OK, I asked about the 454 Casull, what about a 41 Mag?

[SuperMan]

27 conversion...a friend of mine did it. Obtained a M57 cylinder and had his 6 or 6.5" barrel rebored..came out nice and is a very accurate gun.... It was too bad as I had just sold a 5" 70s vintage 27 and would have loved to do the same thing. It would have been a 5" Mountain Gun....

Bob

 

[Jellybean]

Thanks SuperMan, I'll probably end up just using my Smiths because money is almost non-existant around here. I have small batches of .41 mag brass cut to seveal lengths from an experiment I did a few years ago, and of course this depends on if I am able to get out and cast, or shoot, at all this year.

Those are some nice looking firearms in your pictures. I had a 6" Tracker in .44 mag but sold it because the barrel was too long.

 

[SuperMan]

I have, and it is what I have experienced myself first of all, but I will also refer you to John Taffin who writes about it in his book Big Bore Handguns that starts on page 144 and continues on page 161 (after all the nice pictures), top of the left hand column.

I have tried several weights all the way up to the 290 grain SSK truncated cone heavyweight in 3 different 57/657's all with 6" barrels. They (the 290's) either keyholed or sprayed all over the target in more of a pattern than anything that remotely resembled any type of group. I did not say that a Smith won't shoot the 250 grain class decently sometimes (depends on the bullet's design in my experience), but that the F/A was rifled specifically to fire heavyweights more accurately, which is a fact.

The F/A was designed specifically to fire heavier than normal bullets, with its strength and faster twist. I have yet to see a Ruger or S&W that will shoot neck and neck with a F/A day in and day out.

Jellybean,

I need to apologize to you here. I typed Ruger, but I was talking about the Freedom Arms model 83. I just had a serious case of brain fade. My bad, and again sorry for the confusion. BTW, S&W .44's have a 1-20" twist same as a Ruger.

I will edit the other post to correct that.

...well...all I can say is that when it comes to 300s in the .41 Magnum YMMV...and mine is doing just fine....

Took a custom Gary Reeder 5.5", a 657 6" and a Marlin 1894S 20" to the range today. Shot the following targets using some 305 grain LBT hard cast bullets made by Mike at Specialty Pistol Gear when he used to cast. When he stopped casting I asked to buy the mold which he graciously sold me.

The Marlin was equipped with a 2X Leupold scout scope... At 50 yards I fired three shots on the backer..two of the shots were about touching and the other about 2" away...this was just sitting no sling.

Next was the Gary Reeder...first shot was center hold and landed about 3" over the plate. Lowered the sight picture for the next 4...

...nice round holes.

Finally was the 6" 657....first round also went over the top about 4" so I held lower, a little too low and then just balanced the paperplate on the front sight for the final three...

....no indication of tipping.

Load is 19 grains of H110, right from the Hodgens book. I use this same load with another 300 grain LBT and the 305 grain SSK...all are very accurate.

Marlin....

Reeder....

657....

No pressure signs at all and the cases extracted with smooth ease from the 657...

Here are the 300 grain bullets:
1st is the SSK that weighs 305 grains from Penn Bullets

2nd is the above listed Specialty Pistol Gear 305

3rd is a 300 grain from a caster in Houston, Texas whose name I can not remember or find....very nice bullets however...

When I have more time and the weather gets better I'll try them in a 4" 657....

Bob



ps...I emailed with my friend with the 27-2 Conversion...he said the gun has a 6.5" barrel...and he still has it.

 

[Jellybean]

Thanks SuperMan, did you have any feeding problems with the 1894? The 300 gr. RCBS mould I have won't feed because the OAL is too long.

 

[SuperMan]

Thanks SuperMan, did you have any feeding problems with the 1894? The 300 gr. RCBS mould I have won't feed because the OAL is too long.

Nope...works just fine...

What is the # of the RCBS mold...didn't know they had one or is it the one for the .405 Winchester?

Bob

 

[Jellybean]

It was for a rifle but I never found out which one. The box has 82039 for a part number, which is the part number for their 210 gr. SWC, but the description is "41/300/FN". There is no number on the mould itself just the 41/300/FN. If you have any information on it I'd like to hear it. Thanks.

 

[Gun 4 Fun]

I never said that the heavy weights will cause pressure problems or would tip/keyhole/ or whatever you want to call it, just that they don't provide the best accuracy from a S&W. The group in your pic fired by the S&W may be acceptable to you, but not to me.