Maven's New Toy Likes Cast Bullets!

[Maven]

All, Today was the first time I was able to test my 10.5" bbl'ed. Ruger Super Blackhawk with cast bullets, having previously "smoothed" the bore with 300 j......d bullets. I fired 100 Lee ~240gr. TL SWC's, lubed with Lee's "liquid cow flop" (diluted) and roll crimped (OAL was 1.615"). Half of the loads were 7.5gr. Unique, half were 8gr. Primers were Fed. LP. Unlike Judge BAC's Ruger, (Read his lament in an earlier post.) the cyl. throats and bbl. of my Ruger are the same and the results show it. Speaking of which, I couldn't be more pleased. I tested & chronographed the loads @ 25yds. from a sandbag (with open sights). The 8gr Unique load was more accurate with 2 clusters of 5 shots each grouping into 1". 7.5gr. grouped fairly well, but there was greater dispersion on the target. There was some leading, maybe halfway up the bbl., but I cleaned it out after every 10 shots so it wouldn't degrade accuracy. Next time, however, I'm going to use the liquid cow flop undiluted. I was very pleased with both the pissola and the Lee TL bullets. And thank you John H. for the mold!

Chronograph results @ 10':

7.5gr. Unique: Mean = 995fps; SD = 13; ES = 47; n = 15

8.0gr. Unique: Mean = 1,038fps; SD = 15; ES = 58; n =15

[Maven]

I should have added that the brass was "Starline." I often use this brand in my .38spl. and .357mag. as it is reliable and has a long service life. However, the lot of .44mag. brass I'm using needed to be inside neck-reamed*, via a Forster reamer, two times; i.e., after the first and 3rd firings with very mild loads (7.5gr. Unique). I usually have to do this with Federal & Winchester brass in the .357mag., but typically only 1 time. Has anyone else experienced this with Starline .44mag. brass?

*I couldn't push a Hornady 240gr. or 180gr. XTP bullet into the fired case. This was more serious than removing the roll crimp since the reamer removed brass for its entire length, or rather, depth.

[fourarmed]

Maven, it has been my experience that Starline brass has about the thickest walls of any of the usually available stuff. That is good, except where it is bad, as in large boolits and tight chambers.

[44man]

Maven, the SBH's usually have generous chambers and if you are using a hard enough boolit to keep the case from squeezing it down, I would not ream out the necks unless you can't chamber the loaded round.
If you use a soft boolit, just use a larger expander, again, as long as they chamber. All you need is a little room for the case to expand and release the boolit.
If your throats and barrel dimensions are what you say, you do not need an oversize boolit. If you can finger push them through the throats, you are OK.
If your brass is really too thick, I would only ream to the depth of a seated bullets base, actually a few thousandths more. If you ream too deep and cut into the inside taper, you will make a step which might make a weak spot.

[Maven]

Sorry to take so long to reply, but I was away on railroad business. I'll be a bit less eager to neck ream after reading your replies. Besides, doing it 2x for 100 cases gets old real fast! And, yes my CB's can be pushed through all 6 throats with gentle, but persistent pressure.