Anyone use the 310gr Lee 44 mold?

[High Desert Hunter]

Haven't played with heavy bullets in my Super Blackhawk in nearly 10 years, but with all the 454 shooting I have been doing, I have the itch. Money not growing on trees and all, I have been looking at the Lee, so I am inviting opinions. It reminds me of the 315s I used to get from the Bullshop in AK, if it is half as good a bullet, it would be excellent.

[dubber123]

It's a good design, and lots of shooter use it, I am not a fan of the tiny, shallow crimp groove, but thats about my only complaint.

[AlaskanGuy]

I use it, almost exclusively in my 44.... It just works... I have no problems with the lube groves, and no gripes or complaints whatsoever... It is a great boolit, and one of the members here had a hand in its design... If you get it, you wont be sorry.... My absolute favorite boolit for the 44, and there are lots of folks around this board that will back me up on this one.... Very accurate.

Get the mold... You wont be sorry.

AG

[DougGuy]

That is a VERY popular .44 boolit around these parts. I use it exclusively in my SBH, and also use it's big brother in .45 Colt.

[High Desert Hunter]

Thanks, going to need to lay in some gas checks too.

[dubber123]

My issue with the crimp groove was boolit pull in my .44 mag S&W Mountain gun when velocity got up around 1,200 fps. from the 4" barrel. In a heavier gun, it might not be an issue. It was great in my Contender, close to 1/2" groups at 50 yds.

[High Desert Hunter]

I will be shooting them in a 7 1/2" Super Blackhawk.

[dubber123]

I will be shooting them in a 7 1/2" Super Blackhawk.

Should be a great boolit for that gun. Mine barely squeaks out .431", but that is a good size for many .44 mags. My older 6" 629 has fatter throats at .433", but it still shot well with this boolit. Mine also cast at 315 grains out of straight WW with a bit of tin added. Have fun.

[High Desert Hunter]

The throats in my Super Blackhawk are right at .430, and that is what I size to.

[454PB]

I use it, almost exclusively in my 44.... It just works... I have no problems with the lube groves, and no gripes or complaints whatsoever... It is a great boolit, and one of the members here had a hand in its design... If you get it, you wont be sorry.... My absolute favorite boolit for the 44, and there are lots of folks around this board that will back me up on this one.... Very accurate.

Get the mold... You wont be sorry.

AG

That member was Dale53. I too would like a deeper crimp groove, but with good case tension, I've never had any boolit movement in recoil.

[taco650]

I have it as well, the only 44 mold I have too. I like it but haven't found a load I like yet. Mine drop right around 430-431 so they don't need much sizing. The first batch weighed out around 306-307 with WDWW's and a little range scrap. The AL molds will warm up fast which is nice. I've also had no issues with using the mold as some report with Lee molds. IMO, one of the best values in molds of any size out there.

[Old School Big Bore]

I've cast & sized a bunch but haven't loaded them yet, I made three batches, water-dropped. Straight COWW, 75/25 COWW/Lyman 2, and 50/50 COWW/Lyman 2. Yet to be seen how they do but I will report on them. They will be tested in my Handi, a 7.5" SBH, and my 4" M29.

[TCLouis]

Lee C429-310 is the most accurate boolit or bullet I ever shot out of a SRH at 50 yards.

Mine was 1 or2 cavity mold but I sure do like the production rate of the six-banger molds, just do not have one for that boolit.

[High Desert Hunter]

Thanks for all of the feedback. I have been looking at this one and Miha's GC 44 mold.

[44man]

The Lee boolit is a super one. Just use case tension with a moderate crimp in the little groove. I water drop WW metal. Had 5 left, shot 3 deer and had 2 left in the gun. The strange thing was that I did not know they were Lee boolits, I thought they were my 330 gr, never looked. They hit the same POI and dropped deer FAST. Only when I emptied the gun did I see I had the Lee. Yeah, ammo box was almost empty, took what was there.
Watch the 29, might be too much recoil for the gun.

[Beerd]

Me and a lot of other guys use the 310 gr Lee in our 444 Marlin leverguns.
..

[Shuz]

Thanks, going to need to lay in some gas checks too.

I have that design with the gas check shank milled off and it makes a wonderful 270g PB boolit for the .44 mag. No need for the gas checks either!

[dubber123]

I have that design with the gas check shank milled off and it makes a wonderful 270g PB boolit for the .44 mag. No need for the gas checks either!


Shuz, I milled mine too, but mine ended up at 290 gr. I haven't shot any yet, it's good to hear you had good results with yours.

[shorty500M]

its a fantastic bullet that use alot in one contary gun that likes hard alloy and gaschecks to really shoot. i dont shove it very hard in that gun maybe 1150fps but it goes where its pointed

[Dududad]

Mr. 44man, could you tell me your powder and amount of same, from your 330 load. I'm looking to stack N.E.O. (three)110 gr. wadcutters. Home defense loads. Using Ruger Super Blackhawk in 44 mag.

[Radarsonwheels]

I love shooting them! All the other bullets and boolits I shoot are around 240ish grains and the difference is not hard to feel- it's like throwing a brick instead of a tennis ball!

