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Thread: Kent Lomont, 44 Magnum, H&G 503, H110 and Magnum Primers

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    Kent Lomont, 44 Magnum, H&G 503, H110 and Magnum Primers

    Who on here remembers Kent and his recommended load for the 44 Mag H&G 503, H110 and Magnum primers?
    I do and John Ross does. Who else.
    Don't worry Load Data police I am not going to post it. John Ross can or maybe someone else that ever talked to Lomont.
    Lomont also cast bullets for sale.
    He had a pressure gun and did some loads testing for me too.

  2. #2
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    Kent also scoped several model 29s and shot closer to an inch groups at one hundred yards. He had an amazing life and I miss him. Our phone conversations could last three and four hours.

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    Sure do! Kent told me that he loaded a bunch of 44 mag. and made match ammo out of it. Everything he could do to make it as match grade as possible. Trimming and weighing cases, weighing bullets, each powder charge and so on. Then he loaded the same amount with cases and bullets just grabbed up and loaded on his Star progressive. Shot everything out of a Scoped Model 29 mounted in a Ransom Rest at I believe 100 yards if memory serves. After all that he said the "Match" grade shot groups about 1/4" to 1/2" smaller than the regular blasting ammo. I once wrote on here about his endurance tests on a Model 29 and was basically told I was full of it. I would dearly love to be able to set around a campfire with others who knew Kent and compare the stories. Shooting, camping and conversations are all fondly remembered. I think a book like "Letters to Elmer Keith" would be interesting. But a lot more people knew of Keith instead of Kent so it would comparably be a smaller niche.

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    I remember his telling me of the endurance testing. Didn't he do this for S&W and wasn't it a 4 inch M29?
    I have forgotten most of the details though.

  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance John Ross's Avatar
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    Like me, his "endurance testing" was just him shooting the guns he liked a LOT. S&W was of course interested in the results but aside from fixing the things that broke, S&W never paid us.

    I shot one of my Model 29s enough (over 70,000 rounds) that the frame developed a crack at the cylinder stop notch. Kent did this to four of his 29s IIRC.

    When that happens, S&W cuts the gun in half, builds you a new gun, and stamps the frame with the original serial number.

    The result is often a fun way to baffle collectors: A gun that is marked "Mod. 29-5" or whatever version they were up to when they made the new frame, but with a serial number that indicates the gun was made in 1959...
    JR--the .500 specialist

  6. #6
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    Didn't Kent have a pet load of Unique with the H&G 503? Wasn't it 9.5 gr. The times we talked on the phone he said so much it was hard to take all of it in.
    Who remembers him using a type of primer that wasn't applicable to Handguns and had to be leaned on hard when seating to get it below the case head with his H110 Load. I shot several loaded with that particular primer in a M29.
    Also he and his buddies finding a reasonable sized trees and shooting at them with their 44 Mags until it fell over as a fun thing to do.
    Last edited by 44MAG#1; 02-15-2018 at 06:32 PM.

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    44MAG#1, I'm pretty sure he was talking about rifle primers. He told me about he and Lee Jurras going out for a day of shooting and Jurras brought a big box of SuperVel ammo for them to play with. They cut down a tree with it. One Model 29 started out as an 8 3/8 inch and he poured an extremely large number of rounds through it before sending it back for replacement of the springs and maybe the firing pin. He had Smith cut the barrel to 4 inch so he could practice quick draw with it and poured another extremely large amount of rounds through it. By then the forcing cone was burned away to the edge of the barrel and again the springs were shot along with the firing pin. The ring around the cylinder you get from the cylinder bolt stop was actually etched into the cylinder. The factory replaced the parts, set the barrel back 0ne turn a resurfaced the forcing cone. The barrel itself was still good as he fired it in a Ransom rest at 100 yards and it grouped 4 inches. John, if you were witness to any of this please correct me if I'm not accurate.

  8. #8
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    "44MAG#1, I'm pretty sure he was talking about rifle primers."
    Correct. Can't talk about things like that now. Many would have conniption fits over it nowadays.
    Times are different. I can understand though. Anything people do now is unsafe, bad for your health, illegal or a sin according to many.
    But as I said I can understand. We don't know who we are dealing with now.

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance John Ross's Avatar
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    Don, I was aware of the 4" with the forcing cone eroded out to the edge of the barrel but did not know that it had once been an 8 3/8" tube.

    If Kent ever used rifle primers in his .44 mag loads in the '60s and '70s it was only in ammo he shot out of his Super Blackhawks. S&Ws of that era with hammer-mounted firing pins would not reliably ignite rifle primers, period. We both discovered this independently and talked about it regularly.

    We did alter some .44 cases to take Alcan Max-Fire shotgun primers for use in wax bullet loads.
    JR--the .500 specialist

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    Remember seeing some photo's of the Lamont's visiting Elmer & they were sitting up stairs where Elmer kept his guns. That's been a long time ago. I've always wished I had ask him to go shooting but at a young age never felt comfortable doing it.

