Love my 38 wadcutter, want help / info on .44 or .45 full wadcutters

[TMenezes]

Well here's deal, I really like .38 Lee tumble lube full wadcutters and want the same thing for my .44 special/mag, and .45 Colt revolvers. The only wadcutters I could find in .44 were ultra light weight (93gr I think) from NOE. I want standard weights for caliber (200 to 240ish in 44, 230 to 250ish in 45).

Its also very important to me that these molds have a crimp grove as I intend to load some of them up to full power, not really for hunting. But for large animal defence when hiking around on my uncles ranch. The place is crawling with large wild boar.

Any thoughts?

[bhn22]

You'll probably need to have a custom mold made by someone like Mountain Molds, or Accurate Molds.

[Airman Basic]

Lee used to make a WC in 44. I've got one that I use quite a bit. Might could find it used somewhere.

[jmort]

Accurate mold

[Airman Basic]

Accurate mold
Yep. Several,
http://www.accuratemolds.com/catalog.php?page=5

[GLL]

Several of those on the Accurate Molds site were molds Tom designed for me but none of mine are tumble lube.
If you do not see what you want there Tom will design exactly what you need !

http://www.fototime.com/8F95495D13D5995/large.jpg

Jerry

[jmort]

Just tell him TL that is no problem. He has many TL designs

[Ben]

I'd be willing to make a bet that this one would work just fine with tumble lube :

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=43-210W-D.png

[TMenezes]

*****FontSize*********

Several of those on the Accurate Molds site were molds Tom designed for me but none of mine are tumble lube.
If you do not see what you want there Tom will design exactly what you need !

Wow that's a pretty mold! Which one is it? I was going to go aluminum but that one is absolutely gorgeous. 99% of my casting experience is aluminum and my one brass mold never really casted well for me. But at the time I tried it I was just learning. What should I do different when casting with brass? Or even iron for that matter. Someone loaned me an iron mold and I am planning to try it this weekend.
http://www.fototime.com/8F95495D13D5995/large.jpg

Jerry

[TMenezes]

Umm, I don't know how I made my response and questions part of your quote... My cell phone is kinda quirky lol

[GLL]

Tom's aluminum molds are just as nice and significantly lighter (and cheaper) !
The 43-210W Ben referenced looks like it fits your needs !

Jerry

[fcvan]

I did some horse trading last year and got an old Lee 429-208 WC single cavity along with some other stuff. That little mold makes some good boolits and my wife likes them at 900 fps from her SBH. Kills tin cans DEAD!

[GBertolet]

For the 44 revolvers I like the Lyman 429348. It is a 180 gr WC. The front portion is bore riding. Small grease grooves, good for tumble lubing. Although it is no longer made, you can often find them on Ebay. I never had a bullet that wrecks tin cans like this one does. For the 45 revolver I like the Lyman 452389 WC. It has a short round norb for the nose. It weighs 185 gr. Discontinued also, but frequently available on Ebay.

[Jack Stanley]

I started with a LEE wadcutter for the forty-four and used that untill I bought a H&G numbr 107B. As I remember they made wadcutters heavier and lighter in that design .

Jack

[Airman Basic]

I did some horse trading last year and got an old Lee 429-208 WC single cavity along with some other stuff. That little mold makes some good boolits and my wife likes them at 900 fps from her SBH. Kills tin cans DEAD!
Got the same one in 2 cavity. Loads of fun.

[geargnasher]

I'm not sure anybody mentioned Accurate Molds :) but that's for dang sure what I'd go with. He can design or modify just about anything you can dream up, an email or two and some money is all it takes.

Gear

[jmort]

I'll second Accurate. +1 geargnasher. After I got a mold from Tom I posted that he was a "colossal stud" and he seemed to like that. I guess we are actually at +21 or so for Accurate

[Wally]

Years ago I bought Lee WC molds in the .38, .41, 44, & .45 calibers...I find I use them all and they all shoot accurately. I usually never shoot them over 1,000 FPS and they are the best blinking bullets that one can ever use if you confine your shooting to reasonable ranges. Also I fire into a sand berm and then mine the lead...IMHO the WC is the best bullet type for "lead" mining. It also has the best punch due to the full caliber metaplate and provides the highest efficiency using the least amount of powder. Also one gets the best load density with a WC bullet as it takes up more room in a cartridge case. Sadly bullet molds in the bigger calibers are hard to find and are not inexpensive. A SWC is a pretty good substitute...but the WC is better.

