Cast bullet question

[rjohns94]

So I love the unique and I'm looking at a paradox sidearm made by Bowen. (It's in auction so please don't run the price up on me lol) and I have a question. Here is the description:

This revolver is a customized Ruger Super Blackhawk. This revolver is designed to shoot shot, round balls, or cast bullets equally well. It started life as a .44 Magnum. The barrel was sent to Hamilton Bowen to be partially bored out to .45 Caliber, leaving a short rifled section near the muzzle that remains .44 caliber and also acts as a choke. The cylinder was line bored straight through so that a .460 Smith and Wesson case will fit once trimmed slightly to increase the amount of shot that can be used. The action was worked over, timed-up, smoothed and lightened, front sight was cut and the base pin was replaced with a Belt Mountain pin. The grips were replaced with those you see that have been carved from american holley. This revolver comes with a big bag of trimmed down .460 brass, a matched die set for loading this caliber including shell holder, and a free-check tool that can be used to make gas checks from aluminium beverage cans to be used as over-shot cards and shot cups. This auction also includes a brand new custom 295gr flat nose bullet mould from Accurate Molds that is designed specifically for this revolver.


the lead bullet of .453 diameter starts out at 1200fps in the chamber, travels through a forcing cone and 3 inches of barrel and runs into a nominal .429 rifled restriction. Here are my questions: Is that too much of a restriction? If not, what hardness should the lead be? I'm not sure if hard to avoid leading, soft to allow passage, or if there will be plenty of leading no matter what? Gas check or no?

Thanks for the help

[yooper2]

I'd fire an email off to Mr. Bowen. He answers promptly. Should be a neat gun, good luck!



Eric

[Griff]

I'd fire an email off to Mr. Bowen. He answers promptly. Should be a neat gun, good luck!
Eric

Ditto. I'd not worry about too much leading... I always use 1400fps as the threshold for leading using soft lead. If shooting RBs of .452 or .454 diameter, choking them down to .43 isn't that great a restriction... plus remember, you have that pressure relief of a cylinder gap built in... For bullets... yes, GC. Definitely sounds like a interesting gun.

[rjohns94]

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =524858049


So what I am hearing is size the bullet to .453, use a gas check, bump it to 1400fps, and have fun? If so, kewl beans.

[Tycer]

Good luck on the auction. Looking forward to range reports.

[Walker]

Boy that looks like a fun shooter, hope you get it!

[Grizz]

very interesting gun.

I am sceptical about resizing a 45/70 bullet to .43 caliber in a gunbarrel. Roundball seems plausible because it could egg-shape itself. maybe.

look forward to learning how this works out.

[Blaine]

Quite the FrankenShooter.....I hope you get it....sounds interesting....

[mellonhead]

I am the one that actually put that gun together. I took the barrel off and sent it to Bowen for the barrel work. I did the rest of the work. It is extremely accurate with a RCBS 45-255-SWC and HS6. Shot loads are very comparable to 2.5" 410 loads. Those grips are American Holly. If you enjoy playing at the loading bench you will love it. If you have any questions ask away.

Toby

[JFE]

Years ago there was an outfit in Australia run by Arthur Langsford that traded under the name 'Myra'. Arthur was always coming up with novel ideas, eg many years before Hornady developed the 17 HMR Arthur necked down 22 Mag case to 17 cal and marketed rifles and ammunition. He only produced the rifle in strong actions and the loads he produced exceeded the specs of the 17 HMR of today. Another of his inventions was the 'Extruder'. These rimfire rifles used regular 22 LR ammo and the barrel started off in 22 caliber and ended up in 20 or 17 caliber. He only converted stronger rimfire rifles as the pressures increased. Below is a link to an article on his extruder idea.

http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMG ... 1/?Page=18

The point of this background story is that it can be done and probably a softer alloy would be more appropriate. Interested to hear how you go if you are successful at the auction. Good luck.

[rjohns94]

I am the one that actually put that gun together. I took the barrel off and sent it to Bowen for the barrel work. I did the rest of the work. It is extremely accurate with a RCBS 45-255-SWC and HS6. Shot loads are very comparable to 2.5" 410 loads. Those grips are American Holly. If you enjoy playing at the loading bench you will love it. If you have any questions ask away.

Toby

Welcome to the forum. Looks like a great pistol. I'm hoping to win the auction. I would be very interested in your loading data and results for this firearm. Thanks.

Mike

[mellonhead]

I used an alloy of straight clip on wheel weights. Only ever loaded it to about 1100 fps. Used mostly HS6 and Trailboss. The loaded rounds will look like 410 brass shotgun shells. The bullets get seated deep in the case like a slug in a shotgun shell. Supper time now, I'll post more later.

Toby

[Griff]

Such a small world. Mellonhead, and Welcome to THE Forum.

[mellonhead]

Thanks for the welcome guys. I just joined the forum last week. When I clicked on the link above I was surprised to see the old girl! I figured this was an omen to make my first post. Again, thank for the welcome.

Toby

[JohndeFresno]

Welcome to the fire, Toby!

[Grizz]

Hey JFE, thanks for that article. Love learning new stuff and had no idea such a thing existed.

It would be great to see an ultra-slow-motion video of those bullets penetrating steel, I wonder what the process is. Like if it works like a shaped charge at all, or just punches out a bit of steel.

[rjohns94]

Didn't win the auction Oh well

[M. M. Wright]

Hey Mike, sounds like you could just build your own.

Mellonhead, welcome to the fire.

[rjohns94]

Agreed