45 Colt, my first go at it.

[Whit Spurzon]

I took the plunge and cast my first bullets today.

LEE RNFP cast from wheel weights just a smidge over .452 and weigh 250 gr.

It took me a while to get the lead hot enough to make good bullets. I have a Lyman pot that I set on my camp stove. I used some ingots made from wheel weight lead and fluxed with some ancient fluxing compound (name forgotten at the moment).

Once I got about 50 good ones I loaded one to see what it looks like. I might be biased but it looks durn good to me :mrgreen: Feed through my levergun without a hitch.

I have most of them coated with LEE Liquid Alox and drying now. Trying to decide what to load them over...

I've had good luck with SR4756 under commerically (hard) cast bullets in 45 Colt. HS7, AA #5 & 2400 have managed good accurate loads too.

Any recommendations on what to do next? Should I load as cast or size and lube them again?

Thanks for all your help guys!

[Buckshot]

.............Congratulations! You are now a boolit manufactory :-). When you run out, you can only complain to yourself!

"Any recommendations on what to do next?"

.............Sure, cast more!


"Should I load as cast or size and lube them again?"

.............If they'll safely chamber as they are now, load up a selection and try them out. I'm all for doing what's needed, and also a proponent of eliminating what isn't.

...............Buckshot

[DanWalker]

I load the 250gr keiths I cast over several different powder charges.
I use 6.5 grains of Red Dot for a great, low recoil load that could do double duty as a medium hunting load. (1100 fps from my 16" barrel)
I use 9 grains of Unique; It gives moderate recoil, and 1200fps
I use 18.5 grains of 2400 for a heavy hunting load(1500fps)
All my boolits are unsized and tumble lubed. My 94 winny feeds them just fine.
I get no leading and great accuracy.

[Whit Spurzon]

Do you guys have a favorite alloy for 45 Colt bullets?

With so many variables the learning curve looks pretty steep from my perspective, which is at that bottom of said curve... I am thankful I found you guys :drinks:

[9.3X62AL]

My work (THAT is a strange name for hobby crafting) with 45 Colt has been exclusively in revolvers, so I have no first-hand knowledge of rifle quirks and needs. I DO enjoy the 45 Colt, though--such a nice, beeg boolit that shoots so well out of revos. In the wheelers, wheelweight metal works fine at standard pressures, and I use Taracorp (92/6/2) for Ruger-level loads (and a lot of other applications).

Have you slugged your rifle's throat and grooves? Matching the boolit diameter to those dimensions is my usual first step.

[Bass Ackward]

Do you guys have a favorite alloy for 45 Colt bullets?

With so many variables the learning curve looks pretty steep from my perspective, which is at that bottom of said curve... I am thankful I found you guys :drinks:


Whit,

Thankful you found us. Boy is that a joke on you!

I gotta tell you. The only reason you get to the top of the knowledge heap, if there ever will be a top, is because you had problems that had to be solved.

Or .... because you wanted to maximise accuracy or performance. That is the scourge to cast! The WORST thing is reading that a popular shooter uses mix " A " because it is a superior performer and he was able to get 5000 fps from it at astronomical pressures and magically everything goes in one hole. Then .... you lay awake at night always wondering .... why "you" can't.

I use to enjoy recreational handgun shooting and reserved my precision work for rifles. This meant that I had fun and an outlet for when this hobby got too be too much like work. :grin: That is until a certain member here got me started again into precision handgunning again. Now I can't let it go. Ruined my life he did. :grin:

Ignorance can be bliss. And the 45 Colt has the potential to deliver that for you if your gun doesn't have dimensional problems. Just about anything can be made to work in a 45 Colt if you work at 45 Colt pressures. So I say, try what you have on hand or access to and if it works stay with it. Enjoy the .... simplicity of shooting cast for what it is and SHOOT.

If you encounter problems, then start that knowledge climb. Cause once you start, your life will be changed fore ever. :grin:

[454PB]

If the Lee LA works and these boolits are shooting to your satisfaction, the only other concern is productivity. Although I've used the LLA with success, it is a rather messy and slow process. When I started casting, the first boolits were for .45 Colt, and I hand lubed them by smearing the old Lyman lube in the grooves with my fingers and loaded them with no sizing.

As far as alloy, I've never found the need for anything more exotic than WW metal in .45 Colt, although a little extra tin makes it cast better.

[RayinNH]

What 454PB said. Plain old wheelweights and air cooled have worked just fine for me. Add the tin only as a last resort because boosting the heat on the casting pot will usually solve the castability issue...Ray

[Whit Spurzon]

I posted a range report over on the leverguns section. Includes the Blackhawk results too.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=16051

I am VERY encouraged by the results.