Rossi Rifleman

I have a .44 mag 92 with a .433" bore. Bear Offers an oversize 205 gr moly coated bullet. Any idea how fast can this bullet be pushed?

Bear Creek Bullet Supply, that is.

Depending on alloy you might get close to 2K. I've never loaded or shot anything moly as I understand it it makes things slicker. You might ask the folks at Bear for their best estimate. A lot may depend on the bore condition.

Make smoke,

The problem I have with Moly coating is different reports regarding the tendency for it to be hydrophilic and different reports regarding whether or not you can switch from ammo that is moly to non-moly ammo without cleaning the weapon to attempt to remove any residue from the moly in the rifling that may cause inconsistent results with non-moly bullets.

I have as a result avoided moly coated bullets.

It is just my personal opinion but I don't see much advantage to moly coating bullets for handgun rounds, even magnum revolver rounds for use in rifles.

My only attraction to the BC bullet is the oversize diameter. My bore slugs @ .433". I'm looking at their 205 grain .435". It just happens to me moly coated.

Seating it shouldn't be that much of a problem although depending on your sizing die and your belling die you may work the brass quite a bit.

Don't know if you've seen this Blind Hawg, I found it in the FAQ at Bear Creek's website.


How fast can I push these bullets?
There's a much bigger answer to that question than most people think. So, the simple answer is if you want to push them fast, use medium to slow burning powders as you would if you were using a jacketed bullet. Use the right burning rate of powder and you can achieve full magnum loads with standard weight and heavy weight bullets. Our alloy is malleable enough to give a gas seal at low pressure loads but stiff enough to grab the rifling and spin at higher pressure loads. The second part of that answer is, not every bullet is intended to go fast. Every cartridge was designed around a particular bullet weight/length in mind. Longer is heavier. Longer also has more bearing surface. Longer bullets are held in the case with more friction. More weight/friction/mass will give a better "hold back" to allow the burning powder to build a more consistent pressure curve. Light weight bullets lack mass, bearing surface and friction. Light weight bullets move forward easier. Light weight bullets can start to move forward on the pressure of the primer going off. When the light weight bullets lose their grip and start moving forward prematurely the powder sometimes doesn't have a chance to really get a good and consistent pressure curve going. So, if you're wanting to push 125 gr. bullet out of a 357 Magnum at 1500 fps, you better have one hell of a hard alloy to grab the rifling. And that's not the type of bullet we make and most of our customers aren't interested in. When shooting lead bullets, if you want to increase energy, it makes more sense to increase bullet weight while increasing velocity. Light weight lead bullets are simply intended to be light, low recoil loads. So, the rest of the answer is, fast burning powders work great for everything at lower velocity loads regardless of weight. If you want to increase energy, leave behind the light weights and fast powders and use heavier weights and appropriate powders.

Can I shoot other bullets in my gun after I shoot moly?
Well, if your barrel is clean, what's to stop you? We were switching back and forth with jacketed bullets 35 years ago before we heard it couldn't be done. (We were shooting these before we bought the business). Never noticed a loss of accuracy. If anything, it got better.

https://www.bearcreeksupplybullets.com/faq

My only attraction to Bear Creek’s bullets are the 205 gr .434” dia. Oversized bullets. If a heavier bullet was available in that dia. I’d go with it. I’m looking for a bullet to load for medium magnum velocity with a fat bullet for my. .433” bore.

Curious - how many times did you slug your barrel? Did you grease the slug and barrel well? Just wondering how many comparisons you did. .431 to .432 is normal for .44 mag rifles. .44 mag revolvers slug smaller, and I understand the SAMMI specs are different for .44 mag rifle vs. pistol.

Oil, no grease, what difference would that make? At least 3 times and 1 chamber pounding. My slugs measure .434 large and .429” minor diameters.