The Lyman 429667 from Western Bullet Company

[Sarge]

I received an order of Lyman 429667 cast bullets from Western Bullet Company, These mic a dead 0.430” As cast and lubed, 10 randomly selected examples scaled 254.5, grains +/ - 1/2 grain. For all practical purposes, they are 255 grain bullets. For commercial gang-mold bullets, these are very well done and consistent. I was hoping they’d shoot OK in my shortened, 5" Iver Johnson Cattleman 44 Magnum .
https://www.levergunscommunity.org/view ... 32#p941132

All I wanted here was an easy-shooting load with enough penetration to poke a deer through the neck or shoulders, that won’t bust your eardrums if you are pressed to light one or two off w/o earplugs. The Lyman 429667 has about the same meplat of Lyman’s 429421- the bullet Elmer made the 44 famous with. Keith SWCs can be troublesome in lever actions, but #429667 feeds like butter through them and should still kill pretty well.

After digging through old loading manuals and scouring the internet, I loaded these over 7.5 grains of 231. I applied a firm crimp in the groove which produced a finished OAL of 1.640”.


From Starline & PMC 44 Mag cases, this load produced 860 and 855 fps respectively. PMC is the 'slowest' of my 44 mag brass so the load's doing 850+ from any brass in my pile.
Yesterday was one of those rare MO spring days when the sun was out and the wind was down to 10-15 mph; so I stapled a plate in the middle of some butcher paper and gave the Uberti 44/429667 combo a go at 100 yards. A few offhand shots (taped) I fired five shots, with my wrists rested on my knees and managed a 6 1/2" group. If I was leaving this sight on the revolver, I'd tap it left in the dovetail a frog-hair. But I'm real happy with the accuracy I'm getting from this bullet. Bet it would be a tack driver from a good 44 rifle.

[Drawdown]

100yds with a revolver, looks great to me.

[Grizz]

looks like the perfect combination. are those plain base?

[Sarge]

Thanks guys. Yes sir Grizz, they are plain base. I stumbled onto these thanks to Mike Venturino-

https://www.handloadermagazine.com/mike ... in-shack-0

Not being a caster myself, I'm always glad to find a supplier who offers good examples of the various numbered bullet molds. Western did a good job on these. They center up real nice in the old Uberti's 0.434 throats and it's barely 0.430" (slugged) barrel still stabilizes them well. They hit that backer paper dead straight at 100 yards, which I though was great considering the velocity.

It's one of those combinations that shouldn't work, but does anyway and I'm sure glad it does.

[Grizz]

Sarge, I read the article and was happy to find out that the 44 mag is a hopped up 44-40.

[ollogger]

I like your gun & load pluss the shooting is good also!
I use the 429421 in a S&W 629 4 inch bbl.with Unigue or TiteGroup for around 870 fps
makes a very nice load with out the recoil or blast




ollogger

[Sarge]

Since the bullet was flying straight to the target, I decided to see how it would do with a little 'turbulence'. I sat three one-gallon jugs in a row and behind each, slipped in a scrap of 3/8 plywood. The fourth and last jug was backed an inch and a half of old, wet phone book. Behind those was another scrap of 1/2" plywood, a saw block and a steel plate in case anything 'got away'.



I backed off about 12 feet, sat down on a bucket and held carefully the first jug. I am pleased to report I did not miss, but I did get a little wet. Turns out a 255 grain RNFP trundling along at 860 fps generates a little more mojo than the internet-at-large would have you believe. The bullet bored straight and true through the center of all four jugs, the plywood scraps, the phone book and pert near broke through 1/2" plywood behind it.



It mashed out a bit on the way through. I deem the load trustworthy for general use.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Looks great to me!

[Scott Tschirhart]

Good to revisit this thread. Nothing wrong with that bullet and load. Should be quite comfortable and effective.

[Tycer]

Excellent. Thanks

[Sarge]

Thank you both. That particular load was put up in magnum cases. It's been ages since I loaded any 44 Special but 800-850 fps with that bullet, in Special cases, should be attainable with today's powders.

[Bronco]

Kewl reading here !


Most of my 44 shooting is with a LBT 300 gr LFN GC that I cast. Looks identical to those when loaded. Velocity is around 750 fps. Maybe I need to bump them up a little. Been using 5.5 gr of WST for the charge.

[Bill in Oregon]

That looks like a really useful bullet. I wonder if there is a nickel's worth of difference between it and the classic Keith when it comes to penetration in game.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

I see they have cast FNGC for the 348 WCF. I've not run into a place casting 348 before. I'm adding them to my list.

[Walt]

Lyman 358665, 429667 and 452664 are relatively recent offerings of standard weight bullets with wide, flat bottom grease grooves, large meplats and excellent crimp grooves in 357, 44 and 45 calibers respectively. Dave Scoville regards them as equal to if not even better than LBT designs. They are all plain base designs and function well through lever actions.

[GunnyMack]

Hey Bill in Oregon- that bullet looks very similar to that 41 mould I got from you. Hopefully they will penetrate as well at 245+/- grs. I already know they feed through the Henry still have to try em in my BH.

Gotta go look at their website!

[samsi]

Missed this topic the first time around, but I like the looks of these. Someone at Lyman did their homework.