The only downside is how fast my furnace gets empty!

Good luck

[44man]

Mr. 44man, could you tell me your powder and amount of same, from your 330 load. I'm looking to stack N.E.O. (three)110 gr. wadcutters. Home defense loads. Using Ruger Super Blackhawk in 44 mag.
I use 21 gr of 296 with mine, Fed 150 primer. But you need care with stacked because they will be a lot deeper in the brass. My boolit has a very long nose with .440" out of the brass. That leaves .49" in the case.
I would see how deep and put just enough powder to touch the base of the bottom boolit.
Then you will run into another problem, you will reach into the thickening part of the case and that will size the bottom boolit too much. If it expands the brass there, you will not chamber.
Too many pitfalls and pressure worries.

[willvabch]

I have that mold. I have about 100 that I recently made with 50/50 and a little tin. I am waiting for payday to buy the sizer and top punch. I have aluminum has checks for them. I still haven't sized saw 629 yet but I will soon

[silverado]

I use 21 gr of 296 with mine, Fed 150 primer. But you need care with stacked because they will be a lot deeper in the brass. My boolit has a very long nose with .440" out of the brass. That leaves .49" in the case.
I would see how deep and put just enough powder to touch the base of the bottom boolit.
Then you will run into another problem, you will reach into the thickening part of the case and that will size the bottom boolit too much. If it expands the brass there, you will not chamber.
Too many pitfalls and pressure worries.

Wow I was using about 17.8 grains of w296. It is quite a bit over what lyman lists but hey if it works in your gun.... I bet it has some punch to it...

[High Desert Hunter]

For a 310gr Cast bullet, 21grs of H110/296 is just about max for standard loads, now the Redhawk can make things interesting.

[taco650]

I use 21 gr of 296 with mine...

I loaded some with the same amount of H110 and found the recoil more than I wanted in my 6" Dan Wesson. I'd like to get the thing moving to just over 1000 fps with accuracy. That should be plenty for whitetail and eating size hogs.

[Themoose]

I just shot my first loads with this bullet in a 5 1/2" Ruger Redhawk... Still working up loads with H110.. shot 17.5 to 19.2 today.. nothing spectacular, but with old eyes, just keeping on paper @ 50 yds is not bad. The only thing I noted was it was pretty sooty...not sure if it was excess lube, crimp issue or primer... shooting LBT soft blue, roll crimped in bottom crimp and used WLP primers...Think I will like it... should be a great deer (or anything) stopper.

TheMoose

[Old School Big Bore]

@ Dududad - been there done that with the Lee 120 gr button WCs. You don't want to stack more than two, period. Even that will significantly eat into your powder space. If you're able to find a load to safely give about 1200 f/s, you will have the equivalent of two pre-expanded 9mms with each shot. Plus if your shooting buddies like to bet on stuff and you load some doubles at about 800 f/s and keep them a secret, you can win lots of bets.

[dmize]

I am waiting for my THIRD mold to come in. HOPEFULLY this one will cast the correct size.

[DougGuy]

dmize, I have heard that this mold drops pretty close to .431" with WW, maybe .432" with 50/50 and have seen a few threads on here about users "beagling" this mold to get it to drop .433" - .434" for use in a Marlin.

[dmize]

Well I can tell you that the first dropped 425 and 427 and the second dropped 428 and 429.
And to stop all further arguments I cast the second *** and saved bullets from first throw to frosty to so hot the bases smeared when sprue was cut with WW, Water dropped WW to both water dropped and air cooled straight Linotype and they were all undersized.
And just so everyone knows I am not a Lee "hater" at the same time (with air cooled WW) I cast perfect 300 gr 452's and 210 grain 401's out of other Lee 2 cavities and 357 SWC's,41 SWC's and 230 RN's out of my Lee 6 Cavs

[silverado]

My 310 mold was great untill I killed it by trying to tighten the sprue plate bolt while it was hot and galley the threads, dropped a hair above 430 measured by calipers

[High Desert Hunter]

Themoose, soot is usually indicative of too light a load, it doesn't generate enough pressure to seal the brass to the chamber and allows blowback.

[44man]

With the Lee 310 and the LBT 320 gr I use 21.5 gr of 296 and a Fed 150 primer. My 330 gr shoots better with 21 gr.
The primer is important.
I would not start with less then 19 gr in a Ruger, any less and you will have too much airspace for 296 and H110.
Mag primers can move out a boolit before ignition is full, also increasing airspace between shots.
You need good case tension in any case.
Making the mold too hot will reduce boolit diameter so don't frost them. I still see this day after day and it is FALSE that hot makes larger boolits.
Water drop WW boolits and let them age before measuring, don't measure right out of the mold because they will expand after a few days.
The heavy boolits need about 1300 to 1316 fps for the 1 in 20" twist.
Silverado, drill and tap the hole for a machine screw, 1/4-28 works good, the self tapping screw Lee uses are junk. You can drill and tap at the side for a 6-32 setscrew, drop in a tiny hunk of copper wire from Romex to tighten against the machine screw so you don't ruin the threads.
And NO, those are not over loads for a RUGER, many use more powder but accuracy will be lost.