Backstory: I bought a new 4” S&W 24-3 40 years ago.
It was my favorite handgun, but was continually plagued by endshake. Not knowing any better, back in the early 90s, I took it twice to a local gunsmith for repair.
It sat till a few years ago when I bought some Power shims. After about 4 shims, I still had end-shake with .013 b/c gap. It went back in the safe. I had sold off all of my .44 molds.
Last year, I decided to treat myself, and per recommendations, shipped it off to David Fink for his accuracy & durability package, plus a 1/10” gold bead front sight.
It returned beautiful, with a .006 gap and zero detectable end-shake.
The only problem is, 25-yard groups shot from the bags look like 00 Buck.
Wanting a load that produced 900 fps with a fat—meplat bullet. After looking over their catalog, ordered this one from Accurate:
http://www.accuratemolds.com/bulletdetail.php?bullet=43-219A
The chamber throats on this gun barely pass a .433 pin gauge. .434 is too big. So I ordered the mold to drop .433 bullets (positive tolerance).
In the mean time, I ordered .433 size die and .431/.435 expander plug from Buffalo Arms.
Bullets cast great and drop a hair over .433 and about 8 grains heavier than advertise.
I size & lube with RCBS lube (got a bunch on close out). The BACO expander aligns the bullets perfectly so they seat without damage.
They get a light roll crimp from a Redding profile die, just enough so the bullets don’t slip and rounds chamber.
I’ve tried almost every medium-burn rate powder: Unique, HS6, Universal, Power Pistol, even 4227 and 2400. 9.0 grains of HS6 gives the best semblance of groups, followed by 8.0 Power Pistol (which is way hotter than I need.)
My cheap chrono hasn’t recorded velocities since Apple ditched the audio Jack, so I don’t have precise stats, but I’m noticing large extreme spreads. I’ve checked the powder measure (Hornady) and even loaded some on my old RCBS. No improvement.
The bullet leads a little bit at 900-1000 fps. A quick scrub of the warm barrel every 3-4 groups gets it out.
I’ve sunk quite a bit into this gun and components, so I need some accuracy.
Is there a decent commercial bullet or ammo that will at least tell me if it’s the ammo or the gun?
I really don’t want to buy another mold just to see if it will shoot.