Cast boolits & Bulldogs

[rjw1911]

I recently fulfilled a long time desire. I have been wanting a Charter Arms Bulldog 44 Spcl. since they first came out. Finally, I bought a brand new, current production stainless DAO Bulldog. One thing I noticed in reading various reviews was a criticism about shallow rifling. Where I haven't read anything about problems with lead boolits, I was wondering what real life experiences anybody has had with cast boolits in their Bulldog. The one 44 mold I currently have is the Lyman 429415 SWCGC 215gr. I also heard that these Charter Arms boomers seem to prefer lighter, faster vs big, and slow. Thought maybe the Lyman 215 gr. Gas checked boolit cast prety hard might be a good choice.

[Tatume]

People who shoot them often prefer lighter bullets! Recoil can be stout. Your Lyman 429415 mold should produce wonderful bullets for your new Bulldog. I suggest wheel weight metal with a bit of tin added. If you want them hard, drop them from the mold into a bucket of water. That will harden them very well.

[pworley1]

+1 on what Tatume posted. That mold works great with my bulldog.

[Duster340]

Your 215 gr mold will work nicely in your Bulldog . I shoot cast bullets (1000+ and counting) almost exclusively in my Bulldog. Everything from ultra light 116gr WC to stout 255 gr SWC . The bulk being 214 gr SWC, 200 gr RFN and 208 gr WC loads. Tumbling them with 2 light coats of LLA. No significant leading and great accuracy.

And congrats on your new Buldog!

[Animal]

My Bulldog really loves the Saeco #420 (drops 210gr, advertised as 200). The Lee 240gr was very accurate but too stout of a recoil for what I was wanting. These two bullets were cast from 50/50 COWW/Lead + 1% tin. Both were very clean with LLA and very accurate.
I'm currently testing a Lee 429-200-rf cast of 100% COWW +2% tin. The bullet was a bit undersized for my throats and I had more leading than I cared for. I recently lapped the mold so that I could size it to .431. I hope to test the newly sized bullets tomorrow. Hopefully the lapping will be sufficient enough to cut the leading down without changing the alloy or lube. We shall see.
Congrats and enjoy your new friend.

[35remington]

While the various about 250 grain SWC's shot very well in the stainless Bulldog I tried, seemingly eliminating any concerns about "shallow" rifling, I will note that recoil with these same bullets at around 820-850 fps from the lightweight gun is pretty snappy.

Still, pretty formidable power from a pocketable piece. I think they'll deliver to your satisfaction with cast bullets.

[Animal]

RJW1911, I'd like to give you an update from my last post. The Lee 429-200-rf cast of 100%COWW+2%tin that I had been working with functioned beautifully from my Bulldog today. Unfortunately, the mold as cast did not work so well. I'm glad to report that lapping the mold so that I could size the bullets to a concentric .4305 (my mic only goes to the 3rd digit, so take my 4th digit as good estimation) paid off very well.
It seems the trend I'm seeing on this forum is a tendency for Bulldog 44spl throats to lean toward a .431 bullet. This is probably a good bullet for your new pet if you don't mind putting a good bit of elbow grease into it. It might be worth a try if you are looking for a mold on the cheap that will produce a bunch of bullets in a short amount of time without breaking the bank on initial cost. Go feed your new dog, and enjoy.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I don't have a Bulldog but I do have a S&W 696 which is very similar although a little heavier.

What I found with my light boolit loads (200ish gr) was that the gun shot like 8" high at 25 yds.

With 240 gr Lyman 429421's it shot right to the sights with the same powder charge. So that's what I'm using.

The 429215 mould is an excellent one and with gas checks you wouldn't have to worry about leading, and if the gun shoots to the sights then that maybe the best one.

I doubt anything could tell the difference between being shot with a 215 gr boolit or a 240 gr boolit.

I tend to find one load that works well with each gun and do that instead if searching for the magic load endlessly.

If you get it right the first time, you can say it's better to be lucky than good.

Randy

[35 Whelen]

I picked up one of the old steel Bulldogs awhile back. I've shot jillions (OK...3000-4000) of .44 Specials out of Rugers and Uberti's over the last three or so years, but I was NOT prepared when I loaded it up with 260 gr. cast SWC's over 6.5 grs. of AL 20/28!

I found an old Lyman SC 429348 which drops a 185 gr. wadcutter. Initially it DID keyhole I presume due to the shallow rifling and the fact that this particular mould drops them a little smaller than they should be. But, I hardened the alloy and eventually loaded the bullets of 4.5 grs. of Clays and had a nice, easy to manage load that is accurate to boot!

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I did go back and try a 247 gr. SWCHP and found it manageable if I dropped the velocity down to 700 fps or a little less:

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35W