457122HP boolit alloy questions

[rockrat]

Picked up a lyman 457122HP mould at a gun store going out of business (at a price that would make you cry---new--under $20 :drinks: ). What alloy would be better for maybe 1500fps? Cast some in air cooled WW at .459 but concerned about the boolit shattering on big game. Would 1-20 be better for this boolit.

Also, think I remember that the pin used to be larger in diameter, more the diameter of a 22 cartridge, can this mould be modified for the larger pin, or does it work just fine with the smaller pin size? Think I remember an article in the Fouling Shot by Frank Marshall on shooting this boolit (with the larger hollow point) with a 22 blank in it, at metal drums floating down the river near where he lived, and had a gallon of gas in the drum. Said it made a spectacular sight as the blank would go off when it hit the drum and ignite the gas.

[Char-Gar]

Your bullet is a classic if ever there was one. It is the old Gould Express bullet from the days of yore. The is a reason it has been in production for about a hundred years and that is because it works so well.

A 1-16 or 1-20 alloy is the traidtional alloy for this bullet and they will indeed expand at your velocities. They will kill a deer like the hammer of Thor. There is no need to jack with the size of the HP cavity.

40 years ago, I shot several deer with this bullet on top of a dose of 4859 powder. We ran it out at 1.8K fps and got some leading. We cured this by seating a gas check upside down in the case mouth, putting a drop of Duco Household Cement on top and seating the bullet. We probably didn't need the cement, but it made us feel better than the check would not fall down into the powder or turn cross wise. Not much chance of that if the case was sized.

When fired the checks skirt would expand forming a good seal in the bore and protecting the base. It worked well.

I don't know if you will get any leading at 1.5K fps and a 1-20 alloy, but try it and see. If you get some leading, there are a couple of ways to tweak the load to eliminate it.

[Char-Gar]

In the don't try this at home column... We used to drill out the cavity a mite and cement a 22 Short round in the nose. We were shooting them out of 86 Winchesters and never ran the loaded rounds through the magazine for fear of setting off the 22 Short.

Expansion was shall we say...improved!!! There were no plastic gallon milk jugs in those days, but water filled gallon paint cans exploded. There is no way I would do such a dumb thing today.

[BruceB]

rockrat, pard;

This 457122 design has a long historical reputation as a deadly bullet on DEER. You mentioned "big game" in the initial post, and I believe that if your quarry is bigger than deer, the 330-grain hollowpoint is not the best choice due to possible low penetration on larger animals.

If elk, moose or bears are on the agenda, I'd definitely move up to at least the 400-grain area. Sectional density is better, for deeper penetration, and a soft alloy or even a cast softpoint will allow decent expansion. There are many good bullets in the 400-grain class.

Lee has several candidates, and the moulds are very inexpensive.

[BruceB]

"We used to drill out the cavity a mite and cement a 22 Short round in the nose."

I did that with Lyman .58 Minie' balls. It tends to make one VERY certain that the bore is clean and offers the least possible resistance to the seating of the bullet by the ramrod! .22 blanks also worked.

Also used those HIGH-energy Hilti-gun (or Ramset, etc.) blanks in .44 Maggie boolits They have a lot more power than starting-pistol blanks, lemme tell y'all. Big flash and bang on hard-object impacts. I tried to ensure the blank was seated deeply enough that the rimfire primer was below the surface of the meplat, just in case a round got dropped on something hard.

...and somehow we survived to this ripe old age, with fingers etc. more-or-less intact. As Chargar says, don't try this at home.

[JDL]

My yes, isn't it intresting what we kids use to do..........and survived!! :-D -JDL

[Char-Gar]

About the same time as I was playing with exploding Gould bullets, I came by a Trapdoor Springfield and Ideal loadng tool with the bullet mold in it. I paid $25.00 for the rifle and the tool.

I cast some 405 PBRN bullets out of pure lead and lubed them by hand with the old Lyman black goo. I decaped the case with a dowel rodd with a nail in it. I filled the case with FFFG black and shook out enough so the base of the bullet would just fit.

I stuck this "round" in the chamber and used the caming power of the breech block to compress the powder. Accuracy was reasonable good. In the still damp air, you either had to run to one side or the other or drop down on one knee to see if you hit anything. The cloud of smoke just hung in the air forever.

WE had lots of fun, but it probably wasn't the smartest thing we ever done.

About that time, we learned the hardware store would sell us 60-40 Amagel Dynamite for 25 cents a stick. The caps were a nickle and the fuse three cents a foot. LOTS more fun that the Springfield 45-70.

Gone are the days when a teenager could walk into a local store and leave with all the dynamite he could carry. Ahh..those were the days!!!

[MT Chambers]

shot a large deer this fall with the Gould cast 30-1 at 1400fps. using black powder...as usual the deer dropped instantly...this has to be the best deer bullet, cast or otherwise(the dreaded j-word)

[threett1]

Use straight wheelweights with my 427122. Sailed through 2 deer last year and they dropped posthaste.