41mag
06-25-2011, 10:50 PM
Well it's has been a long time coming. Too long if I sit and think of how much free lead I have passed up over the years not wanting to get into casting. I hope you will bear with me on my journey through my first boolits from WW to target, so to speak and to somewhat borrow a line from someone who has forgotten more about this than I will ever acquire.
That fact aside, through the fall and into spring I got the itch to cast up some boolits for my 454. The thing is a hoot to shoot, but finding bullets either J' or cast that are affordable and will stand up to it are more or less a craap shoot, and when you DO hit pay dirt they aren't exactly giving them away.
I have been shooting both some blem 260gr JHP's I got from LS&B a couple of years back and some Cast Performance 265gr WFN GC's. Both of these I load to base with WC-297 for an average velocity of 1530fps. This load coming from my Tarus Raging Bull's 8.375" ported barrel is powerful, but nothing over powering that one cannot shoot quite a few of them before wanting a break. They are AWESOME for the feral hogs, and to date I have yet to recover either of the bullets from any taken.
So I had 3/4 bucket of WW's sitting there gathering dust, which had been previously used for making large surf weights for shark fishing. Well since I don't get to the surf as much I decided to put it to use with the 454.
I cleaned it all up and made ingots first. That went well enough even when tossing in the paraffin and lighting it off, I managed to get it all fluxed with no ill results. Then I literally spent hours here reading this that and the other, then over to this, that, or the other site to read the links provided. Then just when I somewhat had a game plan, I got to Glen E. Fryxell writings. OHHHAAAA, Oh man it has been a major information overload to be quite honest.
So I bit the bullet and ordered me up a Lee 6 cavity mold for the 300gr RFP GC. Once I ordered it I managed to get some GC's off ebay, and I was set except for lube. Well that was simple shoot a note to White Label, and done deal. Well sort of. Well while waiting on it to arrive, I find the post on 45/45/10, then one on Felix Lube... AGGHHH which one to go with. So back to the drawing board, more reading, and several P.M.'s and emails. (and I dearly appreciate all of the info shared, as well as the confidence building I got back.)
Well I managed to get the mold prepped up proper and evidently got the lead to the proper temperature, and I poured up just a tad over a hundred, separating half of them by water quenching and the other half being air cooled. They were then once lubed with LLA, and then after sizing and installing the GC's, I added a second coat of 45/45/10 for good measure. Not quite sure where to go with the load I finally settled on sticking with my standard charge to the base of the bullet which ended up being 28.5grs of the WC-297. This I primed up with Win-WSP primers and nestled it all in brand new Starline cases.
IT was simply just too damn hot to be sitting in my shed with the sun beating down on the tin top, but I did a limited amount of testing today just to check for leading, and velocity more than anything. What a surprise I got when the velocity was right in the same 1540fps range as what I had been shooting. Not only was that great, as this was about the top end of where I was wanting to be, but the accuracy while not really concentrating on groups was great right off the bat. I was only shooting to 25 yds, but managed to shoot some 3" groups, which for not really trying was pretty good I thought. The very best part was I shot close to 30 rounds of each and no leading was noted after the initial 5 rounds I shot through the clean barrel. Not sure why it showed up then and not after I cleaned it out, but I'm happy none the less..
So a huge thanks to everyone I pestered during this process. It has been a milestone for me, a person devoted to shooting jacketed due to not wanting to have to deal with leading, lubing and sizing issues.
I'll try and get up a pic or two later on tomorrow.
Again thanks for everyone's help.
That fact aside, through the fall and into spring I got the itch to cast up some boolits for my 454. The thing is a hoot to shoot, but finding bullets either J' or cast that are affordable and will stand up to it are more or less a craap shoot, and when you DO hit pay dirt they aren't exactly giving them away.
I have been shooting both some blem 260gr JHP's I got from LS&B a couple of years back and some Cast Performance 265gr WFN GC's. Both of these I load to base with WC-297 for an average velocity of 1530fps. This load coming from my Tarus Raging Bull's 8.375" ported barrel is powerful, but nothing over powering that one cannot shoot quite a few of them before wanting a break. They are AWESOME for the feral hogs, and to date I have yet to recover either of the bullets from any taken.
So I had 3/4 bucket of WW's sitting there gathering dust, which had been previously used for making large surf weights for shark fishing. Well since I don't get to the surf as much I decided to put it to use with the 454.
I cleaned it all up and made ingots first. That went well enough even when tossing in the paraffin and lighting it off, I managed to get it all fluxed with no ill results. Then I literally spent hours here reading this that and the other, then over to this, that, or the other site to read the links provided. Then just when I somewhat had a game plan, I got to Glen E. Fryxell writings. OHHHAAAA, Oh man it has been a major information overload to be quite honest.
So I bit the bullet and ordered me up a Lee 6 cavity mold for the 300gr RFP GC. Once I ordered it I managed to get some GC's off ebay, and I was set except for lube. Well that was simple shoot a note to White Label, and done deal. Well sort of. Well while waiting on it to arrive, I find the post on 45/45/10, then one on Felix Lube... AGGHHH which one to go with. So back to the drawing board, more reading, and several P.M.'s and emails. (and I dearly appreciate all of the info shared, as well as the confidence building I got back.)
Well I managed to get the mold prepped up proper and evidently got the lead to the proper temperature, and I poured up just a tad over a hundred, separating half of them by water quenching and the other half being air cooled. They were then once lubed with LLA, and then after sizing and installing the GC's, I added a second coat of 45/45/10 for good measure. Not quite sure where to go with the load I finally settled on sticking with my standard charge to the base of the bullet which ended up being 28.5grs of the WC-297. This I primed up with Win-WSP primers and nestled it all in brand new Starline cases.
IT was simply just too damn hot to be sitting in my shed with the sun beating down on the tin top, but I did a limited amount of testing today just to check for leading, and velocity more than anything. What a surprise I got when the velocity was right in the same 1540fps range as what I had been shooting. Not only was that great, as this was about the top end of where I was wanting to be, but the accuracy while not really concentrating on groups was great right off the bat. I was only shooting to 25 yds, but managed to shoot some 3" groups, which for not really trying was pretty good I thought. The very best part was I shot close to 30 rounds of each and no leading was noted after the initial 5 rounds I shot through the clean barrel. Not sure why it showed up then and not after I cleaned it out, but I'm happy none the less..
So a huge thanks to everyone I pestered during this process. It has been a milestone for me, a person devoted to shooting jacketed due to not wanting to have to deal with leading, lubing and sizing issues.
I'll try and get up a pic or two later on tomorrow.
Again thanks for everyone's help.