Lee .44 Caliber 240 SWC-TL bullet in .44 SPL/,44 Magnum

[Wally]

I plan on using this bullet with Titegroup* developing loads both .44 Spl & .44 Mag with this bullet in my Ruger SBHK & M-29 to give me 800~850 and 1,000~1,050 FPS respectively. Bullets to be sized to .431". Has anyone else shot this bullet in your pistols; can you share your results? How accurate was it and did you have any leading issues? Thanks in advance.

* Using Hodgdon loading data.

[wmitty]

I have this mould design and use it in both a super Blackhawk and a redhawk. No problem with leading and tumble lubing works great using Ben’s Liquid Lube. The only fly in the ointment is the throats on both Rugers cylinders run about .4335” and the boolits are a little small.

[Wally]

Thank you wmitty. By Ruger SBHK has .430" throats so I should not have any issue.

[Maven]

Wally, I use that design in my 10.5"bbl'ed. SBH and find it to be quite accurate, but both the RCBS and Lyman Keith types are more so. The advantage of the TL is that it is a 6 cav. v. 2 for the RCBS and 1 for my Lyman. As I've never seen Titegroup, I'm relying on 7.5 - 8.0gr. of my dwindling supply of Unique (aka Unobtainium).


P.S. Another advantage of the TL design is that I generally don't have to size it to .431".

[Wally]

Thank you, Maven. Good to know. With that carbine like barreled Ruger I am sure you can easily determine which is more accurate. I have the RCBS Keith bullet mold; frankly I had high expectations of the intrinsic accuracy of the highly lauded Keith bullet. I have yet to achieve the performance that I had expected. Other long time shooters that I have known for awhile have found the same. If the Keith bullet lived up to its expectations, I'd never use anything else. Yes, I would prefer to use Unique, but Alliant has failed to keep up with the supply of it for shooters that have been loyal customers for many, many years. I haven't seen any that I could purchase since eraky 2020--what kind of management strategy is that? Prices on powder have doubled and tripled and they cannot keep up with the demand?

[Bazoo]

I have this mould design and use it in both a super Blackhawk and a redhawk. No problem with leading and tumble lubing works great using Ben’s Liquid Lube. The only fly in the ointment is the throats on both Rugers cylinders run about .4335” and the boolits are a little small.

Do you experience any issues with the larger throats?

[shooting on a shoestring]

Re Keith type boolits: they work best going fast. In general their skinny nose shank makes them a tad bit longer than a wadcutter. Most common 44 Magnum revolvers have a 1:20” twist. To get a Keith to stabilize you need more RPMs than a wadcutter. Going slow in a 1:20” twist just doesn’t get the RPMs up where the Keith gets happy. Push it up to 1400 fps or better and groups will shrink, provided your alloy can take the pressure without slumping during the launch.

[Wally]

S ON A S....I don't doubt your words. In my Ruger .45 Colt BHK I've found the 452424 at 800~900 FPS is the most accurate bullet that I've ever tried with it. However the RCBS Keith in the .44 SPL/.44 Mag is not---but I also am shooting them at much lower velocities. I no longer feel the need for speed....a .44 magnum at up to 1,100 FPS is all I care to shoot.

[wmitty]

Bazoo: I have only recently attempted measuring the cylinder throats in both revolvers. I have used the Lee TL 240 for most of my shooting, but wasn’t really satisfied with the accuracy of either revolver. I guess I finally got serious about trying to obtain some better accuracy and was somewhat surprised as to how large they turned out to be. I also have the Lee 310 grain mould and thought it should shoot better than what I have received so far with it. It has begun to dawn on me that at 71 I might no longer be capable of mastering the .44 mag as the recoil, even in the massive RedHawk, is just about all I want in a handgun.

[Wally]

I have a few years on you wmitty....gone are the days that I find a hot pistol magnum is pleasurable to shoot anymore. As a handloader there is no reason to take the punishment! A .44 Magnum with a 240 grain bullet at 1,050 fps is ideal to shoot IMHO.

[Texas by God]

I’ve had that Lee mold for decades, and I’ve used it unsized with LLA in a Second Model Hand Ejector .44 Special and a Rossi 44-40.
Both guns shot it very well.
I used 6 grs of Unique in both and it was a mild load.
With my current 44-40 rifle, it shoots well at close range but falls behind the Lee 200gr FN at 100 yards in accuracy.
I have never used Titegroup so no help there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bazoo]

Bazoo: I have only recently attempted measuring the cylinder throats in both revolvers. I have used the Lee TL 240 for most of my shooting, but wasn’t really satisfied with the accuracy of either revolver. I guess I finally got serious about trying to obtain some better accuracy and was somewhat surprised as to how large they turned out to be. I also have the Lee 310 grain mould and thought it should shoot better than what I have received so far with it. It has begun to dawn on me that at 71 I might no longer be capable of mastering the .44 mag as the recoil, even in the massive RedHawk, is just about all I want in a handgun.

Thanks for the information.

My Blackhawk in 44 Special will cut about an inch if I can do my part. It has cylinder throats measuring from .4315 to .4326 best I recall, and a .4295 bore. I size to .430 or .431, trying both for each bullet, and I've gotten good accuracy.

This is 18 consecutive shots.
https://i.postimg.cc/HkzPSmBq/FA998-B83-F0-AD-4-D02-8-C1-C-DE992-CA69876.jpg

[45workhorse]

Hey, we shop at the same place for targets!

[W.R.Buchanan]

I started using that mould in 1976 when I really got into bullet casting for my M29. I got the Gas Check version which has worked well for a long time.

Back when I could actually shoot,,, 1 1/2" groups at 25 yards were common, and I could hit a 5 gallon can every single time at 100 yards so I was satisfied with the accuracy boolit. 5 gallon can = Man at 100 yards

I was running them with 24 gr of H110. Don't know exactly what the Velocity was, but I would guess 12-1300 fps from the 8 3/8" bbl.

I still have the mould but I haven't used it in many years cuz I have a Mihec 429244 for my Rifle and 429421 for my SBH and S&W 696 which are my go to .44 cal. Boolits.

This is the mould I learned how to cast boolits with and I have a little Cast Iron Pot what I used on my kitchen stove. Took me a while to get Perfect Boolits out of it as I didn't know about preheating the mould,,, Finally figured it out.

Randy

[Mal Paso]

I'm still running MP's 503 clone at 1350 fps but in a heavier gun, the 6" Anaconda. Also went 6 cavity aluminum from 4 cavity brass, more boolits, less maintenance. 2400 powder and Federal primers. Elmer's load is about 1500 fps in that gun and I seldom go there anymore.

[ABJ]

I do not use the TL mold, I use a Magma 240 swc with 5.0 bullseye or 4.8/4.9 titegroup. Sized at .432 for two 44 spl. flat top blackhawks. The most accurate load/bullet combo we tried. My cylinders were pinned at .431. They shoot very good out of a 44 mag redhawk in spl cases. My 44 mag cases I use either 4227, HS-6 or Unique for more velocity. I would not blink an eye at a 75 yard shot with the flattops. The redhawk wears a reflex sight, zero at 100 yd loaded to around 1100 same boolit.
I have used TL boolits, accuracy was fine under 1000 but not over for me, could be my lubing method so no real data there.
I think boolit sized to 1000th over the cylinder diameter is more important than the lube, but lube is second. I did shoot the titegroup at 5.0 in spl cases but no more accurate than 4.8 ish so I stayed there.
Good luck and have fun.
Tony