Bullets ~ looking back..................

[Bob Wright]

 

I was musing the recently about some handgun bullets from the past, from my recollection.  I remember reading much of Elmer Keith's opinions, and that he totally condemned jacketed handgun bullets, preferring cast bullets, mostly of his design.  And cast, or as far as factory ammunition was concerned, swaged lead bullets, remained the stand-by for a long time, up until the introduction of the .44 Magnum cartridge in 1955.  The .44 ushered in a new era in revolver bullets.  Jacketed bullets, full metal jacketed, soft point, and hollow point jacketed bullets had been around for a long time, mostly in the European auto pistol cartridges, such as the .30 Mauser and 7.65mm Luger.  And the .38-40 and .44-40 were offered in hollow point bullets, but these actually intended for use in rifles.

There was a company that originated about the time the .44 was introduced that offered a line of bullets cast of a zinc based alloy.  This company, the Cladaloy Bullet Co. sold bullets by mail through magazine advertising.  Their bullets were cast of Zinc, and copper coated.  Zinc being roughly half the density of lead were very light in weight.  A bullet cast from a mold throwing a.44 caliber bullet of lead weighed 246 grs. while the same mold yielded a 128 gr. zinc based bullet. Those who tested those bullet claimed velocities in a .44 Special hit 1100 ~ 1200 fps.  The advantage was high velocities with minimum recoil.  So far as I can determine, the company lasted from about 1955 through maybe 1958.

 

The late Jim Harvey developed his Pro-Tex-Bore bullets which were swaged of pure lead but had a zinc washer riveted to the base of the bullet.  These bullets ran toward the nominal lead bullet weights.  His claim was that the zinc washer prevented any leading of the bore when pushed to high velocities, as his loading data pushed .44 Magnum bullets above the 1400 fps level.

Harvey also became a proponent of the half jacketed bullet, using a pure lead core swaged into a copper cup, really sort of an elongated gas check.  Speer made and marketed these bullets for many years, still offering one style, I believe, a 225 gr. Half Jacketed bullet.  One drawback to these is that if the velocity level falls below a certain point there is the possibility the lead core will separate and leave the jacket stuck in the bore.

 

With the coming of new powders that easily develop 1300 fps or higher, the jacketed bullets having an ogive have become commonplace and now good hunting bullets from Speer, Hornady, Sierra and factory fodder from Remington,  Winchester and Federal are available, all of which give good performance in the field.

 

 

Bob Wright

Edited November 1, 2017 by Bob Wright

[RED333]

I have a few diff 44 molds, solid nose to hollow point, even swag a 40 S&W case to a 44 boolit. I use a fired 40 case, drop in a 190 gran 40 cal HP cast boolit.

[Jamie Jackson]

Pretty cool looking Red!

Could you elaborate a bit on the 3 cartridges in the middle?

[RED333]

1st is a 40 S&W case and a cast HP boolit.

2nd is the 40 case and boolit that is pushed into the case.

3rd is the 40 case and boolit and nose formed from pushing the case and boolit into a die to swag the nose.

4th is the case and boolit swagged and the cannelure added, the black tool on the right does the job of adding the cannelure.

5th is the loaded round, 44mag.

[joe4vol]

How is the accuracy and what is the cost of doing these bullets?

[RED333]

12 minutes ago, joe4vol said:

How is the accuracy and what is the cost of doing these bullets?

Fired brass case, less than a penny. (Before annealing) 

190 grain of lead, less than a nickel.(before casting)

My time to learn, profect the skill, make the boolit it, priceless.

Good to 50 yards from a rifle and pistol, that is the longest I have tried so far.