    Dick

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    I am loading up a few with the Lomont H110 load and the H&G 503 with CCI 350's.
    Don't tell anyone.

  12. #12
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance John Ross's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sixshot View Post
    Remember seeing some photos of the Lomonts visiting Elmer & they were sitting up stairs where Elmer kept his guns.

    Dick
    Elmer kept his guns and reloading equipment in the attic. It was hot up there! Kent took these photos in 1975.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    JR--the .500 specialist

  13. #13
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    I read his many articles on the Auto Mag. He would take out of his pistols and have 2-3 load magazines and shot it as fast as he could until the pistol broke. Somewhere in my collections, I have his listing for custom loads and prices.
    I believe he was buried in Salmon, Idaho near Elmer Keith.
    Leadmelter
    MI

  14. #14
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    Speaking of Elmer's attic. Several years ago I was on the computer and on a whim got on a real estate site and typed in Salmon, Idaho. Lo and behold they were showing Elmer's house for sale. Think it was listed for $175,000. One of the interior photo's was of the attic and mentioned it had been Elmer's reloading room. There was a close up picture of one of the planks lining the walls and in pencil was a 22/2400. Karma. Perhaps the realtor was a fan. John, I remember Kent saying that the 29 in question started as an 8 3/8's. By the way more pictures if you please.

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    Boolit Grand Master FergusonTO35's Avatar
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    My favorite Elmer Keith quote: "That's uglier n' a ******* eatin' cactus!!"
    Currently casting and loading: .32 Auto, .380 Auto, .38 Special, 9X19, .357 Magnum, .257 Roberts, 6.5 Creedmoor, .30 WCF, .308 WCF, .45-70.

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    If a person has any interest in the Automag they definitely should find the three big articles Kent wrote in Gun Digest and Handloading Digest. Even if you have no interest in the Automag they still make interesting reading and show some nice photos. He tells of making 10,000 cases out of .308 brass. Unfortunately by the time I started camping and shooting with Kent he wasn't into them as much and never got to shoot any of them. But he had other toys we played with that eased the pain. His 8 3/8's Ron Power tuned, bull barreled, Bo-Mar ribbed Model 29 was a joy to shoot. The double action was so nice it seemed a waste to shoot it single action.

  17. #17
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance John Ross's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Don Purcell View Post
    [Kent's] 8 3/8" Ron Power tuned, bull barreled, Bo-Mar ribbed Model 29 was a joy to shoot. The double action was so nice it seemed a waste to shoot it single action.
    He ordered that gun from Ron after shooting mine. In 1976 on the way back from Idaho I stopped in Ron Power's shop near Independence, MO. We got to talking .44 mags and Ron said "Want another one?"

    He pulled out a 10 1/2" .44 mag Power Custom he had built as a Pin Gun for Ad Clark, but Clark had just broken his shoulder in a motorcycle accident and was both unable to shoot and strapped for cash. I bought it on the spot. The DA pull was so light and smooth that the gun would fire if you spun it!

    When Kent saw it a few months later he ordered an 8 3/8" one just like it.

    Here's a shot from 1976 with some Auto Mags in the upper right corner...

    Click image for larger version. 

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    JR--the .500 specialist

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    I met him at a linebaugh seminar. he was buddys with my best friend that was there too. he showed up one year with a 4 bore rifle and the next year with a gattling gun. I don't know about his load data though but hes quite a character.
    Quote Originally Posted by 44MAG#1 View Post
    Who on here remembers Kent and his recommended load for the 44 Mag H&G 503, H110 and Magnum primers?
    I do and John Ross does. Who else.
    Don't worry Load Data police I am not going to post it. John Ross can or maybe someone else that ever talked to Lomont.
    Lomont also cast bullets for sale.
    He had a pressure gun and did some loads testing for me too.

  19. #19
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    I was in Boise over the week end for the girls state basket ball tournaments (our girls won state!) Of course I had to stop at Cabelas & when I went into the gun library I spotted a very nice Winchester model 63 & bought it for one of my son's. Speaking with the guy who was helping me we got talking about all of Elmer's stuff that use to be in there & I mentioned having several photo's of Elmer when I visited him in Salmon & one of them was Elmer holding his Ruger #1 375. The guy who bought it contacted me & wanted to buy that photo, I told him I would make a copy & I would give him the original & I did. The employee told me that Elmer's son Ted had been in not too long ago & the employee didn't know who he was. Ted ask if the guy would mount a scope for him & the guy says sure, I'll mount it & Ted says, my dad would sure be mad if he knew I was having someone mount a scope for me!! The guy says, who was your dad & Ted said, Elmer Keith!!

    Dick

  20. #20
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    John, speaking of the .44 Automag. Kent mentioned in his article on loading the Automag about trying a 173 grain jacketed hollowpoint you provided him and I believe it's the same bullet you described in your book "Unintended Consequences". I assume you made these yourself with Lakeville dies? I believe Kent told me he used basically a full case of H-110/296 in the Automag. By the way, those look like some pretty suspicious charaters. The cabin was in Idaho, yes?

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check