Savvy Jack
07-04-2018, 01:50 PM
Quite a few 44 Accurate Molds have been designed and used. Here is another one added to the list. The 43-208A.
A while back I acquired an early unheadstamped 44 WCF cartridge. I decided to dissect the cartridge and was a bit surprised with what I discovered. After I pulled the bullet, I discovered it was a slightly heeled bullet. I know many hard core and cartridge collectors may argue but it is what it is.
223138
Weight - 200gr
Meplat - .274
Nose radius - as seen in photos
Crimp deformation dia - .417
Dia. of "Flange" - .4225
"Heel" - all driving band dia's - .421
Crimp Band- .060
Grooves - .075 each
Middle Band - .075
Base Band - .050
I got to thinking, how can I justify adding another 44-40 bullet to the Accurate Molds list. Here is what I came up with.
Large driving band to fill up the .429/.430 bores, but a small enough body dia to help keep chamber pressures down on early smaller .425/.427 bore rifles and revolvers.
Smaller body dia to help keep from over working the brass during the resizing process as well as prevent crooked seated bullets that cause a bulge.
Heeled flange to aid in the prevention of telescoping in rifle mag tubes when using pistol powders
Small enough flange as not to be distorted by a crimp die.
This is what I came up with, and Tom's final measurments.
223142
I like using a caseload of Reloder 7 with every bullet design I use for my Marlin 1894C. This extra powder, anything over 23.5gr for a 240gr, can cause higher chamber pressures but are fine for the Category II Rifles as noted in Lyman's handloading manuals. Slightly more for a 200gr should be fine in Category I rifles BUT do so at your own risk as noted by John Kort. HOWEVER, a lesser charge below 23gr (200gr) shouldn't cause the case to over expand in an over sized chamber. My Marlin has a slightly large chamber near the base of the cartridge. After firing, the case will not fit in my revolvers. This means I have to resize whatever case will be used in my revolvers after I use them in my Marlin.
Even though, I don't always have to resize my cases. The 43-208A can be finger seated with a bit of pressure and still be accurate out to 100 yards...thus far tested.
Today I finally got a chance to go test out the new design.
223145
43-208A shows a disticnt driving band when resized with a .429 lube sizer. (Only a tad bit of extra lube gets pushed up when seated due to the .427 body dia.)
223146
43-208A
223147
427098
A while back I acquired an early unheadstamped 44 WCF cartridge. I decided to dissect the cartridge and was a bit surprised with what I discovered. After I pulled the bullet, I discovered it was a slightly heeled bullet. I know many hard core and cartridge collectors may argue but it is what it is.
223138
Weight - 200gr
Meplat - .274
Nose radius - as seen in photos
Crimp deformation dia - .417
Dia. of "Flange" - .4225
"Heel" - all driving band dia's - .421
Crimp Band- .060
Grooves - .075 each
Middle Band - .075
Base Band - .050
I got to thinking, how can I justify adding another 44-40 bullet to the Accurate Molds list. Here is what I came up with.
Large driving band to fill up the .429/.430 bores, but a small enough body dia to help keep chamber pressures down on early smaller .425/.427 bore rifles and revolvers.
Smaller body dia to help keep from over working the brass during the resizing process as well as prevent crooked seated bullets that cause a bulge.
Heeled flange to aid in the prevention of telescoping in rifle mag tubes when using pistol powders
Small enough flange as not to be distorted by a crimp die.
This is what I came up with, and Tom's final measurments.
223142
I like using a caseload of Reloder 7 with every bullet design I use for my Marlin 1894C. This extra powder, anything over 23.5gr for a 240gr, can cause higher chamber pressures but are fine for the Category II Rifles as noted in Lyman's handloading manuals. Slightly more for a 200gr should be fine in Category I rifles BUT do so at your own risk as noted by John Kort. HOWEVER, a lesser charge below 23gr (200gr) shouldn't cause the case to over expand in an over sized chamber. My Marlin has a slightly large chamber near the base of the cartridge. After firing, the case will not fit in my revolvers. This means I have to resize whatever case will be used in my revolvers after I use them in my Marlin.
Even though, I don't always have to resize my cases. The 43-208A can be finger seated with a bit of pressure and still be accurate out to 100 yards...thus far tested.
Today I finally got a chance to go test out the new design.
223145
43-208A shows a disticnt driving band when resized with a .429 lube sizer. (Only a tad bit of extra lube gets pushed up when seated due to the .427 body dia.)
223146
43-208A
223147
427098