Casting for a kimber 45ACP

[primerless]

I am looking at casting a boolit for a Kimber Custon TLE II 45CP. The mold I will be using is a Lyman 200 SWC Item # 2660460 or is it 452460.....not sure which number to give yall but the two numbers were on the box. Keep in mine I am the new kid onboard.

I started out trying to cast for a 9mm RCBS 124 CN #82063 but ran into some leading issues. The first 100 rounds I shot were just fine, I changed the recipe by adding some tin and casted a few more rounds but after shooting these guys I had a bad leaded barrel. I was sizing them to .355

After searching this site it looks like I need a larger boolit.

The best I can tell .....after slugging the barrel...I think.... It was .355 checked with dial calipers.

I am sure yall might get a laugh out of this but I tried casting sticky wheel weights with the mould slighty open to get a larger boolit for slugging.

I ordered another sizer die .366 but it won't be here till next week, so I want to give the 45 a try.

I used the same method slugging the barrel as I did on the 9mm and it measured out to be .451 but the lyman sizer die I bought was .451 Am I abought to get into the same leading problem?

What recipe should I use? All I have now is clip on and stick-on wheel weight. I do have some 50/50 solder if needed.

I have also been working on an indoor casting bench. Patrick L had posted some photos of the bench he made and it gave me some ideals what I wanted.....Thanks Pat!
All I need is a little paint and I will send some photos. It works just great.

[geargnasher]

I have the same gun and it WILL lead from chamber to muzzle if you size them .451"!!

I ended up having to use and as-cast .4532" boolit to stop the leading. Lee liquid alox is a not go with my gun as well, works great for other guns I have, still don't know why the Kimber doesn't do well with it.

For alloy with that boolit, use air cooled clip-on wheel weights with just enough tin to help fillout, this has worked with me for years. I shoot a lot of steel, now, and use softer range scrap or dilute WW by 50% with pure lead and 2% tin for that, but also at lower velocities so the softer alloy tolerates it better without leading.

Hope this helps,

Gear

[Heavy lead]

I have three Kimbers and shoot the 452460 a lot. I size .452, alloy is 50/50 ww/pure lead with1% tin added. I have used other powders but mainly use Unique (I find the newer stuff very clean, contrary to some). I lube with BAC then tumble lube with JPW, only boolit I lube like this and it works great. I will frequently shoot my Eclipse 500 rounds plus without cleaning. This boolit shoots and feeds very well for me in my Kimbers.

[primerless]

Geargnasher,
Are you saying the mold i'm using won't work?

[primerless]

Heavy Lead,
I'm using an RCBS lube-a-matic II sizer lubricator. I'm not familiar with tumble lube. How is it better and what is it?

[geargnasher]

Geargnasher,
Are you saying the mold i'm using won't work?

No! I said the .451 Lyman sizer die you bought won't work. The moulds you mention should throw about a .4520-25" boolit with air cooled wheel weights, either use them as-is, or buy a .452 sizer.

Gear

[Heavy lead]

I too lubrisize to .452 with BAC which is a mix of carnauba red and 50/50 alox/beeswax, THEN tumble lube with Johnsons' Paste Wax, I am not generally a fan of tumble lubing, but this "hard" coat on the boolit works for me in this case. I get a little leading (but not bad) with just the BAC, but with the addition of the JPW, it's clean as a whistle. I just take the boolits, put them in a plastic coffee can (after I've nuked maybe a tablespoon of JPW in it) swirl them around and dump them on a piece of wax paper and let them dry. My 4 cavity 452460 casts .453. to .454 also.

[primerless]

Hey Geargnasher,

I have a Lyman .451 for sale. You interested? I guess I'll have to ask my wife if I can buy another sizer die. Thanks!

[geargnasher]

Hey Geargnasher,

I have a Lyman .451 for sale. You interested? I guess I'll have to ask my wife if I can buy another sizer die. Thanks!

