dhom

This is a question for you cast shooter's..........As a general rule do cast bullets sized .432 generally shoot the best from your Ruger revolvers?

FlyerTom

Never shot them that big. When I used to cast my own, I used a .430 sizing die with the Lyman molds. These days I use the Berry's .430 diameter pills.

Salmoneye

My Marlin 1894 loves .432" lead...

My NM SBH throats swage .432" lead to about .4305"...

mikld

In very general terms yes, .432" shoots better (than .429" or .430"). If you don't want to slug/measure the cylinder throats, yep, just throw in the largest you can get. I like to know what I'm doing and measure my cylinder throats and size my bullets to the same size...

Smithy

My Lee molds were casting around .432 and I put on the gas check with a Lee sizer to .430 and lubed the bullets in a .429 lubrisizor. Worked great for me. Smithy.

Seneca

I'm set up with a .429 sizer seems do the trick, I supose I could get a way with using a larger sizer die...Yet the .429 dia. seems to work well. No problems or complaints...

Rodfac

When casting, I size mine to .432" but only to allow use in two Marlin lever actions with typical, Marlin oversized bores. I also use these same bullets in two S&W's and an even half dozen Rugers with no ill results. Accuracy in the Rugers is the same as that with .430" bullets and no leading issues with either. Best Regards, Rod

rclark

I don't cast my own, but in all my Ruger revolvers standard .430 is all I shoot. No leading. And accurate. (From 756fps to 1333fps).

Dale53

I cast my own and successfully use .430" sizing dies for all of my .44's, Specials and Magnums (five Smiths and four Rugers).

Dale53

dhom

Thanks for the input.

Tom in Arizona

It will depend upon the hardness of your alloy, the softer your alloy the less pressure is required for adequate bullet obtuation to fit the bore preventing gas cutting and resulting leading.

I have been using a very hard mystery metal alloy for a number of years and cast and size to .432" for use in Marlin rifles and Ruger SA revolvers with excellent results pushed rather quickly.

In the same firearms a slower moving softer commerical .430" cast bullet leaded pretty quick starting from the throat, a sign of gas cutting around the bullet.

opos

I don't cast and being an old guy with lots of arthritis I like to load fairly light (except for the occasional day when I take a couple of aspirin and go raise hell with full house loads....then suffer for a week)...I've use the Missouri bullets in .430 and a hardness of 12 (their cowboy action mix)...I shoot both my 44 Special "Lipsey flat top" and my 44 mag Super Black hawk old model with lighter loads and the same boolit..Use TrailBoss powder...it works very well...I don't like to shoot the 44 special brass in the mag because of the carbon ring, etc...and loading light I get good brass wear from both although a bit dirty from the lighter loads.

dhom

Sorry, I forgot to mention I use 18 brinell and generally shoot mid range to full power.

Iowegan

Here's some basic "Revolver 101" info. Cylinder throats regulate the size of the bullet when it exits the throats. In other words ... bullets that are larger than throat diameters will get sized down to the same diameter as the throats, therefore it is fruitless to use bullets that are larger than throat diameter. If bullets are slightly smaller they will bump up in diameter (obturate) when pushed by chamber pressure and will be "sized" to throat diameters.

All barrels in US made revolvers conform to SAAMI specifications of +or- .0005". For 44 cal revolvers, that means bore diameter will be .4285~.4295" or an average of .429". Cylinder throats should be .430".

Assuming proper throat diameter of .430", the optimum lead bullet diameter will be .4295 to .430". Again, slightly smaller bullets will bump up in diameter to .430", assuming they are the proper hardness and are matched to chamber pressure.

Lead bullets need to be delivered to the forcing cone slightly larger than bore diameter so they will form a tight seal between the bore and bullet. If the throats are .430", bullets are sized to .4295~.430", and the hardness of the bullet is correct, the bullet will enter the forcing cone at just the right size for a good seal.

What happens when bullets are sized larger than the throats? Four bad things happen starting with chambering. If bullets are larger than the throats, cartridges will not chamber properly because the larger bullets won't enter the throats. The second bad thing is chamber pressure. Common sense ... forcing a large object through a smaller hole will increase chamber pressure considerably ... the larger the bullet, the more chamber pressure will elevate, which could result in over pressure conditions even with "middle of the chart" loads. Next is "endshake damage". When bullets are too large, chamber pressure will force the cylinder to the rear with way more force than normal. Even a light target load with an oversized bullet will push the cylinder back with a lot more force than a full power magnum load with a proper sized bullet. Eventually this "jack hammer" effect from endshake will cause undue wear on the cylinder's ratchet column and the frame's recoil shield. When endshake gets excessive, the cylinder may unlatch when fired and cause a dangerous situation. Last but not least ... the excessive lead from an oversized bullet has to go somewhere. Some may exit the B/C gap (gap spitting) but most will end up in the bore in the form of bore fouling, which in turn causes accuracy to degrade.

So in summary ... there are absolutely no advantages with using lead bullets that are larger than .430". There are four distinct disadvantages.

There's a document in the Forum Library, "Lead Bullets and Revolvers" that has much more detail. Click on this link to download the PDF: http://rugerforum.net/library/19869-...revolvers.html

bwelch47

I agree with you. With close to 50 yrs of reloading behind me, I have discovered that oversized bullets do not add to accuracy.