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View Full Version : The Holy Grail of .41 magnum boolit moulds.



littlejack
12-13-2021, 01:55 PM
Has anyone tried the Ideal 412174 slug in their .41 magnum revolver?
I just received my "new to me" Ideal mould numbered 412174 this morning. This particular mould is harder to find than woodpecker lips. This mould is double cavity, and looks like it may have cast at least a couple boolits. All screw heads are in perfect condition, and both cavities are pristine. It could be considered unused very easily. I had a single cavity a few years back, but sold it to a fella that wanted it more than myself. I think he wanted it for his 40-70 or 40-75, which is what this bullet was designed for.The boolits I cast with my previous mould, shot very well in my model 57. Now, I have a Ruger SBH Hunter as well that I want to try this slug in. I can stoke these up a little hotter in the Ruger. Right now, the cylinder for the Ruger is at DougGuys, getting the throats honed a little. I had to size my Ranch Dog 411-255 to .409 to get them to chamber. I have a Burris 2x mounted on the Ruger. I like ringing the 14" gong at 200 yards. I will keep you updated with the range results.
Regards

475AR
12-13-2021, 03:01 PM
Please post pics, love the 41 mag.

358429
12-13-2021, 03:34 PM
That sounds like fun! Ring that Bell!

Good Cheer
12-13-2021, 07:11 PM
Cool looking design.
Looks like you could use every bit of cylinder length on the black hawk.
Please do post results.

littlejack
12-14-2021, 12:16 AM
293076

293078

293077 Heres the photos you ask for. Although it looks like there is rust, there is not. Must be the way the light is. There is some patina, and some patchy motteling. Nice sharp corners on the grease grooves and driving bands. Really not bad at all for a mould probably manufactured in the 50's. By the way, does anyone know when Ideal switched to Lyman? Now, just needs to warm up and cast some. It was 38° today.

littlejack
12-14-2021, 12:45 AM
Photos, compliments of my wife. To many moving parts on the computer for me.

475AR
12-14-2021, 09:29 AM
Very interesting design, looks like a LFN, do you know what weight they cast at? Can't wait for you to cast up a bunch and test them. Once you do get some cast up some pics of the bullets would be awesome.

Uncle Grinch
12-14-2021, 10:36 AM
I like the design and certainly hope it works out for you. It does look like a long 41 boolit.

JimB..
12-14-2021, 10:54 AM
Might have been designed for the Ballard 40-70 and 40-75 according to this older post
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive/index.php/t-298881.html

littlejack
12-14-2021, 02:27 PM
My Lyman cast bullet book, states the weight at 260 grains. Depending on the alloy, the weight will vary +/- some.
It is definitely a long boolit. I plan on crimping just forward of the front driving band. Its going to be a a very close fit in length.
JimB, yes, this particular bullet design was introduced for the 40-70 and or 40-75.
It was 30° this morning. Looks like casting slugs will have to wait for a while. I received a PM this morning from DougGuy. He's already done the hone job on my Ruger SBH Hunter, and it's in the mail back to me. He honed the throats out to .4115. Kudos to Doug, the cylinder couldn't have made it to him before Monday (yesterday). Talk about your quick turn-around! DougGuys reputation precedes itself. I'm looking forward to fitting slugs to his work. Thank you Doug. Much appreciated.

Cosmic_Charlie
12-14-2021, 03:05 PM
Got to love those cast iron molds. You got a beauty!

littlejack
12-16-2021, 02:12 AM
So, while waiting on some warmer weather to cast up some of the slugs, I decided to make a big pot of shrimp gumbo for dinner. And yes, it was delicious. Ok, ok, ok, I couldn't stand it longer. Anticipating my cylinder arriving from DougGuy on Friday, and braving the cold weather, I set up on the patio. It actually wasn't to bad. Got the Lee pot to cooking, the moulds preheated and away I go. After a few pours to bring the mould up to temperature, then to find out what this set of moulds qwirks are. A lot of moulds have certain ways they like to be treated and ran to make good boolits. Yes, its true. It didn't take long to cast up quite a pile. Finished up at dark. After putting all my gear away, I checked a few for size and weight. The moulds drop bigger than I had hoped for. Average diameter next to the seam was .416. Average diameter at 90°, measures .414. But, that's why we have bullet sizers. Right? The slugs dropped between 258 - 259 grains. That's close enough. Now, when the cylinder gets here, it'll be time to load'm up.

littlejack
12-16-2021, 07:06 PM
So today, I've been doing some sizing of the 412174 boolit. Still waiting for the Ruger cylinder. Hopefully, it'll be delivered tomorrow. Anyway, I sized some slugs @ .4105 and they fit through my S&W 57 throats with just enough drag to fit perfect. I did size some @ .4115 with a different sizer, but that one was a no go. So now I just wait to see how the .4105 sized slugs fit the newly honed throats from DougGuy. I did put together a dummy round to check the length, and the coal length will be the same as my loads with the Lyman 410459, which is 1.700. Things are coming together.