Looking for Light Weight .44 bullet (165 grain)

[jschance]

Has anyone ever considered having a custom mold run from Lee for one of the 165 grain rnfp bullets?

Is there any other light weight .44 bullet mold options out there?

[myronman3]

i havent heard of anything like that; kind of goes against my outlook with cast bullets.  a 165 would likely run pretty fast and i try to avoid going over 1100, but i shoot heavy bullets; making my power with bullet weight instead of velocity.

[Leftoverdj]

Easiest route would be to buy one of the lighter Lees and have the base band and one lube groove milled off or turned off in a lathe.

You could also have a mould cut to your specs for about $65 at www.mountainmolds.com.  They have a design program that's a lot of fun to play with.

[jschance]

What I'm looking for is a light bullet to play CAS games with, so power isn't an issue.  I'm looking for a bullet to load into my .44 Russian Brass with a light load of powder to make approximately 700 fps.

For cast bullet power, I'm pretty sold on the 300+ grain bullets.

For some reason, I hadn't thought about milling down a 200 grain mold.  I've got a spare 2 cavity Lee mold I'm going to have to take a look at.

[John Traveler]

jschance,

The basis for many of the Lyman/RCBS/SAECO/NEI etc bullet series is just that:  The same cutting tool ("cherry") is used to cut shallower cavities to make a lighter bullet.  

The Lyman .459" series Postel-type bullet molds for example, differ by one lube groove and driving band each to produce 385g, 460g, and 535g bullets.  I can't imagine their tool makers grinding separate tools for each cavity.

You can easily modify your Lee 200 grain mold by milling off one base band and lube groove.  This can be done on either a milling machine or a lathe.  Or even on a large sanding machine, if you are carefull!

[Leftoverdj]

Another option came to mind. See if a .44 CH Swaging Die comes up on Ebay at a reasonable price. Mounted in a Rockchucker or stronger press, they are adjustable and will mash 165 grains of lead into a .44 bullet. At 700 fps, a coat of Rooster Jacket or even paste wax should be all the lube you need.

Lee makes a 410-175-TL mould in six cavity that would cast you a pile of cores in a very short time.

[Orygun Mark]

Find a lyman 429106. Mine drops bullets around 164-167 grs. By using a FN punch when lubing I can put a flat on that RN which isn't much round to begin with.

[jschance]

Well, I milled off the base of my Lee 200 grain bullet mold over the weekend.  I haven't had a chance to cast any bullets with it, but it looks like it might work.

With the reduction to just one lube groove, I might resort to tumble lubing these bullets, but we'll see what works.