lee 459-405-hb out of a M/L?

[Aegis]

Has anyone try a Lee 459-405-HB out of a 45 cal. m/l? I'm going to try this as soon as the weather permits. I'm going to start at 60 grns. Any suggestions?

[Alan]

It will VASTLY increase pressure. Unless you go with platinum lined nipples you will get about 20 shots before it is completely burned out. If you notice the gun back at half-cock after firing STOP shooting.

[mooman76]

Any particular reason you want to try this when there are already allot of other conical options out there? Just wondering.

[corey012778]

aegis,
inline or sidelock

I am going to try the lee the 459 405 rf sized to .454 out of an 45cal inline. started about the same amount.

an closed breech inline should not be a problem. there are people shooting 100+grs of bh209 behind an 300gr j bullet. so I don't think the pressure

sidelock, Alan could be right

[rhbrink]

I have been shooting this boolit cast 30/1 then sized down to .451 in steps, first I lube and size to .459 then run through a .454 push through, then run through a .451 push through. Shooting this in a underhammer with a GM 1/18 twist barrel do have a custom breech installed and use a platinum lined nipple. It takes 95 grains of Goex to make this work and get 1.5" to 2" groups at 100 yards with peep sights. I have also sized it on down to .446 and then patched back up to .451 and shot as a paper patch. Haven't really seem much difference in groups size but will spend more time next spring and get to know this better.

Check out the thread at the top of the forum by IdahoRon he has done a bunch of this and has written up a great article on all of this.

Recoil is noticable, I started with a 500 grain boolit and decided to try to make the 405 work much easier on the shoulder and will do all that I need. Also dropped down to a 350 grain boolit but couldn't get the accuracy I wanted.

[curator]

Make them of pure lead, size to bore (land) diameter, seat them on top of a good felt wad or two and they will shoot well if your barrel has at least 1 turn in 28 twist.

[idahoron]

I shoot that bullet paper patched out of my 45. My rifle has a .458 barrel and a 1-18 twist. You will need a faster twist than 1-28 to get them to shoot. In my paper patching threads you can see pictures of my rolling some of those bullets. Ron

[Aegis]

I'll be shooting this in a inline with a .463 bore. The twist is 1 in 20.
All the sabots and bullets combs I've tried will not group at all. I tryed some Lyman 45 maxi balls and got a 3" group at 25 yards. I then slugged the bore and found she was a little big at .463. The rifleing starts .452.
The mold drops them at .460 out of pure lead. I'm lubing them with bore butter for now.
I'm going to try them tomorrow afternoon. I'll report back then.

[Good Cheer]

0.463" bore diameter...lucky fellow, that sounds perfect for paper.

[rhbrink]

I wonder about "The rifling starts.452" is this the bore and the 0.463 the groove? Will the boolit slide down the barrel? A greased boolit should just fit and slide down the barrel almost on its own weight. You don't want it too loose so that it tips in the barrel, if the bore butter doesn't work out try one of the better blackpowder lubes any should work just fine even Emmerts with a bit of lanolin mixed in I never had much success with bore butter. Place some kind of card or felt wad between the powder and boolit, with a good dose of 2F should work never had much faith in the new fangled artificial stuff.

Can't wait to hear some results!
Good luck, Richard

[turbo1889]

That is what I use in my one and only inline muzzle loader (the rest are side locks).

Mine is one of the Traditions brand name 209 primer bolt guns with the false ported muzzle and 1/20 twist that flooded the "clearance sale price" market a few years back after people figured out that 150 grain magnum charges behind light weight jacketed boolits inside flimsy plastic sabots in too tight of a twist guns doesn't add up to accuracy.

I use a 70-80 grain charges to get ballistics that match 45-70 BP cartridge ammo (yes, you can get up to 80 grains in a 45-70 if you try hard enough). I cast them from nearly pure lead (not certified alloy; scrap that passes the finger nail test) pack them full of Crisco/Bees-Wax mix BP lube by hand and them pop them through a Lee 454 diameter push through sizer die. My minor barrel dimension (bore) is about 452 so that is just enough to allow reasonably loading but still get a little of engraving in the rifling. Shoots just like a trapdoor 45-70; just as accurate with just as much knock down and the same rainbow shaped flight path over range which makes it a true 200+ yard muzzle loader fully capable for anything on this half of the world provided you can accurately estimate holdovers, leads on moving targets, and wind drift compensation in you head on the fly.

I have tried it in a couple side hammers as well; but none of mine have a tight enough twist for it and I don’t dare use that much powder in anything but a magnum 150 grain charge rated inline gun.

[Aegis]

It's hard to start the boolit but, after that it goes right down.
I only got to shoot at 25 yards today. It was 20 degrees and a west wind about 15mph. All my shooting was done from the standing postion. Everthing had a few inches of snow on it. Next time I'll remember my shovel so I can set up my rest.
I started with 60grs of ff. My first 3 made a nice 2" grouping high and to the right. 2 clicks left on scope. Upped charge to 70grs. Nice grouping of 3 but, very high. 3 clicks down. Upped charge to 80grs. 1.5" group of 3 just right of the bulleye. I started to notice the recoil here. I started to get cold and tried a few at 100grns. OUCH!

[turbo1889]

Hope your gun is strong; personally I wouldn't have gone all the way up to 100 grains. My gun is rated for 150 grains under a 240 grain 44-mag type boolit in a sabot so with the Lee 405 grain boolit 80 grains is as far as I'm willing to push it.