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Thread: question about cast bullets in 44 mag

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy catkiller45's Avatar
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    question about cast bullets in 44 mag

    Just getting into deer hunting withmy 44..6.5 in barrel.
    Now tell me honestly..Would I be better using cast bullets
    or jacketed bullets..Be using open sights as well...or maybe
    you can refer me to a place with more information on this..
    thank you..john
    keep on rolling along.no matter what happens just keep rolling

  2. #2
    Boolit Master


    Bookworm's Avatar
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    You come to a place called CastBoolits, and ask if you should use jacketed.

    Okay.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    I had jacketed HP's fail me hunting whitetail with my 7 1/2" Redhawk. That's when I switched to cast and never looked back. That was in the late 80's. Have taken deer with 240 SWC, 240 RNFP and 265 RNFP, in both revolver and carbine, ever since. HP's not necessary.

    Winelover

  4. #4
    Boolit Master 44Blam's Avatar
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    Whelp, I've got a nice little load that shoots an Accurate 43-240 AG about 1450 fps from my ruger Redhawk.
    With the same load in my Henry H0012, I have been able to consistently hit 2' targets at 300 yards... And those cost me about $0.20 each to make.
    WWG1WGA

  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master Tatume's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by catkiller45 View Post
    Just getting into deer hunting with my 44..6.5 in barrel.
    What sort of gun do you have?

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bookworm View Post
    You come to a place called CastBoolits, and ask if you should use jacketed.

    Okay.
    The man asked a simple question that should be answered responsibly. The man asked about hunting with a 44 magnum. Would cast or jacked be better? I will offer an opinion here..... I have a mold to cast 44 mags along with a variety of calibers and if it were me I would use jacketed if I were hunting deer simply because I wish to take no chances being that I don't wish to walk 50 miles on a hunting trip. Jacketed= more velocity, more accuracy in my humble opinion.

    My load would have been a 240gr jacketed hollow point with a max load of 2400. In my S&W its a deadly accurate combination.

  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy catkiller45's Avatar
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    My revolver is a Taurus..6.5 inch..open sights..Ported barrel
    which I have read with lead bullets that the ports might plug.
    Any thoughts on this?
    keep on rolling along.no matter what happens just keep rolling

  8. #8
    Boolit Grand Master GhostHawk's Avatar
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    I don't see that jacketed gives you that much better anything. In Cast there are molds from 200 to 300 grains, easy to find.

    With a revolver I doubt you would be breaking the 1400 fps mark, so you should not need gas checks.

    With jacketed the only control you have is which one to buy and how much your willing to spend.

    With cast you have a lot more variables at your fingertips. Bullet size, weight, alloy (soft to hard) and you can with some time, effort, and practice fine tune your bullet and load for your gun.

    Cast lowers costs, allowing you to shoot more, practice more, giving you more confidence. Confidence is big, I mean REAL big.

    The down size is you have to do the work, the research, the casting, loading. You can't just go buy a box and head to the range then the woods.

    I know if I was on the receiving end I know which one I'd want shooting at me. And it is NOI the cast boolit guy.

    But it is your time and money, so really only you can decide.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master stubert's Avatar
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    The ports won't plug. You might need to clean off the sight a lot. A nice cast 300 grain wide flat nose would be good.

  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I've killed a few deer with my 44 using a Keith type SWC cast from wheel weights. Carefully culled, my cast shoot as well as factory JHP's.

  11. #11
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    My point is to remove all question. When in doubt I use jacketed despite the fact I have thousands of bullets cast. I would use gas checks on anything above around 1000 fps but then again that's just me.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by stubert View Post
    The ports won't plug. You might need to clean off the sight a lot. A nice cast 300 grain wide flat nose would be good.
    Well every time you tell someone something won't plug it does. My experience with ports is they can and sometimes do plug. A dozen or so rounds surely won't plug the port if the bullets are reasonably hard however soft will plug ports because its happened to me.

  13. #13
    I'm A Honcho!
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    I reload for the most forgiving loads possible. So none of my 44 loads currently have gas checks. But this takes time to find. I don’t mind load development.

    But sometimes you don’t have that time. Jacketed is repeatable in performance and there’s tons of load data that will get you to the same place quicker.

    I am resizing 500 Zero Bullet Company .431 jacketed to .430 with a Lee .429 push through sizer as we speak.

