Need to pick a boolit diameter for use in a revolver and carbine

[Sturmcrow]

A simple enough question, but I lack the real-world experience to answer it confidently.

I just picked up a SRH in 454 Casull and got a Puma in the same caliber a few months ago. The Puma slugs at .4515 to the grooves. The SRH throats are right around .4542 and the bore is .452.

I assume that using a boolit diameter of 0.454" would be ideal for the SRH, but will stuffing one 0.002" oversize be a problem in the Puma? I am almost certain that the answer is no, for cast bullets, so long as it easily fits in the chamber. However, it is easier to ask you guys for advice than to reattach my fingers.

Alternatively, how much will it hurt to use 0.452" or 0.453" boolits in the SRH, when the throats are a bit over that?

This is my first revolver, so I imagine it will be awhile before I can even tell the difference in accuracy for the questions I am asking. Then again, I would hate to have to shell out the dough for new molds when I do find that I should have gone with a smaller size. I am not too worried about starting out too small, now that I have read up a bit on Beagling and lapping. In fact, I plan to Beagle my Lee .452 300gr die if I decide to go with the .454 diameter.

[Bullet Caster]

Well, I think you've answered the question yourself. .002 should not be a problem. I also believe you're a little confused on Beagling. You can certainly Beagle a mould, but I don't think the term applies to a die. You can certainly hone out a sizing die so that it sizes a thou. over. Two thou. is a little harder to achieve without a lathe, however I've read threads on this forum that it can be done by hand, just takes a little longer. There's a member on the forum that sells custom sizing dies at a reasonable price. You just have to check out the "Vendor Sponsors" subforum.

I use the Lee 255 grain RNFP .452 mould for my .45 Colt clone (Uberti) 4 3/4" bbl. These are tumble lubed straight out of the mould, then sized to .452 through the Lee sizing die and tumble lubed a couple of more times and then loaded. My Uberti can't tell it from "store bought" ammo. I also am going to use my .45ACP mould, the Lee 228 gn. RN 2 ogive radius .451 mould not only for my .45ACP, but for my Uberti as well. The throats as well as the groove diameter are at least .452 and I use the .452 sizer for the Colt clone and the .451 sizer for my .45ACP. Both have been tested in my pistols using Bullseye powder, 5 gn. in each of the two different cartridges. They cannot tell it from factory produced rounds. Hope this may help as I haven't seen any replies as of this writing. BC

[Sturmcrow]

Doh! I made the mistake I just read someone else being criticized for last night. I meant that I would Beagle the mold block face(s), not the die. I will probably just buy a larger sizing die, since I want to keep the .452 sizer in case I expand my "swaging lead cores into 40S&W brass" operation. I don't think I want to push .454 jacketed bullets through these guns. Not at 60,000PSI anyway.

[RobS]

You'll be fine with a .454 boolit in the LSI Puma. I have the same combo SRH/Puma and run .4545-.455 lead pills down them both all the time; actually both guns prefer the larger boolits. With .455 bullets if the crimp isn't just right sometimes they won't chamber so I usually go .4545. My Rossi 45 colt lever has yet even a larger chamber which I wished it was a bit tighter in tolerance so the brass didn't have to be worked so hard when resizing.

[Catshooter]

Sturmcrow,

Welcome to the forum.

I have a Smith 45 Colt, throats are .455, bore is .452.

Winchester Trapper in 45 Colt bore is .451 and just barely that.

I have an old Ideal 454424 that drops wheel weight boolits right at .457. I size them to .456 (tried them for fit in both guns first) and shoot them that way. Works great, zero leading in both weapons.


Cat

[Sturmcrow]

That is good to hear, RobS and Catshooter. In particular, I am glad to hear that wheel weight lead has no problem squeezing down 5 thousands, since I plan to use that or a 3:1 lead:ww mix most of the time.

[Snyd]

I too have a 454 puma and a 454 RH. My Puma bore slugs at .452, Redhawk is .451. I shoot .452 but have shot 454's as well. The puma is accurate with everything I've shot from 255gr .452 up to 435gr .454.

Oh, and my alloy is 5/1 WW/Lino water dropped except for 255 plinker. WW AC.

Here's some messing around I've been doing for one load for both guns.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=1665496#post1665496