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View Full Version : Which mold to keep?



stubert
01-24-2009, 04:02 PM
I have been shooting a 44 mag. using a Lyman 429421 245 gr. mold. good accuracy, no leading. I just purchased a used 429244 245 gr gas check mold. I don't know if there is any benifit using a GC. Is the added effort of installing GC,s worth it? Any one ever compare the two against each other? Thanks

cabezaverde
01-24-2009, 04:19 PM
Hi Stubert,

I have a brand new 429421 that I would trade for your gas check mold if you are interested, and it is in good shape (I have another one).

That way, you could cast with 2 molds, which is what many of us do to keep productivity and casting quality up.

missionary5155
01-24-2009, 05:02 PM
Greetings
It all comes down to how much pressure will the NO gas check boolit base support before failure with whatever mix you are casting. If you never cross that pressure threshhold you would never need a GC. Every barrel is a bit different. A soft mix would benefit from a GC if you want to push it FAST. WW Water Dropped (WD) may never need a GC but it will not expand either.
I shoot 41 mag. I never use a GC... until I need it. And sometimes I need it when my desired mix will not support the pressure on the base. And I like soft boolits because they will expand.
So it all comes down to NEED. If all you will do is pop cans and paper a GC is a waste. But if you ever decide to hunt hogs then I want ALL the FPS I can squeeze out of my boolit and I will have a heavy GC design loaded. White tail... no need. Groung hogs...coyotees... never. I seldom shoot past 50 yards where I hunt... river bottoms.. drain ditches.. But if that got changed to 75+ yards Then I am stoking up the Dan Wesson. If I start banging steel again.. 200 yard rams, GC.
So ya have to ask yourself... What-cha gonna be doing with that chunk of iron ?
Mike God Bless ya !

Ghugly
01-24-2009, 07:41 PM
You've said that you have good accuracy and no leading. I doubt that you can improve on no leading. The 429244 is a good boolit. I guess you'd just have to try it, to see if it is more accurate in your gun. I would rather scrub out a little lead, from time to time, than deal with gas checks.

FAsmus
01-24-2009, 08:00 PM
Stubert;

The use of gas checks in revolvers is questionable.

Ol' Elmer Keith, who invented the 429421 never used checks and made a good living at his shooting for 60 years or so doing it .. We should take his wisdom into consideration!

I once had a 429244 and the 429421 for various 44 Magnums - I still have the 429421, who knows what happened to the gas check mold? Who cares? Especially when checks are going for 3 cents each?

Good evening,
Forrest

crabo
01-24-2009, 08:46 PM
I think you should hang on to both of them for a while. It is possible to get rid of a good mold because you were not ready for it in your early education. It is often easier to find a good high velocity load with a GC boolit.

It also depends what your expectations are. If plinking is all you need to be happy, let it go. If long range plinking is your goal, you might want to hang on to it.

My 2 cents,

Marlin Junky
01-24-2009, 09:10 PM
Stubert;

The use of gas checks in revolvers is questionable.

Ol' Elmer Keith, who invented the 429421 never used checks and made a good living at his shooting for 60 years or so doing it .. We should take his wisdom into consideration!

I once had a 429244 and the 429421 for various 44 Magnums - I still have the 429421, who knows what happened to the gas check mold? Who cares? Especially when checks are going for 3 cents each?

Good evening,
Forrest

I agree, just fit the bullet to the cylinder (.001" over) and you have saved the cost/effort of checking your .44's... unless you're looking for top performance from a carbine... that's another story.

BTW, Forrest, in what part of N.WY are you? I'm thinking about building a home on 38 acres a couple miles S.E. of Sheridan off Hwy 14 and was wondering if there might be a problem shooting my medium bores in the backyard.

MJ

Firebricker
01-24-2009, 10:36 PM
stubert you got 2 good molds there i have the same two. Ive shot a bunch of 429244 with out the gas check for plinkers with no problems and with gas checks on full power loads. If you wanted softer lead at high veloc gas checks are good. With 429421 you get 3 full cal driving bands and a little more lube. If you size on a lyman 429244 you'll get lube on the base no reall big deal though. both are great design I like 429421 one alot(I,m a Kieth fan) Thats why I think Crabos on the money !! keepem both if you can maybe have one of your 429244 cavs hollow pointed you'd be coverd for anything. Good luck.

Green Frog
01-24-2009, 11:16 PM
My attitude is that you can never have too many moulds for a gun you like to shoot. The only moulds I have ever sold were duplicates or for bullets I really decided I didn't like, or ones that now I want back!! :( If you don't need the money or haven't found a different mould to trade up to, my advice is to hold on to both of them and store the less-used one someplace secure and dry. JMHO, of course, and YMMV!

Froggie

trk
01-24-2009, 11:23 PM
I have been shooting a 44 mag. using a Lyman 429421 245 gr. mold. good accuracy, no leading. I just purchased a used 429244 245 gr gas check mold. I don't know if there is any benifit using a GC. Is the added effort of installing GC,s worth it? Any one ever compare the two against each other? Thanks

I have both. They both have a good reputation. One advantage of the GC version is that you can drive it a little faster with accuracy and no leading. An advantage of the plain base is that it's cheaper by the price of a gas check and can be used in competitions that require plain base bullets.

MT Gianni
01-25-2009, 04:08 PM
I have whittled my 44 molds down to these two plus a Lee 300fp. I had Buckshot HP the 429244 as I can drive it in a Mod 92 fast enough to need the check. For a handgun just trimming down to one mold i would use the 421 but you have the best of both worlds right there.