which mold????

[pastor]

this is a great site, but sometimes its almost toooooo much information
i have been reading every thread and post about molds and what i have concluded is "i dont know which mold to get" lol
i have found criticism and applause for almost every type and design
i want to ask which mold is best, here is what i have and what i am looking for:
i only shoot 45acp,
i have a rock island that feeds every type of bullet and never jams or fails to feed,
i have a hornady progressive press and i reload all of my own ammo,
i want to start casting my own bullets, i have about 150 pounds of lead and i want to know which mold works best,
i am going to buy a lee 6 cavity mold and all the rest of the equipment to go along with it probably tomorrow or the next day,
i know my gun will feed almost anything, but which mold works the best? which one makes good bullets consistently, which bullet style is most trouble free
i would appreciate any help you could give
please forgive a dumb novice
thanks

[rintinglen]

If you have your heart set on Lee, I'd recommend their 6 cavity 452-200 SWC or their 452-228-1R. Either mold will do what you want. Were I pressed to choose, I'd go with the SWC and get a few more boolits per pound.

They also make tumble lube versions of these molds, but I find that they aren't necessary to use Liquid Lee Alox, and they don't work well with conventional lubes. The conventional molds I prefer will work fine with either lube arrangement.

[littlejack]

Hey pastor, welcome to the CastBoolits.
I personally like the roundnose Lyman 452374, and the Lee grease groove truncated cone
nose design. They both feed very well in my Llama, and my Taurus PT1911. Heavy weight
lead for deep penetration, and plenty accurate for my needs.
Jack

[captaint]

pastor - How are you going to lube these boolits.. That should have some weight on your decision. Most of the Lee .45 boolits come either tumble lube style or conventional (recommended) by me anyway. enjoy Mike

[MBTcustom]

The selection of boolits that shoot well in a .45 is a mile long list. Truth be told, you can shoot anything in a 1911 if you tune it right. So my objective is to maximize my time so that I spend more time busting caps and less time slaving over a lead pot.
My whole way of casting and shooting changed when I got my first Lee 6 cavity mold. I want to buy the semi-wadcutter singe GG version, but right now I am using the 230 grain TL round nose design. I lube with 45/45/10. This makes me fast accurate boolits in a dad-gum hurry! I can go to the range and blow off 600 rounds and not dread having to spend another 6 hours in front of a pot.

[pastor]

thanks for all the advice
when i got to graf's i had made up my mind to get the swc 200 gr but as luck would have it they were out of that mold, so i got the 230gr round nose in a 6 cavity, they had all the other items on my list...... so in the next day or so i will be casting like crazy .....i hope!!

thanks again

[littlejack]

Nothing wrong with that choice pastor.
Enjoy yourself a bunch. Happy shooting.
Jack

[dragonrider]

The very next thing to do is find a chunk of soft lead and slug your barrel. Size is everything, or I think Bret says "Fit is king" same meaning. A properly fit boolit shoots properly well.

[MBTcustom]

You're going to like that mold! And after you get used to it, you'll grab one of your old two cavities and after an hour casting, you'll realy start to appreciate the power of a 6 cavity mold!

[pastor]

thanks

i did slug my barrel, it was .451 the mold and the lee sizing die i bought is .452, hope this is right, i plan to tumble lube even though my mold makes a grease lube bullet, and i was thinking about using the 45-45-10 formula i have read about, i also read about somebody on this forum using just JPW to lube with, had considered this and would appreciate any comments on this, another idea i read about was using dishwashing liquid and water before sizing and then tumble lube after the bullets dry any experience or advice on this?

thanks again

[runfiverun]

you got the size correct.
go with the 45/45/10 lube.
lube, let dry, size, then lube again.
i add more mineral spirits than that, and a little b-wax also.
but that's me.
warm the boolits and the lube before lubing and put them in front of a fan to dry.

