45 Colt (Long) Wad Cutter Molds - boolit grain weight suggestions?

[bedbugbilly]

Don't know if this is the right forum to post this but I figured I might get a better response here in the cast boolit threads.

Now that cold weather is here, I am working on looking at different molds for my Uberti 45 Colt 7 1/2" Cattleman. I am currently using the Lyman/Ideal 454-190 250 gr RNFP and the Lyman 452-460- 200 gr. SWC. Both are giving good results.

That said, I'd like to get a wad cutter mold in .454 to make up some "plinking rounds" to use in the Uberti.

What I'm looking for in a wad cutter boolit (mold) would be loaded over smokeless - Unique, Red Dot, Green Dot, etc. as well as Black Powder. Casings will be Starline 45 Colt and Starline S & W 45 Schofield.

I will just be punching paper and killing pop cans, gong, etc. With that revolver, I am shooting at 25 yards but I can also stretch that out to 50 yards on my range on the farm - but primarily 25 yards or less.

I've looked at what NOE lists - they have a .454 250 gr. WC. Accurate Molds seems to offer a wide variety of WC molds ranging from 170 gr. on up. 170 gr., 200 gr., 230 gr., 250 gr. etc.

I'm hoping someone can give some advice on what WC boolit weight would work O.K. for plinking loads? Of course my thinking is that the lighter the boolit, the more boolits per pound when cast up. Just call me "thrifty". But I don't want to go too light if for some reason a lighter WC out of my Uberti 7 1/2"will not shoot decently.

Any suggestions or experiences would be greatly appreciated as far as WC boolits out of a 45 Colt and what would work best as far as grain weight, etc.

Also, I have a NOE mold and they are nice. I know Accurate also has excellent molds. Any others out there I should be looking at? And I should also state that I'm pretty low tech as far as casting - I've used a propane hotplate, lyman pot and dipper for 50 + years so would be looking at a 2 or 3 cavity mold.

My chambers in my Uberti are pretty generous in size and right now, I'm loading the boolits from my molds "as dropped". I'm casting from soft lead and just tumble lubing in Alox/Paste Wax and am having no leading issues, etc.

At 63, I don't know why I waited so many years to get a 45 Colt. This is way too much fun and I'd sure like to add a light WC cartridge to play with. Plus I'm very happy with my Uberti - have two others as well and all are good shooters.

Thanks for any help, suggestions, experiences, etc. - it's greatly appreciated!

Jim

[BK7saum]

Mihec made some cramer molds in hollow base wadcutter configuration. With solid pins they were also full wadcutter. And nose pour by necessity of the hollow base pins. He may still have some. I have the 38, 41, 44 and 45 versions. Missed out on the 32 hbwc. Maybe next time around.

If you are trying to go really light on the loading a hollow base version might be beneficial.

[BK7saum]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?228670-MiHec-HBWC-Rerun-38-41-44-amp-45-Cal

The 45 is 235 grains hollow base and 274 as a solid wadcutter.

[LenH]

I have been shooting .45 Colt since I was 16. A man up the street wanted to know if I wanted to go shooting with him & his son. When we got to the range
he handed me a Ruger Blackhawk and a box of his reloads and grabbed me by the shirt collar and told me not to lose his brass. I shot the whole box and was hooked
on that caliber. This man taught me to reload, cast & size the bullets basically the whole nine yards. That was in the early 70's.


I have an old Lyman 454-309 WC mold and it groups well at 25 yards using 8 GR of Unique. I also shoot the 255 gr LSWC from Lyman & NOE the 454-424.

Not really sure if this helps but welcome to the world of .45 Colt.

[too many things]

if you just what a plinking wad cutter. load your reg boolit backards

[cherokeetracker]

I would like to suggest that you look at mattsbullets.com and try a few of the wadcutters and maybe even some off the wall designs before you purchase a mold. Since each gun is different, what may work in one of our guns may not give you the same results. Be sure that you give the correct size for your gun, ( my Colt takes .454 and Ruger uses .452 ) and have fun. He has 165 grain on up (not all wadcutters)

FYI : If you ever wanted to, you can trim the cases back to a 45 ACP length and still use them in the 45 Colt cylinder. This allows, you to use smaller charges of powder. The SASS guys do this.
I have not done this, Since, I have a Ruger convertible and can shoot 45 ACP out of the same gun. It allows me a lot of fun and possibilities.