Lyman 429215 - Fills what niche?

[Hardcast]

I have owned a Lyman 4 cavity 429215 for many years and it's one of my best molds. Back in my days of youth I shot a bunch of these through my S&W .44 mags. Cast very hard, it was very accurate in my 8.375" Model 29 loaded over a full power charge of 296 or H110. However, now that I am older and more experienced, I wonder what what the designer (Thompson?) had in mind for this bullet. It is lighter and shorter than the standard weight and heavy bullets, has very small driving bands, and has a relatively small meplat, so why is it needed? I can't think of any purpose that would not be better handled by a different design. Thoughts?

[Bret4207]

Thompson developed a line of GC boolits back when there weren't many GC revolver boolits, if any. At the time the 44 mag was new and the 357 only a couple decades old. Leading was a problem and the GC helped. As to weight, the 429215 fits the 44 Special rather well.

[6pt-sika]

I got a two banger 429215 about a month ago to use in my Marlin 1894CB in 44-40 . Seems when marlin made the 44-40 they used the same barrels they use for the 44 MAG Cowboy so I need a bullet that will size .430 . And 215 grains is more suited to the 44-40 then the 240's and 250's .



:castmine:

[Dale53]

A light, accurate bullet has a place. It reduces recoil and is actually more pleasant to shoot. That said, I don't have any light bullets for my .44 Specials or .44 Magnums. I sorta lust after a 180-200 gr full wadcutter, tho'[smilie=1:

Wonder if anyone else craves one (think a group buy six cavity Lee)?

Dale53

[45 2.1]

A light, accurate bullet has a place. It reduces recoil and is actually more pleasant to shoot. That said, I don't have any light bullets for my .44 Specials or .44 Magnums. I so sorta lust after a 180-200 gr full wadcutter, tho'[smilie=1:

Wonder if anyone else craves one (think a group buy six cavity Lee)?

Dale53

LEE has or had the 208 gr. 44 wadcutter, but it doesn't cast over 0.431" and needs improvement.

[Sky C.]

For some reason - I must have ended up with an oddball mould. My LY 429215 casts a boolit weighing close to 240gr. in WW. Do any of them actually cast anywhere close to the 215gr. mark?

Thanks-

Sky C.

[Hardcast]

For some reason - I must have ended up with an oddball mould. My LY 429215 casts a boolit weighing close to 240gr. in WW. Do any of them actually cast anywhere close to the 215gr. mark?

Thanks-

Sky C.

With an alloy that is quite a bit harder than WW, But not as hard as straight linotype, mine weighed around 225 grains sized and lubed.

[Dale53]

Lee no longer catalogs a wadcutter for the .44. I would really like a six cavity that casts .430"-.431 and weighs 180-200 grs.

Dale53

[Bass Ackward]

I would really like a six cavity that casts .430"-.431 and weighs 180-200 grs.Dale53


Dale,

I want you to think back when you were a kid and your mother took you to the grocery store. Do you remember at the check out counter when you threw a tantrum because you REALLY wanted a candy bar? Your mom tweaked your cheek and told you that she would REALLY love for you to have it to. BUT, it would build character in you if she told you no?

Well, .... no wadcutter Dale. Sorry. :grin:

[45 2.1]

Dale,

I want you to think back when you were a kid and your mother took you to the grocery store. Do you remember at the check out counter when you threw a tantrum because you REALLY wanted a candy bar? Your mom tweaked your cheek and told you that she would REALLY love for you to have it to. BUT, it would build character in you if she told you no?

Well, .... no wadcutter Dale. Sorry. :grin:

Well John, this time your wrong. Saeco already makes a nice 200 gr. 44 wadcutter and Dale now knows where to find it. At our age ,we should already have character and not have to build same.

[felix]

Saeco molds typically cast WW right on the size specified for sizing. That would be too small for Dale. The Lee mold I had came out to 429 with WW. ... felix

[Bass Ackward]

Well John, this time your wrong. Saeco already makes a nice 200 gr. 44 wadcutter and Dale now knows where to find it. At our age ,we should already have character and not have to build same.


Oh Bob. You let the cat out of the bag.

[felix]

Meow! ... felix

[Bucks Owin]

A light, accurate bullet has a place. It reduces recoil and is actually more pleasant to shoot. That said, I don't have any light bullets for my .44 Specials or .44 Magnums. I sorta lust after a 180-200 gr full wadcutter, tho'[smilie=1:

Wonder if anyone else craves one (think a group buy six cavity Lee)?

Dale53

What about Lyman # 429348 180 gr WC?
There are some nice looking loads for it too in "The Complete Reloading Manual for the .44 Magnum"....
In the 1100 to 1400 fps range...

