RED Hawk 44 Mag

[marshall623]

I've got my Dad's 44 Red Hawk I think early production when they first come out . I'm going to start casting and loading for it . The cylinder throats all are .432" , inside tool on calibers fit in snug . The bore I just slugged and it's. 4295" . I'm looking at a 43-250H from Accurate . I'm going with a .431 size die , see how that shoots or if I need to bump it up to 432" . Does anyone have any experience with this design or any suggestions of one that would work better . I'm will do some plinking and target shooting , the main intent is deer and black bear .
Thanks in advance for any input or advise .
Tim

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[Sam Sackett]

Try it at 431. You are larger than bore size, so should be OK. Your gun will tell you if it like them. If you get leading, maybe in the forcing cone, you will need to go a little larger or use a softer alloy.

Let the gun be your guide….
Sam Sackett

[tja6435]

I run .432 in my Redhawk with no lead fouling and good accuracy. Downside is my Super Blackhawk won’t chamber a .432”, but will chamber .431

[243winxb]

My cylinder& groove same. .430" diameter bullets works best. 15 bhn.

[45DUDE]

My SRH measures .432 like yours. I took a Lee mold and reamed the base to .436 down to the first lube groove and now I can size to .432 and problem solved by buying a .436 drill bit and not spending any more money. J. bullets do ok.

[44MAG#1]

I would size to .430".
I would try them to see how they shoot.
If all your shooting will be from the sandbagged bench and are only concerned with wallet group accuracy worry more about sizing diameter.
Unless you are the type shooter that will amaze an NRA High Master Class Bullseye shooter and make them green with envy, when you shoot offhand, worry far less about it.
Some shooters are benchrest bound.

[Dom]

I size my bullets for my RedHawks at .530. Works perfect My bore's like yours at.429.

[contender1]

Uhh Dom,, I hope it was a finger slip,, meaning you should have been typing .430,, not .530.

[murf205]

Marshall, if you are going to order a mold from Accurate, order it in a .431 so it will drop at .433 since they usually drop .002 larger than cavity size. Then you can size it to whatever you need. My best experience is to size to the cylinder throat diameter or no more than .001 smaller but NEVER smaller than barrel dia and best to have at least .001 larger than barrel to seal the hot gas. Sam's advice is spot on, let the gun tell you what it wants. Good luck.
BTW, that 250-H looks like a great choice.

[RickinTN]

Marshall, if you are going to order a mold from Accurate, order it in a .431 so it will drop at .433 since they usually drop .002 larger than cavity size. Then you can size it to whatever you need. My best experience is to size to the cylinder throat diameter or no more than .001 smaller but NEVER smaller than barrel dia and best to have at least .001 larger than barrel to seal the hot gas. Sam's advice is spot on, let the gun tell you what it wants. Good luck.
BTW, that 250-H looks like a great choice.

My experience with Accurate molds hasn't been like this. Mine drop on the money or maybe .0005" larger. I would order it at .432". Just my advice.
Good Luck,
Rick

[murf205]

Either way, just remember getting it a bit larger and sizing to fit is a lot easier than having one too small. Fit is king.

[26Charlie]

My .44 Mag Redhawk was one of the first production, and I used .429 various CB’s, mostly 429421 Lyman, with 22.5 gr H-110. Could reliably explode a beer can at 40 yards. Never measured or worried about throat size etc., it all just worked great.
I gave it to my son-in-law when he married my older daughter 30 years ago: told him if he didn’t stay married he had to give it back. That worked great too.

[44MAG#1]

I have shot far more cast 44 bullets sized with a .429" size die than any other.

[243winxb]

Harder alloys have more spring back after sizing. A marked 429 die can make .4295" or close to .430" bullets.

Always check as cast diameter as soon as a few bullets cool. Check diameter after sizing, again.

[44MAG#1]

Harder alloys have more spring back after sizing. A marked 429 die can make .4295" or close to .430" bullets.

Always check as cast diameter as soon as a few bullets cool. Check diameter after sizing, again.

I've known that since I started cast by experimenting. Linotype springs back quite well in a .429" die.
Even Lyman #2 does some.

[marshall623]

Thanks to everyone for the replies , they have been very helpful . Tom has my order and I still have to get a sizer die yet , I'm still pondering on that .

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[Bigslug]

The 250H is pretty much an LBT LFN design that has nothing to prove - good choice. I was very close to asking Tom for a tumble lube version of that because I'm all about mass-production, but ended up creating the 255D with a slightly smaller meplat because I thought I might tinker with longer range work. For your stated intent, I think you're golden.

If you order the mold to drop between .432 and .433, you should be able to get away with sizing to as small as .430, but it's hard to make them bigger.

My attitude from watching a lot of "tweaked to the Nth degree" razor's edge ammo and equipment fail in competitions is that I'd rather have "accurate enough, but works" over "supremely accurate, but doesn't" any day of the week. For revolver ammo, that means I want to be sure of my chamber measurements and that neither excessive bullet diameter or improper roll crimp are anywhere close to preventing a round from plunking into the cylinder. If the front band of your bullet is far enough back from the .432" diameter of the chamber throat to where a little alloy springback toward .433 won't cause grief, party on with the snug fit.

[Larry Gibson]

I have shot far more cast 44 bullets sized with a .429" size die than any other.

Me too. Back in the day when mu eyes were good and my hands steady I could put a cylinder full of 429421 bullets cast of COWW, sized .429 in a 450 and lubed with Javelina loaded over 22 gr 2400 or 23 gr H4227 into right at 1" at 25 yards from a prone supported position. That was out of several M29s, Ruger BHs and even my Hawes Western Marshal. Back then I had no idea what the throats of the cylinders measured. Shot quite a few commercial cast at .429 also with close to equal results.

Since I have become gun rag and internet "educated" on the matter I have learned the errors of my previous ways. I measured, slugged and pin gauge the throats because "fit is king" even getting moulds that cast bullets of .434 so I could size them to fit the cylinder throats. I found, for me anyways, shoving a bullet more than .002 over the .429 groove size of the 44 barrels did nothing to enhance accuracy. Actually .003 over was often detrimental to accuracy. I currently have three 44 Magnum revolvers and a 44 Magnum Contender barrel. I size my cast bullets at .429/.430 because they will chamber in the tight throated Colt Anaconda and are just as accurate, if not more so, than bullets sized larger to "fit" the cylinder throats.

BTW, with Javelina, Tamarack or Lars45 BAC or 50/50 lubes there is no leading with the "undersize" bullets.

[marshall623]

Thanks ,
All good info

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[murf205]

If "fit aint king" it at least queen and I found that out by scrubbing lead out of a 629 with tight throats. On the other hand I have got some good results from my S&W 44 Hand Ejector by using .430 boolits with .432 throats so the best plan is to shoot first and check the results. As far as fit, with Lee push through sizers dies, you can use the split dowel and fine grit to open them up another .001 pretty easily as they are relatively soft.