Hensley & Gibbs #107 .44 Caliber Full Wadcutter

[Texasflyboy]

A recently acquired two cavity #107 Hensley & Gibbs Plain base mould. I've had this one on my list for some time and finally managed to get it this week. These are the first photos of it. I plan to cast up some first projectiles this week and develop a mild .44MAG load for target shooting.

This mould does not appear in the ledger, I had to create the entry myself based on numerous sightings on eBay over the years. No idea why it doesn't appear on Wayne's ledger list that he sent me, but I surmise that it was a popular mould at one time, being an almost perfect copy of the ever popular #50 full wadcutter but in .44 caliber.

The photo:



Link to much larger High Res Photo of #107:

107 High Res Photo

[theperfessor]

Very nice! Any idea of the weight of the 107?

[Le Loup Solitaire]

This mold came in three weights. There was a 107 A,B, & C. The A weighed 245 grains, the B weighed 185 grains and the C weighed 135 grains. I was able to find a B in almost mint shape, a 4 cavity version....as shown in the pic, Seated flush with the top of the case mouth, no crimp and using 5.5 grains of Unique it will shoot virtually one hole off the bench at 25 yards all day long. At 50 yards its still one hole, but the hole is bigger, like 9 ring size. I imagine that the C would do as well and could also be deep seated, but I'm not as sure about the A at 245 grains...that seems a bit heavy for a wadcutter and might require some special consideration in terms of seating depth, powder charge and pressure. This is a great design and mold. LLS

[hammerhead357]

Flyboy is it a Murphy Or. mould or before? The bolts for the sprue plate stop are not tapered which Wayne went to at a later date. This is an interesting mould. I will have to check my old info to see if I have anything on it....Wes

[Hardcast416taylor]

I refer to my LEE .44 wadcutter mold as a "flying trashcan"! Cuts a nice round hole on paper with decent accuracy at 25 yds. ( my eyesight limit).Robert

[Texasflyboy]

This mold came in three weights. There was a 107 A,B, & C. The A weighed 245 grains, the B weighed 185 grains and the C weighed 135 grains.

You learn something new every day. Even I didn't know that about the A,B,&C weights. But now I do and will update the ledger accordingly.

Thanks for solving a mystery for me....

Tom

[Texasflyboy]

Flyboy is it a Murphy Or. mould or before? The bolts for the sprue plate stop are not tapered which Wayne went to at a later date. This is an interesting mould. I will have to check my old info to see if I have anything on it....Wes

Don't recall. I will check tonight and post the pics of the mfg stamp. Will also weigh the bullets that came with it.

[Wally]

I refer to my LEE .44 wadcutter mold as a "flying trashcan"! Cuts a nice round hole on paper with decent accuracy at 25 yds. ( my eyesight limit).Robert

Yes, I have one as well and I use it carefully as one can no longer buy one. Great plinking bullet in the .44 Spl/Magnums using Bullseye powder. My Ruger SBK is very accurate with this bullet in a .44 Spl case with 5~5.5 grains of Bullseye.

[sagamore-one]

I have a 107B in 6 cavity and a friend has a "matched" pair in 6 cavity with the thick sprue plates (1/2 again as thick as my standard sprue plate). He purchased his new as a "matched " pair. I got mine used from a fellow board member.
As cast from my mould, 190gr in #2 alloy and size .430. His are 185 and size .429.
8 to 8.5 gr of SR4756 is my favorite load. All my Smiths love them and it shoots to point of aim in the Bulldog.
107 is listed in my H&G brochure dated 1-11-94 with a,b and c weights explained.

[Texasflyboy]

107 is listed in my H&G brochure dated 1-11-94 with a,b and c weights explained.

I need new(er) glasses.



Thanks!

[ANeat]

Im sure Ballisti-Cast can cut you one. There #707, H&G number + 600

[Texasflyboy]

Just got finished casting with the new mould. No complaints about performance. Seems I have the 107A at ~240 grains. My pot is filled with wheelweights at the moment, so 240 grains seems about right for a # 107A according to the catalog.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Vari nice boolit, I may really need one of those......

[hammerhead357]

Well I guess I waited to long. Didn't have to go to the shop to find out all of this.... Glad someone had all of this info at their finger tips.....Wes
Darned nice looking boolits though... Should be good out to 50 or 75 yards...Wes

[Windy City Kid]

I have a H&G 107C in a 4 cavity. It cast a 133gr. boolit, .433" diameter. The mold drop boolits that are almost perfectly round. I just tumble lube with LLA and shoot as cast. It's very accurate in my S&W model 24 at 25 yards.

[dubber123]

Bill, scroll back to post #11. It shows this boolit in all 3 weights in the Ballisti-Cast catalog. It's in the RH column.

[Texasflyboy]

Tried some loads over the weekend but will have to redo the test. I can say for sure that 10.0 grains of Unique with a light crimp was too hot for my Smith & Wesson Model 29-5 Hunter Model. This is my go to revolver for testing loads.

Primers were flat, a few had high pressure ridges or cupping from the firing pin bushing. No pierced primers though. Extraction was very difficult. I only fired 6 rounds, group was ragged at about 1.75 inches at 10 yards. Two flyers.

The book (Lyman 44th or 45th) says for projectiles ~240 to ~250 grains: Unique max is ~11.0 grains. Don't seem so.

Pulled all the rounds I loaded at 10.0 grains and will try this again at 7.0, 8.0, & 9.0 and see what happens.

[Texasflyboy]

Holy Cow. Something has changed:

Unique Loads for .44 MAG

Current manual off of Alliant website shows 7.0 grains as max. Holy schmooley. My Lyman 44th edition has 11.0 of Unique as max for 250 grains.

Have they changed the Unique recipe that much?

I think I need to change my starting loads to 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0 grains of Unique.

[Texasflyboy]

Just got back from the range. 9.0 and 10.0 are way too hot for this design.

The following pictures are 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, and 8.0 grains of Unique.


It seems that 6.0 grains of Unique is the go to load for this design, Recoil was mild, about what you would expect from a target wadcutter. I am going to load a 100 or so with 6.0 grains of Unique and see if I can confirm the load. All of the squares are 1".

[Texasflyboy]

Here is the range report from yesterday.


5.5 Grains of Unique with Hensley & Gibbs #107A


Am testing loads between 5.0 and 6.0 grains of Unique. Doesn't seem to be any point in loads past 6.0 grains with this projectile.