Dammit!!! I need to stop looking in Gun Stores.

[Freezer]

With the extra power it would work well on deer.

[Wambli Ska]

There is nothing wrong with up-grading, my problem is letting go with what I already have.
Only gun I have let go of in years was to give grandson one of my mosins.
Nice looking revolver!

Like women, some guns are keepers and they deserve a permanent place in the harem…

Others are fun for a while and then the thrill is gone.

And there are those that after one date you just know it’s over. Like you wake up in the morning and go “what the hell did I do”.

The fact is that I LOVE getting new guns. sometimes I’ll just sit and watch TV while fondling a new acquisition. Add to that the fact that my nature will not allow me to pass up a great deal and well, there you go.

[Wambli Ska]

With the extra power it would work well on deer.

It should, and if it’s not enough I got 8 extra shots to get the job done.

But, I don’t see myself ever hunting with this one. I see it as a field piece for targets if opportunity. Maybe desert jackrabbits or javelina. I really just have buckets of .357 reloads I need to burn up

[Wambli Ska]

...give me a call first when you thin the herd again [in a few weeks]...

Nice score!

This one might take more than a week or so. Maybe a month?

[Bigslug]

OK. . .some research done. . .

Veral was a wizard for making molds, but his revolver focus - and therefore his writings - had a .40+ caliber focus, so what I have doesn't delve into the specific measurements of a .357 Redhawk. He DID however give us a simple method for figuring it out:

Run an empty case into your roll crimp die, insert that case into your cylinder, then use the depth gauge on your calipers to get your length from front of case to front of cylinder. That's your max allowable crimp groove to meplat length for your bullet mold. Redhawks and Dan Wessons will let you go longer than most.

He says that a Redhawk in .41 and larger can accept a 0.5" nose. Some quick math comparing .357 and .44 Mag cartridge blueprints SUGGESTS you could pull off a 0.495" nose in a Redhawk .357, but don't hold me to that. Accurate Molds has brief descriptions such as "Nose too long for MOST .357 Revolvers" Those seem to be peaking around .375"-.385" noses.

Dunno. . .anything solid with a flat point between 160 and 180 grains is going to have STOOPID penetration capability at .357 speeds. There's a solid school of thought that suggest going a little lighter and faster with a WFN style nose will give you more displacement off the meplat than heavier and slower. 165 to 170 grains with a gas check on the back and a .27-.28 meplat on the front of a SAAMI standard .3" long nose in front of a full case of H110 would certainly kill anything that needed killin'. There are of course pointier noses if you're more concerned with distance than tissue destruction.

Continue to ponder your needs, and I will ponder the options off that.

[GrapeApe]

164 LBT.jpg (1.88 MiB) Viewed 2122 times

These LBTs are 164gr lubed with gc

Pushed hard, they penetrate 20"+ into wet newsprint, and they expanded SLIGHTLY, to 0.375" from my 6" 686

LBT1_zpsumywjf4k.jpg (50.7 KiB) Viewed 2122 times

[Bigslug]

Yes. That sort of thing exactly. I'll add that I consider gas checks the "Easy Button" for anything below 1600 fps. If you're into the deep mysteries of lapping the common and pesky .001"-.002" of factory frame screw crush out of your barrel, pin gauging bore and cylinder throats to figure out your bullet diameter sizing, pick your alloy for the intensity of your load, and run a good lube, you may not need them. . .BUT if you aren't doing all that AND are trying for a "Redhawk Only" load, they can save you a lot of consternation as far as bore leading is concerned.

[CPJ 2.0]

Yes. That sort of thing exactly. I'll add that I consider gas checks the "Easy Button" for anything below 1600 fps. If you're into the deep mysteries of lapping the common and pesky .001"-.002" of factory frame screw crush out of your barrel, pin gauging bore and cylinder throats to figure out your bullet diameter sizing, pick your alloy for the intensity of your load, and run a good lube, you may not need them. . .BUT if you aren't doing all that AND are trying for a "Redhawk Only" load, they can save you a lot of consternation as far as bore leading is concerned.

I’m so glad I’m on the other end of bullet casting.
1. Cast from wheel weights using cheap ass lee molds.
2. Powder coat
3. Size.
4. Load.
5. Shoot.

From a handgun 1300 FPS VS 1600 FPS with hard cast lead just means you’re gonna poke the same sized hole in a critter a few microseconds faster. There’s no magic with hard cast bullets. They go in, they go out, and unless you hit a vital….they ain’t gonna do jack shat.

