer]

OK, 8.6 grs. Unique and a unsized 429360 gave me about a 6 in. group at 25 yards. No need to go further with this bullet/rifle combination. This bullet must have had some use in its day probably before rifles were made in this caliber. It appears with its almost conical nose would have penetrated well. But since I had much better luck with the Lee 200 FP bullet unsized, I don't want to waste my time with this bullet. The Lee bullet needs to be crimped on the second groove and then feeds fine in my Marlin. Another post.

[Pb4me]

There was a long detailed article from the Los Angeles Silhouette club about this bullet. I haven't read it for awhile but they had great results by having the mould modified to increase the diameter of the front driving band. You may want to look it up. I have a 4 cavity mould in this style and will have it done in the future. Sorry if this has already been covered here but my reception for internet is not doing good as I am currently in west Texas hunting. Hope this helps.

[smkummer]

I may look into it over the course of a long cold winter. I have way to many guns and molds to spend too much time on this mold but the bullets I did cast I'll try in my 2 handguns. I have a Colt SAA 44 special that shoots most anything well and a Ruger Super Blackhawk that also shoots most anything well if I keep the diameter on the proud side.

[Wally]

I had two different 429360 DC molds. The bullets look pretty, as perviously mentioned, and cast so delightfully well. However they had the worst accuracy in my .44 Cal pistols of any bullet that I have ever used. On a paper target at 30', with a cylinderful, I could hit the black 50% of the time, but the other shots were many inches away--some never even got on the paper. I saw no evidence of yawing...IMHO it was a balance problem that caused the bullet to stray. It was an amazing experience shooting this bullet..I really wished that I could have made it shoot accuartely. IMHO it is just not possible.

[Maven]

Same rotten results as you guys, but in a Ruger 10.5" bbl'ed SBH. (CB's looked great though!) Take a look at this, especially paragraph 8 (beginning with "Gordon Boser"): http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell44SWC.htm

[PbHurler]

I've fought with this dang mold on & off for years, 4" 6" 8" guns, soft & hard alloys, hard & soft lubes. Mine's got a smaller driving band as well, purchased it new in the early 80's.
It does punch a very clean hole on the targets...............which makes it easier to see the miserable groups it shoots, for me anyway.

I've never persued it in a carbine.

I've about decided it'll make a good paperweight.