LEE 45-255 RF & BP ok?

I've cast some bullets with my LEE 452-255gr RF DC mould. I want to know if this bullet can be fired using Black Powder. This bullet has two lube grooves but they are narrow and shallow. If I use SPG lube and size to .452" will they work in my Ruger NV 5.5" barrel? I have no doubt they'll work with smokeless powder, I want to try them with BP. I cast them with Rotometals 20:1 alloy and they came out of the mould at .4532" says my micrometer and weigh ~261.3 +- 2grains. The alloy was very hot +800* during the casting session. Ladle poured from my LEE Pro 4-20 furnace.

Not sure on how well SPG will do with BP, but I imagine that if you use a dedicated BP lube, those boolits will shoot just fine. But as they say, the proof is in the pudding. At the very least you'll have to remove some leading after a few rounds and chaulk it up to experience.

I thought SPG was a dedicated BP lube!

I have shot hundreds of BP loads with that bullet and have found that there is 2 solutions for the lack of lube:
1) Dip the finished Bullet/cartridge in lube like a 22LR. It's a bit messy but it works good.
2) Duplex. I ended up with @10% smokeless and it makes a world of difference, 24 shots and the barrel is almost mirror clean.
I cut discs from cigarette paper and place them between powders. 2½gr medium pistol powder, disc, 26grains BP and a bullet.

SPG is a "dedicated BP lube". Like may BP lubes it also works well with many smokeless loads.

greenjoytj

The Lee RFs most often don't carry enough lube for BP loads in long guns as they run out toward the end of the barrel. Might work in a revolver though, don't know. Perhaps others do?

Larry Gibson

I have shot many of those boolets loaded in the 45 colt with SPG LUBE over black powder in a H&R Cowboy Carbine with great results. ( both Goex and Shuetzen powders )
Even showed a lube star on the muzzle after shooting with those small volume grooves!
Clean up was done with vinegar based Windex.
Hope this helps.

DOWNWIND

Just about any other bullet would have more lube cap., an example would be a Keith type bullet which holds much more lube.

I've also shot a lot of these bullets over BP. While I have some SPG, I was using a mix of beeswax and crisco and had a lube star of the muzzle, so there appears to be enough lube. This was out of a Ruger New Model Vaquero.

Good to know. I would have guessed otherwise.

Any boollet mould I buy in the future will be of flat nose round point design. I like the clean holes a SWC makes in the target paper, but the fiddly chamber insertion in my S&W 686 due to the wad cutter band on the SWC out weighed the clean holes in the target. So when I needed bullets for my Ruger NV 45 Colt I bought some RNFP bullet to try. I liked their functionality so much that there's no going back to the SWC design now. I bought a cheap LEE 452-255-RF DC mould for my first casting attempt for the 45 caliber. Now I'm I eye balling the SAECO version.

For the record, SPG was developed by Steven P Garbe for use in black powder rifle cartridges.

Nice to know that it doesn't take much to lubricate a .45 bullet in a handgun.