[GrapeApe]

<snip> I'll add that I consider gas checks the "Easy Button" for anything below 1600 fps.
<snip>

And?


It might cost a penny or two more than the actual cost of the powder coat powder, per bullet. HOWEVER, I don't need extra equipment and, AT MOST, it MIGHT cost m 5 bullets an hour in production time over non-GC'd bulets.
"EASY" isn't "GOOD", it's freaking "GREAT" in my book

[GrapeApe]

<snip> I'll add that I consider gas checks the "Easy Button" for anything below 1600 fps.
<snip>

And?


It might cost a penny or two more than the actual cost of the powder coat powder, per bullet. HOWEVER, I don't need extra equipment and, AT MOST, it MIGHT cost me 5 bullets an hour in production time over non-GC'd bulets.
"EASY" isn't "GOOD", it's freaking "GREAT" in my book

[Wambli Ska]

Picked her up today and to make a long story short the gun is unfired!!!

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Also found a holster my old saddle maker gave me as a gift. Hand made, hand carved and real sterling hand engraved concho.

It’ll do

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[Elk Creek]

[sakodude]

Spectacular pairing!

[Wambli Ska]

Thank you!

[Bigslug]

<snip> I'll add that I consider gas checks the "Easy Button" for anything below 1600 fps.
<snip>

And?


It might cost a penny or two more than the actual cost of the powder coat powder, per bullet. HOWEVER, I don't need extra equipment and, AT MOST, it MIGHT cost m 5 bullets an hour in production time over non-GC'd bulets.
"EASY" isn't "GOOD", it's freaking "GREAT" in my book

Do the work on the gun up front, get a tumble lube bullet mold that drops at your desired diameter with your alloy of choice, and you eliminate lube sizing ENTIRELY. Deleting gas check install from that process is just more icing on the cake.

But we're discussing the potential of "Beast Mode" loads for a Redhawk. . .not that I see a need, but WMMV.

[rberg]

That is a combination that was meant for each other. Beautiful holster!

[GrapeApe]

BEAUTIFUL pairing E.

To each their own mr 'slug.

I like the "easy" way.

To really "make your eye twitch" ( a phrase I learned from a professor in nursing school) I let you know that I haven't a CLUE what alloy that is. It's from the rather LARGE pile of lyman ingots from dad's "hard" pile. (mostly wheel weights, and who knows what other scrap alloys he threw in the pot)
I also have no clue of its brinell hardness

[Bigslug]

Eye not twitching. As USPS likes to say, "If it fits, it ships". Alloy hardness is usually more of a zip code issue than an exact address one. Alloy composition matters most when you're dicking around with hollow points. I usually try to avoid 'em - pain in the ass to cast.

I DO like to have revolvers "blueprinted" to what they're supposed to be though. The old, pinned barrel S&W's I've checked don't have the frame crush issue of many newer guns which creates a gas blow-by situation allowing the barrel to lead. They don't have mismatched cylinder throat diameters either. Under those conditions, the gas check is the answer to lazy manufacturing, which is the thing that pisses me off - over and above the need to apply gas checks.

A lot of guys have their cylinders throats reamed out to uniformity, but I've had pretty good luck with figuring out which revolver chambers have the tighter throats, and then shooting my firelapping rounds only through those chambers while polishing out the frame crush. Ideally, you have a cylinder throat that slip-fits your bullet through, running into a barrel groove diameter that's .001"-.002" smaller. A firelapping bullet will do most of it's polishing work at the back end, so the end of the process MAY create a very slight tapering of the barrel making it tighter at the muzzle. Therefore the seal only gets tighter: no potential for gas blow-by; no flame-cutting; no leading.

But for Wambli's potential dragon slayers, yeah, probably gas checks. OTOH, if your gun leads up shooting wimpy soft alloy wadcutter loads that SHOULD obturate and seal, see above.

[CPJ 2.0]

Powdercoat all the projectiles.

[Freezer]

That is flat-out beautiful! I like it. Nobody has said it yet but I will

YOU SUCK!

[Wambli Ska]

That is a combination that was meant for each other. Beautiful holster!

Thanks!!! It’ll be while I’m on my belt tomorrow during my off-road exploration

[Wambli Ska]

That is flat-out beautiful! I like it. Nobody has said it yet but I will

YOU SUCK!

Thank you sir!

[Wambli Ska]

Powdercoat all the projectiles.

Ultimately this will be the way to go. My SIL is a big fan and he’ll be doing my casting soooo.