If you're ever near Kerrville, just bring a few hunderd and I'll run 'em through my Lyman that I keep loaded with Felix Lube.

In the meantime, try what folks are saying about tumble lube, you might try to get your hands on some Lee Liquid Alox and dilute it with mineral spirits and add a little Johnson's Paste Wax to it, just coat them and shoot them without sizing. Even if your boolits unsized are .453", they will likely still chamber and cycle just fine. .454" boolits will likely not chamber well as they will swell the brass considerably, remember, .45 acp brass and standard dies and gun chambers are designed to handle .451" jacketed ball bullets, and swelling the brass an additional .003" is likely to be too much.

Gear

Btw, try Midsouth if everyone else is still sold out of the .452 lyman and rcbs.

[Echo]

What they said. I use the -460 boolit in both of my 45's and have no issues. As-cast makes sense to me - if the loaded round will chamber, then the boolit isn't too big.
And you might want to try lapping out your .451 die. There is a sticky somewhere about it, but it simply entails wrapping some fine (400 grit) sandpaper around a dowel, stick it through the H die, and roll it on your thigh while watching 'America's Got talent'. Stop every few minutes and check your progress w/internal jaws on the calipers. When you measure .452, stop. Close enough for government work...

[geargnasher]

What they said. I use the -460 boolit in both of my 45's and have no issues. As-cast makes sense to me - if the loaded round will chamber, then the boolit isn't too big.
And you might want to try lapping out your .451 die. There is a sticky somewhere about it, but it simply entails wrapping some fine (400 grit) sandpaper around a dowel, stick it through the H die, and roll it on your thigh while watching 'America's Got talent'. Stop every few minutes and check your progress w/internal jaws on the calipers. When you measure .452, stop. Close enough for government work...

One more tip, if you do try to enlarge your sizer and get leaks around the bottom punch, use a sharpened case of that caliber to punch out a styrofoam disc from the bottom of a meat package tray and use it as a gasket under the boolit. One disc will stay stuck to the top of the punch and last hundreds of rounds. Also works great for keeping lube out of the Groove on bevel-based boolits.

Gear

[fredj338]

Casting for a Kimber is no diff than any other 1911. The bbl size & finish will determine how well she shoots w/ lead bullets. As with your 9mm, your sizing die is too small. You should start at least 0.001" larger than bore size. I run 0.452" in all my 45acp, several 1911s a XD & a M625 rev. leading is min. w/ 50/50 lead/clip ons or straight clip ons using BAC or Carnuba or just about any lube but ALox.

[Glen]

I shoot the 452460 in my Kimber and it shoots wonderfully. I size them .452" and lube with homemade moly lube. Generally I shoot that bullet over 4.0 grains of Bullseye (stiffer loads with Unique have also shot very well for me). No leading.

[HORNET]

primerless, you really need to get a 1" micrometer for this. The accuracy and repeatability of calipers can lead you astray on fitting boolits to barrels (they do work good for length checking). Even the cheap Chiwanese mikes at Harbor Fart will get better repeatability. Check the boolit that you slugged the barrel with as well as one after sizing in the die. Sometimes the dies don't actually size to the diameter they claim. If the boolit AS CAST is big enough, you can polish the sizing die out a bit to get the size that you need. If it doesn't cast big enough, you can lap or "Beagle" the mold to get it bigger (search the stickies or on castpics for beagling). Lots of ways to MAKE things work when doing this.

[primerless]

Ok thanks for the tips, I think I need to do some more searching on boolit lubing. I will try as cast then try Eco's recomendation and lap the die, Hopefully I will get it right and wont have to use Geargnasher little trick using the styrofoam....You guys sure have alot of tricks.

Hornet, I just remembered having a micrometer....I will use it instead...Thanks.

My son has his first Football game tonight..... so no boolits tonight.

Thanks again to all.

[geargnasher]

My son has his first Football game tonight.....

I wish him luck!

Gear