Hey Hylander
Don't be surprised by the Laser Cast 240-44-caliber bullets not shooting well. They are just too hard to bump and fill the barrel or your cylinder throats. I just ran a Saeco Hardness test on one of the Laser Cast bullets and it reads 10. That translates to 22 on the Brinell Hardness Number. 22 is Linotype metal hardness. I have tried pure linotype bullets in my 357 calibers before and they were totally unsatisfactory. I have been shooting 357 caliber Laser Casts too. I only load them with 3 grains of powder and shoot them at 15 yards for practice. Works OK, but for serious accuracy, I cast my own from a softer material.
I have a bunch of those 44 caliber Laser Cast bullets and have been shooting them in my 44 Special S&W. Recently, I was shooting at 15 yards with them and some of my own home cast 240 grainers cast from wheelweights and 2% tin. Both loadings were the same except for the bullets. I was amazed at the difference in accuracy. I only loaded them with 5 grains of WW231 powder. At 15 yards, my bullets would make a neat hole about an inch in diameter while the Laser Casts would go out to 2 inches.
I used to shoot a lot of 44 Magnums in a Ruger Blackhawk 7". I used a 250-grain Keith type Semi-wad cutter and a bunch of powder to reach and knock down the 200 Meter Ram for Pistol Silhouette. The bullets were my home case of salvaged bullets, shot, wheelweights and anything else I could scrounge. They were soft, no matter what and they worked.
Leading is another story. Fire lapping will help leading and reduce the cleaning efforts. I have not been one to experiment with different bullet lubes. I use Javelina or other brands of 50-50 Alox and Beeswax and the lubed bullets are dropped into a cigar type box with the lid folded inside creating a declining board. I put an old dishtowel on the slant, sprinkle motor mica on the towel. The bullets roll down the lid to the bottom of the box and coat themselves with mica. When I finish with the lubing or the box gets too full, I pick up the rag so to contain the bullets and I run them from one end of the (hammock type) rag to the other and fully coat them with mica. My Laser cast bullets are defrocked of the hard lube from the factory and re-lubed with Javelina before shooting.
If I have any leading up to 2245 fps, my barrel needs fire lapping (See LBT - Lead Bullet Technology - One of the sponsors for this site). I would suggest that you by LBT's book "Jacketed bullet performance with Cast Bullets". A great read.
Harold Clark
