I have a Uberti Cattlemen in 44 spl. with a 5.5 bbl. I’m looking for suggestions on bullet selections some of you other folks are using. I might even be interested in buying some to try out. I’m looking for soft cast soft lube with a BHN around 15 and .431 dia.
burch
buzzard`s gotta eat, same as the worms
Josey Wales
The MiHa clone of the H&G 503 is a great boolit. I shoot a lot of them inmy 44spl FT
"In GOD We Trust"
Its hard to beat a Keith style bullet in the 44spl
"In GOD We Trust"
My favorite is also the MP 503 clone. I also have the Lyman 429-421 but like the HP capability of the MP mold.Originally Posted by burch
How do you like that Uberti? I have been thinking about one of those.
+1 on all of the above. I have the MP mould and it is one of the best working moulds I own.. That boolit is a do all for the .44 Special.
Randy
"It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
www.buchananprecisionmachine.com
For sure the Lyman 429421 and the RCBS 44-250-K are excellent choices for the 44 SPL. For either bullet I am partial to the "Skeeter" load of 7.5 gr Unique.
However, these days I mostly load the 429360 (240 gr SWC or the Lee TL 430-240-SWC because they are a 4 and 6 cavity moulds. I load either over 5.5 gr of Bullseye (or 700X) which run right at 800 fps with excellent accuracy. The Lee 429-200-RF is also an excellent lighter weight bullet which I load over 6 gr Bullseye.
Larry Gibson
“Deficient observation is merely a form of ignorance and responsible for the many morbid notions and foolish ideas prevailing.”
― Nikola Tesla
I like a 210 fp with 7.8 gr unique. For the wife and youngsters i load the same bullet with 4.5 gr unique very mild and very accurate. I am a huge fan of mp molds you can't go wrong with there molds.
I have to agree with all of the above. Its hard to beat a Keith Type bullet. Clip on wheel weight alloy should do everything that you want. If you want to stretch your wheel weights you could mix wheel weights 50-50 with soft lead and add 1 or 2% tin.
I'd love to have a Lyman #429478.
Tempted on getting an Accurate #43-220N.
Have settled on a heavy round nose with a big hollow pointing.
I have 3 44 specials and I keep coming back to the 429-421 over 7.5 grains of Unique. I have an acquaintance who has been touting Power Pistol, and I may give it a try, but it will have to work overtime to better the results I get with good old Unique.
_________________________________________________It's not that I can't spell: it is that I can't type.
All of the above.....I agree with. If you want to duplicate the old standard RN; Lee has one that drops at 240+ and if you wish to try a lighter SWC the Lee 214 has served me well in several 44 Special SA and DA revolvers.
I have a couple Uberti’s. They’ve came a long way on quality. My last one is a Taylor tuned. I also have that mold.
buzzard`s gotta eat, same as the worms
Josey Wales
I have two 44 spl. My other baby is a S&W 696 no dash. Oh yea
buzzard`s gotta eat, same as the worms
Josey Wales
Lyman 429215 220gr GC and 429383 245gr RN are my 44 spl go to slugs. Either one is very effective in HP form when cast of 2.5/2.5/95 alloy. The 245GR RN just looks right in a 44 spl ctg.
Burch: I have a 696 no dash, too. What do you usually load and in what diameter? GF
I have one of those too! 6.0 gr of W231 with Mihec 503 shoots to the sights, and will go 200 Meters if needed. (200 M Rams)
Do yourself a favor and get a set of X Frame Grips that have the extra padding in the web area See pic. Takes the bite right out of hotter loads. I got them from S&W but they are Hogue grips.
Randy
"It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
www.buchananprecisionmachine.com
What are you going to be doing with the revolvers? For only target shooting and such, I've really come to like RN bullets because they seem a little more accurate than SWC's. I recently pick up a Lyman 429383 and bullets from that mold are really accurate-
I've never been a big fan of Lee molds, but if you don't mind doing a little pre-casting work on them and cleaning up the rough machining, they can sometimes cast some really good bullets. The 429-240-2R has worked quite well for me too.
For shooting and hunting I prefer SWC's. I'd have a hard time picking between anyone's 429421, the RCBS 44-250KT and MP's H&G 503 copy. I've killed game with all of them and could fill up the server with photos of nice groups fired with all of them.
I've standardized on heavier bullets in the 245-255 gr. range because they all shoot fairly close to POI in my Uberti's. But I also tried the Lyman 429215 mold which casts a gas checked SWC in the 210-215 gr. range. It too cast some very accurate bullets.
35W
Last edited by 35 Whelen; 03-05-2019 at 05:05 AM.
The biggest waste of time is arguing with the fool and fanatic who doesn't care about truth or reality, but only the victory of his beliefs and illusions.
There are people who, for all the evidence presented to them, do not have the ability to understand.
NRA Life Member
/\ Agreed /\
I have been a fan of .44 Specials for many, many years. Like many above, my favorite bullet is a Keith. Currently, for several years, I have been using The H&G #503 from a Mihec mold.
A good target load is 5.0 grs. of Bullseye. My favorite field load is the Skeeter load (7.5 grs. of Unique). This may be a bit stout for Italian single actions, so you may want to drop this to 6.9 grs of Unique (this is within SAAMI standards).
I have used the Skeeter load in my Uberti Cimarron without issue - YMMV.
Handloader #236 has an excellent article on the .44 Special covering categhory #1, #2, and #3 strength levels of the revolvers commonly found. I suggest any that want to know the strength levels with loads for each level might want to pick up a copy (I have a digital copy on my various devices). The article is written by my current favorite author on reloading for handguns, Brian Pearce.
FWIW
Dale53
Another fan of the Keith. I love 231 for all my sub maximum loadings and the 44 special is no different. My go to max load is 2400 however. As mentioned, the Brian Pearce article is a wealth of knowledge. It is easily found on the interwebz.
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