My shot charge may be a little more than 1oz.

When I was using my MEC Grabber AA hulls wouldn’t crimp well. Always had a hole in the center. When I switched to using my 600jr. I got good crimps.
My 600jr is old enough that it has the metal crimp starter and final crimp die.
It will make crimps that look like factory crimps.

Mako, you could say this bullet is the 32-20 version for Johns 43-215C in relation to the 44-40. I'll probably contact Tom and see if he will add a description to it so people realize what it is. People are buying the original version John first put in the catalog without realizing we did an updated version.

Cliff,
That is good, like I wrote before, I hope to get something together we can compile and post adding it to the Dark Arts archive along with commentary.  A data base where we can send people and help them find the best bullets for what they are trying to do.  I know John wasn't averse to change, he realized he didn't have all of the answers and was always learning. So he would welcome improvements to anything he started.

There are so many molds in Tom's catalog now it is confusing and I don't understand why there are even some showing "0" sold.  Most people would look at the catalog and go for the 31-110C since there have been 29 sold not realizing the improvement with the 31-115D.  Your 31-115D is only a few thousandths from the max depth he would cut so there would be no need to make an analog of the .32 Big Lube mold, and you have a lube surface of .16 which is a good ratio to the bullet diameter.  I would assume it doesn't lead badly with the right lube.

Wasn't the Big Lube .32 caliber mold a lightweight bullets, somewhere around 80 grains?  I never paid attention to it, does anyone have the dimensions on it?  I think the only people who would be interested in it would be someone shooting the .32 Mag, the ogive on yours and Johns are better for feeding in a rifle like the Win '92, Marlin or Henry.  A '73 doesn't care what you have for feeding, but a loading ramp works better with the longer bullets.  The Snake Bite works better in my Daughter's Marlin and the longer ogive actually helps with guns intended for .357 mag.

I guess there are so many molds in his catalog because there a lot of people just want their "own" design which leads to the proliferation of catalog numbers.  Plus, Tom makes it easy to come up with a new design since they are actually all "one offs" anyway because the cavity profiles are CNC machined and he doesn't make "cherries" to cut the molds.  I for one will probably not have .44 design unless Tom will actually make a deeper groove that .03" for us.  There isn't any need, any variation would be to close to a couple that are already in the catalog to justify a different design.  The .38 is a different matter, there was nothing like it with a deep groove which we can get at .03", they all give up some of that depth in their designs.  I have recovered Snake Bite bullets and unlike the Mav Dutchman they seem to use most of the lube and I find them to be accurate out to longer ranges.

~Mako

Cliff,
Yes you need to get it listed that way, so people will find it in all of the clutter.

As for John, I looked the other day and I think there is only one attributed to him.  You might want to still give him attribution even though it is a improved version.  If the folks who did the improvement want to be listed you could say "Improved by XXXX".  There are also variations on his .44 bullet on there that need to give attribution.  A lot of people would gravitate towards those designs if they knew those were his.  John contributed a lot and never asked for very little, he deserves the recognition..

I can't believe how many total designs are in the catalog now, it's insane, how would anyone choose?

Thank you for sharing this.  One of the things I want to do is create a list for us we can put in the Dark Arts section that will list the successful bullets suitable for BP.  John never had the success he wanted with the Mav Dutchman which I believe actually started his design work looking for an accurate long range .44 WCF bullet.  I'm not sure we can get a Mav Dutchman analog unless we get Lee or someone else to do it again.

And I agree with you on the bearing surface at the base.  If you have access to older .38 Grease wagon bullets you will see they had a shorter bearing which "grew" longer at some point of time.  Further more the Mold we could buy was not exactly the same as the original design, however I like the smaller diameter nose on the bullets I was getting 10 years ago and 2 years ago.  They seem to feed well, maybe it's not an issue I have never run tests with the different variations side by side.

Thank you again for adding this.

~Mako

Mako, you could say this bullet is the 32-20 version for Johns 43-215C in relation to the 44-40. I'll probably contact Tom and see if he will add a description to it so people realize what it is. People are buying the original version John first put in the catalog without realizing we did an updated version.

Bear Creek Arsenal side charger 16 inch upper,wit a Sight Mark M-Spec LQD Red Dot sight3 MOA circle reticle, Magpul fixed stock and various mil-spec parts to finish. Once I load some ammo and get to a range with it,I'll let you know how it shoots