cast .44's, How Hard?

[bushytail man]

I am going to buy some 429421's and would like to know how hard to order them. I will shoot loads with 10grs of unique for practice and will load real hunting loads 21= 2400 or my real favorite H-110. final velocity out of smith 29 (6.5") with full power loads will be in the neighborhood of 1350fps.
I want to minimize leading and the bullet maker wanted to know how hard I wanted them. Your suggestions are appreciated.

[HeavyMetal]

Your two loads are way different in pressure. Suggest you tell your supplier what velocity your two loads will run and ask for the amount of boolits you want ( for each load) in his suggested hardness for each load.

[mike in co]

more important....well sorta...... is what dia??? its unlikely that 429 will work)
gotta fit the gun then worry about hardness.....
i shoot water dropped ww with minor tin....from 1050 to 1340 fps...can go 2-3 matches be for looking at bbl, cylinder is always cleaned, sometime in the match.

mike in co

[Blammer]

get the right dia and WW hardness should be fine.

that's my guess.

[mooman76]

I shoot plain WW's air cooled out of my 44 mag with no problems. No idea what speend I'm at but I have done near may loads.

[runfiverun]

if they fit your pistol a 2/4 mix
near 12/13 bhn will do for your pistol.

[Bass Ackward]

I'd say there is another factor that determines the actual hardness you will need and that's the type of lube he is going to use. Between each gun (bore condition), lube, diameter all will work to determine what hardness you will finally need. And that is too tough to guess.

What would be really best is to ask for a few sample to try first. This way Professor Gun can tell you whether or not we guessed correctly. :grin:

Then order in bulk.

[44man]

The first thing to specify is the diameter needed to fit the throats. Then a hardness of 18 to 20 BN will do it all.
Every time you mess with diameters, you also have to mess with hardness.
You also want to stay away from real hard lubes. I would say that Lar's Carnauba Red or LBT Blue is the max hardness with Felix the softest.

[cbrick]

Bullet fit in consistent throats is the key. Consider that the 44 Magnum was born with plain base bullets cast of 16/1 Lead/tin alloy at 11 BHN fired at 1400+ fps and Elmer Keith was a happy man. The popular term “Hard Cast” clouds the issue for new casters and purchasers of commercial cast bullets and causes trouble with both leading and accuracy when the more important issue is bullet fit.

Rick

[Bret4207]

As the posts above note, you don't need HARD BOOLITS! You need boolits that fit your gun. The whole hard boolit thing is salesmanship. Go for as large a boolit as your throats will handle and start there. Buying boolitd is a crap shoot.

[MT Gianni]

The reason to have hard bullets for a seller is a uniform alloy that is easy to purchase. [2/6/92] This prevents bullets from arriving with dents. The reason for a hard lube is to arrive in good shape. Neither of these benefit the user. The reasons for good shooting bullets have been outlined above and are not necessarily the same. Gianni