I guess, while getting in retirement era, we all at one point making a full circle, and getting back to the beginning of what we wanted in our youth. The first 44 Magnum revolver I ever saw in 1970-ties, as a teenager, was blue Ruger SBH, 7.5" with square trigger guard, in Trieste, in gun store display window. Boy, I was glued for several minutes. That classic look of SBH was just etched in my memory.
Years passed, I saw S&W M29, and it became my dream revolver. In 1990-ties, a friend, who had bunch of S&W, Colt and Ruger revolvers (no SBH), introduced me to 44 Flattop, and few years later, to TLA #5 Improved, so I could compare them side by side. To make a long story short, because of recoil issue, I came to conclusion that the Bisley is the the best of them, and 41 Magnum Bisley was at one moment my only magnum revolver. Now, I have 2 Bisley 44 magnum revolvers, one stainless 5.5" and a blue 7.5". I had several time chance to get a good deal on SBH, and I still have soft spot for it, but after reading that square trigger guard will smack a middle finger quite a bit when full power loads are used, I crossed SBH.
Half year ago I found a thread written by Terry Murbach about excellent and very effective load using 454424 bullet lunched at 1100 fps, see discussion here https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...un-hunting-another-view.903836/#post-12255542 .
After few forum members posted on this forum how they converted Ruger BH installing SBH grip with square trigger guard, I said if SBH with its square trigger guard is a such beast for fingers when shooting full power load, It should be completely different situation with such reduced load, like 260 grains at 1100 fps, that is in many cases just starting load for 44 Magnum. By all accounts, such load shouldn't be punishing even in SBH.
Just recently, I stumbled upon info about SBH, blue, 7.5" for (converted) U$450. Apparently, nobody wanted it. Since seller is bit more than one hour from my place, if revolver is still for sale next week, I might go and see it. If revolver is OK, I will finally fulfill my old dream.
Now, the bullet, mold. Bullet 454424 has meplat dia somewhere between .320"-.330" (depends of manufacturer), but I have no bullet mold cal. 44, 265 grain and meplat .320"-.330". Fortunately, I just discovered that I have two molds H&G #503, actually made by MP-Molds as MP 432-256 PB https://www.mp-molds.com/product/mp-432-256-pb-solid-4-cav/ . Since that bullet has a meplat dia .290", I am thinking about taking aluminum mold (6 cavities) and converting one cavity to bullet with meplat dia .320". Simple end mill with modified tip will do the trick. Here are two bullets compared:
If everything is OK, I will convert all six cavities, if not, just one cavity will be ruined.
Years passed, I saw S&W M29, and it became my dream revolver. In 1990-ties, a friend, who had bunch of S&W, Colt and Ruger revolvers (no SBH), introduced me to 44 Flattop, and few years later, to TLA #5 Improved, so I could compare them side by side. To make a long story short, because of recoil issue, I came to conclusion that the Bisley is the the best of them, and 41 Magnum Bisley was at one moment my only magnum revolver. Now, I have 2 Bisley 44 magnum revolvers, one stainless 5.5" and a blue 7.5". I had several time chance to get a good deal on SBH, and I still have soft spot for it, but after reading that square trigger guard will smack a middle finger quite a bit when full power loads are used, I crossed SBH.
Half year ago I found a thread written by Terry Murbach about excellent and very effective load using 454424 bullet lunched at 1100 fps, see discussion here https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...un-hunting-another-view.903836/#post-12255542 .
After few forum members posted on this forum how they converted Ruger BH installing SBH grip with square trigger guard, I said if SBH with its square trigger guard is a such beast for fingers when shooting full power load, It should be completely different situation with such reduced load, like 260 grains at 1100 fps, that is in many cases just starting load for 44 Magnum. By all accounts, such load shouldn't be punishing even in SBH.
Just recently, I stumbled upon info about SBH, blue, 7.5" for (converted) U$450. Apparently, nobody wanted it. Since seller is bit more than one hour from my place, if revolver is still for sale next week, I might go and see it. If revolver is OK, I will finally fulfill my old dream.
Now, the bullet, mold. Bullet 454424 has meplat dia somewhere between .320"-.330" (depends of manufacturer), but I have no bullet mold cal. 44, 265 grain and meplat .320"-.330". Fortunately, I just discovered that I have two molds H&G #503, actually made by MP-Molds as MP 432-256 PB https://www.mp-molds.com/product/mp-432-256-pb-solid-4-cav/ . Since that bullet has a meplat dia .290", I am thinking about taking aluminum mold (6 cavities) and converting one cavity to bullet with meplat dia .320". Simple end mill with modified tip will do the trick. Here are two bullets compared:
If everything is OK, I will convert all six cavities, if not, just one cavity will be ruined.
