429303 - Top Punch & Seating Stem

[cuzinbruce]

I have seen several posts on here where people were looking for a top punch or seating stem for the 429303 bullet. Just want to let those interested know that they are available from Lyman customer service. I ordered them a week or so ago and they arrived today, 9/18. The 429303 is a conical sort of pointed bullet for the .44 Mag and Special. Most anything you try to substitute is going to mash the point. I had a 303 top punch that came with the mold and it even mashes them. I bought a second and was going to drill it out just in the point. Well, the ones I got today both have a centered hole so nothing is going to touch the point. On both the top punch and the seating stem. I hope this helps someone.

[wonderwolf]

On mine I've used a larger top punch that was meant for a large spire point bullet it just leaves a ring around the midsection of the cone, Seating the bullet though does mash it a bit. I havn't messed with the bullet a lot lately so I havn't been super go getter about finding parts. Cept for my ad [smilie=1:

[Guesser]

I have the 303 top punch and it fits well. To seat the bullet, I took the seating stem out of my 1977 RCBS 30-06 die and put it in my 1978 RCBS 44 seating die, stem threads are compatible. Some newer threads may be different as I seem to think RCBS did some tooling changes in the 80s.