Lee 457-340-F or 457-405-F drop diameters?

[RickinTN]

Hello all,
I have a friend with a new Marlin 45-70 and am hoping to buy a mold and cast some bullets for him. Does anyone here use the Lee 340 gr or 405 gr mold? If so what diameter do your bullets drop from the mold? And what approximate alloy do you use? I'm hoping for at least .459" if not .460" but have my doubts. I do have experience lapping a Lee mold but would like to avoid that operation if possible.
Thanks,
Rick

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I recently bought both of those molds along with a couple others, looking for one that might work with my 1874 french gras with a barrel that I slugged at .455 groove dia. I was hoping that one of these Lee molds would drop an skinny boolit. These are the new style 2 cav. So this should be representative of what you'll get when you order a new mold. While Lee molds can vary, they rarely vary within a batch.

They dropped larger that I wanted, so I traded both of them for a few cans of fish ;)

using a fairly soft range scrap alloy with 1% tin added, it measures 9 BHN with my Lee hardness tester.

457-340-F (was .001 out-o-round) .4590 - .4600, weight was 343gr.

457-405-F .4600 on Base band, the other bands were .4585 , weight was 410gr.

Good Luck,
Jon

[RickinTN]

Jon,
Thanks for the information. Sounds like either one might come close to working and worth a shot. I'll talk with him and decide which weight he would rather start with.
Thanks,
Rick

[Vulcan Bob]

I recently bought the .457-405 mould and with 50% coww-50% pure (1 lb. was chilled shot) and two ounce's tin. They dropped a half a thousand under .458" and at 412 grains. I was hoping for a full .458" but my 1895 Marlin Cowboy dose not seem to mind, shoots em quite well.

[454PB]

I have both of those moulds. Mine cast .458-.459 in WW alloy. When I want a bit more hardness and use 50/50 pure lead and linotype, they increase in diameter by .001" to .002".

[RickinTN]

I'll probably cast these out of wheel weight alloy so sounds like they may work.
Thanks all for the help,
Rick

[iplaywithnoshoes]

Just tried my 457-405-F the other day. With Lyman #2 (95-5-5) I get roughly .462 all around. Harder antimonial alloys should drop larger than with pure lead or wheel weights.

shoe

[Harter66]

I have a single old style that drops barely .4585 the new double drops .460.
My Lee 405 is the HB at .459 .