.45acp 230gn LHP Mould?

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

I'm looking for a hollowpoint mould for the .45acp, one that casts about 230gn.

The closest I can find is the Lyman Devastator, but that's only rated at 180gn (casts closer to 190 depending upon alloy).

It looks like Lee made the one I'm looking for years back, but it's out of production.

Can anyone help me find what I'm looking for?

Thanks,

Josh <><

[geargnasher]

Welcome, Josh!

Here's my 2 cents:

The Lyman Devastator casts 203-4 grains with ww + 2% tin in my mould and also about that in Glen Fryxell's mould. If you want 230 grain get a 454190 Lyman or equiv. (about 255-260 gr) and have Eric Ohlen at hollowpointmolds.com point it for you. It will be about 230 gr. depending on how big you make your pin. Alloy matters bigtime with pin design. Be sure to read Glen's article at lasc.us on hps in the .45 acp, including an article on the Devastator, which explain in great detail how brittle ww alloy won't work with the old style skinny spuds.

Pm me if you have any questions or need the direct links.

Gear

[fredj338]

Gear is right, the Lyman Dev. goes about 200gr+/- depending on alloy. I had Erik do this mold on the Lyman452374. It runs 215gr+/- & as you can see, perfect expansion @ nominal 45acp vel. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/45-215gr.jpg
The 454190 would work well & you could get a 230gr+/-HP quite easily. I'm actually quite happy w/ this one @ 215gr. It shoots close enough to POA vs most 230grJHP & gives up little in expansion to them IMO.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Another option, watch the Group Buys site, Mihec has been making some fine molds for 45 cal HP's if you are interested , He may have one left over , ??? PM him for info if interested.

[Beau Cassidy]

fredj- can you post some better pictures of that hollow point? Thanks.

[fredj338]

fredj- can you post some better pictures of that hollow point? Thanks.

I'll take some more this afternoon. You can go to Eriks' site & see the Cramer molds, that's how this one was made. In fact one of those, that might be the very mold.
http://www.hollowpointmold.com/Cramer%20style%20mold%20examples.html

[lawboy]

I will take this opportunity to vouch for Erik's work. I just Saturday received a two-cavity RCBS 45-201-SWC mould that I had him hollowpoint. Fantastic! The craftsmanship is stupendous and the mould drops two hollowpoint bullets just as easy and as perfect as you could ever hope to see. The pin design we kind of coauthored, leaves me bullets weighting 195grs with my alloy. You can literally cast HP bullets as fast as you can cast regular bullets out of a two-cavity mould! Unreal. I can now shoot HP bullets just for the heck of having something the other guys don't, without any extra hassle at the casting bench.

Buckshot also makes a fabulous HP mould. I had him do a Lyman 3118 with three separate pins and the system works like grease through a goose.

[geargnasher]

Gear is right, the Lyman Dev. goes about 200gr+/- depending on alloy. I had Erik do this mold on the Lyman452374. It runs 215gr+/- & as you can see, perfect expansion @ nominal 45acp vel. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/45-215gr.jpg
The 454190 would work well & you could get a 230gr+/-HP quite easily. I'm actually quite happy w/ this one @ 215gr. It shoots close enough to POA vs most 230grJHP & gives up little in expansion to them IMO.

Man, I gotta get Erik to make me one of those faceted pins! I've seen that pic before but can't remember where. You two don't have patents on those yet, do you? [smilie=1:

Josh-- one caveat about the 454190 that I forgot to mention: It is a .45 Colt boolit and due to the location of the grooves it is necessary to seat it about .020" to .030" deeper in the acp case than even the 230 round nose (i.e. below the canelure in cases that have them) and that is the point at which acp brass walls begin to thicken. This varies greatly with the brand and lot of brass. Thus it is impossible to load some brass with that boolit that will be short enough to fit in the mags and yet long enough to not bulge the case beyond the point of chambering or swaging the boolit base too much, causing accuracy and leading problems. I have found that the TZZ headstamped brass and much of the Winchester brass has thinner walls and works best. Use no crimp, just straight-wall the brass with the seating die (case tension is more than adequate to hold this type of boolit, if you distrust this just seat one and try to pull it).

If you do get one of these or the RCBS mould # mentioned, consider having just one cavity hp'd if you have any use for a hard-hitting 260 grainer in a .45 acp!

Hope this helps,

Gear

[fredj338]

No gear. it's been done before I'm sure. It really is the same idea that JHP manuf. have used for years. Internal skiving or serrating of the jacket to control or promote expansion Erik & I kicked around a 6pt but thought it might act too much like a conventional LHP. He also made me a 4pt pin for my RCBS 9mm, which is why I went 5 for the lower vel. 45acp. They both seem to work well within that 850fps-1200fps vel. window, which is pretty good for any lead HP.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/136hp-1050.jpg