mold and boolit advice

[armike]

I am going to start casting my own boolits and would like to get advice on the best moulds and boolit styles. I will be loading for .357 mag, 45acp, and 44 mag. For the 44 I would like a keith style. Also I would like to use gas checks on the mags. Any help would be great. Thanks, Mike

[AZ-Stew]

The classic designs are:

.38/.357: Lyman 358156 158gr gas check

.44: Lyman 429244 240gr gas check

.45 ACP: either the 230gr round nose (452400 style) or the 200gr SWC (452460 style) as produced by several manufacturers.

That said, the 429421 and 358429 non-gas check designs are equally accurate to the GC versions, and are cheaper to produce. With the right alloy, lube and properly sized to fit the firearm, they won't lead, either. See http://www.three-peaks.net/bullet_molds.htm for pictures of many of the Lyman designs.

Regards,

Stew

[462]

Armike,
Welcome.

Check out the selections offered by Lee, RCBS, and SAECO, as well as the above mentioned Lyman. Lots to choose from and each caster will have his favorites.

[bigboredad]

check out midway and read the reviews of each mold you are interested in and you can hear what other owners like and dislike of the molds

[MtGun44]

No offense, but why GCs? They are not necessary at full mag velocities in any
of my revolvers (.357 or .44) to prevent leading. Some report improved accy,
I have seen the reverse, but many years ago before I quit using them and now
know it was probably undersized diam that caused worse accy with GCs. I get
2 inch groups at 50 yds with S&W 629 at magnum vel with 429421 or 44-250-K.

In any case, if you have been told that they are the only ticket to leading-free full
power, full velocity loads in magnum revolvers, this is flat wrong. No leading is
easily available with plain base boolits with air cooled wheel wts (hard cast is
not necessary) if you fit the boolits to the throats (throat diam, +.001 or .002)
and use a good lube.

RCBS 44-250-K is a great Keith design, as is the Lyman 429421. For .357 mag
the Keith 358429 is excellent as is the 358477 and the wonderful RCBS 38-150-SWC
(IIRC used be 38-150-K). The Lee 358-158-RF has done some wonderful accy at
full power .357 mag velocities, too.

[stephen perry]

Some more choices.

For 38/357 358495 a full wadcutter great for paper and desert shooting. Also RCBS 38-150-SWC.

For 44Spl/Mag Lyman 429215 and RCBS 44-250-SWC.

For 45 ACP 452374 and 452460.

These will get you started. LEE, NEI, SAECO all have their own stuff some copies of Ideal/Lyman. For a first guy why complicate things.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

[44man]

No offense, but why GCs? They are not necessary at full mag velocities in any
of my revolvers (.357 or .44) to prevent leading. Some report improved accy,
I have seen the reverse, but many years ago before I quit using them and now
know it was probably undersized diam that caused worse accy with GCs. I get
2 inch groups at 50 yds with S&W 629 at magnum vel with 429421 or 44-250-K.

In any case, if you have been told that they are the only ticket to leading-free full
power, full velocity loads in magnum revolvers, this is flat wrong. No leading is
easily available with plain base boolits with air cooled wheel wts (hard cast is
not necessary) if you fit the boolits to the throats (throat diam, +.001 or .002)
and use a good lube.

RCBS 44-250-K is a great Keith design, as is the Lyman 429421. For .357 mag
the Keith 358429 is excellent as is the 358477 and the wonderful RCBS 38-150-SWC
(IIRC used be 38-150-K). The Lee 358-158-RF has done some wonderful accy at
full power .357 mag velocities, too.
This is true, no need for a gas check, just make the boolit harder.
The Keith is not the best for accuracy. LBT, and Lee are better. WLN, WFN, RNFP boolits will out shoot a Keith.
How I love to cause friction but nobody has ever proven me wrong.

[gray wolf]

Hello there,
I can speak a little about the 45 ACP, I didn't see what brand pistol you have in mind.
Some are better than others at the dinner table, and some are a little finicky as to what they want to digest.
If you will pay the postage ( sorry to ask that, but I just don't have it )
I can send you some 230 grain round nose, 200 grain SWC , 200 grain hollow points,
and 212 grain flat points. That would give you a good idea of what your pistol would feed.
The hollow points have two different hole styles. So that would be about 250 bullets.
Be safe, shoot them and enjoy, let us know how you make out.
I am glad to help anyone on this forum since I can never repay my debt to Cast bullets.
The shipping would be about 6 bucks or about 11 bucks depending on the box I would need.
Again I apologies for having to ask for the shipping.
If it would help just PM me.
My bullets are sized .4525--but it might be a good idea if you sized them yourself with the equipment you choose to use. That would help you even more in learning the proses.

