Anyone here ever heard of Taurus bullets? Check these out.

[TexasJeff]

Was doing some smelting this afternoon and rummaging through my lead stockpile. I found these two boxes of Taurus 44 bullets my dad gave me a little while back. He doesn't shoot or load 44 anymore and had no use for them. Said he thought he bought them way back in the early '70s not long after he started reloading.

These are 215 grain Lead Wadcutter bullets. In the third frame, note that there are no grooves for lube. Instead, the entire bullet is covered in what feels like a mix between light alox, dried parrafin and powdered sugar. Weirdest thing.

They also have a semi-hollow base.

http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/49181/2003017076909861767_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003017076909861767)

http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/48750/2003034724128841743_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003034724128841743)

http://aycu21.webshots.com/image/48820/2003031950236084548_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003031950236084548)

They are SOFT, however. I smelted one box and saved the other. I may tinker around and load a few up just to see how they shoot.

Anyone ever seen these before? I been handloading since the mid-eighties, but these are new to me.

Jeff

[MtGun44]

Yep. I think they went out of business in the 80s. Very soft swaged,
seemed about like pure lead to me. I haven't had any for at least
20 years. IIRC, they were accurate in my 1911, but it has been a LONG
time. FWIW.

The lube is about like the current Hornady swaged bullet lube. It works
great on the Hornadys, I don't remember any leading in the old days.
Speer uses a black waxy lube on their swaged lead bullets.

Bill

[Nueces]

I remember those, too, and still have some 45s. I think they were called Alberts Bullets for a while also. They used to put out a neat swaged 308 slug, plain base, about 150 grains or so, called it the Scheutzen, I think. Great for plinking, when factory bullets were a pretty good deal in bulk. Sigh.

Mark

[NoDakJak]

If I remember correctly they came on the market under the Taurus name but thr rumors are that Taurus Firearms complained about copywrite infringements so the name was changed to Alberts. I still have a few loaded up in 44 Special. They were very soft but shot well with light loads. Neil

[Leftoverdj]

Yeah, they were great for the time. They sold the original Hydroshock, and I still have a few hundred left in an Alberts box. Their bullets were swaged and dead soft, as has been noted, but the lube was reasonably effective. Never had a chance to try the .308, but it got fairly good reviews.

A big point in their favor was that they were dead honest about the limits of their bullets. They came with loading data and a caution that they were intended for low velocities.

[TexasJeff]

Thanks everyone.

I checked with an old ad agency friend who's done some work on the Taurus (firearms) account. He contacted the Taurus historian who confirmed that the bullets first came out under a "Taurus" brand, but then changed to Albert's--supposedly the name of the guy who ran the company.

Thinking that I'll probably hang on to this last box just for history's sake--I'm a sentimental guy when it comes to things like that. :)

Jeff

[w30wcf]

A neat bit of history! I still have a box of the Alberts 150 gr. .30 cal that I picked up a long time ago after reading articles about them in the "Fouling Shot" by Frank Marshall and C.E.Harris.

I didn't know about the name change from Taurus. Thank you for that info.
w30wcf

[Tedbytes]

I am a FFL Reloader class 6 for over forty years . The Taurus bullets renamed to Alberts years ago in the early 1980's were a very good quality swaged lead bullet with a propriatory black dry lube applied and boxed per 100 and 500 quantity. I still have a few thousand in 32 38 41 and 44 calibers. Their 32 cal 100 hb full wad utter was used in my Walther GSP c Olympic grade target pistol.These bullets especially in 44 in a Charter Bulldog and the 38 caliber in snub nose was all the rage then and my own personal uses today as well. Today and then,I still use the Lee Liquid Alox(LLA) in addition to this dry lube as I rely on a alox lube. They were about $3/100 depending on caliber then,priceless today,sadly missed,sic..Ted

[30calflash]

Yes to all of the above. They were a great product. I've still got a fair amount in different calibers. Shot a lot of them for bullseye in the 45.

The loading data was good, velocities mostly <1000 fps. No reason to go faster with a soft swaged boolit and good results meant happy customers.