300 grain preferably and no gas check.

Thanks in advance.

Go to Accurate Molds……more mold designs of every caliber you can imaginable! If you aren’t satisfied with his unbelievable inventory of designs…..you can design your own.

Good molds (brass, aluminum and iron) at good prices. When ordering you can even stipulate your cast alloy for a better die sizing (allowing for different shrink rated for different alloys)! memtb


http://www.accuratemolds.com/

http://www.accuratemolds.com/catalog.php?page=17#catalog-anchor

Ditto. I own or have owned four Accurate molds and they are top notch, with more options available to fine tune it than you can shake a stick at - as cast diameter, block size, number of cavities, etc.

Thanks a bunch.

I want bear loads but I have the light Smith and Wesson.
So trying to find a decent bullet for it.

If Accurate Molds can’t help you……it can’t be had! 😉 memtb

AMEN to that!!

Investigate 280gn.

44 280 Keith .434

I like this one. Yes, I know it's not 300 grains but it has a WFN meplat, no gas check and if you have an older Smith, like a 29-2, it can be sized to fit the throats. The H&G 503 is another good design, with a smaller meplat.

I have piles of 300gr. 44 caliber molds, but the utility of an "every day" bullet weight of 300grs. and something like a 300 WFN or WLN Lbt mould or shape like to be leaned on for best accuracy. They also are a bit too much in a 44 Special. Any true 44 fan WILL own a 44 Special or two.

The 280 has the SD of a 300gr. 45 bullet, give or take, works well with lighter loads and depending on the Smith gun they (300's and larger) have a tendency to run out of front sight height with moderate loads or even heavy loads. The 280 is a good compromise without giving up anything and getting you a bit more out of your investment instead of more of a one trick pony. LBT did make a nice 280 WFN 44, but the Keith one above is still more flexible and I doubt any bear would keel over with a stiff load with a 280 versus a 300. The 280 can be driven a bit faster with like bullet profiles.

I was too late, but what is it about great minds!

My 44 280 gr FN PB on left , from NOE mold. 310gr Lee GC style on right. These are great performers in my hand guns & rifle.

43 260V would be my choice.
https://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=43-260V

Glad to see this bullet profile available as I worried that front-heavy WFN designs were going to end with Veral Smith closing.

Crimp to nose length of .40" would leave you with .090" of bullet-pull margin in a 329/629/29 (1.70" cylinder) and .060" in a M69 (1.67" cylinder).

I would drive it to about 1100fps and call it good*. The .360" meplat would crush a big hole. The LBT-like design should be accurate enough to 50yds - which is all I want from my packing pistol.


*I've learned that keeping the momentum (bullet weight x velocity/ 1000) to 280-300 is about the sweet spot for the S&W329. More than that pounds my hand excessively.

An option from Accurate, which I have exercised twice, is for one mold with multiple cuts for various bullets.

My 41 cal mold, for example, drops three 210 gr, one 250 gr, and a 170 each throw. The 32 drops a couple 120s and a 90 gr. It is a nominal cost to have the mold drop alternate weights.

Same here…….a 400 grainers for my 460 S&W and 430’s for my 45-70! A great idea in theory…..I should’ve thought out a little better. 🤔 Once cast they look almost identical……takes some close scrutiny to segregate the two! ☹️ That said…….beautiful bullets! memtb

I mistyped on that post, should have read 210 gr 41 cal rather than 190 gr.

That looks like a great mold. I like about a .340 meplat or a bit bigger on a 44 and I've started to like the mid weight 260-280g bullets for shoot ability and good penetration without having to go up to the 300-310g stuff I used to shoot. For years my bear defence load was a 310g lazercast over h110 at 1200fps from my 329pd. I'm older and weaker now so I switched to a 270g gold dot soft point at about 1100 over vv105. The little bit lighter bullet at less than max charge is much more shootable.

I recently got an m&p hammer mold that's supposed to run around 270g with the flat point pins. I'm hoping it will be my new all around 44 bullet. I casted and coated a bunch of Lee 310s only to find my 329 didn't stabilize them well. The wobble is pretty obvious on target which I'd too bad because it has a nice wide meplat and I have both the 2 cavity and 6 cavity molds. Alternating the molds to get my cadence right produced a lot of bullets. Luckily my 77/44 likes them but my scope is st the end of its adjustment range keeping them on target at 100.

Bb