.44 Mag and Lyman 4th Ed. CB Handbook

[spfd1903]

Firearm is a Ruger SRH. Barrel slugs at .429. Bought a Lyman 429421 mold several months and cast a lot of boolits with Lyman #2 alloy, sized to .430. I had about five of the powders listed in the handbook and used the starting load
for each powder. At 25 yards, they were all over the target. Every caliber/boolit that I have loaded from the Lyman manual has always had great accuracy at or near the starting load with at least one of the powders listed. I loaded another batch from data in the Lee 2nd edition, for starting loads. Each powder was several grains lighter than what the Lyman manual specified. Fired these yesterday and had some 1" groups with ACC#2 and Blue Dot. The other powders were still closer than the first trial with the Lyman loads. Anyone else had this experience with the 429421 boolit? Thanks

[runfiverun]

coulda made e'm softer and been just fine with the first loads too....

[spfd1903]

I will try some 20:1 and give them another try.

[44man]

I had the original 429421 back in 56 and it was a good boolit although today I don't use a Keith.
I used Elmer's load of 22 gr of 2400 and was hitting stuff over 400 yards back then.
You might be shooting it too slow.
You start at the starting load and work up a little, you will see groups tighten and if you go too far, they will start to open at the same rate they tightened.
I feel your mistake is just using a starting load. That has never proven good enough.
The SRH is a great gun and can do 1/2" at 50 yards. The only other Ruger that matched it was a SBH Hunter.
Keep the boolit hard, it will slump if soft.

[jakec]

i have the same gun and boolit. mine slugs the same and i size .430 also. i run 50/50 coww/pure and it does great. i would come up from those starting loads.

[mdi]

Check the cylinder throat diameter and size the bullets to the same size. .430" may not be quite large enough...

[dragonrider]

+ 1 What he said above.

[runfiverun]

44 man picked up on what I was saying.

[spfd1903]

Much obliged to everyone for relating your experience. I will start with the 2400 load and work up with the other powders also. Thanks again.

[Larry Gibson]

I've been using various Lyman, RCBS and commercial versions of the 429421 for many years in several revolvers of various makes. I always found .429 or .430 sized bullets to shoot extremely well, especially in every Ruger I've had and several friends. I've also found that the harder alloyed 429421s of 13 - 24 BHN generally shoot best with top end loads. Softer alloyed in the 8 - 12 BHN range do better at "starting" and "midrange" loads. I've found COWWs + 2% tin or a 16-1 alloy to be a happy medium. Of course some of the powders listed in Lyman manuals just don't burn efficiently until mid or top end loads are used. Some of the faster powders actually shoot better with lower loads as you've found.

Larry Gibson

[spfd1903]

Thanks to all for the advice. Had the best luck with an alloy of BHN 16, unsized from the mold, 20.6 grains of 2400, lubed twice with liquid Alox. Works out to 100 yards, 3" group.

[44man]

Thanks to all for the advice. Had the best luck with an alloy of BHN 16, unsized from the mold, 20.6 grains of 2400, lubed twice with liquid Alox. Works out to 100 yards, 3" group.

Dump Alox and you might get to 1" at 100 with Felix. So sad my friend is gone but every boolit I lube has a prayer attached.

[spfd1903]

Dump Alox and you might get to 1" at 100 with Felix. So sad my friend is gone but every boolit I lube has a prayer attached.

Thanks 44Man. That will be my next path!