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HANDLOADINGJohn TaffinSAGE ADVICEFROM THEHANDLOADINGGURUSRay Thompson: Bullet GeniusIn the middle years of the 20th century big bore sixgunners of these articles came from issues of the American Rifleman(those shooting revolvers chambered in .357 Magnum, .44 from the 1920s through the 1950s. In all of those articles I haveSpecial, .44 Magnum, .45 Auto Rim and .45 Colt) almost only found one reference to Ray Thompson the man.to a man used bullets designed by Elmer Keith and/or Ray That article dates back to 1943 and simply says he is gettingexcellent results with the .401 Boser, a wildcat cartridgeThompson. Jacketed bullets were not generally available toreloaders until well into the 1970s, so it was simply a matter which pre-dated the .401 PowerMag and .41 Magnum. Theof shooters either buying factory ammunition or casting their most information available, at least which I have found, is inown bullets. Lyman, Hensley & Gibbs, SAECO and other the 1958 Lyman Handbook of Cast Bullets. This is all it says:mold manufacturers did a brisk businesskeeping sixgunners shooting.well, both from the practical and“Ray Thompson knows a handgunOf the two men mentioned, Elmertheoretical sides. His work as aKeith is certainly the best known. InForest Ranger gives him amplefact we can find a mountain of informationabout him both biographicalgame as well as the time to solveopportunity to test his bullets onand autobiographical. Thompsondesigning and loading problems.”is just the opposite. Trying to findAnd that’s it. My friend Terrymuch about him is like trying to catchMurbach located Thompson’s son insmoke with a teaspoon. I have beenOhio several years ago, however hecollecting, clipping and saving oldeither knew little about his father orgun articles for nearly 50 years. Manydecided not to share it.Keith Wrong?Thompson’s great contribution isthe gas-check bullet. He did notoriginate the idea of gas checks,which are copper cups fitted on thebase of the bullet. We do know the gaschecked design goes back to the early1900s. The concept became Lyman’s,who patented the gas check in 1906.Elmer Keith had no use for gascheck bullets in sixguns and was bluntabout it. I have to disagree with Keithon this point, as I find gas check bulletsvery useful in sixguns. They areThompson’s #452490GC is anexcellent bullet for use in the.45 Auto Rim or the .45 Colt.Two classic .44bullets: ElmerKeith’s 250grain SWCcomparedto RayThompson’s255 grain#431244GC.Ray Thompson’ssuperb .45 bullet inthe .45 Auto Rim.almost necessary for full power loads inthe .357 Magnum and many .44 and .45sixguns simply shoot gas check bulletsmore accurately than plain base bullets.If I had only one bullet mold for the.357 Magnum it would be Thompson’s#358156; this was also Skeeter Skeleton’sfavorite .38/.357 bullet.Ray Thompson designed fourgas-check bullets for Lyman. Theyare #358156, #431215, #431244 and#452490. All are still offered by Lyman,however the two .44 bullets have hadthe 431 replaced by 429 in their nomenclature.The 1958 Lyman Handbook ofCast Bullets also contains Thompson’sthoughts on his bullets: “I designed thesebullets with gas checks primarily forthe elimination of leading in Magnumloads, with excellent accuracy both atlong range and target. Bullet 358156 isdesigned with two crimping grooves —the first groove for use in crimping the.357 Magnum and the second groove.357 MagicThompson’s .357 Magnum bullet isone of the very few cast bullets Ihave found to shoot well in botha sixgun and companion levergun. Imostly load it with 14.0 grains of #2400which gives 1,300 fps muzzle velocityin a 43/4" Single Action and nearlyfor crimping the .38 Special case,allowing more powder space using2400 powder for Magnum loads inheavy-duty guns. Bullet 431215 isa high speed bullet for long-rangeshooting. This bullet proved to havesuperior accuracy. The late Al Barrwrote that he had 11 consecutive shotsin less than a 2" sure call at 50 yardsusing armrests, backed by 21.5 grainsin old-style cases with this bullet inhollow-point style. Bullet 431244is the bullet I use on game such asboar, bear and timber wolves. Bullet452490 I have never really tried out,but shooters down in Texas wrote meit was just what the doctor orderedfor their Model 1950 S&W .45 AutoRim making clean kills at 100 yardson coyotes using armrests from topof car. Using these gas check bulletsone can’t go wrong, no matter whatyou use them for, plus eliminating ofleading when using hot loads.”1,500 fps in an 83/8" Smith & Wesson.With 22.0 grains of #2400 in the .44Magnum, the 255 grain #431244 willdo 1,475-1,575 fps depending uponbarrel length, and for the .44 Specialthe lighter 220 grain #431215 over 8.5grains of Unique achieves the samemuzzle velocity. If you have a sixgunthat simply won’t shoot well, or leadsup, or both, give Thompson’sgas check bullets a try.*32 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • MARCH/APRIL 2010