So I have a Cimarron/Uberti 7.5" Old Model 1873 Colt clone in .44WCF. I have been buying bullets for the last 3 years, and really need to start casting my own. I have experience, just no mold yet. I also want to buy (sometime in the unforeseeable future) a current production Uberti '73 Winchester in the same caliber, and have Jared at Long Hunter's do some very basic, NCOWS-approved tuning on it. I'm going to go ahead and get a 43-215C mold from Accurate, and I'm trying to carefully plan my sizing system- size of mold, and size of sizing die.
I want to be able to craft ONE BP load for both guns, and get optimum function AND long(er)-range accuracy out of both guns. I have a couple of questions.
On my revolver, the bore slugs at .429", and the chamber mouths all slug .432" pretty consistently. Better than undersized I guess, but in y'all's experience, is that too much difference? Or just about right?
On the future rifle, I am hearing that current production '73s are pretty consistently having a .429" bore size. Is this correct? I want to be able size everything to one size for both guns, and I can buy another sizing die later if need be, but I want to be sure and order a big enough mold.
I am thinking of ordering a mold that throws a minimum .431" boolit in soft lead (I use whatever lead I can get my hands on, with a preference for pure), and ordering a .430" sizing die. Think the .431" cast size will be big enough for a future rifle, or should I make it bigger just to be safe?
On another note, does anyone experience any chambering issues with using boolits .001" over groove diameter in current production Uberti .44-40/.44WCF guns, either revolvers or rifles? TIA!