S&W 24-3 with .432 cyl. bores?

[arlon]

I have an as new 24-3 that I'm trying to decide if I want to go through the effort to load and start shooting or simply turn it. I'm surprised at the .432 cylinder bores (measured with pin gauges). This seems really large for a .429 groove barrel. The only 44 moulds I have are 429421, RCBS 44-240-SWC (gas checked bullet I've never cast) and Lyman 429434 (44-40).

Curious how anyone else with one of the fat bored revolvers deals with it.

[Outpost75]

No issues with .432 cylinder ball-end and .429 barrel.

Ideally you would order a mold which drops bullets as-cast and unsized at .431-.432" and run with it.

BUT, if the molds you already have cast .430+ they will work just fine when cast SOFT 8-10 BHN if you use a fast-burning powder like Bullseye, TiteGroup or Trailboss and then they will "slug up" just fine.

My preferred bullet in .44 Special, .44 Mag. and .44-40 is Accurate 43-230G which is a double-crimp-groove design which enables you to seat out long to exploit cylinder length in .44 Special, or crimp in the top crimp groove to maintain standard cartridge OAL to feed in lever-action cowboy guns.

Big meplat, good game killer, accurate!

237112

[MT Gianni]

Most rugers share that same throat size and shoot with no issues.

[dogdoc]

44. Mags from that era (pre 1990s) have larger throats as well. Smiths from the early 1990s forward usually have .429 throats sometimes a bit smaller.

[Drm50]

I've got two 24-3s, one is NIB and haven't fooled with it. The other is .430 with ball mic. I'm shooting 185gr WC sized 430 and it shoots fine. You should have no problem. When chambers are smaller than bore dia is when you
have problems. I shot some of the WCs as cast with Alox and it didn't do as well. I'm on list to get a HBWC 44 mold.

[salvadore]

Try a .434 throats and a .427 bore. Borrowed a frinds 42792? his 44/40 Lyman mold that thru a .434 bullet. Shot thousands thru my .44 spec. unsized no leading. Also used a .434 Anderton bullet with same results. Load to the throat size.