Expanding 44 magnum for cast

[justinhip]

Ive been playing with a number of cast bullets that i have made. The lyman devastator and lee 310. I normally load full power magnums single stage with lee dies. I have been playing with an rcbs cowboy expander i use for 44-40 and picked up a 430 stem for it. All worked pretty well however, after i fired my first round (super redhawk) i opened the cylinder to see if the case had a tight grip on the bullets. Under recoil they definately moved slightly but not enough to cause any function problems. Is the 430 expander too big? Will a tighter crimp help? I generally run a fairly tight crimp. Also my bullets are 431. Im using 296 with magnum primers as well.

Thanks

[Iron Mike Golf]

What die are you crimping with? Might want to mic the expander just to be sure it's the correct dimension. Most likely, you need a little more crimp. Can you post a photo of your assembled ammo?

[44man]

The .44 is fussy like any big bore revolver and needs case tension. Most expanders are too large. I use only Hornady dies for top accuracy and need a harder WW boolit.
Crimp is never the answer and can ruin tension trying to hold a boolit.
Softer boolits with too much crimp can be sized trying to open the crimp.

[justinhip]

Im crimping with a lee die....i was worried about sizing the bullet by the crimp with soft lead. Mt devastators are 50/50 lead /ww and a bit of tin so i was worried about sizing them. A fellow caster told me that if theres a gascheck, it shouldnt be a problem

[44man]

Im crimping with a lee die....i was worried about sizing the bullet by the crimp with soft lead. Mt devastators are 50/50 lead /ww and a bit of tin so i was worried about sizing them. A fellow caster told me that if theres a gascheck, it shouldn't be a problem
Gas checks are no solution.
You do NOT need soft lead in the .44 to kill. The velocity is correct at around 1300 to 1350 fps. I use water dropped WW metal.
Oven harden the 50-50 mix to about 20 BHN and the expansion will not suffer at all but it will resist seating and entry to the forcing cone better.
I just can't explain that the .44 and .475 needs NOTHING but a good meplat, Keith, WLN or WFN and a hard boolit. No need for a HP at all. The 300 to 330 gr in the .44 and a 420 in the .475 will kill deer fast. I do not trust HP's for penetration in these guns. But larger or faster will benefit. So will slow velocities that lack energy.
Some boolits were designed to blow up a jug of water with no experience on animals. I shoot deer.

[justinhip]

Hey 44 man, I have a load for hard cast 310's with 21.5 gn of 296. What would you use? This is for white tail in super red hawk 9.5

[44man]

Hey 44 man, I have a load for hard cast 310's with 21.5 gn of 296. What would you use? This is for white tail in super red hawk 9.5
My exact load but I use Fed 150 primers. Last season I used them on deer, had five in the gun, shot three deer and had two rounds left. Worked like a charm with huge blood trails but no tracking needed, they fell fast. It is a great boolit, I use Felix lube or CR on them.