.44 minie in handguns?
- Thread starter darkerx
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72coupe
Member
I shoot some 220 grain slugs from a Lee Mould in my Remington and 3rd Model Dragoon. Surely a 45 cal mini would wiegh more than 120 grains.
Busyhands94
Member
I'd love to get some .45 Minnie balls with a nice pointed tip to shoot with my Remington, it kicks quite a bit with heavy conical bullets though. Definitely some fun stuff right there!
arcticap
Member
I bought a box of cast minie balls at a gun show that looked like they had potential for revolver shooting. But this particular batch of bullets were cast slightly too large to fit into the chambers of my 1858 Remington.
-> http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=402052
It wasn't until some time later that I identified these minie's as being cast from a discontinued Lyman Mold #450229 which is the only modern .45 minie that I've seen that was designed primarily for revolver shooting. And some folks have reported obtaining fairly good results with it.
The mold has a bottom plug which I've heard makes it more difficult to cast them consistently perfect.
Here's some reports about it:
1. http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=6997849&postcount=7
2. http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=5070320&postcount=27
3. Minie bullets for C&B revs?
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=220215&highlight=450229
4. StrawHat loads it in .45 LC cases:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=4486905&postcount=6
-> http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=402052
It wasn't until some time later that I identified these minie's as being cast from a discontinued Lyman Mold #450229 which is the only modern .45 minie that I've seen that was designed primarily for revolver shooting. And some folks have reported obtaining fairly good results with it.
The mold has a bottom plug which I've heard makes it more difficult to cast them consistently perfect.
Here's some reports about it:
1. http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=6997849&postcount=7
2. http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=5070320&postcount=27
3. Minie bullets for C&B revs?
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=220215&highlight=450229
4. StrawHat loads it in .45 LC cases:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=4486905&postcount=6
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The old Lyman 450229 was a hollow based semi wadcutter designed for the civil war Remington 44. I was lucky enough to find one at a gun show and it has performed wonderfully out of an 1860 Army, an Old Army, several 45 rifles and a 45 Colt ruger....it only weighs in at 155 or so grains so balances out much like the round ball.
Omnivore
Member
acuratemolds.com will make any mold you want, except that he doesn't yet do the core molds necessary for a hollow base (or hollow point).
I liked the results I got in the '58 Remington using the Buffalo BallEts. They're a semi-hollow base with a round ball profile at the tip and weigh about 180 grains (roughly 40 grains more than a round ball in .44). Remember that any bullet that isn't shaped like the end of your gun's bullet ram is probably going to be distorted upon loading. The Lee 450-200-1R is good too, but I got much more velocity using the BallEts, with the same powder charge.
I've thought of getting a mold made with that semi hollow base, and a wide meplat, for a weight of between about 200 and 240 grains, for the Remington. That meplat would suggest a new bullet ram for the gun, but such would not be terrribly complicated to turn out on the lathe.
Your bullets for C&B should also have the heel base (rebated base) so they'll drop easily into, and square up with, the chamber prior to ramming. That's how the originals were made.
Buffalo Arms in Ponderay, ID (different company from above) makes a heel base conical mold specifically for the .44 revolvers, though I haven't tried it, and also one that should work nicely in the .36s.
If you have the Pietta Remington .44, it probably won't take most conicals at all unless you open up the frame around the cylinder arbor on the right side, and under the ram, so the bullets can rotate under the loading ram without hanging up on the frame. I absolutely had to do that with mine. Obviously, Pietta isn't copying the originals exactly, at least not with their standard (i.e. cheap) '58s. Conicals were quite widely used in these guns back in the 1860s.
I liked the results I got in the '58 Remington using the Buffalo BallEts. They're a semi-hollow base with a round ball profile at the tip and weigh about 180 grains (roughly 40 grains more than a round ball in .44). Remember that any bullet that isn't shaped like the end of your gun's bullet ram is probably going to be distorted upon loading. The Lee 450-200-1R is good too, but I got much more velocity using the BallEts, with the same powder charge.
I've thought of getting a mold made with that semi hollow base, and a wide meplat, for a weight of between about 200 and 240 grains, for the Remington. That meplat would suggest a new bullet ram for the gun, but such would not be terrribly complicated to turn out on the lathe.
Your bullets for C&B should also have the heel base (rebated base) so they'll drop easily into, and square up with, the chamber prior to ramming. That's how the originals were made.
Buffalo Arms in Ponderay, ID (different company from above) makes a heel base conical mold specifically for the .44 revolvers, though I haven't tried it, and also one that should work nicely in the .36s.
If you have the Pietta Remington .44, it probably won't take most conicals at all unless you open up the frame around the cylinder arbor on the right side, and under the ram, so the bullets can rotate under the loading ram without hanging up on the frame. I absolutely had to do that with mine. Obviously, Pietta isn't copying the originals exactly, at least not with their standard (i.e. cheap) '58s. Conicals were quite widely used in these guns back in the 1860s.
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