Question- Hollow-base bullets for .44 Colt (Original)?

[Tinker Pearce]

I've converted an 1858 Reproduction to .44 Colt using Heel-base bullets.  I swage my own bullets and have gotten the crimp and load down to where it's working pretty well. At the same time I have to acknowledge that life would be a whole lot easier if I could load a standard-diameter .44 bullet with a hollow base. Does anyone have any experience doing this?  If so, what bullet did you use?

[Blair]

Tinker,

I would suggest a heel-base bullet for cartridge revolvers.
The heel end should be the dia. of the top of the lands. (this stabilizes the back end of the bullet)
The nose end should be the dia. of the grooves. (this imparts the full depth of the groove and rotation to the bullet)

Hollow base bullets work well in muzzle loading firearms. The hollow base bullet only has to expand once in these arms.
In a revolver not so well, because of the space between the cylinder face and the barrel breech, forcing cone and rifling all effect the skirt of the hollow base bullet.
Often time the soft lead skirt gets blown off or otherwise damaged at the interface between cylinder and barrel.
My best,
 Blair

[Tinker Pearce]

Tinker,

I would suggest a heel-base bullet for cartridge revolvers.
The heel end should be the dia. of the top of the lands. (this stabilizes the back end of the bullet)
The nose end should be the dia. of the grooves. (this imparts the full depth of the groove and rotation to the bullet)

Hollow base bullets work well in muzzle loading firearms. The hollow base bullet only has to expand once in these arms.
In a revolver not so well, because of the space between the cylinder face and the barrel breech, forcing cone and rifling all effect the skirt of the hollow base bullet.
Often time the soft lead skirt gets blown off or otherwise damaged at the interface between cylinder and barrel.
My best,
 Blair

Thanks Blair! Just what I needed to know.

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[Baltimore Ed]

Tinker, I have swaged .38 cal heel base bullets for my civilian 1895/96 (I think) .38 lc Colt DAs. The Colts with the sideplate on the wrong side.  I haven’t made any lately though. Tedious to make but they worked ok. But those revolvers have such a horrendous trigger pull I don’t think that it was just the ammo that was the problem, with those terrible triggers the troopers couldn’t shoot the revolver well enough to hit those Moro tribesmen. Kinda like a New Service with the factory mainspring and then some, primers must have been awfully tough back then.

[Coffinmaker]

I don't know if this will help much.  I shoot a very custom .45 Bullet in my handguns called a "Barnstormer."  The bullet was developed by Adirondack Jack way back in the Wabac (Sherman and the Professor) at the same time he was developing the Cowboy 45 Special cartridge and I was developing the .45 Squirt.

AJ's Bullet is a RADICAL Hollow base sort of a wad cutter.  The hollow cavity extends way way up into the bullet.  It's prime purpose was to allow .45 shooters to compete with shooters of the .38.  The bullet weighs in at a massive 130Gr.  Here is the fun part.  It shoots the smallest groups I have ever fired with a .45 and is just SUPER accurate.  I know at one time AJ had a few 6 cavity molds made and sold them to other shooters.  He did say it was a very difficult cast until one learned the tricks.  I don't know of anyone who cast the "Barnstormer" on a commercial basis, nor do I know whom has the Molds he had made.

My point is .... A correctly cast or swaged hollow cavity bullet can produce phenomenal accuracy.  I tried to talk AJ into a .44 Barnstormer but he left the business before developing a 44.  (sigh)

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I have a Lyman .45 HB, 452460, I think. I bought it used and it is a bugga to cast. But if I carefully select the best, they are VERY accurate and are a dream for the Webley Mk. VI.