LEE 452-200 RF in S&W 625-2

[Ring3]

It was suggested to me that this boolit might work well in my S&W 625-2. I casted a few hundred using ww, scrap and 2% tin. Nice looking boolits. Powder coated some and traditional lubed some.

Started looking in my books for data and found nothing specific. Decided to use the crimp groove for COAL and Lyman data for 200g Win231 powder. Started at the start and worked up. Accuracy was ok throuout, but what a mess. Unburnt powder in all cylinders and barrel. Enough fouling in the chambers that new loaded moon clips had to be pushed or lightly tapped in. I stopped at 4.8g. Chrono read avg ~665fps. I've done some searching on line without finding anything definitive. Not wishing to get into high pressures I wonder if anyone has any published data or experience they would share using this boolit in a 625 or other 45acp.

Another issue with the gun is the chambers. It seems all the cast and plated bullets I try sized to .452 must be pushed home in the cylinder after a few clips. Some worse than others. I sent the cylinder to dougguy here on the forum. He opened the throats to ~.4525, chamfered the mouths and found the chambers a bit out of round. He reamed each chamber taking out very little metal. (Great job and a pleasure to deal with Doug BTW). I thought this would do it but the problem persists. When the chambers became tight with my hand loads I put in a clip full of factory ball. They fell right in. I gather fouling is my issue clogging the chambers and not allowing the slightly bigger cast boolits to freely load. Question is, can anything be done to solve. Different primers, powder for cleanliness? Pre-treat chambers in some way? Etc....

i really like this pistol and want to hand load cast for it if possible. Appreciate any thoughts, data, experience.

Rob

[Tatume]

Hodgdon lists 21 powders for a 200 grain cast bullet. You should be able to find something that works to your satisfaction.

I will note that your charge is just barely above the Hodgdon minimum, so you might want to try some stiffer charges.

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/

BTW, my S&W 625-2 45 ACP revolver performs outstandingly with cast and Unique, so don't give up.

[dubber123]

Lean on the powder scale a bit, hotter loads will burn cleaner, and if it is like my 625, it will shoot better with that boolit. My 200 RF casts at 215 grains from WW's.

[runfiverun]

powder coating drops the pressure even more than plain lead does you gotta come up 4-5% just to get to normal.
bump that 231 up to around 5-5.2grs and see how it does, that's my normal 45 acp load from days gone by.
the PC stuff would probably go a little higher but I'd start at the 5 grs first.
expect a little smoke.

[Ring3]

Thank you for the replies. I will increase the charge on the next batch. Will also decrease the coal. Did some measuring tonight. Hope I'm on to something. Frustrating thing, but fun looking for solution. My hesitance comes from the lack of published data. I understand others not wanting to be overly specific. My Lee book is old. May be the new one will include specifics for this boolit. Thanks again!

Rob

[Tatume]

Plenty of data: http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/ (http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/)

[Ring3]

Thanks. Ive been there and other places including manuals. Lots of good data for 200g SWC and the 45ACP. COAL for the Lee 452-200 RF is were I get stuck. I'm a bit wary of developing my own COAL after reading so much about its effects on pressure. Did some measuring last night and think I'm on to something. Going to seat Lee 452-200 into the case the same distance as a properly seated 200g SWC. This depth covers the crimp groove. Looks a bit odd but seems logical to me.

[243winxb]

auto rim brass with a Lyman cast 238 gr lswc No. 452423.

[gwpercle]

The Lee boolit has a crimp groove, roll crimp into the groove ...OAL is not as important in revolver rounds , cast boolit with crimp groove application.
Now , your dies are probably 45 acp with a taper crimp crimp die. If so you need to get a roll crimp die. The unburned powder is classic sign of not enough pressure, sometimes all that's needed is more crimp , more grip on the boolit gets more pressure =more complete / cleaner burn. Your crimping die may be able to roll a slight crimp at it's lowest adjustment, some do. At least try more taper crimp, maybe it just needs a bit more.
Reguardless , don't get all hung up on OAL, it's somewhat important in auto pistol loading but not so at all with revolvers.
Don't get discouraged, it just takes a bit of trail and error to get the details worked out.
Load Safe.
Gary

[dubber123]

Not to suggest you go all willy nilly with the powder, but I can tell you I have gone above and beyond with my 625. They are MUCH stronger than you think, and you are well off having any problems. :)

[osteodoc08]

I've always used 5.2-5.3gr of 231 for my 200gr LSWC. As previously recommended, up your charge weight and see how she runs.

[fredj338]

You can use it as you would any 200gr lSWC, but the OAL WILL BE SHORTER. With target loads, not an issue. If you want light loads think powders faster than W231. I like WST, but RedDot also works. With 4.5gr of either, a pretty soft shooting load that will still clear pins off a table.