If you’ve followed some of my threads from the last couple years when I first started here you all know my first gun I tried cast in was my brand new Ruger American 450 bushmaster. I was using lee 300 Grain that had too wide of a metplate so they kept jamming. It didn’t matter how short the AOL was. I never thought cycling was going to be an issue so I never tested it and did some ladder testing with the gun. My best group was 1.1” at 100 yards...and then I loaded some up to cycle and found out it kept jamming. I would have to use it as a single shot if I wanted to shoot the lee 300 FN’s in it.
Well, now to the present. I waited, and waited, and waited to get our special run group buy NOE 450 bushmaster mold. 452-277-RF. A mold made specifically for the 450 BM so it would cycle flawlessly...not mine.
Guess what...same exact random jamming issues! I loaded some dummy rounds as advised by one of our other members in various lengths till my cast boolit didn’t kiss the lands. At an OAL of 2.035”. My rounds just barely touched the lands. I made 6 rounds to try at 2.035”. The top part of my HP hit high,above the chamber, and jammed on the last round. It would randomly jam on the second round as well. I then seated them deeper to 1.996” and taper crimped again to .474”. The shorter dummy loads had plenty of clearance and still jammed on the 2nd round. I tried three more all three cycled. I got excited!...Then the next five groups of three in a row jammed! Guess some guns just aren't made for cast. I have tried three different magazines in it as well thinking the magazine springs were weak. I can see on the side of my boolits where they skipped and scraped going into the chamber. I’m guessing the action needs a massive metal removal and polishing to let soft cast boolits glide/slide into the chamber. My cast boolits are getting kicked up too high and getting caught on the top of the chamber. Same issue with the lee 300 FN.
I did grab some 250 grain hornady flex tip j word ammo I loaded myself. They all feed and cycled as smooth as silk. I ran 20 plus through the gun to see if there was a cycling issue...nope. Just with cast.
Two strikes and it’s out! I’ve tried two different boolits/molds through it now both with cycling issues. Might be pawning off my .452 stuff as the only other 45 cal I own is a new vaquero and I don’t want to waste $ for gas checks for it.
After I got frustrated with us gun two years ago I picked up my Ruger 77/44 and had absolutely zero issues with cycling with it. I even loaded the big, wide lee 300’s .430’s in my 77/44 and they function perfect. I know some guys here I’ve been shooting cast out of theirs maybe I just got a lemon because it just nonstop jams with cast no matter what over all length or boolit I use it seems. It just shouldn’t be this hard to get cast to work in this rifle. Time to move onto another caliber and rifle. I’ll have to load up some of my lee .358’s in my 7600 35 Rem and Whelen. I bet I have zero issue with feed and function on these rifles. I’ll keep the bushmaster for now and just exclusively shoot J words in it for when I go to Iowa deer hunting but my molds are probably going away since I don’t own any other 45s that run fast enough your gas checks. It can’t be that hard...it has to be the gun. I believe the cheap plastic magazine and spring along with a really, really ruff chamber is the cause. It’s not a problem the pointed plastic tipped j words though. I believe the only way my gun would function with cast is to make a clone of the shape of the hornady flex tip J word and cast it as hard as rock so it wouldn’t scrape while cycling...and would completely defeat the purpose of using it as a hunting round.
Can you tell I’m frustrated beyond all belief?
This gun with cast has definitely fried my brain. I’ll stick with my 77/44.