Best .429 44sp/44-40 lead bullets?

[Stopsign32v]

I haven't started casting my own boolits yet, however it isn't something that's totally out of question. So I'm not sure if this is the correct section.

I'm looking for what some would agree are the best .429 diameter lead bullets for my 44 special and 44-40 Ubertis.

[Southern Son]

What's the purpose of the ammo? Are you shooting in a competition or just plinking? Do you really want to make a BOOM, or are you just looking to knock over tin cans on the ground? You need to find what you Ubertis like best if you are going to chase accuracy.

[Stopsign32v]

It will just be plinking, but I'd like to load them to old BP velocity while sticking with smokeless. Maybe 7gr of Unique? I love my 9gr Unique 45 Colt loads but also like my lighter 7.5gr Unique 45 Colt loads.

[Cherokee]

For me, I have found the RCBS 44-200 round flat nose to be great in 44 Mg & 44 Spl. in my various revolvers. Some mild plinkers, others on the high side.

[Juan Jose]

The Keith SWC is a classic.

[KCSO]

Kinda like apples and oranges as the Mag and the 44-40 have two different purposes. If you need to compromise then I would shoot for the 220 rnfp bullet. Now if you intend to shoot black you need plenty og grease groove. I have always had a mould for the mag and a separate mould for the 44-40 and the Mag bullet is the Keith swc and the 44-40 an RCBS rnfp.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

For me, I have found the RCBS 44-200 round flat nose to be great in 44 Mg & 44 Spl. in my various revolvers. Some mild plinkers, others on the high side.

^^^ yep, this or the Lee 429-200-RF would be my choice...but BEST? only your gun can tell you that.

[Stopsign32v]

Are there any places to buy some of these bullets? Maybe a few different ones to see what my guns like?

[runfiverun]

most commercial casters will have the magma engineering 200gr bullet.
ask for them sized to .430 diameter and not 427. [I'd try for a softer alloy than their standard 2/6/92 alloy too]

it's a RNFP design and works perfectly in either the 44-40 or the 44 mag lever guns or revolvers.

[fredj338]

The problem is bullet size are not the same for 44sp & 44-40. When I ran an Uberti Henry in 44-40, it was the RCBS 200gr. You might get lucky & get one large enough to cast bullets that will go 0.430" for the 44sp, but even that could be too small.

[Outpost75]

Go with .430" bullet in both. Buy some 215-grain FN from Matt's Bullets to try.

http://www.mattsbullets.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=70&products_id=275

100 box $17, just right if you want to try a few
500 box $80

[BHill]

I have had good luck with these folks in the past.

https://www.montanabulletworks.com/

[runfiverun]

https://www.montanabulletworks.com/product/4440-saeco-444-200gr-rfp-pb/

here is a direct link to the Montana bullet.
at 102$ per 500.
I think I would buy a 20$ mold, some lead for $60, a 20$ ladle and make my own.

[BHill]

Absolutely. He's just not casting yet. No better time than the present.

[Stopsign32v]

I think I might start casting soon. Only problem is I have no access or time to collect lead or wheel weights. I'd be doomed to buying lead ingots online.

[BHill]

I would say get your lead delivered from one of the folks selling it here in the classifieds if time is an issue. I have had wonderful luck and it averages $1.20 a pound delivered ready to cast with.

[Stopsign32v]

I might just do that! I absolutely love reloading. It's such a mellow time for me and is nice and calming time away from the hectic work days and what nots. I'm sure making my own bullets would be just as rewarding. I think I might start buying my lead off here now.

[Bent Ramrod]

Most of the .44 Spl. and Magnum designs have too much "nose" projecting ahead of the bearing shank to make the OAL for a .44-40, unless you're using it in a single shot rifle.

The obsolete Ideal 429434, if you could find or replicate it, would be a good compromise, since it has the weight of the .44 Spl. designs with the short nose of the .44-40. It is a gas check design, though. Accurate or somebody should be able to replicate a version without the gas check shank, if you don't want to use them.