Sam

[10mmShooter]

I load all three of my main calibers which are 10mm .38 and .44 to 975-1000 fps velocity. See my sig for my molds, I use no gas checks.....but I cast only with Lyman #2 brought from Rotometals :cbpour: I try to keep consistency so I typically do not try to mix my own alloys...just not repeatable enought for me, I like the consistency of purchasing the alloy already prepared(not the most economical but its a hobby for me so absolute cost saving is not completely necessary.)

I prefer 2 cavity RCBS molds, I have used Lyman 4 cavitys for .38 and .44 but just could not seem to get them to dropped diameter where I wanted it, so I sold them.

so now I use only 2 cav molds, when I;m feeling jiggy I run 3 2 cav molds at the same time. Production is 300 rounds per hours. But I can only keep up that pace for maybe 3-4 hours. Typically I run 2 2-cav at once, can do that all day production is usally 250 rounds per hour.

[Echo]

+1 for fellow Zonie AZStew - I have those molds, and use them (especially the -156) almost exclusively.

And the other guys are right, too.

See what you have gotten yourself into?

[MT Gianni]

Keith style is without a check. The Thompson designed 429244 does OK but IMO the checkless 429421 beats it. Try the Lee 310 FP in 44 for a checked good shooting bullet pushed fast. in 357 the RCBS 150KT & the LY358477 work for me.

[MtGun44]

MT Gianni -

I went to RCBS's web page to verify "38-150-K" which is on my mold (IIRC) and see
that they are now using 38-150-SWC. Looks similar/same- but their pix are VERY
poor drawings. Wonder why they don't have either accurate eng type line drawing or
just a nice photo! We are in agreement that this is a great boolit, and it will work in
short cylinder N-frame S&Ws that may not digest the 358429 in .357 mag cases.

Bill

[kbstenberg]

Welcome to the addiction!
Just my 2cents. All guns are different. With preferences for or against different styles. Just put out a request for samples of any bullets you would like to try. Most anyone on this site is happy to assist. Meanie like Grey Wolf here.
I also prefer not to use GC. But my heavy hunting loads are under 1200fps in 44cal. pistol
Kevin

[mdi]

I usually recommend a catalog from Midway or Midsouth, etc., to get an idea of what's out there. Usually a semi-wadcutter design (Lee C358-158SWC or Lyman 358156 for 38/357 and Lee C429-240SWC and Lyman 429244 for the .44) of 158 gr. or 240 gr is most popular. I usually suggest a plain base boolit for starters for 1. ease of casting/preparation (no gas check to install) and 2. learning to properly size the boolit to the gun (cylinder throat size/bore diameter). Nowadays I mostly save the gaschecks for my hot, tyranasourus-rex killer loads in my .44 magnum...

[leadman]

I cast many boolits and can say that the Keith design is a little more difficult to cast with compared to the Truncated Cone or Round Flat Nose designs.

I have several TC bullet molds and the bullets fall out readily and fill out is excellent as is accuracy.

Tin added to the alloy will help with the Keith style SWCs. The Keith design does tend to hang in the mold a little more than the TC or RFN.

[Wally]

I cast many boolits and can say that the Keith design is a little more difficult to cast with compared to the Truncated Cone or Round Flat Nose designs.

I have several TC bullet molds and the bullets fall out readily and fill out is excellent as is accuracy.

Tin added to the alloy will help with the Keith style SWCs. The Keith design does tend to hang in the mold a little more than the TC or RFN.

Yes, they sure do--you have to wait longer to remove them from the mold and that gets old very quickly. What usually happens is the front dring band sticks in the mold and will pull away the edge from the body of the bullet. This never happens with a TC or RNF designed bullet.

[ghh3rd]

Try the Lee 310 FP in 44 for a checked good shooting bullet pushed fast.
+1 ... has been very accurate from my Ruger SBH 7 1/2" at 50 yds.