Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Heavy weight .44 mold question

I recently pulled out my Model 29-3 and decided I'd try it on some Alabama white tails this year. I have traditionally cast and shot my Lyman 429421 cast bullets (ww), but I've been thinking about trying a heavier load. I was surfing the 'net and ran across some old references to JD Jones' 320 grain mold, but can't seem to find this particular mold anywhere. I haven't looked on any site like e-bay or gunbroker, so I thought I'd ask here for the scoop on this mold. I like it's design and am not terribly interested in any other weights, as I think this is likely tops for the 44 and plenty for my Smith. Can anyone enlighten me on this mold? Is it still made, and if so, by who? Thanks guys.

I found this article about the JD Jones bullet - http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_3_53/ai_n27126478/ From the article: "I've since added many NEI molds including those casting the .44 and .45 bullets designed by J.D. Jones as well as three of my favorite heavyweight bullets. The Jones design features a wide flatpoint and I've used his 320-grain .44 and 345-grain .45 for more than 25 years to build heavy-duty hunting loads for .44 Magnum".

Saw another article that had in part, "...back in the late 80's SSKindustries(JD Jones) teamed of with NEI to make a series of bullet molds for his big thumpers. Later he sold the rights to Corbon where they were nick named "sledghammers..."

When I looked on the NEI website it doesn't show that bullet specifically. Their current on line catalog has lousy quality pictures but it looks like it might picture one .429 320 PB. The "Old Catalog" doesn't list any .429 bullets of 320 grains. You might call NEI directly and ask. 915-772-0259

If NEI doesn't still make that (maybe only Corbon can make them?) then LBT will make an excellent mold for you with a wide flat nose or long flat nose, plain base or gas check, of whatever weight you want. They are spendy but they crank out beautifully cast bullets very easily. Mountain Molds will custom make a mold for you as well.

One final place to look is Ranch Dog Outdoors. http://www.ranchdogoutdoors.com/ He has Lee create a bunch of special order 6 cavity molds and keeps them in stock. They are optimized for the Marlin leverguns but work just fine in handguns. They are a round flat nose design with a very wide meplat. I have two 6 cavity's for .44 and .45 bought from Lee directly and one from Ranch Dog for my .30-30 and while not quite at the quality of LBT, they crank out some very good bullets.

If sticker shock doesn't bother you I highly recommend LBT. http://lbtmoulds.com/ I've had five of Veral's molds and they are the easiest molds I've ever worked with for turning out perfectly cast bullets. The LBT's are designed to have the most lead possible out of the case leaving as much powder space as possible so you can get more velocity and still keep safe pressures.

If they are the same JD Jones designed bullets that I am thinking of they don't have a very big meplat...they were designed for penetration.

Penn Bullets carries them. I have shot some of the .41 300s with 19.0 grains of H110...shoots very well...

http://www.pennbullets.com/44/44-caliber.html

You may want to try some before you buy the mould....there are a lot bigger meplats out there in this weight range...

Bob

For thin skinned animals I've found that JHP's tend to kill quicker and more efficiently than cast loads. Simply put, it's a bit too much bullet for something like a deer. If however you're still insistent on using a cast bullet, I'd recommend a WFN from LBT over any other bullet design in existence. The JDJ bullet is good, but the LBT is better.

If you go to a WFN you will notice a much better wound than that of the Keith bullet. The Keith bullet isn't a bad bullet, and it was great for it's day, but the LBT WFN's are what I consider state of the art for a cast bullet.

Still, I think you'll find a traditional 240 JHP will kill faster than the WFN though on deer size game. Go to larger game, and the WFN is the way to go.

Here's a dandy in 44 or 444..biggest Meplat on 44 bullet I've ever seen...





Like it so much bought a six cavity...30/1 alloy and should be a great hunting bullet for ya!

Flyboy,

Good call, that is a good bullet and I just LOVE the Lee 6 cavity molds.

Absolutely Kevin,they lock up so much more precisely than the double cavity.I highly recommend these six cavities for the first buy,they're a bit more but worth every penny..Once the mold gets up to temp you can turn out a bunch in record time

Good to see you ended up with one Woody. The difference between their six cavity moulds and their 2 cavity moulds is amazing. I have been enjoying mine. It is a really great bullet. While I haven't put it on anything with hair yet, I have been doing a bunch of shooting with it and am in the process of working up a hotter load for my Redhawk.

I have been buggin Lee to bring out a 250-280 grain RF .410 bullet for years...their excuse has been they just don't want to stock another mould....

Need to talk to them again at the SHOT Show in January...

Bob

You to thank for the good info on the 6 cavity..working up a load for the 444 with Blackhorn 209 for late Doe season in couple weeks then some KIK-2F BP loads later..this a great bullet!!

I'll put in another vote for the Lee 6-cavity molds. They are the bomb!

I use 1:20 alloy for most of my casting. I do use a harder alloy roughly equivalent to Lyman's No. 2 alloy for hunting bullets, but I like my bullets to deform when they hit tissue, so No. 2 alloy is about right.

Thanks to Jim in Idaho for the link to Ranch Dog's website for the proprietary bullet designs in the 6-cavity molds!

I've been using Lee's 90359 2-cavity mold for my 300-gr 45 Colt bullets, but I have to re-melt about 30% of the bullets I cast with this set of blocks and the design is not the best for use with liquid Alox, which is my preferred lube. The Ranch Dog TLC454-290-RF 6-cavity mold looks like a better bullet for my purposes, so I ordered a set of blocks today. I need some good 300-grainers for my hog hunt at ltppowell's place in February.

I had a JD Jones -designed mold for a .44. I didn't like it. The meplat was pretty small, smaller than that on a RCBS 250 grain SWC mold I already had.

The LBT designs are a lot better. My personal favorite is a WLN 300 grain.

Tom