Experience with Lee .452- 255 gr in 45 Colt?

[philthephlier]

Anybody have any?

[txbirdman]

If you're talking about the RFN, it's my favorite. I use 9.0 gr. of Unique.

[stubshaft]

If you are talking about the swc I shoot a bunch of them ahead of 7.0gr Green Dot or 9.5 Unique. I don't size them and lube with xlox from Lars. Leaves the bore shiny and clean.

[HammerMTB]

Love 'em
My mold comes out .454 I can tumble lube and shoot 'em, but prefer to size .452 and lube. 10 gr Unique is a hot load and should only be used in modern stuff, no ancient Colt SAA's or the like.
I have been downloading that to 9 gr and below to just have a plinking load.
My only problem is not with the boolit but the front sight. It is not far enough away, so won't focus like I'd like. Apparently the last 30 years has made my arms shorter.... :groner:

[MT Gianni]

I have owned both the RF & SWC, and sold both down the river. Neither would group as well as a LY 454424 in my Blackhawk.

[sirgknight]

What a coincidence!!! I just ordered the Lee 452-255 RF two cavity bullet mold for 45 Colt ammo. I also plan to use Unique powder for my cartridges. Hope this bullet does as well as I've been told that it does. I'm also going to use this same cast bullet in the 460 S&W Magnum as a plinking load using 13.7 grains of Trailboss powder. I'll let y'all know how it does.

[fixit]

i have that mold, but i use in a 1 in 66 twist muzzleloader, cast in pure, but fwiw it shoots great!

[geargnasher]

I have both a 452-255-RF and a 454-255-RF (older mould) and I've used them both in three different .45 Colt guns sized .452" or .453" depending on the gun, either drops big enough for .453" sizing.

Not to burst your bubble, but I quit using them because of Lee's idiotic block alignment system in the 2-bangers, one has to constantly fight the moulds to get them to close properly and not "stagger" the blocks. My other complaint is the extremely shallow and narrow lube grooves and the .448" bore-rider noses.

They're ok for plinking, but I had much rather cast with any from my rack of .452" Lymans than the Lee and I get better accuracy from the Lymans.

FWIW, after a lot of experimentation I settled on 9.5 grains of HS6 for a really nice target load that was reasonably accurate and works well for interchanging in both long rifle and revolvers. 5.4 grains of Titegroup works very well also, the properties of that powder make it very accurate and economical for plinking/target/Cowboy stuff with .45 Colt, just that it has a bit more recoil and pressure for the same velocity as HS6 or Unique would give you. Those loads work with any 255 gr. boolit I've tried in my guns, ranging from 720fps to 845 and still mild enough to not worry too much about changing brass or alloy composition.

Gear

[geargnasher]

i have that mold, but i use in a 1 in 66 twist muzzleloader, cast in pure, but fwiw it shoots great!

Custom Minne? That's cool. I have an aquiantance that I occasionally cast a few for so he can blaze with what I call his "Korean Air Cannon". He recently tried a few with FWFL in the grooves and got another 60 fps!

Me personally, I prefer to launch mine with a smokeless boomstick, but what you two are doing with them is kinda neat.

Gear

[timkelley]

The452-255 RFN is a good mold for me.

[philthephlier]

Thanks for the replies but my experience was anything but positive. At 25 yds with a NM Blackhawk, 5-1/2" bbl which has shot other bullets very well was keyholing the bullets!! That is the ones that manged to hit the target. I couldn't believe it. I shot a cylinder full offhand at a spot on the berm at 50 yds and I would say I was lucky to keep the six shots inside 6 feet. I switched to an RCBS 260 gr. and put all shots inside 2 inches from sandbags, then a Lyman 200 gr ACP bullet into a little over 1 inch. It's not the gun and it's not me. The bullet cast beautifully and was fairly round. They were pretty hard though. But keyholing?

[HORNET]

Keyholing? How's the diameter? Sounds like undersize more than anything else.

[philthephlier]

Sized to .452 for a groove dia. of .451.

[bigboredad]

I have the rnfp and its wonderful the lube grooves could be wider and deeper but asis works very well out of my two blackhawks and a puma

[sirgknight]

by the way.....do any of you load this bullet for .45 ACP ammo? wondering how the RF cycles through a 1911? just curious......

[Rocky Raab]

They must be scratching their heads at Lee. I also recently bought the 452-255 RF two-holer. Haven't shot them yet, but only because our range is wall-to-wall with deer hunters shooting at pie plates (groan). After the deer opener, I'll get out there and see how my Blackhawk likes them.

I tumbled mine in LLA and and loaded them unsized, BTW. Regarding that mould alignment problem, I agree that it is a shortcoming. I close my mould lightly, tap it on the bench to make sure the blocks align and then close the sprue plate. That seems to work fine for me.

[bigboredad]

I have less alignment problem if I keep the locator pins lubed the mold will align itself