    And I know exactly what 23.3 grains of H110 will do behind it.
    You never know how you rank amongst men 'til you have seen what will break another man.
    The original "Bluejay" US Army/ US Navy 1945-1970.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by bluejay75 View Post
    I reload for the most forgiving loads possible. So none of my 44 loads currently have gas checks. But this takes time to find. I don’t mind load development.

    But sometimes you don’t have that time. Jacketed is repeatable in performance and there’s tons of load data that will get you to the same place quicker.

    I am resizing 500 Zero Bullet Company .431 jacketed to .430 with a Lee .429 push through sizer as we speak.

    And I know exactly what 23.3 grains of H110 will do behind it.
    Yup...Jacketed performance is repeatable. The answer here shouldn't stem on the fact this is a cast bullet forum thus you have to use cast bullets. Sure, i do shoot a lot of cast bullets I enjoy making them, sizing and lubing them and reloading but when performance MUST be relied upon I will reach for a jacketed round and yes I know there are people here that won't like hearing that but too bad so sad I said it.

  15. #15
    Boolit Buddy
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    Your profile shows you are from New York. To me that means you will be hunting big northern deer.
    A big advantage cast has over jacketed is that cast boolits can be made of alloys harder than dead soft. Jacketed bullets cores, except in very few cases, are dead soft lead. This is required by the swaging process by which the bullets are made. A cast boolit can made from harder alloys that will be less likely to deform as much on impact and passage through a deer, and therefore more likely to exit.
    This gives two holes to let blood out and air in, resulting in an easier track (if necessary) and a more likely recovery. Give cast boolits a try in your gun.
    Before you commit to buying a mould, go to the area of this site "The Commercial Sector". Within it are the sub-forums "Swappin and Sellin" and "Pay it Forward". Within either or both of these sub-forums you should be able to get a few different boolits to try before buying a mould.
    In fact, I have the 265gr Ranch Dog mould. Message me with your physical address and I will send you some under the pay it forward rules. I have a .430 sizer and lube with Lee liquid Alox. I can send them to you thus treated or as cast.
    Jeffrey

  16. #16
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by lightman View Post
    I've killed a few deer with my 44 using a Keith type SWC cast from wheel weights. Carefully culled, my cast shoot as well as factory JHP's.
    For a number of years I also used a 250 grain Keith SWC, plain base, loaded over a maximum charge of H-110/296. It killed deer just fine! After a bit, I switched the powder charge to 10.0 gr. of Unique. It continued to kill deer just fine. Turns out, you don't need a whole lot of velocity when you're throwing around 250 gr. boolits! In all those years, I never recovered a boolit, every one of them was a complete pass-through regardless of angle.
    "We take a thousand moments for granted thinking there will be a thousand more to come. Each day, each breath, each beat of your heart is a gift. Live with love & joy, tomorrow is not promised to anyone......"

    unknown

  17. #17
    Boolit Grand Master
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    John
    use the 44 mag quite a bit and the 475 Linebaugh
    would never consider using jacketed in any of my guns
    other than paper punching
    most large revo's and some rifles are way better with cast
    I save the jackets for high speed 22's
    Hit em'hard
    hit em'often

  18. #18
    Boolit Grand Master Tatume's Avatar
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    The ports will plug. When they accumulate lead, I just take the point of my pocket knife and flick the lead out. Easy as pie, and completely harmless.

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I have 5, 44 Magnums that I load for, but I haven't hunted with any in many years. But, unless deer have evolved into a tougher animal, a 44 cal bullet, running around 240-250 gr @ 800-1,100 fps will do an excellent job. I have been casting a Ranch Dog RNFP bullet of either 240 gr. or 265 gr. for a while and find them accurate. I have not taken any deer, but the bullets were designed for hunting. I also cast many, many Lyman 429421 bullets which have an excellent reputation for taking deer Most of my 44 Magnum bullets are cast of my 11-13 BHN alloy, and air cooled. With a good bullet to gun fit and a decent lube, I experience very little/no leading.

    The only jacketed bullet I've reloaded in quite a while is a Hornady XTP which is pretty accurate but I only used them for an experiment in my Contender with extra heavy loads.

    Like I said, I no longer hunt but I choose bullets for what they will do and not what they "are supposed to do". A lead bullet designed with a good meplat will do a lot of tissue damage and penetrate well, but a jacketed bullet is supposed to expand. I've seen jacketed bullets fail to do their job, but rarely a good designed cast boolit will fail...
    My Anchor is holding fast!

  20. #20
    Boolit Master stubert's Avatar
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    My super blackhawk was magnaported back in the late 80's. It has never plugged the ports.

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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