Dennis

[Leftoverdj]

Lee still has a handful of the six cavity .44 WC moulds on their surplus page.

[Shuz]

I've had a 4 cavity mould in this design for many years now. It is a very accurate boolit in many of my .44's with 8.6g of Green Dot. Weight using ww+1%tin is 218g sans check. Accuracy is about the same, with or without the gas check. It is a great, accurate bbl cleaner when wearing the gas check and I always try to have a box on hand should the need arise. It is also a great choice for the 329PD as the boolits are light enuf not to try and jump crimp when driven around 1050fps from the 8.6g Green Dot load. The only caveat with this design that I've experienced with many 429215 moulds, has been the difficulty to get the front driving band to fill out completely. I attribute that to it's small size. I don't have that problem with FDB's the size of 429421(even the smallest version of it!), or 429650, or 429244.

[DOUBLEJK]

Back in my Sillywet days I really liked that #429215GC as it was super accurate and had plenty of smack out to the turkey's....my load was only 18.5Gr of old Hurcules 2400 but it sure shot well....
Another plus fer it is in my Rossi n Ruger leverguns......feeds like thier greased where as #429421's hang up on the way to the chamber....

[Dale53]

leftoverdj;
Thanks for the heads up at Lee's surplus page. I never think to look there.

Dale53

[Wayne Smith]

NEI has about six of them in a variety of shapes/weights. They will gas check or non-gas check a mold at will, so I guess the same would be true of a bevel base. Weights range from 80gr to over 248 gr for wad cutter designs. Hope this helps.

[C1PNR]

Using 6.5 Unique under one of them in .44 Spl loads really helps tame the recoil in my 19 oz Charter Arms Bulldog.[smilie=1:

[9.3X62AL]

The Lyman #429215 was going to be my "fall back position" if I couldn't get a plain-based boolit of 200-220 grains to act right in my 44-40. Its grooves are .429".

[daleraby]

Montana Bullets has a plain base version of this. I have some on order to test with. I'm hoping for a light-recoiling bullet at about 900 FPS or so in my Ruger Flattop .44 Special. I have started looking for a PB mold, just in case I like them, but only the GC versions seem to be out there in quantity.

[Forrest r]

I've carried ca bulldogs since the 80's & ended up buying a H&G #142 mold. It's the H&G version of the lyman 429215. The H&G 142 is a 2-cavity mold with 1 cavity having a hp pin.
https://i.imgur.com/oVuVnyh.jpg

That mold casts a 220gr gc swc and a 200gr hp gc swc. I use the 220gr gc swc's for plinking/range play. And the 200gr hp gc swc's in the snubnosed ca bulldog.
https://i.imgur.com/3DawiR1.jpg

A recovered H&G 142 hp (bottom left).
https://i.imgur.com/fo57jjU.jpg

As others have already said, this style/design of bullet is not only accurate. It's a real good thumper

[Larry Gibson]

The 429215 is, indeed, a perfect bullet for the 44-40 when cast soft of 16-1 alloy, GC'd and loaded to the original "HV" loads for use in my Uberti M92 and OM Ruger vaquero.

It also is an excellent performer in the 44 Magnum giving 41 magnum level recoil when loaded to 41 Magnum velocities. When HP'd and driven to 1250 fps by 16 gr Blue Dot out of my 4" Colt Anaconda in is my "go to" bullet for general use and PD.

[HamGunner]

The Lyman 429215 gc bullet is my bullet of choice for my 94 Win. .44 mag. It feeds slick and my mold casts at just over .431, which works really good in the fairly shallow 10 grooved 94 Win. barrel. Like most Marlins, my 94 Win. just did not normally do all that well with skinny factory .429 bullets because of it's slightly roomier bore.

I do remember that the old Speer 225 gr. half jacket HP done well in the Win. and it was a tack driver in the Flat Top as well, but I do not remember it's diameter. Likely it was fatter than .429. I run this Lyman 429215 gc bullet through a .432 lube sizing die and attach my home made aluminum gas checks. I have had this mold for likely 40+ years and have forgotten if the mold cast .431 originally or if I honed it larger.

Of course, my Lyman 429421 bullet that I normally shot in my old Flat Top just does not feed in the Winchesters without alteration of the feed stop and I do not wish to go that route, but using WC-820/AA-#9 powder behind the .Lyman 429215gc I get very good accuracy out of both my Ruger Flat Top as well as the Win. carbine. The carbine's favorite load using WC-820 with this cast bullet clocks right at 1,900 fps. I have taken a decent number of deer with this bullet/carbine combination and it does well with a BHN of 13-14.