Suggest a good 45 250gr LFN mold

[paul h]

I got my wife a Ruger 45 bisley for her birthday. I currently have a pair of 200 sac molds, Lee to and H&G 78 and a Mihec 300gr hp on order. So I seem to have a gaping hole in the middle and figure a 250gr would fill it. While I appreciate the classic Keith SWC, I've found the LFN has been a better design for me. So what I'd like is a 4 cavity mold in this range. I looked at NOE and unfortunately they only offer a SWC in this weight. Any other suggestions? Did Mihec ever make a 452640 in 250gr?

[bhn22]

If you want an LFN, you should contact LBT. Everything else is just a copy.

http://www.lbtmoulds.com/

[geargnasher]

LFN? Lead Flat Nose? If you want Wide Flat Nose, either LBT or Accurate can fix you up. If you want Round Flat Nose, like the "cowboy" boolits, I have a more specific suggestion. I got tired of nobody making a good, 255-grain RFN, I set about designing one for Accurate Molds to make. Then I checked his catalog and found someone else beat me to it and designed exactly the same thing. So I ordered a four-banger in aluminum and have never looked back:

http://accuratemolds.com/img/bullets/detail/45-255C-D.png

This has a nose length suitable for all revolvers, a decent front bearing surface, a small enough meplat to load easily and feed flawlessly in leverguns, slide guns, and revolvers yet big enough for some punch, the crimp groove is right (not too deep like many designs), the lube groove is perfect, and the base flat. Yes, it shoots.

Gear

[runfiverun]

well that somebody just ripped off the 452664 lyman mold.
they may have changed the meplat a tick.

[denul]

paul h -
I have the LBT 300 Long Flat Nose (LFN) and it, like all of Veral Smith's, is a fine mold. It drops a very consistent bullet, and his sprue plate is the best design I have seen. HIs lubes are excellent. That being said, there was a very popular Mihec GB for a 452640, and my PB 4 cavity is so labeled. With a small HP, and using WW with a small amount of Linotype, it weighs 262 gr. It performs extremely well in 45 Colt and in the 45 Auto Rim. I don't know how to post links, but you could find it with a search. The GB was honchoed by Leaderfly, I think, and was very popular. I don't know if Mihec would have any at this late date, but I feel that a repeat GB would probably go well if someone started one...

[geargnasher]

well that somebody just ripped off the 452664 lyman mold.
they may have changed the meplat a tick.

I have two of those. One cast .449"x .451" until I lapped it, the other one casts .453" like it ought to, it's an older Lyman I got from Beagle several years ago. I think Al made a rendition of it that was really close to this Accurate design also. The things I didn't like about the Lyman mould were the bevel base, too sharp of a nose radius, too deep of a crimp groove, and too wide/shallow of a lube groove. Plus it's hard to find a 4-cavity or a Lyman mould that casts the advertised minimum with wheel weight alloy or softer. Out of 14 .45 moulds I currently own, the Lee .452-255-RF is consistently the best production mould amongst them, but the crimp groove is too far forward and the lube grooves are too shallow for my liking. They work ok if crimped in the second groove, but it's still a compromise compared to the AM 45-255C.

Gear

[runfiverun]

i'm not a big fan of that bevel lyman uses either.
I worked mine down with some paper and a dowell.

a year or so back I re-worked my 2 cavity mold the wife had been running on the master caster for 20 years as it was getting a bit peened on the faces.
I was a bit bummed about having to buy another mold to replace it at some point and found a brand new 4 cavity I had tucked in a drawer for I dunno how long when I was looking for something else.

[denul]

Looks like Mihec has a current group buy running for the design I spoke of',only now its called 454640. I'm trying to link to it.


http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?207074-MiHec-454640-brass-two-or-four-cavity-cramer-hollow-point-mold

[geargnasher]

That looks to be a good one. I'm surprised it's that heavy just by eyeballing the proportions, 45 2.1 must have doctored the drawing to foil copycats. The crimp groove on that one is also about twice as deep as necessary, but to each their own.

Gear

[45 2.1]

The crimp groove on that one is also about twice as deep as necessary, but to each their own. Gear

Some folks here have real 45 Colts that have plenty of cylinder and frame to take full potential of that boolit. When you do take advantage of it's potential, that crimp groove comes into its own.

[paul h]

Looks like Mihec has a current group buy running for the design I spoke of',only now its called 454640. I'm trying to link to it.


http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?207074-MiHec-454640-brass-two-or-four-cavity-cramer-hollow-point-mold

Tempting, might just have to get that instead of the Ruger only heavy mold.