Could I get a second opinion on an Rx for my SBH?

[Rick R]

Last month I purchased a NIB 4 5/8" SS SBH and I've decided to shoot her a lot. I've never been much of a caster, shot a lot of commercial cast but only dabbled in actually making my own. Bought a house with separate shop and now I actually have a place where i can safely fart around with lead at 800 degrees. It's a "good thing". :grin:

I've been trying to shoot boolits cast from a Lyman 429421 mold with wheel weights and groups have been running around 4" at 25 yards from a rest. I had a few early successes with the cast boolits but couldn't reproduce them later. Jacketed loads seem to run just under 2" whether factory or handloads.

I stopped by a friend's shop today and we found that four of the cylinder throats run 0.4315" , and one each are 0.4313" and 0.4317". Bore diameter is 0.4295". He didn't have a way to check for a speed bump where the barrel screws into the frame but I can't feel any tightness when running a jag with tight patch.

The Lyman mold seems to be dropping slugs that are 0.4295ish".

Do I need a larger boolit? Something more like 0.431" or 0.432"?

I did try the Lee 310gr sized to 0.430" with 9.5gr Unique and it shot well but 8" high. I don't have enough sight travel to compensate for that and i'd rather shoot 240 - 270gr bullets anyway.

thanks for reading all the above :drinks:

[Dan Cash]

I peersonally would get a bigger bullet; .432 or about but first would spend the very few dollars needed and have the chamber throats opened to a uniform size, say .432. THEN contact Mountain Moulds, Accurate moulds or Miheck or who ever and have a mould made to fit the chamber throat. I have dealt with Accurate and LBT. With both of them, you get the dimension you ask for.

[45-120-550 Sharps]

Have you tried the 310 lee with a hotter load? When you have a light load like that the barrel raises more before the boolit makes it out of the barrel, causing it to shoot high. A heaver load at a higher velocity makes the boolit come out before the barrel flips as much, causing it to shoot lower, closer to point of aim.

[stubshaft]

.430 should be fine or .431 tops, if you want a slightly larger diameter add some tin to your alloy. You will NOT be able to feel the restriction with a patch on a jag. You may be able to feel it bu slugging the barrel and will feel it if you pour a lap near the muzzle and push it down toward the throat.

[tek4260]

TDS front sight is a common problem with Ruger revolvers. Luckily yours is stainless, so it is a simple fix of replacing the blade and pin.

[Rick R]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the input!

45-120-550,

I'm skeered to admit to a guy who's screen name is a formula for a 550gr bullet with 120gr of BP that I'm not fond of heavy recoil in a handgun. :o I believe that I'll get some AA#9 or 2400 and try that when I get a chance to go to town.

Stubshaft,

Tried slugging the barrel tonite, didn't detect any speed bump but it's the first time I've looked for one. :wink:

TEK,

I've replaced the front sight once, if I decide to use the 300+ loads I'll do it again.
:D

I believe that I've started down the road to enlightenment. [smilie=2:

[44man]

Last month I purchased a NIB 4 5/8" SS SBH and I've decided to shoot her a lot. I've never been much of a caster, shot a lot of commercial cast but only dabbled in actually making my own. Bought a house with separate shop and now I actually have a place where i can safely fart around with lead at 800 degrees. It's a "good thing". :grin:

I've been trying to shoot boolits cast from a Lyman 429421 mold with wheel weights and groups have been running around 4" at 25 yards from a rest. I had a few early successes with the cast boolits but couldn't reproduce them later. Jacketed loads seem to run just under 2" whether factory or handloads.

I stopped by a friend's shop today and we found that four of the cylinder throats run 0.4315" , and one each are 0.4313" and 0.4317". Bore diameter is 0.4295". He didn't have a way to check for a speed bump where the barrel screws into the frame but I can't feel any tightness when running a jag with tight patch.

The Lyman mold seems to be dropping slugs that are 0.4295ish".

Do I need a larger boolit? Something more like 0.431" or 0.432"?

I did try the Lee 310gr sized to 0.430" with 9.5gr Unique and it shot well but 8" high. I don't have enough sight travel to compensate for that and i'd rather shoot 240 - 270gr bullets anyway.

thanks for reading all the above :drinks:
There is NOTHING wrong with the throats and a .431" boolit will be fine. Only need a little over bore (groove) size.
If anyone can tell a difference between throats, they must shoot less then 1" at 300 yards! :bigsmyl2:
The truth is that a .430" boolit will also shoot.
Work with other powders or reduce the Unique load.
Water drop your boolits and let them age a week, they should get larger for a better fit.

