Peregrine
01-02-2019, 08:14 PM
Gentlemen,
After having a great deal of success in casting boolits for my milsurp rifles, years of reading about and contemplating the .44 caught up to me and I decided I needed a big bore I can feed.
Now what I should have done is gone and got myself an unconverted three screw Blackhawk in .44mag (still will!), but instead I figured if I was going to get myself a hand cannon, I was getting a hand cannon and a MRI lone eagle in .444 marlin managed to catch my eye. Didn't hurt the lgs had dies lying around for a song.
Now since i'm in Canada and the pistol is in the states, the import process is a bit lengthy (another 8 weeks or so) but I do happen to have a good deal of time for casting right now so i'd best get ahead in the whole endeavor.
I'm looking for advice on the two molds in the title in particular, and i'm not looking to just choose one or the other.
The 43-250J i'm attracted to for obvious reasons, i've heard Accurate makes great molds, and the reputation and lineage of the 429421 it's based on is without peer.
I figured if i'm going to be casting .44's it's a bullet that simply must be in my inventory. I'd be silly not to.
My question is how well it's going to fit in the .444, does anyone happen to know if when crimping into the crimp groove the front band would cause a problem in the .444, i.e. not fit. I can only assume i'll be sizing these between .430 and .432.
I know I can just crimp over the front band, but to my inexperienced eyes that doesn't look quite proper and i'd like to avoid that if I can. If not I may put buying that pattern off for a bit.
The SAECO mold i'm looking at because i'm inevitably going to end up trying to shoot this gun as far as I can make hits on large steel, so gas checks are in order because i'm definitely going to drive them as fast as I can stand...at least some of the time. :-P
I've heard good things about many of the SAECO designs (except that they cast undersize...but I have some high antimony alloys to break out if it comes to that), but not the 431 in particular. The 431 is a choice i'm still leaning towards because it has a gas check, odds are it will fit in my .444 crimped in the groove (i'd hope!), and the weight is around where I want it.
I could go a bit lighter, or a bit heavier but I think it's a good compromise for longer range performance and not outright shattering my wrists.
All my molds up to now are from NOE, and while there is certainly nothing wrong with them I want to play the field a bit and try out the other big names, as well as try out an iron mould. But these moulds are pretty pricey (understatement!) and I want to know as much as I can going in.
If you've read into these musing I thank you, and I besiege you for any experience or anecdotes you have that may be relevant.
After having a great deal of success in casting boolits for my milsurp rifles, years of reading about and contemplating the .44 caught up to me and I decided I needed a big bore I can feed.
Now what I should have done is gone and got myself an unconverted three screw Blackhawk in .44mag (still will!), but instead I figured if I was going to get myself a hand cannon, I was getting a hand cannon and a MRI lone eagle in .444 marlin managed to catch my eye. Didn't hurt the lgs had dies lying around for a song.
Now since i'm in Canada and the pistol is in the states, the import process is a bit lengthy (another 8 weeks or so) but I do happen to have a good deal of time for casting right now so i'd best get ahead in the whole endeavor.
I'm looking for advice on the two molds in the title in particular, and i'm not looking to just choose one or the other.
The 43-250J i'm attracted to for obvious reasons, i've heard Accurate makes great molds, and the reputation and lineage of the 429421 it's based on is without peer.
I figured if i'm going to be casting .44's it's a bullet that simply must be in my inventory. I'd be silly not to.
My question is how well it's going to fit in the .444, does anyone happen to know if when crimping into the crimp groove the front band would cause a problem in the .444, i.e. not fit. I can only assume i'll be sizing these between .430 and .432.
I know I can just crimp over the front band, but to my inexperienced eyes that doesn't look quite proper and i'd like to avoid that if I can. If not I may put buying that pattern off for a bit.
The SAECO mold i'm looking at because i'm inevitably going to end up trying to shoot this gun as far as I can make hits on large steel, so gas checks are in order because i'm definitely going to drive them as fast as I can stand...at least some of the time. :-P
I've heard good things about many of the SAECO designs (except that they cast undersize...but I have some high antimony alloys to break out if it comes to that), but not the 431 in particular. The 431 is a choice i'm still leaning towards because it has a gas check, odds are it will fit in my .444 crimped in the groove (i'd hope!), and the weight is around where I want it.
I could go a bit lighter, or a bit heavier but I think it's a good compromise for longer range performance and not outright shattering my wrists.
All my molds up to now are from NOE, and while there is certainly nothing wrong with them I want to play the field a bit and try out the other big names, as well as try out an iron mould. But these moulds are pretty pricey (understatement!) and I want to know as much as I can going in.
If you've read into these musing I thank you, and I besiege you for any experience or anecdotes you have that may be relevant.