44 Special Bullet Question

[Combatvet]

My wife inherited a Charter Arm Bulldog 44 Special after her father passed. I'm looking to cast and load for it, but I see that there are three different bullet sizes, .429, .430, and .431. Does anybody cast and load for this specific revolver, and what size bullet do you cast and size for?

I have seen others say to check throat and barrel diameter, not sure the best way to do that.

Regards,

Vet

[Outpost75]

Cylinder throats on Charters run big. Go .431 and call it good.
Accurate 43-206H with 5 grains of Bullseye.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

My Charter .44 slugs at .431 for 3 chambers, .4315 for 2 chambers. I run .432, I have tried the lighter 180-185 grain bullets but they run about 7" low at 25 yards for me with fixed Charter sights. 215-220 grainers shoot much closer to the sights. Recoil can be unpleasant, why I use the lighter bullets. My current Bulldog .44 is about 20 years old.

[Walks]

2nd on 5.0grs of Bullseye under a 205-210gr bullet sized .431dia

[stubshaft]

200 Grain bullet sized .430 ahead of 7.5 Herco.

[Combatvet]

Thanks for the info, I'm going to start looking for molds for casting based on this.

[paul edward]

When I first started loading 44 Special for the Bulldog, I used 4 grains of Bullseye with Lee 429-214-SWC. More recently I have been using 5 grains of Win 231 as it meters better through my Redding powder measure. Neither of these loads is anywhere near full strength, they are easy to manage in a light, short barrelled revolver.

[racepres]

My Old (probably one of the first) BullDog... really like the old Speer Swaged 240, over 6.0 gr of Unique for "business" Chrono's at 650FPS from the 3" barrel.. and I "play" with the same 6.0 gr Unique under the lee RF 200 gr, which chronos at 775 FPS
Don't ask me the Why nor How!! But I check it once in awhile just to triple check.... not a Fluke..
My Notes say that 4.5 to 5 grains of Hercules Bullseye did about the same... But...I haven't had any Hercules powder for quite some time!!!

[ABJ]

I have a fairly new 3" and as "mostlyleverguns" said, light for caliber will shoot low. I use a 240 swc sized .432 on top of 5.0 grains of Bullseye. Very happy with gun and load.
Tony

[Combatvet]

I have a fairly new 3" and as "mostlyleverguns" said, light for caliber will shoot low. I use a 240 swc sized .432 on top of 5.0 grains of Bullseye. Very happy with gun and load.
Tony

Do you cast those yourself?

[ABJ]

Do you cast those yourself?

Yes, 2% tin and 4% antimony. Magma mold, 44-240-swc-bb. Also the same boolit I use in my Ruger flat top. Extremely accurate.
Tony
edit... if your looking for a new mold, let me save you some time and money. Figure out your alloy first then look at accurate molds. One of Tom's design I use is 43-240A which is my lever gun boolit. It is very accurate and feeds like a dream. 44's are like 38's, not too picky most of the time.

[groundpounder]

My 2022 bulldog has large throats, 3 are 432 and 2 are 431.5. I size 432 and load a 235 saeco swc to approx 750fps. I could go higher in velocity but it hurts my hand! Enjoy your “Dog.”

[murf205]

Yes, 2% tin and 4% antimony. Magma mold, 44-240-swc-bb. Also the same boolit I use in my Ruger flat top. Extremely accurate.
Tony
edit... if your looking for a new mold, let me save you some time and money. Figure out your alloy first then look at accurate molds. One of Tom's design I use is 43-240A which is my lever gun boolit. It is very accurate and feeds like a dream. 44's are like 38's, not too picky most of the time.

One of the best things about ordering a custom mold from Tom is that when you are configuring the mold, you can specify the diameter you want it to be, usually +.002". Every mold I have that he made is spot on those dimensions, so you can size to what ever your gun needs.