[Silver Jack Hammer]

44man’s beat me to the post. I get 4 to 5 inch groups at 25 yards with straight wheel weight alloy out of .44 and .45 revolvers with oversized cylinder throats and tight bores with shallow lands and grooves. I spent a lot of money on a revolver that is dimensionally right on in cylinder and bore and it doesn’t shoot any much better. I re-sized RCBS 44-25-K to .430”, .431” which did not help. I bought some linotype and that fixed the problem, tightened the groups right down. Then I mixed 4 lb of linotype with 6 lb of wheel weights and the groups were just as tight. Then I heat treated straight wheel weight boolits by putting them in the oven at 450 degrees for half an hour and dropping them into water. I got the same accuracy at a fraction of the price of linotype. Several of my revolvers in .44 and .45 with oversized cylinder throats get 4 inch groups at 100 yards with iron sights with junk wheel weights heat treated.

[runfiverun]

quick way to find out.
beagle the mold, make 50, lube them, and shoot some of them.
if you notice an improvement then you need a larger boolit.

[Rick R]

I tried water dropped WW but shot them a few days after molding them. I've got several left, I'll mic them and see if they've grown any. So far I got the best groups with them and a stout load of Unique, maybe things got better. :)

Kind of makes sense that the gun shoots jacketed well and apparently likes it's boolits nearly as hard as jacketed.

Maybe I need to go really hard and try either the Barnes or Punch bullet.

i did get a chance today to run by the local Gander Mtn. No Accurate #9 but I did shell out for some 2400. Even if it doesn't work I now feel like a real .44 shooter.

:brokenima

[Larry Gibson]

Rick

Suggest you add 2% tin to that WW alloy, cast at 700 - 725 degrees and the bullets should drop at .430+. I suggest you try them over 9 or 9.5 gr of Unique which has been a very accurate load in every .44 Magnum I've shot it in. Also you don't mention the lube you are using; suggest a quality lube like Javelina or BAC.

I size my 429421s, 44-250-Ks and TL429-240-SWCs at .430 for use in all of my .44s. Truth is I've shot thousands of .429s in my Hawes with it's .433 throats just fine. My Ruger FTBH also has .431 cylinder throats and a .429 barrel. The .429 and .430 sized bullets shoot equally well. I size my 429640HPs at .429 so they will chamber in my Colt Anaconda and they shoot just as well in the Ruger as .431 sized. My Contender also could care less if the bullets are sized .429, .430 or .431.

Point is, as 44man and Silver jack mentioned, the .429/.430 bullets should shoot well in your Ruger with .431 throats.

Larry Gibson

[Rick R]

I made it to the range today and tried a few different loads. The best was water quenched WW lubed with Lee 50/50 stick lube sized thru a .430" sizer and powered by 19.2 gr of 2400. I managed two groups in the 2 1/2" range at 25 yards. About half the size group I was getting with Unique.

I believe I may be getting somewhere. If I can find a source for some tin I'll put that in the next batch.

Does anyone have any chrono data for a 429421 with 19.2gr of 2400. It was way too cold to have the chrono out today.
:)

[leadman]

I found that 18.5grs of 2400 was more accurate in my OM SBH. Also works great in a couple of my friends 44s.
Suggest you try a few loads with different amounts of 2400 until your gun tells you what it likes.
The harder boolits also are best for these loads.

[GSaltzman]

If it were mine I would size those boolits to .431-.432. Mine shoot better that way. Also my Blackhawks shoot better with an alloy of 50/50 ww and pb. Water quenched they still get fairly hard but my 45 colt and 44 special like aircooled. Good luck.

[Rick R]

If it were mine I would size those boolits to .431-.432. Mine shoot better that way. Also my Blackhawks shoot better with an alloy of 50/50 ww and pb. Water quenched they still get fairly hard but my 45 colt and 44 special like aircooled. Good luck.

I would if my mold threw a bullet bigger than .429" :sad:

I'm considering sending it off to Erik at Hollow Point Molds to be enlarged, the cost will be about 80% of what the mold originally cost so I'd like to make sure that the surgery is actually needed before spending $ that could go to other molds, powder or primers (or Valentine's Day, don't forget gents).