[FISH4BUGS]

The Keith SWC is a classic.

I use a Hensley & Gibbs #503 Keith Bullet for 44 mag and 44 special. Lots of people CLAIM "Keith type" bullet designs but it is generally accepted that the #503 WAS actually designed by Elmer Keith with H&G making the original moulds.
I shoot 8.0 gr 231 for 44 mag and 5.5 gr 231 for 44 special. Nice light plinking loads with enough punch to get where you need them to go. Sized .430" with Magma hard lube. No leading whatsoever.
I shoot the 44 mag at 200 yards from a 5 screw pre Model 29 with iron sights and can hit a 12" steel plate MAYBE one out of 10 shots....on a good day.
Not bad for old eyes and iron sights.
The 44 special rounds are fired from a Ruger GP100.

[bob208]

the rcbs .44-200 works great in my .44-40 uberti 66 Winchester. also my .44-40 Dakota saa. it also works good in a marlin .44 mag. also used it in ruger .44 mag carbines.

that bullet in those guns have taken paper, tin cans, ground hogs and even a few deer.

[gpidaho]

Stopsign32V; I use the Noe 429421 245gr. SWC or the Saeco 61444 RNFP. Both work well in my revolvers. Gp

[Larry Gibson]

I've used commercial 200 gr RF and Lee's 200 RF bullet in 44 SPLs, 44 mags and 44-40. They do fine as far as accuracy goes for what they were intended. However, these days in 44 SPL, 44 mag mid-range and 44-40 loads I mostly use the Lee TL 240 gr SWC and the Lyman 429360 SWC. I do use the RCBS 44-250-KT and the Lyman devastator in magnum level 44 magnum loads though. I size them all .430 for use in all 4 of my 44 Magnums except the Devastator which are sized .429 for use in the Colt Anaconda.

The Lee 240 TL SWC seated to the 2nd lube groove and crimped there seats to the bottom of the 44-40 neck. I do have to size at .429 for those to chamber in my Ruger OM Vaquero 44-40. However the front band on the 429360 isn't full diameter so I leave those sized at .430 and seat to the crimp groove and they chamber fine in the 44-40. After I very slightly turned the barrel in to zero for windage both bullets hit to the same place at 25 and 50 yards with the 2 loads I use. in the Ruger Vaquero 44-40 I use 7 gr of 700X for a very light and accurate load....it hits poa at 25 yards. Over 8.5 gr Unique both bullets hit poa at 50 yards. Winchester cases and CI LPs are used.

[Lloyd Smale]

In my ruger and smith I mostly use the 429215

[Stopsign32v]

How do you change the size of a Bullet with one given die? Example if a die is .429 how would you get a size of .429, .430, or .431? Or am I misreading some of the things I'm reading?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

How do you change the size of a Bullet with one given die? Example if a die is .429 how would you get a size of .429, .430, or .431? Or am I misreading some of the things I'm reading?

You need a separate die for each size you want to size to.

[Stopsign32v]

So how does shooting a .430 Bullet out of a .429 bore work? Should I not be looking for a .429 die?

I also know I need to size my throats in the chambers. Need a measuring tool.

[Outpost75]

So how does shooting a .430 Bullet out of a .429 bore work? Should I not be looking for a .429 die? I also know I need to size my throats in the chambers. Need a measuring tool.

This business of "slugging the barrel" to determine proper bullet size is pure BS, mythology and folklore which needs to have a wooden stake driven through its heart!

INSTEAD you want to measure the throat, or the unrifled portion of the barrel forcing cone or "ball seat" ahead of the case mouth, before the rifling starts. The best way to do this for measurement purposes and easiest is to upset a throat slug, or as some people call it a "pound cast." READ THE STICKY!

What you want to measure is the diameter of the UNRIFLED portion of the chamber forward of the case neck BEFORE the rifling starts! Extract the dummy and GENTLY tap the lead slug out and measure it. THAT is the diameter you want to size your bullets to! The upset pure, dead-lead slug is exact and straight forward!

