Lee 459-500-3R

[dromia]

Anyone tried this bullet in their 45-70 with black?

I've got the mould to give it a try in my Trapdoor.

I normally use the SAECO 65881 Government and the Lee 405 gn HB both with excellent results.

With the Lee moulds being so cheap I thought I'd give this one a try also, looks as though it might have a higher BC with the pointy nose (technical term) for the longer ranges.

[44man]

I didn't have any luck in the Browning and I have heard that the long, pointy nose can slump too much and even get off center when it does.

[powderburnerr]

It shot well out of my 110 but was affected by the wind badly....Dean

[windwalker]

its the onley bullet i use in my buffalo classic its very accurate.ive even put a gaschek on it for smokeles loads heres a pic.the one on the right has the gaschek.
bernie

[Black Prince]

It is the most accurate bullet I've used in my rifle powdred by 68 grains of FFG and a .030 wad, using a Federal 215-m primer. I cast it 20 to one and lube with SPG. I get lube stars in my 32 inch barrel and clean burns. I also use .096 flash holes in my cases. Don't be afraid to use it. It is a good bullet in the 45-70 when cast and loaded correctly.

[ruger4570]

If we are talking about the "same" Lee mould I have had one since it first came out. I thought it would be good for long range shooting so I got one (cheap too). I have shot the bullet with pretty fair results so far in my Ruger #1 45-70. I know it needs some tweaking on the loads. The only thing I did notice, was that you have to give the bullet some time to cool in the mould or sometimes they tend to bend if dropped on a towel. I finally went to water in a 5 gallon bucket with a lot of snow, we get lots of it up here in the winter. Actually, I fill a 5 gallon bucket with snow and add a little water to make a super cold slush. I have seen a couple of "bent" bullets and have had a couple break in two if dropped on a cloth when they were too hot. It appears that they take quite a bit of time to harden in the mould. Other than that, the groups were no worse or better than my 405 gr slugs or my 340 grainers. As I said,, I need to play with the loads to develop the right primer/powder combination. The bullet does show some serious promise, including the promise of increased recoil ,, LOL

[montana_charlie]

I fill a 5 gallon bucket with snow and add a little water to make a super cold slush. I have seen a couple of "bent" bullets and have had a couple break in two if dropped on a cloth when they were too hot.

I can't even imagine the results you describe - unless the bullets are made of beeswax...

[ruger4570]

I should have added that when I dropped them on a cloth,, they were probably too hot and I also dropped them too far at that. I was using straight wheelweights. I did finally find about the right time to keep them in the mold before dropping them into the cold water. Then I had no problem at all. I think the Lee mold just doesn't cool off fast enough when casting such a long and heavy bullet and they are "easily" damaged if dropped too soon from the mold. I will say accuracy in my #1 was very good, at least with some IMR 3031 loads. I want to try a few more loads and see if I can tweek some better ones.

[wonderwolf]

The first lee mold I got and used was the 500gr .457"....I was used to lyman and RCBS blocks and after a while I too cast a bullet that if dropped on cloth would deform. Need 3 lee 2cav or 2 6 cavs in order to keep yourself from going too fast.

Water quenching could still deform the bullet if its not set all the way in the mold when its dropped.

[boommer]

never had the problems you guy's are talking about. I cast with 30-1 mix never had any problems (slumping or such) and my mould is almost shot!! and lee makes only a 2 cav mould now,I LIKE MY SINGLE CAV I can get it to throw +-= 1gr all day long. When it comes to rifle boolits precision before production with me.

[dromia]

Bleeding Heck!

This is a blast from the past, I can now confirm that this little Lee mould and boolit work extremely well in my Trapdoor with BP.

On my second mould now as I wore the first one out.

Not a great fan of Lee stuff but their single cavity HB moulds do work well, the HB pin ensures none of the Lee boolit hang up problems their nearly finished moulds usually have.

Also the base plug seems to help with venting as fill out is good.

[John Boy]

Anyone tried this bullet in their 45-70 with black?

Yes, at 1000yds. With 1:20 alloy and 75gr Swiss 1.5 it shoots 1285 fps with 157 MOA (base line zero MOA) from a 45-70 with a 34" barrel. Not only is the spitzer a flat shooting bullet, it is accurate. Seven on target with 3 sighters the windy day I tried it. Wind was 18 mph at 2 o'clock

[MRGoodwin]

I know this is an old thread but I'm wondering if anybody has any updated reviews of this boolit? I'm thinking about trying this with FFg in my H&R Trapdoor.

[rfd]

way back when, i had that lee 469-500-3r mould and cast up many dozens of 1:20 and 1:30 alloy greasers for an H&R buffalo classic. for most any kinda 100-300 yard plinking it was fine to okay. later on when i acquired numerous sharps and rollers strictly for long range target @ 200-800 yards, that lee bullet was NOT up to those tasks, for me. next step up was the lyman postell, and after that i got some really good custom moulds that made all the difference at the long marks. so, it all depends on the task at hand and yer wants and needs - and disposable cash on hand. i have no regrets about this lee bullet, because it accomplished what i needed at the time, which wasn't precision long range target shooting. if'n i was to from scratch hit the ground running in the long match game, that bullet would not be on my to-get list.

[indian joe]

I can't even imagine the results you describe - unless the bullets are made of beeswax...

he wasnt imagining it Charlie - big heavy bullet in a skinny mold gets hot quick and add a dash of impatient - been there done that too.