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Lee FCD..........

Nice buck. Nice holster. What's the gun? FA?

I think I am screwed fellers.

I am having so much fun with the 629 that I frisked off to town and bought a 4.5 inch Blackhawk in 45 Colt.

9 grains of Unique and a 250 hp was good.

They have a marlin in .44 mag that's probably coming home too, eventually.

Jim, you are really hooked but in a good way! That Ruger 45 with 9 grs off Unique & a 250 gr bullet is a classic in that caliber, I've shot ten's of thousands of them & more than a few deer have hated that load.

T O M that is a Ruger that's been converted to a bisley & it's very accurate. My grandson was with me & there were 2 bucks standing together but they were ready to run, Ridge shot one & I shot the other, both were 94 yds & they went down within 10 yds of each other. A great experience to share with a grandson. My bullet exited both lungs.

Dick

A good big bore six gun with a barrel between 4 and 5 1/2 inches is just a joyous thing. Especially if you can put in the time to master it so you can make shots that aren't possible with revolvers.

I LIKE that old flattop!

Jim...there quite frankly is no good way to measure Unique with a powder measure... That said I have not had any accuracy problems with measure thrown loads...

Usually do them on a Dillon 550 but for many years just used a Lyman...they can be had used fairly cheap...usually under $50.00...

Bob

Iron truth.

The danger with the 45 Colt, Jim, is that you just may like it better than everything else.

Jim Conrad, I think that if you're enjoying your sixguns you're very susceptible to casting disease...or you will be after you've shot $60 worth of bullets in a single afternoon. Something about handgun shooting incites massive ammo consumption, relative to most rifle shooting. I'd be willing to send you a handful of Lyman 429421s to try out in that.44 Mag just to make sure you get infected properly, if you're interested.

That would be great River Rider!

Thanks!

Jim, I’ve got an old Uniflow measure that I’ll let go pretty cheap if you’re needing a powder measure. It is still in pretty good shape, and is just like the one that I use all the time. PM me if interested. By the way, I use Unique in 38 Special, 44 Special, 44 Magnun, and 45 Colt. I throw all charges, weighing about every tenth, then look in each case in the loading block before I seat the bullets. I plan on using Unique as long as I can get it, or until I get too old to shoot. As dla says, it is a relic powder, but I haven’t found anything that is better, and I’m getting to be a relic, too.

The "best" bullets are ones you make yourself, tailored to the gun. Even then, "best" is subjective.
WFN's and WLN's are just tools in the toolbox. They don't have the loading latitude or long range latitude of either a Keith or LFN. Customized, they do very specialized things well, but they aren't as universal as a Keith or LFN, unless your idea is full throttle, full time (which for some it is). Some have confused the OWC with the WFN, which has even less range stability, but more meplat.

Contrary to store bought bullets, LBT moulds use the beveled crimp groove....the same that Keith bulleted moulds have. There is no problem with crimp grooves, other than the fact that if you buy bullets, you are stuck with someone's mould and what one can sell with the fewest complaints of fitting, leading, crimping, or whatever.

Keith bullets have also been given the reputation of having small meplats; there are versions of the 429421 where this is true, but both the RCBS 250-K and the H&G 503 265 grainer are both wider than several LFN noses cut by Veral himself. In 45 caliber, NOE makes the 453423 Keith and a 276 Keith with noses as wide as every 45 WFN LBT brand mould I own (six). The 358429 is another example of the nose meplat equaling or exceeding the LBT made FN/LFN in 38 caliber. And we haven't even factored the shoulder in....

Even the wee 32's, the NOE 115 Keith SWC has a touch bit more nose than the FN 115 GC.

Heck, in some cases, plain round nose bullets feed and function better in the lever rifles and may shoot better than both the WFN, WLN, OWC's or Keith bullets.

If I were to advise the "best" bullet design, capable of the MOST things one might do with a 44, or any handgun cartridge, the middleweight LBT LFN might be the jack of all trades.

In the words of Kid Rock... "Are you scared?"

I haven't shot every cast bullet design made, but have used several dozen in 44, 45, 475 and 50. I agree that ogival wadcutters i.e. LFN, WFN etc styles seem to be more friendly in regards to top accuracy and over a broader range of pressures and velocities. I think it's as simple as the ogive helping guide the bullet into the bore vs. the square shoulder of the swc slamming into the rifling and if there is any misalignment having an adverse affect on accuracy. I haven't found anything magical about LBT molds and honestly find them a bit fragile. I've cast and shot ogival wadcutters from many different mold makers and have found they'll shoot every bit as good as bullets cast from LBT molds. Balisticast was my favorite as they are IMHO the best built molds, or I should say were as I've heard the current owners are having issues with production. Mihec and Mountain Molds make excellent ogival wadcutters. Heck, the Lee rf designs shoot just fine as well.

The WFN is a hammer, but it seems to start flying wild at extended ranges. If I was looking for a long range bullet design I'd go with the LFN and IMHO 270-280 gr in a 44 would might just be the ideal weight.

I have fired a considerable number of my hot loads through various vintages of N Frames, and all have done well. That being said, I try to restrict the heavy loads to my Redhawks.

My N Frames pretty much live on a steady diet of my "working load" (10 grains Unique with a 240 SWC).

If I was shooting all my .44s through N Frames, I personally would back off to 19.5-20.5 grains of H110 (letting the gun decide what it likes best).


It has been my experience that once you get past a certain velocity threshold (say 1200-1250 FPS) you really don't gain anything, when it comes to actual terminal performance. All you do is add recoil, which in turn decreases personal performance through decreased accuracy.

The punchline is that I would run 19.5-20.5 grains of H110 with your 300s when you want to go heavy in an N Frame.

Cheers!

Ah! The ramp front sight and bisley hammer threw me. KS 410 rather than current KS 411? Or is the front sight after-market? I have a hankerin' for a KS 410 though I was thinking about going the other direction on grips ... SS blackhawk with the round trigger guard. I'm not real serious about it, just a back-of-my-mind notion.

Anyway, congratulations on a very nice buck and a really good looking .44.

Tom

T O M, I can't see the front sight good enough to see if I've put one of my custom front sights on it or not, I'll have to check. If so it's been narrowed to 1/10", makes it easier to see with old eyes.

River Runner, that old flat top is stocked with a set of my Silver Maple stocks, I really like them, kind of dresses up the old gun.

And Mackay Sagebrush is always shooting Jackrabbits around all those houses.... see them off in the distance, maybe 60 miles!

Dick

When one sets up in the shade, overlooking "The Flats" and has a brass bucket beside them they plan to get in some serious Shootin!
Jus sayin!

And the perfect shooting POsition to boot.

Not to hijack, but the op did mention bringing home a Marlin next. So let me ask, what are your thoughts on using the mid range Unique and HS-6 loads out of a rifle? Or, do I need H-110 for the 16" barrel? Thanks.

240gr jacketed bullets.

I messed up and brought home a 6.5 Grendel Howa Mini Bolt.

Sorta went a different direction.


Hijack away....interesting question.