Lyman 429244 diameter

[birdhunters]

Has anyone else experience under sized diameters on Lyman moulds? I recently purchased a 429244 mould and it's casting undersized bullets. It's supposed to be casting 432 dia. bullets but will only produce 429 dia. I'm using w-w lead and have tried both water hardening and letting them cool down just in the air.. No difference in bullet dia. Still 429

[Swagerman]

I too have had this same mould for years casting out .429 diameter, it has a gas check fitting doesn't it.

I just chulk it up to the type of lead I was using.

Jim

[Navahojoe]

Try either buying or making Lymans's #2 Alloy. The Lyman mold casting diameters are based on that combination. Midway has it for sale or you can make your own out of wheelweights, lead and 50/50 solder. The formula is on Lyman's website. That might make your mold cast bigger boolits. The following is from Lyman's website:

BULLET MOULDS

Q: What is the composition for #2 Alloy?

A: This is made up of 90% lead, 5% tin, and 5% antimony.

Q: How do I make #2 Alloy?

A: To make 10 pound of #2 Alloy, use either of the following recipes:

9 pounds of wheelweights + 1 pound of 50/50 (lead/tin) bar solder

or

4 pounds of Linotype +1 pound of 50/50 bar solder + 5 pounds pure lead

Q: If I cast bullets with something other than #2 alloy, how will this affect my bullets?

A: Wheelweights will produce bullets weighing more and casting smaller than with #2 alloy. Bullets cast in linotype will be a larger diameter but weigh less.

Regards,
NavahoJoe

[Ricochet]

I run mine through a .430" die to seat the checks and live with the .429" diameter. Works OK. The checks will be at .430". I don't need any more than that for my Super Blackhawk.

[Char-Gar]

I don't know where you get the notion this mold is supposed to throw bullets .432. I have several of them of various vintages and the biggest throws bullets .430, the other .429.

.429 is really not undersized, for generations it was considered standard for the 44 Special and Magnum.

[Bret4207]

Welcome to the world of Lyman moulds. They are famous for being a bit on the skinny side. About all you can do is either use an alloy with more antimony or trade moulds. The antimony is supposed to leave you with a fatter boolit. The diameter will of course be limited by the mould itself. I have the same issue with a couple moulds, like a 429215. Shucks them out at .428+. Way too small for my .431 throats.

Trading or buying some others till you find one you like is the easiest answer. Another alternative is called "bumping". This is getting a lubrisizer die of the diameter you want and the proper top punch. If you alloy is soft enough you can really bear down on the handle and the booilt may expand to the diameter of the sizer die. Getting consitant results was touch and go for me, but it does work.

[C1PNR]

Or you could always try "Beagling" it.[smilie=1:

[Swagerman]

Ricochet, has the right idea with these .429 bullets. Stick a Hornady gas check on them and winde up having a .430 GC base...works for me for the last couple of years.

Jim

[9.3X62AL]

I guess I got lucky with my #429244, it produces them just a shade under .431". The Lyman #429421 I got more recently drops out at .432".

If you Beagle a gas check boolit design, you'll likely need to flare the sides of the check a little so that it can be attached to the shank without shaving lead.

[Char-Gar]

Birdhunter... Just a little historical perspective on the issue at hand.

In the days of Yore, we cast our bullets much softer than is popular today. Ray Thompson who designed the bullet in question, did a number of experiements with the bullet in the 44 Magnum when that round first came out.

Long story short, he found out that it required an alloy of at least 1-30 to keep the bullet from compressing at magnum pressure. His final conclusion was 1-20 (tin to lead) was the ideal alloy for this bullet in the 44 magn.

Elmer Keith said a 1-16 alloy was the alloy of choice for his plain base bullet in the 44 Magnum. Keith called this alloy "hard" because other common alloys of the day for non-magnum rounds were 1-30 or even 1-40.

By todays notions of "hard cast", Thompson's and Keith's bullets were butter soft. But the bases did "slug up" to fill the throats of the sixguns to provide a good seal and accuracy. ,429 was the standard Pre-WWII Smith and Wesson groove diamter and .427 was stand in Colt. SMith cylinder throats tended to run .432 give or take a thou.

Both Keith and Thompson suggested sizing their bullets .429 for use in the 44 Magnum. This size worked fine because of the softer alloy.

Today, our concepts of "hard" have changed. The tin/lead/antimony alloys are much harder and it takes some real presure to expand the bases. Therefore we like to have the bullets the same size as cylinder throat and not depend on pressure to "slug up" the bases for a gas seal.

So, the older Lyman 429244 molds tended to run small by our standards, but they were "spot on" by the standards of a generation or two ago, because of the change in alloys.