Cast bullets

[Cam]

Ok, I'm ready to start loading .44magnum rounds but in looking over the many cast bullets available I'm afraid to just buy something and try it without some opinions first.

What cast bullet do you like for this caliber? I'm going to simply plink until I get better at this and then load for deer hunting.

Thanks to all in advance!

Cam

 

[Delmar]

Ok, I'm ready to start loading .44magnum rounds but in looking over the many cast bullets available I'm afraid to just buy something and try it without some opinions first.

What cast bullet do you like for this caliber? I'm going to simply plink until I get better at this and then load for deer hunting.

Thanks to all in advance!

Cam

Why? Cast bullets are cheap.

 

[Wabatuckian]

I personally like Lee's tumble lube stuff.

However, you must use a hollowpoint for deer in Indiana, last I checked.

If you're intent on doing this, I'd get a flat point mould and a gas check, use almost pure lead, and drill a hollowpoint in each bullet you intend to use for deer.

Josh <><

 

[x10]

Any of the hard cast bullets available today are pretty good, my "rule of thumb" is I don't want to be able to scratch the bottom of the bullet with my thumb nail, the main thing is depending on the barrel its going down, I found that if you keep it mild at under 1200 fps that leading won't be too big of problem, I've shot several thousand 240 SWC down my Super Redhawk with no problems at all, in my younger days when they all had to be magnum loads I leaded up my barrel pretty bad but a lewis lead remover and some scrubbing fixed that.

Even if you lead up your gun your not going to hurt it unless you just keep going till you get pressure from a choked up bore, that would be pretty excessive.
I use a medium light load of HS6 for my 44 mag

I've found that this load shoots about 2 inches from my hunting load so you have to resight for hunting, but you'll be a better shot for putting 1k rounds of light stuff downrange,

Sticky Boolit from down around seymour sells a good bullet, There's a guy in martinsville that I would stay away from his bullets are inconsistant

I hope that answers your question, I couldn't tell if you were wanting a bullet mold and you already casted or were buying bullets

 

[2cool9031]

The cast bullets I buy all have gaschecks less leading that way , especially with hotter loads.

 

[G-Niner]

Quote:

"However, you must use a hollowpoint for deer in Indiana, last I checked."

Is this true? I've never heard that.

 

[BE Mike]

The last .44 mags I loaded were with a Magnus 240 gr. SWC. I don't load real hot and they shot very good groups at 50 yards. I like Alliant's 2400 for .44 magnum loads. They should make a good deer load. You don't have to use hollow points to hunt deer in Indiana. OTOH, full metal jacketed ammo is a no, no.

I've used gas checked 240 gr. SWC bullets before and I do like the gas checked rounds. For jacketed, I like Hornady 240 gr. XTP bullets, but any of the major brands will shoot and perform well.

Of course when I load with jacketed bullets I use a little more powder to get the same velocity, as I do with lead bullets.

 

[wolfman]

I personally like Lee's tumble lube stuff.

However, you must use a hollowpoint for deer in Indiana, last I checked.

If you're intent on doing this, I'd get a flat point mould and a gas check, use almost pure lead, and drill a hollowpoint in each bullet you intend to use for deer.

Josh <><

Not true
FMJ are prohibited from handguns, but I find no mention of hollow points. I don't see why hard cast lead would be a problem.

 

[kludge]

Hollow points are not required.

Jacketed bullets can't be full metal jacket. (i.e. they must be soft point or hollow point)

Lead is OK. No hollow point needed.

For jacketed hunting bullets you can't beat Hornady XTP, and the price quite reasonable.

A "Keith" style hard cast semi-wadcutter is what you want to use. Laser Cast and Oregon Trail have a good reputation. I have been using Meister in .38 and .357 and they are very accurate, but I've not used them for hunting.

 

[Delmar]

Hollow points are not required.

Jacketed bullets can't be full metal jacket. (i.e. they must be soft point or hollow point)

Lead is OK. No hollow point needed.

For jacketed hunting bullets you can't beat Hornady XTP, and the price quite reasonable.

A "Keith" style hard cast semi-wadcutter is what you want to use. Laser Cast and Oregon Trail have a good reputation. I have been using Meister in .38 and .357 and they are very accurate, but I've not used them for hunting.

Could use pure lead, and paper patch it. Those things mushroom like a son of a gun!

 

[Slow Hand]

Paper patching is a bad idea in revolvers. Barrel/cylinder gap eats up paper jackets. A cast soft nose, or a split nosed bullet work well for hunting, but for practice, I'd reccomend a good SWC-GC. Normally, I don't worry about the gas check, but with the .44 mag, it'd be worth the extra money. Check Midway for any number of quality cast bullets.

Doug K

 

[Leadeye]

Check your bore diameter, and cylinder diameter if in a revolver. The cylinder diameter should not be smaller than the bore and the bullet should be at least .001 larger than the bore. This will give you the best accuracy and the least leading. Check out Cast Boolits - Dedicated To The World Of Cast Bullets! good source of info on this.