Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Best mid weight 44 mold

I'm looking for a good all around mid weight 44 mold. I have about a dozen 43 mags including a 77/44 ruger rifle and a puma 92 rifle. The others include 2 colt anacondas, 4 or so S&W including a 329 pd a mtn gun and a 5" classic, a ruger super Blackhawk and a few others.

I'd like a wide meplat plain base in the 240-270g range that works well in many different guns in mid range loads of 1000-1200 fps. Either a wnfp or fifth type with a wide meplat. I'd just like 1 mold that does most things well. What do you recommend?

Bb

Seems like the Keith has been holding that spot for a while, though may not be the meplat you are looking for.

429-421

"Most things" covers a lot of ground. You include rifles in the mix and while the WFN bullets whack pretty hard they are not the most stable/accurate for longer ranges. A Long Flat Nose works better for that.

Bullet fit influences cast bullet accuracy quite a bit so one bullet at one diameter would be unlikely to fit a whole bunch of different firearms unless they all have the same throat dimensions. You could get a mold to cast the largest bullet you'd need and then size it down as needed.

Long winded preface here but it ends up agreeing with the previous posters. A good 429421 or similar clone at 245-250 grains has been gittin' it done in a vast array of different handguns and rifles for many decades, no reason to stray far from that.

If you know your alloy will be constant you can contact one of several mold makers and specify the alloy and as-cast diameter you'd like and they will cut it appropriately.

I'm shooting a little lighter bullet these days in my 44s. It's the Accurate 43-210A. It has a nice meplate.

It seems like it would feed through a lever action better than a Keith.

Yes I'm sure. The great Keith has trouble in some repeaters.

I'd like a meplat about .340 but anything over .3 is probably going to be ok. That 210 does have a decent looking profile. I do plan to get a mold that casts on the larger side so I can size down as required. A lfn design may ge a eecent way for me to go because I do want them to still be stable and shoot well at longer range.

Both of my rifles function pretty well with the older 240g kieths made by Lazer cast that I still load sometimes but not butter smooth like they feed with the 270g speer Gold dot flat nosed soft points I carry a lot. They have a nose profile similar to that 210 but they're a jacketed number.

So a .340 meplat about 250g plain base at least .432 with an accurate and stable profile that feeds well. Some of the ranch dog style stuff looks interesting. I wouldn't mind being able to use it in lighter loads in my marlin 444p outfitter as well but I think I'll skip the gas checks and just powder coat plain based designs.

Bb

Bb
Check out the NOE 432-267

That looks like a definite candidate.

Thanks,
Bb

I'm not sure if I'm ready to mess with making HP cast bullets but just looked and NOE offers that mold with HP pin options. If I just leave the flat point pins in for most casting is there any downside? Might be nice to have the hp pins as an option in the future.

Bb

Excellent work.

^ Thanks, bud!

Most any mold by Saeco will will fill that description.

NOE TL-432-240-RF
It should feed well in everything.

Wow, those NOE bullets look outstanding. I picked up an new old stock Lee mould for $5 that is a roundnose design. Looks like NOE is something I need to look into.

Burleybo, do you powder coat? I have has some bullets that didn't want to feed from magazine guns like your 77/44 but when powder coated, that super slick finish gave them just what they needed to feed perfectly. I still maintain that the sharp shoulder on the Keith bullet is the culprit but that NOE bullet looks like a trouble free candidate especially when PC'd.

I'd go with the lyman 429244