Bullet Mould Advise for big .44 magnum

hunter64

hunter64

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I have the normal 240grn lswc moulds but I was thinking of getting out of the old school and into the 21st century. Been reading a bit on the newer over 300grn moulds and was wondering if anyone has tried them yet?
 
I like the Lee 310gr mold. I use it in my 44 Mag and 41 Swiss. I have some loads at home I could share that move it at a MV of 1100-1200 fps. Stout recoil, but accurate.
 
We use an LBT mould for 290gr. LFN PB and 325gr.WFN GC.....some others on this site have experience with these bullets from MT Chambers....they are deadly accurate, have crimp grooves in the right place, penetrate very deep, shot a very large bear with the 290gr LFN PB last year, 44 mag. Marlin, one shot broke both shoulders, bear dropped instantly.
 
What will you be using them in?

Rifling twist becomes an issue with the .44 in some firearms. As an example, the new Ruger Deerfield has a 1:20 twist, which allows it to stabilize the heavier bullets than the old one.

hunter64 said:
I have the normal 240grn lswc moulds but I was thinking of getting out of the old school and into the 21st century. Been reading a bit on the newer over 300grn moulds and was wondering if anyone has tried them yet?
Click to expand...
 
I use the 310 Lee gc Mould in my T/C 44 mag and Ruger SBH 44.......works very well.....Works very well in .444 Marlin too........costs $35 ish...

hs4570........your mileage may vary
 
My use will be just for plinking at the range. I have no problem with recoil, more the merrier as far as I am concerned. My ultimate revolver would be a Ruger SRH in .454 Casuall 6" or something like that but the money just isn't in the cards. I have 4 44 magnums so for now I will stick with them and use a heavier bullet. I was also looking at the 310 Lee with GC and thought what the heck, I would get some feedback before ordering it. What are you guys running it with H110 or 2400, Unique etc.?
 
I have four loads I've played with:

Plinker

8.0 grs of Trail Boss

Max Loads

11.0 grs Longshot
18.0 grs Lil'Gun
20.0 grs H110
 
I use the Lee 310 gas check as well, shoot deer with them. Cast in pure Linotype, with a 20.5 gr. dose of WW296. Good hard hitting bullet.

Andy
 
I have an LBT 300 gr LFN and an LBT 300 gr WFN mould, they are great quality moulds but you do pay for quality. Lee moulds are Ok if you are just starting out and you want to try a bullet in a weight they make. I have a few Lee moulds and they are no where near the quality of the other major manufacturers, but again they are about 1/3 the price or less as well. I have been shooting the 300 gr LBT LFN bullet for over 10 years and it is accurate and hits very hard.

http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/lbt/index.htm
 
I concur with silverback.....he looks like he would be hard on moulds.....i avoid Lee moulds as they are built very light duty......first the handles get loose, then the small metal parts on the top of the handle come loose, venting can be hit and miss and sometimes they just won't produce good bullets, buyer beware!
 
I have always used WW for my casting. Right from the mould I drop them into a 5 gallon bucket of cold water that has a metal strainer sitting in the bottom of it (Like you would find in a deep fat fryer) and over the mouth/top of the bucket I have a piece of cloth that has an X cut into the middle of it. I cast the bullets, cut the sprue and turn and drop it a foot thru the X in the middle and into the cold water, the cloth keeps the water from splashing out. When I am done I just pull the metal strainer out and dry the bullets and check for any bad ones. This gives you about 20 BHN on the scale according to my hardness tester. Sometimes I add a little bit of tin to the mix, not much 20 to 1, just enough to help with the casting, if the edges are round instead of sharp/square. I have tried straight Linotype from a printing press and they come out at about 22-24 in hardness so yo really don't gain that much. I use the same water dropped bullets in my 30-30 with mid/full power loads at about 1800fps with no leading problems at all, makes for a great plinking gun at the range for the kids to practice with.

Well guys you have convinced me to look for a 300+ 44 mag bullet mould, I know lee makes one but I will check the other manufactures also and see what they have. Running the numbers thru a recoil calculator http://www.handloads.com/calc/recoil.asp I can see with the more weight even at a slower speed you still jump a few FT/LBS of recoil and hey, the more the merrier for me.
 
Hunter64 thanks for the hardness numbers. I have used the same method for hardening my lee mold 310 gr bullets, I new they were hardened but not how much. The lee molds are ok but the do show wear fairly quickly. I took mine and a whole bunch of lead while I had to live out of town for a couple of months. I cast about 2800 bullets with this mold in about a week and a half ,and it looks whipped now. but the price is right
 
I doubt if I will start casting again while I am in the north, but when I did I used the steel Lyman moulds. The cost of bringing in good casting metal makes it much easier to purchase bullets from Ben. Still, I did get a catalog from NEI Handtools Inc. (thanks Ben) and I believe these are the moulds I would use.
 
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