[MikeS]

If you got the Lee 452-228-1R boolit mould you will need to seat it deeper than you expect to so it will feed right. Personally I like their TL452-230-2R design much better, even if it is a tumble lube design. I have an NOE clone of the H&G #34 round nose which I believe was the inspiration for Lee's TL boolit, they have a very similar profile (other than the lube grooves). One nice thing about Lee moulds is that they're cheap enough that if you find you don't like the one you got, you can replace it, and not cry over wasted money on the original mould.

[MtGun44]

I am a big supporter of the "slug the bore" route to proper size, but I must say,
if there is one caliber that you can get lazy and have a high probability of success
anyway, it is the .45 ACP. Somehow all the makers have managed to make nearly
all of the bbls with .451 to .4515 groove diameters! This is stunning when you realize
that the 9mm Luger is commonly found with groove diams from .355 to .358!

Get a H&G 68 clone (unfortunately the Lee 200 SWC is not a very good clone, perhaps
the correct term is barely adequate variant), lube with NRA 50-50, size to .452, load to
1.255" LOA, use from 3.5 to 4.8 of Bulleye or Titegroup and taper crimp as a separate
operation to a neck edge diameter of .470 and you will be successful with a VERY high
probability.

Please use reasonably normal capitalization and punction, it shows respect for the reader,
to make the job of understanding what you are trying to communicate easier.

Bill

[geargnasher]

If you got the Lee 452-228-1R boolit mould you will need to seat it deeper than you expect to so it will feed right. Personally I like their TL452-230-2R design much better, even if it is a tumble lube design. I have an NOE clone of the H&G #34 round nose which I believe was the inspiration for Lee's TL boolit, they have a very similar profile (other than the lube grooves). One nice thing about Lee moulds is that they're cheap enough that if you find you don't like the one you got, you can replace it, and not cry over wasted money on the original mould.

I agree. The 230-2R tumble lube is a great design if you use the right alloy and run the mould at the right temperature to make them fat enough to not lead. The 228 round nose with two grease grooves is much better for the .45 Colt, and you have to watch your loading data with them because of the extra-deep seating required to get them into most 1911 magazines and chambers.

Either will work with tumble lube if sized right and the throat is a taper instead of a step.

Gear

[MikeS]

Gear: I have both of those moulds, the 228, and I just got yesterday the 230. But I got both of them from Erik, and they both have his new v2 inset bar system for making hollow point boolits. I originally got the 228, and after realizing how deep it would need to be seated, I've decided to keep it for 45Colt, using the upper lube groove as a crimp groove. I cast up about 300 of the 230's last night, and I must say, I've never used a Lee 2 cavity mould that was easier to cast with! Both of the moulds cast faster than a regular Lee 2C, as the inset bar acts as a large alignment pin, so when I close the mould I don't even have to watch the mould! The only thing I did 'wrong' was that I cast these 300 boolits out of Lyman #2, rather than a lead/tin alloy. They dropped right at .4535 out of the mould, so sizing them to .452 using a Lee sizing die worked really good. Doing it that way I didn't need to lube them first, so I tumble lubed them all after sizing, and they're sitting on a sheet of wax paper drying as I type this. One thing I don't understand is why SO many people say that HP moulds need to be cast hotter than a normal mould, I cast these at 650F and they filled out great, the pins stayed hot enough that the noses look great as well. I wonder if the 45ACP can be loaded hot enough (safely) to make the Lyman #2 hollow points expand?

After casting with these 2 Lee moulds that Erik modified, I really want to send him one of my 'good' moulds to have him HP it, I mean if he can take a Lee 2C and make it cast so well, I can only imagine what he would do with a 'good' mould as the starting point!

[MtGun44]

Mike,

I get great expansion with range lead, a lot softer than #2 alloy. Depending on the hole size,
you might get some. But I think it will be minimal.

Of course, the only real way to know is to test some. I shoot into sopping wet phone books
or bundles of newspaper. Expansion matches ballistic gelatin exactly, but penetration is
right at 1/2 of what is reported in ballistic gelatin.

Bill

[DLCTEX]

I'm getting good expansion with 50/50 WW/lead in 45 ACP.