Just ordered my 45ACP mold

[chris in va]

I've been casting 9mm TC for a while, decided to go ahead and get the RN 230gr tumble lube Lee mold.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tNumber=517501

Now the 9mm has been very easy to fill out, dribble a little in there and done. I suspect the 45 is different and would like to hear some tips and tricks to a good cast. I have the 10# Production pot BTW.

[sagacious]

No tricks to that one. Very easy to cast with. The larger cavity means it'll heat up fast and stay hot during use.

It would be on the list of molds/designs to suggest to the beginning caster, since it's largely trouble-free. I trust that your results will likely be the same.

[stephen perry]

If you haven't ordered a .45 mold I would suggest a double to start with. QC is easier to maintain. Used are not bad 452374 is a good start for a 45 ACP. Lots of choices for a .45 mold.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

[gasboffer]

I had trouble with the 230 RN TL. The fired case would hit the shoulder of the 230RNTL. I got a 225 RN 1R. Works like a dream. This was in a Glock. The 230RNTL works fine in my DW.
Clyde

[Jayhem]

I found my Lee .45 230 LRN mold to throw nice boolits, no wrinkling after just 5 casts as long as I preheated the mold as Lee recommends by dipping the corner of it in the hot lead for about 30-60 seconds.

[mooman76]

If anything, I think it works easier than the 9mm like sagacious said.

[Edubya]

9mm-vs-.45 moulds: bottom pour, open the lever more to get fill-out. Pour extra sprue. It won't take you any time to get adjusted to the new mould if you will warm up the mould real good (300 to 450 degrees) and pay attention.
EW

[chris in va]

Thanks guys, looks like Christmas will come on the 21st. I was very tempted to get the truncated cone TL bullet as I really like the profile, but if I ever have to use this on anything else but my Sig 220 I wanted to be sure it wouldn't cause feeding issues so I got the RN.

[mike in co]

my 2 cents worth..a 2 cav and a ten lb pot should work well together.
i use 6 cav with a 20/22 lb pot and boy you can run them down quick. i now use 2 20 lb pots side by side...

mike in co

[chris in va]

One more question. In everyone's experience is it better to water drop 45 or let sit on a towel? I suspect a softer bullet will work better with the lower pressure round, but just checking.

[35remington]

No water drop needed. Towel all the way. The 45 doesn't operate at much pressure; about half the nine's.

45 pistol bullets are among the easiest of all bullets to cast, being about as wide as they are long. By comparison, the 9mm is maybe a little harder (but still hardly difficult) so please put your fears to rest.

The 230-2R is the correct duplication of the ball profile in Lee's mould offerings for the 45 ACP.

[chris in va]

Thank you very much, I just got my 45 mold from the Brown Fairy and am currently towel dropping beautiful, wrinkle free boolits. I also did this with some 9mm in hopes of curing bad accuracy/tumbling issues. TL452-230-2R mold.

[zardoz]

That exact boolit was the one I started with first, a little over a year ago now.

Very glad I started with that one too. One can read books, and get great advice from forums such as this. Kept me from making a lot of mistakes, and saved me much grief. However, sooner or later one has to start actually doing it to learn the motions and the timing.

Things I learned from that first experience, carried over to the other calibers and weights. In the long run, I don't think I could have picked a better one to get started with.

[35remington]

Chris, that's surely a nice looking bullet. I can't do no better, and I've been doing this for awhile.

Those should feed like gangbusters.

[chris in va]

I promise, last one. There's something seriously wrong with me. There's about 1200 boolits sitting there. I just got the flippin thing today.

[armyrat1970]

I promise, last one. There's something seriously wrong with me. There's about 1200 boolits sitting there. I just got the flippin thing today.

Hard to stop when you're on a roll.

[NuJudge]

When everything is going well, easily, you should not stop.

Don't worry, you'll have times when it's easy to stop.

CDD

[XWrench3]

i shoot the same boolits from my 45. only i bought a six hole mold. only real trick to shooting these, is you may have to shorten up your o.a.l. .010-.020". i had to in order for them to seat all the way into the chamber. just make up 10 each with varying oal's and see what works in your gun.

[sagacious]

... just make up 10 each with varying oal's and see what works in your gun.

Roger on that. Now that you're on a roll with the casting, DO NOT just keep rollin' along and load up a thousand or so rounds..... because you may find that the OAL you loaded doesn't feed well, doesn't cycle with that powder charge, or some other problem may arise. Only load up 10-20, test them, then load up 50 and test again before you commit to a recipe/OAL.

Good luck.