I'm buying a bullet mould to cast some 240 grain SWC for my Ruger .44 mag. I will be using wheel weights for the lead. I have not had the barrel slugged. Is there any way to tell if I should be shooting a .429 or a .430 bullet without slugging the barrel? Same question applies to the bulet sizing die, should I buy a .429 or a .430? I have some SWC lead bullets that I bought from Berry's. I've loaded some but haven't shot them yet. I think they are .429 Dia.

Carroll B...Ruger dimensions tend to run big.

I'd go with a .431 on everthing. I have two SBHs and I'm using .432 sized bullets and getting good accuracy with a custom sizer.

The thing you want to fit is the throats of the cylinder...the barrel will take care of itself.

Bum some cast bullets in .429,.430 and .431 and see if they'll go through the cylinder. If they pass through without any pushing with, say with a pencil eraser...your bullets are too small and accuracy will be off and you'll probably suffer some leading.

Best thing is to slug and measure. In leiu of that procedure....go with the .431s./beagle

Bullets should not fall through the cylinder throat, but they also should not be swaged down in size by the throat. Ideally, the cylinder throats will be 0.001" over bore diameter. Bullets sized to the throat diameter will pass through the throat without being swaged down or being gas cut along the sides and will provide an excellent gas seal when they encounter the bore.

Thanks for the great advice. I have some Berry's that are .429 and measure .429. They will not fall through the cylinder but can be easily pushed through with a pencil eraser. I think I'll go with the RCBS as it is listed as casting a .430 and then size them to .429.

Stans:

you say;

Bullets should not fall through the cylinder throat..

F: You give excellent advice for shooting cast bullets through any revolver.

In my shooting of the Ruger New Blackhawk in 45LC I have fired many thousands of rounds with a slightly oversize Lyman 452460. The barrel of my NBH is 0.4525, the cylinder throats are right at 0.454, the mold casts at 0.455 and I shoot then as-cast. In my case the slight swagging they get through the cylinder causes no problems. Soft alloy is good for mid-range shooting with the typical 7 grains Bullseye in the 45LC.

Good evening,
Forrest

Too much is made out of sizing revolver bullets. It all boils down to the following:

Bullets should be larger than the groove diameter of the barrel.

Bullets should be the same size or larger than the cylinder throat if possible.

If your revolver has a barrel groove diamter larger than the cylinder throats, you will never be happy with cast bullets unless you open up the cylinder throats.

It does no harm to shoot bullets larger than the throats if the loaded round chambers well. You are just sizing your bullets in the cylinder throats instead of a sizing die.

Providing the loaded rounds chamber well, I have adoped the following as standard sizing diamter for all handguns.

38/357 mag - Smith and Wesson .358, Colt .359
44 Spl and Magnum - .432
45 AR and ACP in revolvers .454
45 Colt - .454

Providing the alloy is the proper temper for the pressure, the lube is high quality,the bullet design is a good one and the powder charge is liked by the revover, I get zero leading and good accuracy.

Avoid most bulk commercial bullets with bevel bases and the hard blue lube as most often the alloy is to hard and the lube is worthless. More problems are caused by bullets that are too hard, than bullets that are too soft.

Good luck...