should I shoot these as cast

[str8shot]

I'm a noob to casting. Ive casted some pure lead for my bp rifles in the past and recently started casting some 9mm 124 rn with a lee mold.thanks to everyone here I was able to work out the bugs with that pesky little 9. had some tumbling issues at first but switched to a slower powder and poof no more issues.
Came across a mold for .44 Using wheel weights it seems to cast a little on the large side ( .435 to .438 )at about 230 gr.
Really didn't want to buy a sizing die. I didn't want the cost or the extra step. I was also hoping to get by with pan lubing.
I've never seen a boolit of this type before, with the hollow base.
Am I asking for trouble shooting the at this size????
I shoot a Ruger Redhawk so i have faith the gun can take some pressure but no reason risking life or limb.
Any input would be appreciated

srt8shot

[Cherokee]

Well, make up a dummy round; if you can seat a boolit, crimp it and it will chamber in the Redhawk, give a few a try. If the dunny round will not fully chamber, then a sizing die is in order. If the round will chanber with the as-cast size, then pick a starting load for the first try. When the pressures hit the boolit base, they WILL fit the cylinder throat and then the barrel. Never seen that design before.

[str8shot]

Thanks cherokee,
I will give them a week to cure and make up a dummy round.
Would I get smaller diameters if I used pure lead ???

[Shiloh]

Thanks cherokee,
I will give them a week to cure and make up a dummy round.
Would I get smaller diameters if I used pure lead ???

Probably will get smaller diameters wit pure lead.

Shiloh

[str8shot]

Thanks shilo,
I thought I read that it would cast smaller diameters.
I think I'm hooked on casting now. I'm getting some decent results,having a blast,might even save a couple bucks but, wait I need more molds,wheel weights,etc. ... lol
This forum is great !! I can usually get my question answered without even posting a question.

[leadman]

My concern would be blowing the base off and leaving a ring of lead in the barrel. This has happened with the hollowbase wadcutters so I think this boolit could also do that.
I would start with light loads and watch for 2 holes in the target from one shot. If you get this stop shooting.

Curious, what brand mold is this?

[bhn22]

That appears to be a Lyman 429422 hollowbase mold you have there. By the nose contour, and the thin front driving band, I suspect it's one of the later production molds. This was Elmer Keiths second mold design for Ideal, and like 429421, Lyman has changed it's design to suit themselves many times over the year. Current thinking is that these bullets should never be loaded hot, because the hollowbase can tear off and stick in the barrel. I believe this is true for wadcutters, but I've found references where Keith specified a hollowbase purely to lighten the bullet for higher velocities, and the thickness of the base walls seem to support this. In other words, it's a crapshoot, and requires experimentation. My early mold is shown below for reference. It casts at .434 with 1:10 alloy. I haven't had the time to work on this yet, but I believe beagle has done a lot of work with this mold design:
http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/HowTo/Hollow%20Base%20Bullets.pdf
85076

[mdi]

Personally, I'd size them to .432"-.433" or so. Not afeared of shooting oversize bullets, but .006" seems a bit large to me (.008" if you have .430" cylinder throats). Plus if you're pan lubing a Lee push through type die will size and clean up the excess lube. It's easy to "customize" a Lee die to get nearly any OD you need...

[Shiloh]

Thanks shilo,
I thought I read that it would cast smaller diameters.
I think I'm hooked on casting now. I'm getting some decent results,having a blast,might even save a couple bucks but, wait I need more molds,wheel weights,etc. ... lol
This forum is great !! I can usually get my question answered without even posting a question.

Yeah, you're hooked. Then you get frustrated, then it all comes together. Nothing like being your own master, other than powder and primers.
Wait till you watch the groups start getting smaller.

Shiloh

[williamwaco]

If you put a .438 bullet into a normal .44 mag case with .014 wall thickness, your cartridge diameter is going to be .466.
If you get a case with a thick wall of .015 the cartridge will be .468 in diameter.

