452491 Lyman

[azrednek]

Has anybody here used the 452491 Lyman mold?? If so how do you like it?? Did you try it without gas checks?? It doesn't appear to have been a very popular as I could only find it in an old Lyman cast manual. I didn't find very much said in a search of this group. I have it on loan and have the option to buy it from a friend of mine. Truth is he owes me money, he is broke and he wants to settle up the score. He is also offering me a 45266 that I'm definitely taking as mine is pitted. Help me out here and let me know how you feel about the 452491, is it a loser?? It will probably be a couple months before I can shoot it as it is just to dam hot here in Phoenix to enjoy myself shooting, 114 today.

I like the looks of the 452491, the big fat nose and with it dropping apx 228 with Hornady gas check attached. I'm hoping with the boolit's weight being close to military hardball it will follow the hard sights on my Brazilian 1917 revolvers. I might also use it in a 45 Colt Rossi lever action rifle.

The 452491 is on the left, 45266 on the right.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/dnisbet/45291.jpg

[45 2.1]

Something else you might look for is the Lyman 452490, not the current version, but the first version at 230 gr. It looks to be slightly longer than the 491 you've pictured. It works fine in the 45 ACP, 45 AR and 45 Colt. I'm useing a custom 452490 PB version that is hollow pointed and it is performing very well. I would be interested in purchasing a SC 452490, 230 gr. version, or a SC 452491 if anyone has one for sale.

[Bass Ackward]

Whether or not you like it will depend on how you shoot it. I found that the narrow drive bands limited velocity. And it required a harder bullet at what velocity it would give you. I had to use WW back then with it to do OK. (Remember, back then WW were 9% antimony and about 19 BHN with some tin added.)

I suppose that you could say it was also lube starved, which required a better grade of lube that wasn't available back then.

Maybe in a wide land Smith, or a gun with taller rifling, things would have been different. Or if you had throats that enabled you to be a few .000 over bore so that when it sized down the bands would be wider.

So if I had to describe my work with it, I would say that it was a narrow range bullet. If you shoot in the zone with it you might be happy. But we have PB for that.

What that bullet was EXCELLENT for was barrel break-in. If a new gun leaded with PB, instead of cleaning all the time, one box of checks later, and things settled in enough that you could go back to PB. 1000 checks were still cheaper than 1000 jacketed, even back then.

[Glen]

The 452491 was designed by Ray Thompson. He started off with the 358156 for the .357 Magnum, then added the 429215 and 429244 for the .44 Magnum. He was happy with these bullets, but there were folks who wanted to hunt with their .45 ACP/.45 AR revovlers. These folks pestered him until he designed the 452490 and 452491 (and the corresponding HPs) for their guns. Ray Thompson never hunted with either of these .45 bullets, and probably spent very little time (if any) shooting them (Mr. Thompson was a big fan of the .44 Magnum). The intent behind the design was to extract as much performance as possible out of the .45 AR revolver. They shoot just fine in .45 Colt loads, but I would rather use a heavier PB bullet in the .45 Colt.

The 45266 is not designed to be used with a GC. It is a bevel-based target bullet.

[azrednek]

Thx for the responses. I'm going to go ahead and keep the molds. I'm paying more than I should but the chances of me getting repaid what he owes me is pretty slim. I'm knocking a hundred off of what he owes for the two molds. I've known him for allot of years, he got himself buried in debt biting off more than he can chew with a house payment. At least he is making an effort to repay the loan. I honestly don't know if I would have ponyed up a hundred cash for the two but I really wanted another 452666. I bought the first one used and it is pitted pretty bad. Seems like every time I pledge to myself to never buy another single holer I wind up with more. He also has another single holer, a Lee 454-172 full wad cutter and some other 45 cal molds I will probably wind up owning next month.





The 45266 is not designed to be used with a GC. It is a bevel-based target bullet.

Glen that is my understanding as well but after reading here or another group a few years ago to try it with a gas check I'm really impressed with the improvement in accuracy. I know I shouldn't need a gas checked boolit at 45 ACP velocities but it really improves the shot to shot accuracy in my worn Brazilian 1917 revolvers. The gas check fits boolits from both molds perfectly, they are not forced on, they snap on right into place with a little finger pressure.