44 magnum bullet type

[kestak]

Greetings,

(I am always astonished how fast I get an answer for my question here...)

I plan to reload for my Ruger Super Redhawk 44 magnum. Should I go with metal jacketed or hard cast bullets? My question is related with lead fouling. Hard cast Lead are almost half price than the JSP/SJHP ones.

Thank you

 

[mavracer]

I like using rainier plated bullets no leading and no smoke,I shoot indoors a lot.
they also are not much more than good hard casts.

 

[kestak]

Greetings,

Were do you buy those? Wiedeners seels 240 semi-wad 56$/1000 hard cast lead.

Thank you

 

[zxcvbob]

I have a Ruger Blackhawk .45 and I shoot almost exclusively cast bullets in it -- loaded almost to .44 Magnum velocities -- and I get some leading but not much.

 

[JG2000]

Heres a link to Berry Bullets. Cost is about $85 per 1000 so not to much more then cast. I'm sure you might be able to find them cheaper somewhere else just giving you an idea
http://www.berrysmfg.com/

 

[Bula]

My 2 cents, many commercial cast bullets are bevel based. I always experienced leading when pushing them hard, regardless of manufacturer. That being said, If you can find plain based bullets I really recommend them. I load a home cast 250 gr Keith and with it's plain base I can push them as hard (or slow) as I dare, with ZERO leading. I think the commercial cast
240's are fine for light loads (ie 1000fps or less).

 

[huntershooter]

Second what Bula says. 95% of the commercial cast bullets I've used (excluding Cast Performance and Beartooth) are cast to damned hard. They won't "slug up", creating excessive leading and lousy accuracy. Bevel base bullets compound the problem. Need to know what the intended purpose of your loads will be. The requirements for an accurate "paper puncher" are light years different from a hunting bullet or a self defense bullet.

 

[kestak]

Greetings,

It is just a paper puncher, but my wife likes handguns with recoils for paper punching(She thinks the 357mag recoil is quite mild...). Of course, for self-defense, she prefer her .45acp.

I always shot jacketed bullets, so I do not know much about leading (and frankly, I am not sure I want to know about it...hehehehehehehe). It is just the full cost of reloading my current brass 44 magnum in FMJ right now is about 200$/1000 with FMJ with the sites I looked at and with cast bullets it is about 70$/1000. Buying new PRVI 44 mag is about 240$/1000....


So, the choice is simple. Do I go with a,b, c or d?
a)hard cast bullets
b)jacketed bullets
c) copper wahsed bullets
d) buy prvi

As I said, I would like to lower my cost, but if it is not quite practical, I'll buy ammo.

Thank you

 

[zxcvbob]

So, the choice is simple. Do I go with a,b, c or d?
a)hard cast bullets
b)jacketed bullets
c) copper wahsed bullets
d) buy prvi

A. Buy 500 200-grain bullets and 500 240's and see which she likes better. If you really want to cut the costs, buy a keg of "Promo" powder and use Red Dot load data. It is cheap and works great for cast bullet loads (the ballistics data is not as impressive as with slower powders), accurate, and the recoil will be greatly exceed the .357 even before you get to the maximum loads. Max is 8.8 grains with 240 grain bullets and about 9.5 grains with the 200's. Start at 7.5 grains with either bullet and work your way up slowly; use regular primers. Hope this helps.

 

[Walkalong]

I have shot plenty of Ranier 240 Gr TrFP's in the .44 mag with Blue Dot at about 85% of jacketed data with good results. I use a taper crimp with them.

 

[mavracer]

Greetings,

Were do you buy those? Wiedeners seels 240 semi-wad 56$/1000 hard cast lead.

Thank you

cabelas has them on sale right now they're not quite as cheap as I remeber, I use their hollow points they're only a dollar more . cabelas does pretty good on shipping prices .
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/purchase/item-added.jsp?_requestid=38982

 

[birddog]

I load & shoot mostly 240 gr JSP's, but also shoot Miester 300gr hard cast lead bullets through my Super Blackhawk. Both are very accurate. So far, no lead fouling. Not "hot" loads by any stretch, but nice moderate hunting loads.

I hope this adds to your confusion.