Need Recommendation For Mould in 45 CL

[UtopiaTexasG19]

I am very familiar with casting for my 30-30, .357 Magnum and .38 Special and have recently been given my Great Grandfather's 1912 Colt 45 wheel gun. Does anyone have any recommendations for bullet shape for general target shooting? The choices appear to be varied and I do not know where to start looking at the different moulds. It appears that the 200 grain boolit is common but the ogives and meplats vary a lot. Any help appreciated. Thanks...

[beagle]

As you mentioned, almost any design will work for punching paper in the .45 Colt. If you're worried about lead economy, look for a 200 grain SWC that will cast .454" as that old wheelgun might need 'em that big. If lead is not a big consideration, I prefer the old Lyman 454190 in my Ruger Blackhawk convertible. This is the old Lyman clone of the factory bullet and feeds easily into SA chambers with no shoulder hangup as you sometimes get with a SWC design./beagle

[x101airborne]

My 45 colt is a new model ruger blackhawk, but principal being the same.... I have had really good luck with the RCBS 45-270-SAA cast of near pure lead. I know this is heavier than you probably want for punching paper, but for a general purpose all round boolit, I can only imagine a few customs that would perform better. My mold runs .454 as cast, blue dot is my powder of choice for my revolver, loaded to 870 fps, I get no leading with ANY lube tried, great killing power, good target accuracy, and I only use one load with that pistol for whatever I want to do. Simplicity. It may not be the tightest shooter at 50 yards, but no pig has lived to tell me it sucks.

And if you havent noticed, I like commas,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[geargnasher]

I have over a dozen .45 pistol moulds, and have never found anything that shoots better in more .45 Colt guns than the Lee 452-255-RF. If you plan to shoot BP through it, the classic Lyman 454190 is tough to beat, use a load that will fill the case completely with the boolit seated to crimp over the ogive of the boolit (that's why that design has no crimp groove, the charge volume of black powder keeps the boolit from pushing back into the case).

Many of the guns made before WWII have large groove dimensions and cylinder throats, and prefer .454" or larger boolits. You should slug the barrel and measure the cylinder throats before selecting a mould. Lee used to make the 255 RF in .454" as well as .452" just for this reason, but I'm not sure the .454" version is still available.

Gear

[stubshaft]

The 45-255RF is a good mold for general use although if I was using only Lee molds I would go with the 45-252. It has given me the best accuracy out of the Lee lineup for the 45. Another good one for me was the RCBS 200 SWC.

[Cherokee]

RCBS makes a 230 gr round flat nose bullet, "CM". I found it to be accurate in my several 45 Colt revolvers and rifles. Cast of wheel weights +1% tin they dropped from the mould at .454-.455 so should work fine for an older revolver.

[Mk42gunner]

I'd slug the cylinder throats and the barrel before looking for a mold, no sense buying a mold that is going to cast too small.

I like the Keith boolit for my guns, but the 454190 is the classic .45 Colt boolit.

I have a Lyman 452424 that shoots well out of a Ruger Vaquero and a Marlin 1894 CB. Lyman used to catalog it as 454424, but with the later moderl guns tending to have smaller dimensions they changed it.

Robert

[GLL]

Hard to beat an old 454190 or maybe a newer version (modified by Buckshot )! !

Jerry

[Hang Fire]

Hard to beat an old 454190 or maybe a newer version (modified by Buckshot )! !

That is neat and produces a great looking boolit. When I find the time I am going to HP some of my molds.

[jvg5576]

The 45-255RF is a good mold for general use although if I was using only Lee molds I would go with the 45-252. It has given me the best accuracy out of the Lee lineup for the 45......

I've had the same results. I would go with the Lee 454-252 SWC

[paul edward]

Before buying a mold be sure you slug the barrel. Also check throat diameters. Get a mold that will cast .001" to .002" larger than groove diameter.

If throats are smaller than grooves, use soft hollow base boolits or have a pistolsmith open the throats to match the grooves.

Eight gains of Unique works well with 255 gr RF.

You did not mention if this was a Single Action Army or a double action revolver.

[UtopiaTexasG19]

It is a single action.

[prs]

The Ideal/Lyman 454190 is a champ and allows you to successfully enjoy real balck gun powder in your old Colt (or your new Colt or Ruger or genuine Eyetallion replica) as well as modern smokeless fodder; but the original moulds have a metplat small enough to be worrisome if you also shoot a lever rifle.

The Lee 452-255-RF (Lee told me the mould is actually sized to drop .454 with their alloy and mine does with WW + 1% extra tin) is possibly a better choice IF you limit yourself to modern smokeless powder and its advanteges include ease of casting, low cost of the mould, and the speed of casting with the 6 cavity design.

My favorite (I am with bias on this, but it is the favorite of many many Darksider cowboy types) is the PRS 454-250-RF or simply the PRS boolit available from Big Lube Bullets for the moulds and also commercially available. The PRS is similar to the Lee 452-255 but the skimpy lube grooves were replaced with a lube canyon that allows the use of even cheap real black powder in revolvers and rifles without fouling out even when used indefinitely. Jack Christian and others have recently employed the PRS concept to other old traditional designs that you may find over on the custon mould order section of the forum.

200gr pills save a bit of lead, but the 250 class are better for providing the recoil that allows the old plow handled SA revolvers to roll back in your hand so that your thumb easily reaches the hammer for cocking the next shot. After all, when did you ever see Matt Dillon, or John Wayne, or Clint Eastwood hold an SA in two hands; more likely to see 'm properly hold one in each hand.

prs