AI_Programmer
08-05-2014, 11:17 PM
Dear Castboolits Folks,
I'm 63, and two years ago I reactivated a hobby I took up in 1973 while a college student, at which time I bought a Ruger New Model Blackhawk .45 Colt. I paid $110 cash for this fine revolver, which is still one of the finest shooting handguns I have ever owned. I gave the store owner the cash, he gave me the gun, we shook hands, and I walked out a happy customer. Of course, that was in Moscow, Idaho in 1973, at which time local farmers could buy dynamite at the local Grange Supply Store to blast stumps, and no one thought a thing about it.
But I digress.
I was a poor college student in those days, and cast bullets from wheel weights for the Colt. With the resurrection of my shooting hobby I recently purchased a .460 S&W magnum. I've converted my garage into a ballistics laboratory, and I'm reloading now for nine handguns and rifles, from the old .45 Colt to a .338 Lapua Magnum sniper rilfe. I guess you could say that I suffer from OCRD (Obsessive Compulsive Reloading Disorder).
I recently dug up my old bullet-casting gear from the 1970s, carefully archived in the garage. They are rusty, but bring back fond memories. I have a Lyman 450 sizing/lubing press, a Lee Infinite Heat Control (Pat. applied for), 500 watt furnace (no temperature mentioned, but Lo (1) to Hi (10) heat settings), and a rusty Lyman single-cavity bullet mold for the .45 Colt (454190 /153).
I just fired up my 41-year-old Lee lead furnace, and it melted the lead in the bottom in short order.
So, I need advice from my much more experienced casting bretheren.
I want to cast for the .460 S&W magnum. I plan to buy an RCBS 2-Cavity Bullet Mold 45-300-SWC 45 Caliber (452 Diameter) 300 Grain Semi-Wadcutter Gas Check.
I'll be shooting these 300-grain boolits anywhere from 1500 fps to 1800 fps. (I recently loaded up some Oregon Trail TrueShot 360-grain gas-checked to 1800 fps in the .460 with 40.0 grains of Alliant 300 MP with no signs of overpressure, but the gun nearly kicked me back into the previous century with nearly 2,600 ft.-lbs. of muzzle energy.) As an OCRD sufferer, I actually chronograph all my loads, so I'm not making up the velocity (okay, five shots averaged 1796 fps).
Gas checks will obviously be required.
I plan on buying either Lyman #2 or Hardball alloy from Rotometals. Should I quench the boolits in cold water for extra hardness, or is HB 16 for the Hardball good enough with gas checks?
What about the gain-twist rifling in the .460 S&W magnum? I loaded up some .452 non-gas-checked Oregon Trail Laser-Cast (which shoot just spectacularly in the .45 Colt at over 1,000 fps) to over 1700 fps in the .460, and they tumbled!
Finally, it looks like the Lee Bullet Lube and Size Kit 452 Diameter is the way to go. If so, why are the cast bullet manufacturers still using the old groove-filling lubes?
Thanks in advance for all your help. I'll be happy to report the results of my casting and reloading efforts with the .460 S&W magnum when I get it all figured out.
I'm 63, and two years ago I reactivated a hobby I took up in 1973 while a college student, at which time I bought a Ruger New Model Blackhawk .45 Colt. I paid $110 cash for this fine revolver, which is still one of the finest shooting handguns I have ever owned. I gave the store owner the cash, he gave me the gun, we shook hands, and I walked out a happy customer. Of course, that was in Moscow, Idaho in 1973, at which time local farmers could buy dynamite at the local Grange Supply Store to blast stumps, and no one thought a thing about it.
But I digress.
I was a poor college student in those days, and cast bullets from wheel weights for the Colt. With the resurrection of my shooting hobby I recently purchased a .460 S&W magnum. I've converted my garage into a ballistics laboratory, and I'm reloading now for nine handguns and rifles, from the old .45 Colt to a .338 Lapua Magnum sniper rilfe. I guess you could say that I suffer from OCRD (Obsessive Compulsive Reloading Disorder).
I recently dug up my old bullet-casting gear from the 1970s, carefully archived in the garage. They are rusty, but bring back fond memories. I have a Lyman 450 sizing/lubing press, a Lee Infinite Heat Control (Pat. applied for), 500 watt furnace (no temperature mentioned, but Lo (1) to Hi (10) heat settings), and a rusty Lyman single-cavity bullet mold for the .45 Colt (454190 /153).
I just fired up my 41-year-old Lee lead furnace, and it melted the lead in the bottom in short order.
So, I need advice from my much more experienced casting bretheren.
I want to cast for the .460 S&W magnum. I plan to buy an RCBS 2-Cavity Bullet Mold 45-300-SWC 45 Caliber (452 Diameter) 300 Grain Semi-Wadcutter Gas Check.
I'll be shooting these 300-grain boolits anywhere from 1500 fps to 1800 fps. (I recently loaded up some Oregon Trail TrueShot 360-grain gas-checked to 1800 fps in the .460 with 40.0 grains of Alliant 300 MP with no signs of overpressure, but the gun nearly kicked me back into the previous century with nearly 2,600 ft.-lbs. of muzzle energy.) As an OCRD sufferer, I actually chronograph all my loads, so I'm not making up the velocity (okay, five shots averaged 1796 fps).
Gas checks will obviously be required.
I plan on buying either Lyman #2 or Hardball alloy from Rotometals. Should I quench the boolits in cold water for extra hardness, or is HB 16 for the Hardball good enough with gas checks?
What about the gain-twist rifling in the .460 S&W magnum? I loaded up some .452 non-gas-checked Oregon Trail Laser-Cast (which shoot just spectacularly in the .45 Colt at over 1,000 fps) to over 1700 fps in the .460, and they tumbled!
Finally, it looks like the Lee Bullet Lube and Size Kit 452 Diameter is the way to go. If so, why are the cast bullet manufacturers still using the old groove-filling lubes?
Thanks in advance for all your help. I'll be happy to report the results of my casting and reloading efforts with the .460 S&W magnum when I get it all figured out.