Need Mould Advice ....

[riverwalker76]

My Dad wants me to order him a mould from Lee when I place my order next week.

Here is the issue ....

He will be shooting the boolits from several different firearms, and wants a basic boolit to cover them all.

He will be shooting them from the following ...

~Thompson Sub-Machine Gun - 45 acp
~Ruger Vaquero -45 Colt
~Winchester Lever Action -45 Colt
~1911 Pistol - 45 acp

Now ... the 45 acp barrels slug to .453 & the 45 colts slug to .455 .

He wants a 230 gr. boolit for all 4.

Could I go with the basic 45 rounds nose design from Lee in Round Nose configuration, and get 2 separate sizing dies?

Sound sufficient?

[cbrick]

Would work IF you get a mold that casts at or above .455" and that could be a problem without ordering a custom mold. I have twelve 45 caliber molds and the largest any of them cast WW is .4547 and that's only one of the twelve, the rest cast smaller and average under .454".

If your bullet casts large enough your idea should work but the 45's with an under size bullet could cause leading/accuracy issues. It's possible with a softer alloy it could bump up, it's one of those try it and see things. All depends on how large the mold you get casts.

Rick

[RobS]

cbrick has it on the importance of having a mold drop the right diameter. I'm not saying that your slug measurements are wrong but they seem a bit large as a whole. What did you use to slug the barrels? If it was not dead soft lead then it is entirely possible that the slug had a "spring back" effect after coming out of the barrel. If you used an egg shaped fishing weight even those these days are being cast from harder alloy it seems. If you are using an egg weight drill the hole out much larger so the lead has some place to displace to and reduce the chance of the slug springing back.

If you used straight lead to slug then it is what it is. It will be more difficult to find a mold to work for the 4 firearms you have and Lee will not work unless you are lucky and get a large out of spec mold. Another option is lapping out the cavities to a larger diameter.

[Piedmont]

Your mould might be different but my RCBS 230 cowboy drops at over .454" and would have a pretty good chance of feeding in the automatic actions as well as working in the revolver and lever action. It might be worth a look. Mine weigh around 235 grains in softer-than-wheel weight alloy.

[462]

Lee moulds are priced such that you should consider buying one for each caliber.

However, if money is the over-riding factor for buying just one mould, beagling is always an option.

Are you sure the 1911 has a .453" groove? Seems awfully big....451" is pretty much the norm.

[JIMinPHX]

Could I go with the basic 45 rounds nose design from Lee in Round Nose configuration, and get 2 separate sizing dies?

That is exactly what I would do. You can Beagle the mold if you need to make it drop raw boolits a little bigger sometimes, or you can do the spin/grit trick if you want to make the change permanent.

With the revolvers, you need to slug the throats as well as the barrel. If the throats are smaller than the barrel, don't bother trying to size your boolits large enough to fill the groove diameter. The boolit ain't gunna be that size when it gets there.

[Moonie]

I can tell you that the 230 TC works great in auto loaders, I have the standard not the tumble lube. It should slide into the cylinders of a revolver very well also but would probably need to be beagled for .455.

What are you using to measure the slugs? Calipers or micrometer? Calipers don't tend to be accurate enough for this work and may be reading a tad bigger then they actually are.

In a revolver you size for the cylinder throats not for the barrel size. If your barrel is larger then the throats then you will have issues unless you use soft alloy so they will obturate to fill the bore.

With all of that said, my best mold for 45acp is the 200gr Mihec HP custom mold.

[HeavyMetal]

I'd get a 2 banger 230 std lube grove TC mold for the Thompson and the 1911 and a 2 banger 255-RF for the Winny and the Vaquero.

Total cash outlay...$50? maybe less? That's how I'd go!

[63 Shiloh]

OT, but Jeez...you blokes are able to own Thomson sub machine guns!!!

I am speechless..............with envy you lucky, buggers! LOL.

If only.............

Mike

[JIMinPHX]

OT, but Jeez...you blokes are able to own Thomson sub machine guns!!!

Here in Arizona we can have them. Not so in CA, NJ, & many other states.

[MtGun44]

The Thompson will not typically feed SWCs, so you are on track with the RN. You may
be able to get one mold to span the gap, but I kinda think you will probably be better
off with two molds.

Hijack to 63 Shiloh --

As to owning the Thompson, - administratively YES we can own them in many states.
Unfortunately, they have severely restricted the supply so that there is a huge shortage and
no new machineguns are permitted. SO - the existiting stock has had the prices driven sky
high. I don't know the correct numbers, but I expect that any decent Thompson would cost
at least $25,000 maybe more now days. Too rich for my wallet. If only we could reimport
some of the MILLIONS that we exported during and after WW2, then the prices would
be more reasonable. May possibly happen one day if our successes in making the
2nd Amendment actually functional again continue to make progress. Kansas used to
make machine guns and silencers, plus short barreled rifles and shotguns illegal. Now
they are legal - I was surprised that we got that passed, but it did.

Bill