Lyman 454190

[jaguarxk120]

I have two of the 454190 molds made for the 45 Colt. They are both different, one has
the round style grease grooves and the older mold has the square style grease groove.

My Uberti single action is a older gun with the larger cylinder throats. Which bullet will
perform better?

Has anyone shot with the older style bullet? And how does it perform?

[Larry Gibson]

With modern lubes the shape of the lube grooves won't matter. Suggest a 20-1 alloy with the square groove mould. If they drop .454 or larger size .454 or as cast.

With the round groove mould I suggest a 96/3/3 alloy (COWW + 2% tin will do) alloy. Size .454.

Lube both with a good softer lube such as BAC or a 50/50 alox. I've always found the classic 45 Colt load of 8.5 gr Unique to be excellent.

[jaguarxk120]

My old time gun smith said to use the Keith style molds with the square
grease grooves. He said the base of the bullet would move first and force
more lube into the chamber throats.
My chamber throats are very large, measuring at .457.

[John Boy]

Square GG bands have more bearing surface that obturate better. If you don't have the 454190 with the square bands - there are Ideal molds on eBay or order the Accurate clone mold

[jaguarxk120]

I have the 454190 with square grooves, but have not had the time to cast and try them out.

I do have some alloy that is 9 BH, I'm hoping they will be soft enough to upset in the cylinder throats.

[Gunfreak25]

Same issue here. Uberti 1875 marked Navy Arms so it's an oldie 1970's replica. Throats .457 barrel at .452 ish. Finding a big enough mould has been a real challenge without spending 100$ which i'll eventually have to pony up to get it shooting right. Very accurate with anything from .452 to .454 bullets ( I also have a new Lyman 454190 rounded grooves ) but shooting undersize bullets in such fat cylinders is keeping pressures too low, getting unburned powder flakes left in the bore and cases. At least, I think that's what's causing the issue.

[Jeffjmr]

Not to hijack this thread, but seems I've stumbled across some folks familiar with both the 454190 AND the Ubertis.

First some statistics. My Uberti .45LC slugs at .451. My cylinders throats at .452 and taper from .487 to .480 just before the throats.

If I size to .452 boolits they drop into the powder. If I size the brass down to hold onto the .452 boolit the rounds rattle around in the cylinders and blowby like there's no tomorrow.

So I size to .454, (still get disturbing blowby) but worry about stuffing that big boolit into the smaller throat and even smaller bore.

I've searched for thicker brass that would solve the problem but haven't had any luck.

No signs of pressure even at max loads per reloading manuals, but blowby continues, and if there was a way to use .452 and not work my brass so much I'd do it.

Comments?

Thanks,
Jeff

[Ithaca Gunner]

I have two .45 Colts, a Bisley made in 1898 with .456" throats and a New Service made in 1904 that had .448" throats until I opened them to .452". Both guns shoot the Lyman 454190 well...now. My mold casts at .456" and the Bisley gets unsized boolits atop a full load of 3Fg and seems to like it. The New Service gets sized boolits at .4535" and does well with them with the same charge of 3Fg. I don't have leading problems with either revolver, but the clean up is a bit more than smokeless powder loads. As the Lyman 454190 does not have a crimping grove I've found that a full load of 3Fg to support the boolit is best for a something designed for black powder loads anyway. No wad, no grease cookie, I copied my load from original 1880's factory ammunition which used a .456" 255gr. swaged slug and 40-42gr. of powder. My loads vibrated into modern brass cases will hold around 37gr. of powder compressed and give just under 1,000fps for either gun. Real "cowboy" loads ain't for fast shooting against a clock and steel plates, they recoil pretty heavy, spit out fire, make a big, "BOOM", produce a lot of smoke, and hit harder than factory smokeless.

If your throats measure that big, cast them soft, don't size them, and try as much 3Fg as you can compress in the case with that Lyman boolit. I've also tried the old "Army" load, a 230gr. swaged rn. at .452" over 30gr. of 3Fg. with a wad for compression in the New Service. It was the most accurate load I've tried in that old gun with less recoil than the full commercial loading, but it just wasn't as much fun.