TL452-230-2R Six Cavity Bullet Mold

[trixter]

I noticed a while back that this mold was on sale at Lee and so I grabbed one. How many of you cast this boolit and shoot it? What do you think in comparison to a semi wad cutter?

[ipijohn]

I noticed a while back that this mold was on sale at Lee and so I grabbed one. How many of you cast this boolit and shoot it? What do you think in comparison to a semi wad cutter?

Don't know, it is all I have ever shot in my 45's.

[45-70 Chevroner]

I have two of them and I can empty a 20 pound Lee pot in less than an hour. I use that boolit exclusively in my 45 Ruger Vaqueros and my 45 Rossi 92 for the Cowboy shoots. It works great. I can hit pop cans out to about 50 yards on average 8 out of 10 shots. I also have a RCBS 255 gr. SWC that I have used for hunting it is a great boolit also. I think it depends on what you want to use them for. The round nose is well suited for cowboy action shooting and plinking because the loaded rounds just fall in the chambers of a single action and they load much easier in the side gate of the 92 than a SWC and speed is very important for score.

[Bloodman14]

I have that mold as well; I tend to stick with original/military profiles in my guns, as that is what they were designed for (I am a traditionalist in that sense). I couldn't tell you how many I have fired through my RIA .45 over the years!

[prs]

trixt1er, I have yet to purchase a semi wad cutter, but one is in my near future. I have cast and shot the Lee 1R hard ball mimick and can give you some pretty good advice. The downside with the TL452-230-2R lies in the delicate TL bands. If you tend to squash your boolits with your die settings (ie, reduce the diameter due to swaging by the case) this problem will be present. The good news, the things that work to prevent such undesired swaging with other boolits also apply here; such as using an "M" die, seating and crimping inseperate stages, avoiding the Carbide Factory Crimp Die, using a stronger if not harder alloy. The detail of the TL ridges on this design call for a technique that gives excellent fill detail. Some extra tin, a properly pre-heated mould and experience help a lot. My alloy is only 2% tin and 3% antimony, thus is not very hard air cooled. These boolits load best after they have age hardened modestly, a couple of weeks or even a month. It works well, albeit delicate to load. I wish it were a traditional lube groove design in retrospect.

prs

[williamwaco]

I noticed a while back that this mold was on sale at Lee and so I grabbed one. How many of you cast this boolit and shoot it? What do you think in comparison to a semi wad cutter?


Don't know either. I never used the RN except in Mil-Surp

I have not shot anything but 200gr SWC's since about 1965.
They work so well I have never had any desire to try anything else.


( I have never been able to get the 185 swcs to feed reliably.)

[Griz44mag]

I cast that mold, and the MP 200gr SWC. Both function very nicely in my 45 autos. The SWC makes a cleaner cut in paper, the round nose seems to do a more damage in a hog, however, either bullet will perform either job very nicely.

[HangFireW8]

I noticed a while back that this mold was on sale at Lee and so I grabbed one. How many of you cast this boolit and shoot it? What do you think in comparison to a semi wad cutter?

I have done about 500, as well as a thousand or so 452460's and Mihec's version of the H&G 68, everything with 5 grains of Bullseye.

To compare, they all feed and function well, the Lee Round Nose makes a poorer hole in the paper and uses 15% more lead doing so. The Lee mold I have is also one of the pickiest in terms of its needs for temperature control and drop technique. (Others have been luckier in this regard; I may just have a bum mold).

As a result, I don't cast much RN any more. I keep the mold in case I run into a gun that demands round noses (love the 45ACP).

HF

[Viper225]

I am using this bullet in both my Custom 1911 Colt and my 625-3 S&W "Power Custom Combat". I shoot in combat matches. The 2R profile is great for Moon Clip Reloads. The Semi Wadcutter bullets can slow down a revolver reload by hanging on the chamber edges. My chambers are chamfered so this problem is reduced somewhat.
It also feeds well in my 1911 Colt.
The 6 cavity mould makes bullets in a hurry. I can use the same ammo in both guns without issue.

Semi Wadcutter VS 2R. A semi wadcutter is designed to cut clean round holes in a target. Looks like you used a .452 Paper Punch on the target. The 2R bullets will not cut nearly as clean a hole. If you like Purdy Bullseye Targets a semi wadcutter will make them Purdy if you can shoot little groups.

In Combat Matches the semi auto going bang every pull of the trigger, and being able to do a flawless revolver reload are the more important considerations. The 2R Functions well in both platforms.

Bob