Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Mould recommendations

.357 and .44 Mag, SWC design for target work. Prefer 2 cavity or a single, no gang moulds. Gas check OK, plain base OK AFAIC. Looking for 900-1,000 fps, revolvers only.

Any manufacturer, prefer iron or steel. NO ALUMINUM

Suggestions please!

Dan

No aluminum? Okay, I'm going to suggest SAECO, Accurate Molds, or Ballisticast, who purchased the properties of Hensley & Gibbs. Lyman and RCBS can be a little erratic on quality control.

Some people don't like 'em for various reasons, but it's pretty hard to beat Keith designs for all around utility.

In 44 caliber it's hard to beat a Keith design. Lyman#429421 or RCBS#44-250 are both good 250 gr. Bullets and the moulds are steel. I have a Lyman #429-421 that is over 30 yrs. old and has cast thousands of bullets. They come out looking as good as ever. In 38, my only experience is with Lyman #358477 which is a 150 gr. SWC that satisfies me. Good luck.

Thanks to you both, appreciate the input.

Anachronism, do you have any specific mould numbers and/or hands on with the 3 recommended in those calibers?

I have an RCBS 44-250K (Keith), and an original Hensley & Gibbs 503, which are both versions of the 44 Keith bullet. The H&G 503 is regarded to be the closest to Keiths original design, but that will always be a point of contention. I also have a 43-260 Accurate mold that I had cut oversized (.434) for a S&W with big throats. In addition, there are a couple of LBT WFNs (aluminum) around here somewhere. One is a 300 gr, and the other is 250 gr, and both wear gaschecks, which I'm trying to get away from because of the cost.SAECO offers Their 430, which is 265 gr and doesn't wear a gascheck, and the 432 that is gaschecked is you prefer. For .357 mag, my current favorite is an LBT 170 gr FN, also a gas check mould (& aluminum), but I have a lot of 358 gaschecks, so that's okay. SAECO offers the 382, which is billed as a Keith design, but doesn't really appear to be one to me. If you don't mind 180 gr bullets, the 353 & 354 look good, but they're so expensive that you could have custom moulds made for about the same money. I believe Ballisticasts mould number for the original .357 Keith bullet is 643. Their charts a bit difficult to read. Accurate 357 Keith mould looks like its 36-170K. Remember that the nose on Keith moulds can be too long for S&W 27, 28, as well as some short cylinder Colts like the Python. I mostly buy aluminum moulds these days, but I have had Lyman 358429 Keiths, and 429421 Keiths and had only moderate success with them. This led me to the custom makers, where I've stayed for several years now. Perhaps the best all around production moulds I've had have been older 358156 & 429244 Lyman moulds. These were designed by Ray Thompson in the early '50s, and remain good choices today. Probably because Lyman didn't screw with the designs like they did with the Keiths. Both Thompson moulds are gascheck designs. I bought mine decades ago, and still have them, even though I mainly use LBT designs now days. You can also get LBT designs, or at least similar designs from Ballisticast. Half of the fun is the experimentation.

http://www.accuratemolds.com/index.php
http://www.ballisti-cast.com/
http://www.redding-reloading.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88:bullet-moulds-charts

Ballisti Cast #1103 is a great 44 bullet. If you can find a used RCBS 38-150-KT mold grab it.

Ballisticast, and go with an LFN shape, not a swc.