[Dale53]

We did a group buy for a .44 caliber 200 gr full wadcutter mold that Lee made for us. I like it just fine... You might ask if someone might want to sell theirs (I do NOT want to sell mine:roll:):

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Dale53/44200grwadcutter-0244_1600x1200.jpg (http://s269.photobucket.com/user/Dale53/media/44200grwadcutter-0244_1600x1200.jpg.html)

FWIW
Dale53

[22 rifle]

saeco makes 44 and 45 full wadcutter moulds.i have both of them they are double cavity iron moulds.i'm real happy with mine.ordered them through graf and sons.

[Texantothecore]

NEIHandtools has 4 wadcutters for the .45 and they look great. They are not tls but Xlox should do the trick for you.
They may have a couple of .44 patterns too.

[GLL]

We did a group buy for a .44 caliber 200 gr full wadcutter mold that Lee made for us. I like it just fine... You might ask if someone might want to sell theirs (I do NOT want to sell mine:roll:):

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Dale53/44200grwadcutter-0244_1600x1200.jpg (http://s269.photobucket.com/user/Dale53/media/44200grwadcutter-0244_1600x1200.jpg.html)

FWIW
Dale53

They work very nicely in 624s don't they ! :) :)
I still have two of those 6-cavity molds !

Jerry

[TMenezes]

Thanks guys for all the info. I am looking at the NEI wadcutters, Ballisticast, Saeco, Accurate, and used molds.

Not sure why Saeco is so much more expensive than Lyman and RCBS iron molds.

Ballisticast really needs to work on their website, those crude drawings are hard to use. Also very pricy, $115 for the mold, $50 for the handles, and I think the sprue plate thingy is extra too. Do Lee handles work for these?

Thinking my best bet is going used or custom from Accurate. The tumble lube option is just a preference, but I really want a crimp grove and the biggest meplat possible.

[bhn22]

I am a bit confused as to why you want wadcutters for hunting instead of properly designed hunting bullets. Stability goes away with wadcutters pretty quickly, and takes long range accuracy with it. Wadcutters have limited popularity because they have limited utility.

[Bigslug]

I also would suggest some careful deliberation on the subject of full wadcutters, not just for the flight characteristics (which, I agree, don't matter when you're trying to keep carnivores from chewing your leg off), but for the ability to get them into the gun quickly. A little bit of nose taper is not a bad thing even when single-loading, but with speedloaders, speed strips, or moon clips, it saves you a lot of grief. The classic Keith will largely solve this issue for you (though you can still hang up a little on the shoulder) while giving nice, sharp corners for meat disruption or neat holes in paper. The LBT WFN profile will solve the feeding issue completely while providing a sizable frontal crush area.

[jmort]

Attack from dangerous animals is not a reload deal as described by O/P it is short range and his plan is a sound one, more meplat more better

[geargnasher]

I am a bit confused as to why you want wadcutters for hunting instead of properly designed hunting bullets. Stability goes away with wadcutters pretty quickly, and takes long range accuracy with it. Wadcutters have limited popularity because they have limited utility.

Read the OP again, more carefully, that should clear up your confusion.:wink:

Gear

[happie2shoot]

Turn a regular boolit around backwards

[Bigslug]

Turn a regular boolit around backwards

Ahhhhh. . .the old "Boat-Tailed Keith" trick.:mrgreen:

[bobthenailer]

The reversed swc boolet works well for ranges up to at least 50'
I currently have the Saeco #944 200gr wc in a 4 cavity, and at one time the LEE 208 wc .2 cavity
the saeco #944 is very accurate from many 44 mags to at least 25 yards at 50 yards accuracy drops of considerably , i now only use it for bowling pin shooting and use the Saeco #420 200 gr tc for most of my 44 shooting at any distance @ 750 to 1,200 fps , i also have the Saeco #441 240gr swc and the RCBS 240 sil mould but hardley use the 240 gr boolets anymore since i got a couple FA 454 casull about 20 years ago.
for hunting i would go with a WFN or LFN bollet