Casting Boolits: 200 Grain 44 cal flat base

bowfishn is offline Boolit Buddy Join DateFeb 2011LocationVermontPosts58

My friends and I had decided to shoot a light weight plinking round out of our 44 mags, to conserve on lead and powder. I purchased a Lee 6 cav. 200 gr 429-200-RF mold. It cast great bullets but the are a bit on the small side. I guess I should have realized the 429 really did mean .429" , they seem to cast at .430 at the seam and 431 at the largest point using WW. They don't even touch the sides in my sizing die. We are shooting them with 10 gr. of HP-38 in mag brass with standard large pistol primers. I use White Label Carnuba Red lube, we have had moderate leading, after about 50 rounds. I have reduced the load down to 8 gr with the same results and I have softened the alloy using 1 part pure lead with 8 WW same result. I have water dropped the WW and Have tried 4 parts WW with 1 Lino same results. Our Throats measure .432 , Today I decided to order a NOE 5 cav. Mold that is listed as .432 we will see how that goes.
The Leading cleans up with 5 dry patches and 2 soaks of lead remover, so it wasn't that bad. My thing is I feel with a properly sized bullet and the right alloy we should have no problem using the 10 gr. of HP-38 or W231 powder. The velocity with this load is suppose to be between 1200 and 1250 fps. With 10 grains at close ranges 25 yards and less they seem to hit almost same point of impact as our 300 gr. HPGC hunting Boolits. My Hangun is a SRH 44 Mag 9.5" my friends is the same thing but 7.5" , we have hand lapped both removing most of the restriction were the barrel gets squeezed by the frame.
We have high hopes in the NOE mold, I am hoping it will drop around .433" , we'll see. Please I welcome all comments and suggestions.

I have the NOE 432-200 RF (4 cavity) and it does cast at .432 with 1/3/96 alloy. My boolit weight runs heavy though at +/- 220 gr. I size to .431 and shoot with 9 grains of Unique with very good accuracy and no leading at all in my 44 Mag Super Blackhawk. My lube is a mix of 1 stick CR to 3 sticks BAC. This load is a good "powder & lead" saver.

Boolit Buddy Join DateJan 2009LocationNorene, TennesseePosts74

I think You're on the right track with the mold casting at 432". I have two molds, one is an RCBS 200 CM, which I had the bands enlarged to .433", the other is an Accurate mold, the 43-250K, which I ordered @.432". Both molds perform well in my two Smiths, and my Marlin levergun, with no leading. I agree that the 200 grain boolits should save powder and lead, plus you can load some fun plinking loads that don't beat You or the gun up.
bones37

Bowfishin why don't you beagle the Lee mold?

Last load of the 200 gr lee in my Ruger SBH was 6.0 gr of 231 with an unsized bullet of 2parts coww to 1 part soww.Lubed with Run5Run simple lube with a 45-45-10 wash. I had no leading.I think the pressure generated by the 231 and the softer bullet alloy allowed the bullet to upset enough to seal the throats

I'm the King of my castle---anytime my wife's not around
Life NRA member
I.H.M.S.A member
CBA member
Bowhunter
Turkey hunter
Waterfowl hunter
"A Government big enough to give you everything you want,is big enough to take away everything you have"
Thomas Jefferson

I got much the same idea for my .44 Marlin so had Tom at Accurate moulds make me a 165 gr. TC mould (#43-165B):
http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=43-165B-D.png
It is a great little boolit but does need a fast powder due to light weight. I have been loading it over 10 grs. of 700X with great results.
I needed a fat boolit to suit typical oversize Marlin bore so ordered it to cast at 0.433" and so it does... right on! I cast, pan lube, then shoot. no sizing.
Longbow

I Have the Saeco #420 200gr TC bullet , most of the 44s ive used it in shot well sized @.430 dia however i have two that have .432 to .433 chamber throats, after beageling the mould i size @.433 to get = accuracy for those two revolvers
This is my go to bullet for 99% of my cast bullet shooting from 800 and 1,100 fps for those loads i use Tightgroup powder.
I also have the Saeco 944- 200gr WC ,#441- 240gr SWC and the RCBS 240gr -SIL but use on a limited basis.
i also thought about using 40gr less per bullet for general purpose shooting and it has worked well for me , with a little over 45,800 bullets made for me mostly and some friends over the years.
For a savings of 261 lbs of alloy or a extra 9,135 bullets over a 240gr bullet.

I have and cast a 200 gr 429-200-SWC Lee mold.and we tumble lube with the same red stuff,, over 4.8gn x-700 and it shoots well a wisper load that we have fun with right out back its hittin right on about 2" centers at about50' useing a Ruger Super Black Hawk 8" Hog-Leg,
so far not seen lots of lead but we shall see only shot about 200 of them, so its new but we love it so far
Patrick