[00buck]

Howdy,

I bought a box of Hornady Cowboy bullets in .44mag. at a mom and pop toy store the other day. Cause they were CHEAP ;D and I wanted to try some cast lead out of my Marlin 1894 cowboy. When I got home and opened the box I see they dont have any kind of lube on them. Just looked checkered around the bases. No groove for lube. Whats up with that?

I tried to find some info on the Hornady site but so far nuttin. Do I just load them up without any lube?

Any help would be appreciated

00buck

 

[44-40 Willy]

Re: Hornady .44mag 210 RNFP cast lead boolits

The two boxes of Hornady Frontier ammo that came with my 44-40 were cast loads with a knurled pattern (no apparent lube or any grooves). They seemed to shoot okay although I was more worried about the brass than anything.

Now that I know more about cast bullets than I did then, I'm thinking that if it was me, I'd have to dip the bullets in some Lee Liquid Alox to lube them before loading them.

 

[DWB]

Re: Hornady .44mag 210 RNFP cast lead boolits

Not sure if it is still the case or not, but Hornadys lead bullets were swaged from a pretty soft lead wire, as opposed to cast bullets. The lube that H'dy used (at least, they used to) is a dry lube - - almost like a powdered mica. It would be interesting to hear of what the BHN of those bullets are, but I would be surprised if it was more than BHN 8 or 9.

Either way, unless they have changed pretty significantly, I don't think I would push those bullets much past 800 or 850 fps.

 

[moofy07]

Re: Hornady .44mag 210 RNFP cast lead boolits

I have to agree with DWB about the dry lube. A few years back it was all the rage, and the quality of dry lube in some cases was questionable, but not that many do it this way anymore. Knowing Hornady, it would be the good stuff, they would not risk their name on something as miniscule as a low quality dry lube.

 

[00buck]

Re: Hornady .44mag 210 RNFP cast lead boolits

I think you are on to something..they do feel like they have some kind of dry coating on them. I just wanted to find out before I load them up.. I'll be using TrailBoss and only loading them up to cowboy velocities. Of course I'll be using my reloading books and load to their specs.

Thanks for the replies

 

[00buck]

Re: Hornady .44mag 210 RNFP cast lead boolits

oops.. I made a mistake in my first post. The bullets are 205 gr. Cowboy bullets and are .427 dia.

Are they for .44-40? can I still shoot them out on my 1894 CB .44 mag? Dang it.. :-\

I found them on Hornady's site.. and they are dry lubed

 

[44-40 Willy]

Yep, they're for the 44-40. If you try them in the 44 Mag, don't be surprised if you get leading.

 

[00buck]

Oh well.. I"m glad I didnt get the other box too. I paid $18 for 250 and thought I was doing something. I guess I can trade them to someone who can use them.. or get me a .44-40