New .44 caliber Brooks mold.

[Distant Thunder]

Kurt,

Yes you are right the patch is too low on that bullet and I knew that but it's was just wrapped to see what diameter I would end up with using my thin paper on the bullet as cast. That line I put on the bullet using a template I made that I can put the tip of the bullet through the hole until it stops and then just spin the bullet a little and it will leave a line where the ogive starts, or pretty close. The template has holes for .40, .44, .45 and 50 caliber. I will eventually mark the mold when I decide where exactly I want the patch to start.

I took the attached picture today with a better patch job and the bullet in a case so I could get a better picture of the nose profile without the distortion caused by the cell phone lens. This also give a pretty good idea of what a 1.450” long bullet would look like if it was seated in the case .300” deep over about 82 to 85 grains of powder.

I’m still just playing with the sample bullets Brooks sent with the mold so don’t read too much into my patching or bullet seating. Hopefully I will finish insulating my building on Saturday and be able to take a break from working and do some casting with this new mold. If I can get some cast I’ll probably start my testing by just pulling some other bullets from loaded rounds and stick this new one in on top of those loads. That will be quick and easy and get me started. I’ll work on loads from there.

It’s only 2 weeks until deer season so I may not get any real load development done until December. I have a lot to do to be ready for deer season.

As someone said it well, “…so much to do and so little time…”!