Mold size question

[Chas.]

I find myself shooting more than I can afford so I'm thinking about casting my own bullets. I've never cast anything before and plan on doing a bunch of reading. I'm sure I'll have some beginner questions as I go along. The first question that comes to mind is mold size.

I normally shoot 405gr. and since I have 2 lever guns, I use RNFP. Both my guns slug .458 and I use .459 bullets.

I've noticed that some of the available molds are designated as .458. Should I get a mold that produces .459 bullets, or .460, or will .458 be sufficient? Knowing nothing about it, it seems logical that you can size a bullet down, but not up. Is that correct?

Thanks for any response.

[454PB]

It's a little more complicated. A mould manufacturer normally lists his diameters in a certain alloy, and you need to know what that alloy is so you can make the proper decision. In my experience, RCBS moulds tend to cast at the advertised diameter using WW alloy, Lyman are supposedly sized for Lyman #2 (90% pb, 5% sn, 5% sb). Seems I read that Lee sizes for 1/20 sn to pb. I have yet to buy an undersized Lee mould, they usually cast about .001" larger than advertised.

If you're willing to buy one of the "custom" moulds like LBT, Veral will make it to whatever size you order depending on the alloy you specify.

Lastly, as noted above, adjusting the alloy can change the diameter. I use a high antimony alloy in my Taurus .44 Special because it wants .433" boolits and none of my .44 moulds casts that big in my normal WW alloy.

[rob45]

There are 3 different group buys going on right now for the 45-70 lever actions.

To the best of my knowledge, they are all set to drop .4595"-.460" with wheel weights.

Worth checking out. BTW, WELCOME to the forums. Jump on in and get yer feet wet.:drinks:

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Yes , buy one of the molds that are being made now to fit correctly , for cast boolits that will be accurate with out reworking the molds....there are a couple being put into production soon on the Group Buy page...it's worth the money to have a good mold that you can use for your rifle the first time you cast...not a bunch of fooling around trying to find out why your load doesn't shoot, unless you have different problems:groner: