I want to load some reduced practice rounds for a .404J that I am having built. Jacketed bullets are pretty expensive.

I have the smelter, reloading gear, etc., but no idea on a single or double cavity mold source or a good load to use.

ALSO... will I need to fit a gas check?

Any help?

I load cast 400gr gas checked bullets for my 404. Had a R Hoch single cavity nose pour mould made back in 1984.

For whatever reason, I can't recall now, I had the mould made to cast plain based bullets which as a nose pour, the bases come out perfect. BUT I found no matter what powders and loads I used I got no real grouping until I devised a method of putting a shoulder on the bullet bases to take a 44 cal gas check.
The checks size easily in my Lyman 450 lube/sizer. Was a different result altogether with good consistent grouping.

Again I can't recall the details of how I arrived at that bullet design, might have just left it to Richard Hoch to sort out but they do feed perfectly from the magazine on my Mauser.

For a light load I use 21.5-22.0grs of Red Dot or Vectan AS powder giving around 1300fps. This load is up to full house jacketed load POI.

For heavier loads I use 63.0grs H4350 powder giving around 1800fps and this load too is very close to full house POI.

Some other cast shooters have commented that they have had no luck with shooting plain base bullets in some big bores but it is not a hard and fast rule, you will only know by trial.
Personally I would always go with gas check. You can make a gas check mould into a plain base mould if you wanted but not vice versa.

Richard Hoch mould for 400gr 404J


7 shot 50m target

Excellent information! Many thanks for posting it for me.

AT

A bit more info on gas checks. I use Hornady 44cal crimp on copper checks and lathe turn a smaller 0.403" diameter shoulder on my plain base bullets on which the checks clip on nicely with thumb pressure. The copper check then sizes and crimps with no excess exertion in the Lyman lubricator/sizer.
Sounds a bit of bother to have to turn a shoulder for the gas checks but I have a set up which produces a consistent shoulder on the bullet bases and can do approximately 120 bullets an hour so no big deal.

Are you using a homemade collet, a 5C collet, or some other jig entirely to hold your cast bullets in the lathe? I am going to assume you are not 3-Jaw or 4-Jaw chucking it in place.

quote:

Originally posted by webfeet:
Are you using a homemade collet, a 5C collet, or some other jig entirely to hold your cast bullets in the lathe? I am going to assume you are not 3-Jaw or 4-Jaw chucking it in place.

I use my RCBS bullet puller die in a small three jaw replacing the collet tightening handle with a UNC bolt and accessing this down the spindle with a T rod and small socket. The cast bullets enter and bottom out nose first in the collet so sit aligned same place each time. Once the gas check diameter is dialed in, a quick roll of the tool in the turret to a set stop and a shoulder is accurately cut on the bullet base each time.
Of course the spindle/chuck has to be braked each time to insert another bullet in the collet but once in the rhythm it all goes quite quick.

A testament to the RCBS bullet puller die and collet is that they spin dead true in a lathe three jaw so no centering required.

I have an RCBS mold that drops .440 bullets for my 11.2x60 I built. I have run the 385 grn bullet to 1800 fps ( plain base) with no problems.
Next, I need to get into powder coating, see if the velocity can be upped.

quote:

Originally posted by theback40:
I have an RCBS mold that drops .440 bullets for my 11.2x60 I built. I have run the 385 grn bullet to 1800 fps ( plain base) with no problems.
Next, I need to get into powder coating, see if the velocity can be upped.

As I mentioned there doesn't seem to be a hard and fast rule as to whether any particular cartridge or gun will produce good results with plain based bullets or not.
Some loaders have reported good accuracy from gas checked bullets shot without a check. To get the best of both worlds I would go for a gas check mould and try shooting the bullets without a check. If checks are not needed for the particular gun then nothing lost. If loading for another gun checks can be used if needed to get good results.

Unfortunately in my gun the plain based bullets thrown from my mould just do not cut the mustard. As you can see in the photo I have posted of a bullet held in the collet the bases of the bullets as produced by the nose pour Hoch mould are perfection so can't blame a poor base poured bullet (note that the bullet in the photo has had a shoulder turned for a gas check).