If you forget EVERYTHING you ever read about slugging barrels and simply cast chambers from now on, and get bullets to FIT THE THROAT you will be far happier in the long run.

THE limiting factor in safe bullet diameter is neck release clearance. You MUST measure the neck diameter of the chamber on the cast. Most chambers have enough clearance ahead of a fired case mouth that a properly upset throat slug will get you a portion of the case mouth and its transition angle to the throat or ball seat, so that you can measure neck diameter at the mouth and throat diameter of the ball seat.

The loaded cartridge neck diameter must be 0.0015" SMALLER than the chamber cast at that point, to ensure safe expansion for bullet release. As a general rule the largest diameter of cast bullet which chambers and extracts freely, without resistance, will shoot best.

For instance in a .44-40 rifle with minimum SAAMI chamber with .445 chamber neck and using Starline brass of 0.007" mouth wall thickness maximum bullet diameter is determined by [neck (.445")-2(neck wall thickness 0.014)] - 0.0015 = 0.4295" In a modern Marlin, Chiappa or Rossi '92 in .44-40 barrel the typical chamber neck diameter is +0.002 above SAAMI Min, or about .447", so neck clearance is adequate for a .4315" bullet, and if you measure the UNRIFLED portion of the ball seat ahead of the case mouth before the rifling starts, IT WILL be THAT LARGE!

Do a pound cast of your chamber, measure it, and then buy a mold which fits your THROAT, not the groove diameter of the barrel. The largest diameter of cast bullet which chambers and extracts freely, without resistance, will shoot best. For most .44-40 rifles this is .430" For .44 Magnum rifles .432-.433"

Easiest way to measure neck diameter of your .44 chambers is to tap a soft, pure lead .45 round ball into the chamber, NOT into the rifling, and then tap it out and measure it.

[Stopsign32v]

.451 black powder balls for the throats?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Pure lead is soft, and will easily size down to measure the throats, use some gun oil to make such it comes out easily (or easily pushes through the cylinder).

link to the sticky "Pound Cast", this is for a rifle chamber throat, as I am unsure if we are talking rifle or revolver?
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?218414-FYI-This-is-how-I-do-a-pound-cast

[Stopsign32v]

Pure lead is soft, and will easily size down to measure the throats, use some gun oil to make such it comes out easily (or easily pushes through the cylinder).

link to the sticky "Pound Cast", this is for a rifle chamber throat, as I am unsure if we are talking rifle or revolver?
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?218414-FYI-This-is-how-I-do-a-pound-cast

Sorry, revolvers

[Outpost75]

.451 black powder balls for the throats?

.45 rifle balls are used to check the chamber NECK, not throat!

For checking .44 REVOLVER throats use .433" pure lead muzzle-loader balls.

It is not unusual for modern .44-40 revolvers to have cylinder throats of diameter smaller than barrel groove diameter. AND at the same time for the chamber necks to be too tight to be able to load a bullet of diameter large enough to fit cylinder throats which has been honed large enough to match the barrel.
Case in point, my Ruger .44-40 Vaquero had .444 chamber necks and .425 cylinder throats with a .429 groove diameter barrel. Nothing would shoot for sour apples.

In such cases the cylinder must be rechambered to enlarge the chamber necks, as well as enlarhing the cylinder throats so that you can load bullets large enough to fit properly in the modern .44 Magnum dimensioned barrel. John Taylor rechambered my cylinder to enlarge the neck diameters to .447" and the throats to .4305." I now load .430" cast bullets in it and it shoots like a rifle!

DougGuy is another on this forum who is set up to correct too-tight cylinder necks and throats. Doing so costs about half what of a Bowen cylinder blank costs before having it fitted and chambered to have a custom cylinder done! I've gone through both exercises with several revolvers and believe me, the "fixing" the Ruger cylinder which came factory fitted to your gun is a bargain.

[barnabus]

So how does shooting a .430 Bullet out of a .429 bore work? Should I not be looking for a .429 die?

I also know I need to size my throats in the chambers. Need a measuring tool.

where are u in SC..Im in Chester