45 colt (454) too tight for most 45 ACPs?

[sheepdog]

Wondering, thinking of trying to kill two birds one stone on moulds.

[Texasflyboy]

Wondering, thinking of trying to kill two birds one stone on moulds.

Do it all the time:

Hensley & Gibbs #22 .45 Colt Mould converted to Hollow Point for .45ACP (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=67967)

Look at post #9 in the thread. They drop at .454" and I size to .452" without any problems.

[spqrzilla]

A lot of .45 Colts these days have .452 cylinder throats. The problem is that most decent .45 Colt revolver bullets are too heavy / too long / poor nose shape for .45 ACP.

[RobS]

In my experience you will have a hard time finding a 45 auto that will chamber well with a sized .454 bullet seated in the case. There are some 45 ACP's that can do it though. As for the 45 colt.........if it is a modern gun then it will likely be able to take a .452 bullet. It is the older guns (pre-war) guns that had the large barrels and sloppy chambers. Finding a more recent 45 colt that has an oversized bore is not a surprise though and it would be better to have a .454 bullet that is if the cylinder throats are large enough. Ruger has had issues with the cylinder throats being too small for the barrels groove diameter.

As it sits though.......should I want to double up on a mold for a revolver/auto where the revolver needs a .454 bullet..........I personally would buy a mold that is .454 and size them down to .452 if needed.

[mpmarty]

Back in the days when IPSC power factor for major was 185 my shooting buddy used a S&W 4516 which is a very short barrel carry pistol in stainless. In order to make major with that gun we cast 255gr Keith type 45 long colt boolits for it. Worked fine and boy! Did those poppers ever fall quickly! He finally bought a 1911 and there I was with all those big flat nosed boolits so I started shooting them in my G21 and never had any problems. Finally used them all up and went back to the 200gr semi wad cutters. As I recall we sized those big babies to .452

[Dframe]

I've been using the same 200 grain RNFP in both for years

[geargnasher]

I shoot several .45 Colt boolits in my Kimber .45 ACP, but .453" is about as fat as will reliably chamber, so I size around there (bore is oversized, too, or I would just size .452"). The only issues with the heavier boolits are needing a spring change or just load lighter to get good cycle rate without beating up the gun, and Kimbers in particular don't like fat-nosed boolits because they have a habit of tripping the slidelock prematurely.

As far as sizing, whether .45 ACP revolver or auto, size according to the cylinder throat/groove size no matter what the boolit was intended for.

If you want a dual-purpose mould, figure out what your .45 Colt likes, and if it will shoot .452" boolits ok, then get a 452374 or an H&G #68 or clone, should work ok for both.

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