azrednek
04-16-2009, 11:46 PM
I've been fooling around for several years trying to find the most accurate projectile for my 41 Mag. An 8 1/2 inch barreled S&W Model 57. I tried various jacketed and cast. The cast boolits I've tried were my own and store-bought. The store-bought cast were out shooting my cast and jacketed. For handgun hunting I use factory ammo, Winchester Silver Tips in particular. For practice and paper punching I wanted to cast my own and be as accurate as jacketed or store-bought cast.
I discovered it yesterday!! A Lyman 41027, a hollow based, button nosed, wadcutter. I originally got the mold a few years ago and had dismal results with it. I was just about ready to sell it when somebody on this site or another suggested using softer lead and a milder powder charge.
My previous attempts were cast from 100% clip-ons with a tad of tin.
I can say up front the hollow based wadcutters are a pain in the rear to cast. The production rate is slower than cold molasses, the rejects are many and a casting session will really test one's patience. After following suggestions from more experienced casters I reduced the powder charge, using 4 1/2 - 5.0 grs of Bullseye. I cast from a batch of apx 80% stickies. The remaining 20% that was left in the bottom of my pot was a mixture of clip-ons, pure and a touch of tin. I don't have a hardness tester but fingernail wise the castings felt as soft as pure lead. Whomever it was that advised me to use a torch on the pin, thanks!! I still had plenty of rejects but heating up the pin really helped.
I tried 50/50, Jake's Red and Lee tumble lubes. I loaded some without sizing and tumble lubed. Pan lubed, filling the bottom two grooves with NRA 50/50. All the grooves filled with Jake's Red with my RCBS sizer and a heater. I used a .410 sizing die on the hard lube and some of the castings with the 50/50. The remainder of the pan lubed with 50/50 and apx 50% of the tumble lubed were sized with a Lee push through sizer. As far as the sizing and lube I couldn't see any difference on paper. The few that were pan lubed and all the grooves filled smoked excessively. In the future I will likely shoot them as cast and use tumble lube. The hard lubed and sized boolits did not shoot any better than the tumble lube. The only advantage I could see with the hard lube is it smoked less.
I was really surprised how accurate they shot. I honestly didn't think I could shoot that well. Not a load or boolit I'd rely on or prefer for self defense or hunting but for punching paper it is the most accurate I've put through my Model 57.
I discovered it yesterday!! A Lyman 41027, a hollow based, button nosed, wadcutter. I originally got the mold a few years ago and had dismal results with it. I was just about ready to sell it when somebody on this site or another suggested using softer lead and a milder powder charge.
My previous attempts were cast from 100% clip-ons with a tad of tin.
I can say up front the hollow based wadcutters are a pain in the rear to cast. The production rate is slower than cold molasses, the rejects are many and a casting session will really test one's patience. After following suggestions from more experienced casters I reduced the powder charge, using 4 1/2 - 5.0 grs of Bullseye. I cast from a batch of apx 80% stickies. The remaining 20% that was left in the bottom of my pot was a mixture of clip-ons, pure and a touch of tin. I don't have a hardness tester but fingernail wise the castings felt as soft as pure lead. Whomever it was that advised me to use a torch on the pin, thanks!! I still had plenty of rejects but heating up the pin really helped.
I tried 50/50, Jake's Red and Lee tumble lubes. I loaded some without sizing and tumble lubed. Pan lubed, filling the bottom two grooves with NRA 50/50. All the grooves filled with Jake's Red with my RCBS sizer and a heater. I used a .410 sizing die on the hard lube and some of the castings with the 50/50. The remainder of the pan lubed with 50/50 and apx 50% of the tumble lubed were sized with a Lee push through sizer. As far as the sizing and lube I couldn't see any difference on paper. The few that were pan lubed and all the grooves filled smoked excessively. In the future I will likely shoot them as cast and use tumble lube. The hard lubed and sized boolits did not shoot any better than the tumble lube. The only advantage I could see with the hard lube is it smoked less.
I was really surprised how accurate they shot. I honestly didn't think I could shoot that well. Not a load or boolit I'd rely on or prefer for self defense or hunting but for punching paper it is the most accurate I've put through my Model 57.