I have three .44 mags. The largest .44 Mag cylinder I can find measures .463 and the normal is .461 to .462

I don't think it is going to work.

[paul h]

I'd suggest making a replacement pin so you can cast a flat base bullet, and then run them through a Lee push through sizer. As mentioned, unlikely a bullet that large will work. 0.001-002" oversize is typically as large as you can use, depending on the gun.

The lee push through is fairly inexspensive and not time consuming to use.

[str8shot]

thanks for all the input,
I'll get a sizing die when the budget allows.For now I'll just have to cull the larger ones.
maybe I should have let them cure a little longer but, I waited 24 hours and made up a dummy round with a .434 dia. bullet and there are no signs of buldging in the case and it chambers loose in my redhawk .

Paul h answered my next question before I asked it.
I was thinking about modifying the pin so I had flat base bullets.
then i can bump up the charge without worrying about any base separation.

thanks again for the input from every one
This forum is great !!!!

str8shot

[Dan Cash]

I don't know how fastt you plan to drive that bullet but it should stand 1000 to 1100 as is. Were me, I would load some over 17-18 gr 2400 and shoot them. Check the bore after each shot for 20 or 30 shots but I doubt you will have a problem at that level.

[bhn22]

Does your mold have the wooden handle hollowbase pin, or the captive style pin with the screw?

Since you mention that some bullets are much larger than others, are the bullets round, or sort of oval shaped? Another suggestion is to use an alloy with less antimony than your wheelweights, that might bring the size down a mite too.

[str8shot]

8512285123

bhn22 here are a few pics of the mold I'm using.
not sure where I got it from. ( most likely in some kind of horse trade)
It's got a little rust but, still seems to work well.
not sure what your asking me?? (i'm a newbie ).
the pins that create the hollow base are slolid

[bhn22]

Well, it aint a Lyman. That explains why the nose didn't look right.

[str8shot]

Oh Yeah,
a few of the larger diameter boolits were out of round .???

[bhn22]

Check your mold block faces, looking for any little spots of lead on them. Also look over the holes that the alignment pins go into, see if there are any burrs in that area. That area is prone to raise burrs if the mold is closed too energetically. Finally, look over the hollowbase pins themselves, and the channels they sit in. You're especially looking for any sign of lead deposits, and the pins themselves need to be clean, with no buildup on them at all. These are all things that could make your bullets oversized, and oblong. It takes longer to read all this than it will to check out the mold.

[paul h]

You should be able to remove the hollow base pins and flip them over to produce a flat base.

Looks like there are some small bits of lead on the mold faces which is what is preventing the mold form completely closing. I like to start with a carpenters pencil to try and push off the lead blobs and if that doesn't work with extreme care use a single edged razor blade to scrape it clean.

[williamwaco]

Before you modify the pins to make flat base bullets consider the rarity of that mold.

I expect you could trade it for a brand new mold of your choice with several members here.

[paul h]

It's a cramer style mold, no need to modify it to cast plane base bullets. Just remove the c-clips (if present) that hold the two pins the hollow base pins slide on, slide them all the way out, flip them over so that the pointy part is facing down, re-insert, re-install c-clips and whalla you will make flat base bullets.

It also looks like there is some lead built up around the alignment pins. Doesn't take much lead to spread the mold enough to create oversize, finned and out of round bullet. My guess is after a good cleanup you'll be producing nice round bullets that can be used unsized.

[str8shot]

I dd notice the build up on my mold. I will give it a good inspection and cleaning before any further use.
I will have to pay a lot more attention to the small details I guess.
I did take the base pins out and turned them over but they are too short on the bottom side for making flat base boolits. I will also heed the advice of not modifying these pins
I appreciate things of age. It would be a shame to change it.
If I want a flat base I will just have new pins built and then I'll have options
Thanks for the help guys

[Old Dawg]

If they are a little too large to chamber you can remove the decapping pin from your sizing die and run them in far enough so they will chamber in your gun.