Favorite .45acp mold

[BossHoss]

All of these are good,great....depending on pistol and needs...

+1 H&G 68

+1 452374

+1 Saeco #130....the best feeder, best hole cutter, most accurate, largest driving band %.

No other wadcutter has more contact area in the grooves than the 130.....at least of the molds I have tried. YMMV

Extra +1 for Saeco # 130!!!

[gasboffer]

Boss Hoss,
What load are you using for the Seaco 130? I'm shooting it in a Springfield XDM.
Haven't found anything that compares with Lyman 452460.
Clyde

[Patrick L]

Fantastic recommendations all. I will just add that you should match the boolits to the type of shooting you do. I started with the Lee TLSWC, which is a great boolit. The only thing you need to watch for is that stubby boolits like that are fine in mid range target loads, which is what they were designed for. With some guns, if you load them in full power service type loads, you can get failures to feed due to the short stubby rounds moving forward due to recoil. That's what happened to me, and I would always get a failure on the last round or two in the mag. I then discovered the H&G 68 type boolits and the problem ended. The stubby boolits were great for Bullseye loads at 650 fps, just not 850. I ended up using the H&G boolit for everything, since it was just as accurate.

I'm sure some people can load thestubby boolit hot with no problem, just not me.

Just my .02.

[fcvan]

After looking, I have more molds for .45 than any other caliber. My mainstays were the Lee 452-200 SWC and the Lee 452-228 RN. Both shoot very well in my plain jane Springfield Armory 1911. I haven't tried the two newer .45 boolit molds as they were purchased for the Vaquero in 45 Colt.

My brother won't try the 200 SWC as he 'thinks' it might have feeding problems in his Colt 1991-A1. My springfield will chamber and fire round ball loads with a mold for my percussion revolver.

Truth be told I load more of the 228 RN than anything. I still have my eyes on a few molds though like the Lee .452-225 RF or the 452-230 TC. I don't need a new mold but what does need have to do with this hobby? Frank

[MikeS]

Just wanted to mention that the SAECO #130 and the H&G #130 are the same boolit. I used to have the SAECO #130 but I replaced it with a brass mould of the same design from Accurate Molds. Lyman also makes a boolit that's basically the same as the #130, the 452488 although the nose is slightly smaller in diameter. Also similar to the #130 is the H&G #163, except that rather than a single large rounded lube groove it has 2 smaller lube grooves (like the lube grooves on the 452460). The NEI #288 is basically identical to the H&G #163. Another design I like is the SAECO (or H&G) #265. It's a 200gr round nose boolit (although it's slightly pointy) with a SWC shoulder. As can be seen, many designs are duplicated by several different mould makers, with SAECO & H&G even sharing mould numbers on several. I guess the design has to be pretty good if several different mould makers want to make them!

[Stuckcase]

Favorite 45 mold is Lee 230 gr TC non TL
Favorite 45 Super Saeco 058
Enjoy the 185 gr Lyman devastator hollow point
Have an old Lyman Ideal 452423 with square live groove

[BossHoss]

It’s nice to see an old thread revived. All I can say is after a lifetime of putting lead bullets through my 1911, the best score, of any of them, is the original Saeco 130 205gn.

It’s great in the camp 45 also.

Everything about that Saeco 130 is perfect,
Period.

Anyone who shoots a Colt 1911 Series 70 or equiv would be remiss not to try it. Just one more great Boolit for John’s classic pistol.

[Txcowboy52]

H&G #130 has given me the best results thru the years.

[tja6435]

Mp 452-200 hp
lbt 4525-230-lfn

[Drm50]

What are best in 45AR? Still fooling with loads in 25-2s. Want to get clear away from moons.

[GONRA]

Since late 1950's GONRA has been happy with Lyman 452374 and U452374 for
.45 ACP M1911 plinkin' and 1928 Thompson SMG blastin'....
(Gotta Lyman Devastator for my younger son but don't havan after action report yet.)

[lightman]

I have an original H&G 68 mold that cast wonderful bullets but all of the mold makers offer a clone of this bullet. Theres nothing wrong with the original style 230 grain round nose bullet unless you need a cleaner hole in paper targets.

[jimkim]

I just saw that Lee offers an H&G 68 now. Have any,of you tried it? How close is the design. I might have to buy another XD-45, or M&P 45. I should have never sold mine.

[mainiac]

Im almost convinced that the mp200rf,in hp form,,is my most accurate 45 boolit.and it feeds in my ruger americans,perfectly.

[aap2]

My first choice is the H&G 68 with no lube grooves as I use Hi-TEK coating. I had previously used the Mihec H&G 68 clone mould but found that the no lube groove boolits were easier to cast and the Hi-TEK coating is cleaner and produces much less smoke than lubed boolits. I chose the Magma no lube groove iron mould in H&G 68 style and it’s the best casting mould that I own (and I have many dozen). Just my opinion; every mould mentioned here is a good choice.

[AndyC]

I just saw that Lee offers an H&G 68 now. Have any,of you tried it? How close is the design. I might have to buy another XD-45, or M&P 45. I should have never sold mine.

I hated it, personally - it's overly long (so I had to cram it deeper into the case just to get it to feed) and the meplat is skinny.

I took this photo a few years ago to show the difference between bullets cast with the Lee, Mihec and an original H&G #68 mold:



Although the Mihec is a wonderful mold and bullets feed well in my 1911s, it was interesting to see a slight difference between that and the H&G which has a subtle curve as it approaches the meplat that the Mihec doesn't have. The Mihec is straight-edged and the H&G has curves - pretty interesting to see if you look at the left edge of both bullets.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive shot a TON of 45 acps in MANY different guns and if a 452460 will run in your gun it will shoot well in your gun. Probably the best across the board acp bullet for accuracy. probably won more shooting competitions then all other cast bullets designs combined. Buck up and get it in a 4 cav though because lyman makes a GREAT 4 cav mold that will last your lifetime and there two cavity molds pretty much suck.

[alamogunr]

It’s nice to see an old thread revived. All I can say is after a lifetime of putting lead bullets through my 1911, the best score, of any of them, is the original Saeco 130 205gn.

It’s great in the camp 45 also.

Everything about that Saeco 130 is perfect,
Period.

Anyone who shoots a Colt 1911 Series 70 or equiv would be remiss not to try it. Just one more great Boolit for John’s classic pistol.

When did SAECO change the #130 to 185 gr.? My 4 cavity mold and box both specify 185 gr.

I prefer the MP clone of H&G 68 for 200 gr but I would like to try a 200 gr version of SAECO #130.

[MT Chambers]

Another vote for the 452460, the H&G and Saecos cast nicely but for me 452460 is most accurate, and I've never had any problem with damaged boolits coming out of the mold. I have patience and always add tin and boolits are not as frangible.

[John Boy]

The H&G 68 works flawlessly in my Ruger