Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Going to try casting

I think I am going to attempt to cast for my .44's with the Lee 2 cavity 310gr mold. I know it can be gas checked but do I need to add gas checks to the base? I plan on shooting them around 1100fps and make from wheel weights.


I'm new, be gentle


Thanks

You might as well make plans to expand your shop now...it gets addicting QUICKLY!

I like that bullet a lot but it is a handful in magnum loads. You will also find that the accuracy is better with a gas check than without it on that bullet. You may want to put a few more dollars into the mold and look at NOE's website. They should have a copy of that mold in a plain base version if you want to avoid the cost of gas checks. The extra dollars will be well worth avoiding any headache you may have with the Lee mold. NOE's quality is exponentially better than Lee's...the bullets will be of correct diameter and round--this is an issue I have with my Lee 310gr bullets. Too small and out of round.

I would also recommend you check out Castboolits.gunloads.com...there is a huge wealth of knowledge to be gleaned from those indaviduals.

What War Eagle said.

Ditto. If you already have the mold or have it on order, go ahead and at least try it- you might get lucky. Lee quality isn't the crap-shoot it used to be, but it ain't as good as the others, IMO. I would try it without gas checks, but at .44 Special load levels which will be chancy enough. Going into Magnum territory I would suspect the gas check will be your friend.

May I ask why you're starting out with such a heavy bullet? No harm in it, just wondering.

Small word of advice- don't assume you have to cast them hard as sin to avoid leading. Proper fit to the throats of the revolver (and hoping that said dimensions are properly in tune with the groove diameter of the barrel) and a decent lube will obviate most leading issues. If you use poorly fitted bullets, all the hardness in the world won't prevent leading.

Thanks for the advice, the Lee is already on it's way so I'll try it first.


I already shoot a 310gr WFNGC from my 44's with great accuracy so I figured I try my hand at it.

I shoot the Cast Performance 275 WFN, Hunters Supply 300 WFN and Oregon Trail 310 WFNGC.


My plinkers are 240 cast but a lot of them are hard as hell.

Your standard WW alloy will be just fine for your caliber and velocity you want to shoot.

You'll likely need GC's.

I sell them but am currently out of 44 cal. Should have some soon.

Check your revolver throats, you will most likely want your bullets at .430 dia. That is what my RSRH likes.

I shoot that bullet without gc cast with ww and air cooled. Have had good accuracy at moderate pressure, velocity close to 1100 out of my 10" contender. The guys above are right; I get better accuracy with a gc, but it isn't necessary for plinking.

If you can't get some of Blammers GC's, look into the aluminum ones. I use a lot of them for 30 cal. with great success.