PPpastordon
04-22-2007, 01:23 PM
About those boolits;
I loaned a Lyman 4 cavity 429215 (214 grain) boolit mould to a friend who wanted to make a lighter boolit for some old .44 he had. What I didn't understand, or he did not say, is that he wanted to make my mould cast a lighter boolit. My mould that once cast great 214 grain GC boolits no longer does. It casts flat base boolits that, according to him, weigh about 200 grains. He says they shoot great - but he didn't even give me any. He just returned my altered mould.
That has been several years ago and I have not cast a single 200 grain .44 with my "new old mould." Old because I've had it since in the late 1960's. But I hope to soon be able to cast some because my wife has decided to start using the .44 and I want to start her out on some relatively low recoil loads. However, I just do not have a place to cast right now.
I have never shot light boolits, even the 214's, at low velocity in a .44. I usually pushed them to around 1400 fps, according to a reloading manual. However, I would think recoil would be quite mild for what I will be looking for. I want around 850 to 900 fps; which should (I hope) be low recoil, but enough oomph-whacka for self defense if need be - even though it is just a starting load for her. I would let hetr work up to at least the .429360 at 230 grains (a boolit I was disappointed in originally because of its requirement for low velocity to hit a #2 washtub beyond 10 paces), and then to finally move on up to an RCBS 250-K.
BTW; she can shoot a .38 now, but hasn't for some time. Now that the desire is here I don't want to let it pass.
Helpful suggestions and comments are greatly appreciated.
I loaned a Lyman 4 cavity 429215 (214 grain) boolit mould to a friend who wanted to make a lighter boolit for some old .44 he had. What I didn't understand, or he did not say, is that he wanted to make my mould cast a lighter boolit. My mould that once cast great 214 grain GC boolits no longer does. It casts flat base boolits that, according to him, weigh about 200 grains. He says they shoot great - but he didn't even give me any. He just returned my altered mould.
That has been several years ago and I have not cast a single 200 grain .44 with my "new old mould." Old because I've had it since in the late 1960's. But I hope to soon be able to cast some because my wife has decided to start using the .44 and I want to start her out on some relatively low recoil loads. However, I just do not have a place to cast right now.
I have never shot light boolits, even the 214's, at low velocity in a .44. I usually pushed them to around 1400 fps, according to a reloading manual. However, I would think recoil would be quite mild for what I will be looking for. I want around 850 to 900 fps; which should (I hope) be low recoil, but enough oomph-whacka for self defense if need be - even though it is just a starting load for her. I would let hetr work up to at least the .429360 at 230 grains (a boolit I was disappointed in originally because of its requirement for low velocity to hit a #2 washtub beyond 10 paces), and then to finally move on up to an RCBS 250-K.
BTW; she can shoot a .38 now, but hasn't for some time. Now that the desire is here I don't want to let it pass.
Helpful suggestions and comments are greatly appreciated.