Lee 450-294m... What can you tell me?

[vincecyr]

Perused a local gun show today, and picked up a lee 450-294m mold for a song. I had been looking for a mold for my muzzleloader( it has 1:20 twist). Thing is, I've never cast before. My cousin is an avid caster, and I plan on chewing his ear next time I see him, but that could be a while. Any pointers for a total newb. Also, does anyone have any experience with this particular boolit? Particularly its terminal performance. I am hoping to take a deer with my ML this fall, and it would be nice to use something I cast. With its meplat and weight I would guess it would hit pretty hard, but I know better than to just assume.

[Baryngyl]

I have not used the 450-294m although I do own it, got it in a bunch of molds deal.

I do use its big brother the .575-472M, the only thing special I can think of is you need to make sure the center pin and mold are nice and hot to start with.
I hold the corner of the mold in the lead for a minute or two before I start trying to cast or else the first few bullets will want to really stay stuck to the center pin and you will need to use something to grab them and pull them off of it.
This bullet cast from wheel weights many years back, went through both sides of an old refrigerator then the 4 inch part of a 2x4 then went almost 18 inches through dirt before it came to a stop, it still looked like it was almost a new bullet, it had the rifling marks on it, the nose had a small dent from a pebble it had hit in the dirt, but was still in good shape considering. If it had been cast from pure lead it would have mushroomed some and probably not went as deep into the dirt.


Michael Grace

[S.B.]

Be advised, I hope you already know, in muzzle loading firearms use only pure lead for your bullets!
Steve