Keith style .44 bullets

[old pipefitter]

Anybody have a source for True Keith style .44 Cast bullets. Beartooth has them but I really don't want to wait 4 months for them. I do love His bullets but there a little pricey for pistol bullets. Thanks in Advance

[dg101win]

Take a look at Magnus Bullets. They have a website.

[max]

You might try these guys.

snscasting

[pasound]

You might try one of these sources:
cheycastbullets - very good Keith style pre-lubed
falconbullets - Keith size and style, full coated
grafs - carries Missouri Bullet Company blue-lubed Keiths. I used a bulk-purchase cast pre-lubed Keith identical to this for years when I had a .44

[spring1271]

Leadhead Bullets, as true to original as ive found w/o casting your own.

[The Norseman]

The one with the biggest selection, is in
Big Sky Country!

Montana Bullet Works has 29 types of .44cal.

MBW has the only Authentic Keith 255gr Boolit
with the Flat Base, that I know of.

I have never been able to find mass produced,
reasonable priced Flat Base Lead Boolits.

These are the ones I have for Bear during Elk
Hunting.

The best of luck and Endeavors.

[Bill Lear]

Originally Posted by old pipefitter

Anybody have a source for True Keith style .44 Cast bullets. Beartooth has them but I really don't want to wait 4 months for them. I do love His bullets but there a little pricey for pistol bullets. Thanks in Advance

I've been using Matt's bullets for years to load everything from .44 special to .500 magnum. He has 31 flavors in .430" several Keith-style SWC.

44 Caliber : Matts Bullets

[M29since14]

BK Bullet Casting has original Hensley & Gibbs molds to cast true Keith bullets in both .41 and .44, and even better, I believe he has the #326, which is the only bullet Elmer thought improved on his own design. You hardly notice the difference looking at a loaded round but the #326 is about 10% heavier.

[Chubbs103]

Rimrock Bullets look very good, however, I have never used them. I am curious if anyone on the forum has feedback.

[BLUEDOT37]

Missouri Bullet Company's Keith style bullets have beveled bases which means it's not really a Keith bullet (which is probably why they call it an Elmer K bullet ). The lubed lead bullets & Hi-Tek coated bullets are both beveled bases. I had issues with several of their coated bullets.

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Rim Rock makes some pretty nice bullets. I never got around to trying the flat base Keith bullet in .44 but did try them in .41. Still probably not a true Keith bullet but worked well. The flat base bullets cost more than the bevel base but I prefer them.

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Rim Rock bullets
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[Hank Dodge]

What ever happened to Mt. Baldy Bullets? They were a really good source out of Cody, WY a few years back. I can't seem to find anything on them at this point....

[Skeet 028]

Didn't the real Keith design have straight sides on the front end along with the flat base? Newer Keith types seen to have kinda rounded ogives on the front end. Seem to remember ol Elmer complaining about that. Supposed to be easier to cast without the real flat base and the not straight ogives..

[cowboy4evr]

I’m sure Mr Keith is rolling over in his grave , the garbage that commercial casters put his name on . Just any 240 gr swc cast bullet is not the real Keith bullet . I have H&G 503 , the real Keith bullet . Regards Paul

[dla]

I use MBC's "Keith" in 44 mag - works pretty good. But I don't think it is anything Elmer engineered.
Beveled base and a beveled crimp groove. Plus, I thought the original "Keith" was a 250gr bullet, not a 240gr.

I'm not say MBC's product isn't good quality, because I like them. I use them at (4" barrel) 1250fps and 920fps loadings.

[Warren Sear]

I seriously doubt that whether it is an actual Keith bullet, or some other SWC type of bullet, would make any difference to something that got shot with it.

Carry on...

[elpac3]

Originally Posted by Chubbs103

Rimrock Bullets look very good, however, I have never used them. I am curious if anyone on the forum has feedback.

Have used the 260 grain cast. Not a true Keith bullet but shoots very well with 18 grains of 2400.

Rim rock does have a premium hard cast that looks like the Lyman 429421 as does western bullets.

[Fishinfool]

Another benefit to a real Keith bullet is the large, flat, full diameter front driving band. This design is said to help center a round in the chamber, Allow for a cleaner bullet entry into the forcing cone, and aid in accuracy.

I have found loose interpretations of the Keith design (SWC's) that have been accurate in most of my guns, some not so much. They all seem to shoot good however with bullets true to the Keith design.

Larry

[WILDPIG]

Leadhead.

WILDPIG

[rh73]

Magnusbullets sells a true Keith bullet in 250gr. .44. Even has a square lube groove.

[Jimmy4570]

Donnie Miculek, JM's brother, runs Bayou Bullets. He's making .44 SWCs that are just great. .44 Caliber GAT Bullets, out of Thibodaux, Louisiana, also turns out great cast lead, too. He doesn't run a web site but if you Google GAT Bullets and call Gary, he can tell you what all he has on hand. I think for the money neither of these can be beat.

[ontargetagain]

Matt's Bullets, 250 gr Keith bullet offered

Karl

[oysterer]

There are no better people than Bruce and Victoria over at Montana.

44 Mag, Lyman 429421, 255gr, SWC-K (Authentic Keith) - Montana Bullet Works

The bullets are not for plinking around aimlessly as they are not cheap. For target work and real accuracy shooting they do pay off beautifully.

[Nightowl]

I have a Lyman 429421 4 cavity mold I bought at least 40 years ago. It has rounded cavities and spits out bullets of 235 grains with linotype lead. I have not cast bullets in about 30 years as it is now so easy just to buy them rather than spend two days casting and sizing a thousand bullets. However, I still prefer non beveled bases.

My point is that I have not seen a cast bullet with Keith's original square grease groove. It would be interesting to shoot some.

[Warren Sear]

As I understand it, the groove is square so as to hold as much lube as possible. I don't know if it actually helps or not. I have used the Lyman 429421 for many years with very good results. I don't know, and could not care less if it follows ol' Elmer's specifications or not.

[Nemo288]

+1 on Montana Bullet Works.
They have revived a very nice company after the original owner retired.
He had a very comprehensive collection of the Veral Smith WFN designs as well as many others, some unique.
Theirs is one of the only true Keith designs still being made.

I have become a Smith convert as I believe him to be a truly worthy successor to Elmer when it comes to cast bullet design.
Veral is no where near as eloquent as Elmer was but his book is still an important read for every cast bullet user.
Jacketed Bullet Performance With Cast Bullets

Beartooth also offers a true Keith with square bottom lube groove, 3 equal driving bands and a flat base.
They have most of the WFN designs as well and make very good bullets.
They are a little expensive and have a long lead time but I have used their bullets very successfully for years especially when Montana was out of business.
One of their main men, J. Marshall Stanton, is a well known guru of the 444 Marlin.

[shocker]

Penn Bullets says about their 240 gr SWC:

"A traditional Elmer Keith styled bullet. Although this design is not an authentic Keith bullet as Elmer’s version featured a longer nose and a large square bottomed grease groove to hold a lot of lube. (Lubes were not very efficient in those days giving out at the end of the barrel at magnum velocities.) The longer nose profile also caused problems in some guns because the cylinders were shorter and the longer version would not fit. This design is user friendly to all styles of firearms."

I also see postings that the 429421 isn't a particularly easy bullet to cast, another reason to modify the design so there are fewer rejects.