Will Lyman 452664 work in Taurus Thunderbolt?

[Tom Herman]

Hi Folks,

I ran into a deal that I just couldn't refuse: An unfired Taurus Thundebolt rifle in .45 LC at a gun show: The price was right, and no paperwork, so it followed me home.
Taking it to the range later that day was a monumental disappointment: The gun wouldn't feed well at all with my rounds, dropped from a Lyman 452424 mold.
Reading up on the Thunderbolt revealed that it doesn't do well with long rounds.
Mine ran 1.650", 50 thousandths longer than industry standards.
The longer rounds are not an issue with any of my revolvers.
Fast forward several weeks, and I ordered and received a cartridge carrier from Taurus. It looked like I could file the back end down about 80 thousandths, and get the clearance I needed.
A few hours of filing, a few more of cursing at the rifle putting it back together countless times, and I was off to the range.
The rounds now were able to clear the feed ramp on the upward stroke, but were too long to chamber well.
Fortunately, I had some shorter rounds made from (ugh) hard cast commercial lead. They fed 100% reliably.
The gun was a hoot to shoot, although I would regularly wind up with some unburned powder spit into my face.
This now begs the question: I'm looking for a 250 grain .45 LC round nose flat point that will load at 1.600" COAL or less.
My casings average about 1.270". So, I need a bullet that is about .300-.330" max from the top of the crimping groove to the top of the bullet.
Does the Lyman #452664 fit this bill? Any ideas on this or any other possibilities?
Thanks for all your help.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[Dale53]

I have used the Lyman 452664 a good bit with both smokeless and black powder (with suitable black powder lubricant) with excellent results in my Ruger Bisley Vaquero.

However, I am not close to my loaded rounds, so cannot give you a definite answer until tomorrow.

I believe, but have yet to confirm, that you will be OK with the 452664. I'll let you know tomorrow, for sure.

Dale53

[Tom Herman]

I appreciate you checking the OAL of your rounds. It will be good to know one way or the other if this mold will work.
Lyman descriptions are simply indicators, and I hate to spend the money for yet another mold and handle only to find out that the bullet won't work.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[Dale53]

Tom;
The overall length is 1.588" of the loaded round. The bullet has a "sized diameter" band extending from the case mouth approximately .075" then it has a nicely rounded ogive to the meplat, which is approximately .340" or so.

It has all the appearances of a bullet designed for proper functioning in a lever action rifle, as well as excellent revolver design. I don't have a Marlin .45 Colt levergun (just a 45/70 and a .30-30) so can't state anything specific about that rifle.

FWIW, my cases have only been loaded a couple of times and are "standard" Starline .45 Colt cases (haven't been trimmed).

This bullet also has a large enough grease groove that it works EXTREMELY well with black powder and pyrodex in the Bisley Vaquero (I won several score matches in BPCR side matches shooting a best of 92x100 at fifty yards slowfire on the standard NRA fifty yard Bullseye. That was a match at Friendship Indiana and frankly, I had a good day there (winner of 7x8 revolver matches). I took home lots of goodies:mrgreen:

Incidentally, working with this bullet and the .45 Colt Bisley Vaquero really opened my eyes to the power and accuracy of a black powder .45 Colt.

The bullet also works equally well with smokeless powder. I can't imagine a better bullet for lever guns if you can work with a plain base bullet (I prefer plain base when possible). As long as you keep the velocities at 1500 fps and below, I don't believe you'll have problems (just be sure and size your bullets to fit your guns). I size at .452" for my Ruger.

Good luck!
Dale53

[John Boy]

http://www.three-peaks.net/images/452664_250g.gif
As long as the COAL is in the neighborhood of 1.575 - you don't cant the rifle when shooting it and the rifle is racked hard ... the bullet will work. But like even the original rifles - don't expect it to run like a Timex watch.

Personally, I would go with the a bullet that has a smaller metplat. This will help the chambering because the nose will have less probability of hanging up on the top of the chamber

[Gee_Wizz01]

Tom I finally had the chance to cast some of the 454424's and load them up. I crimped them on the leading edge of the of the bullet shoulder at 1.575 OAL. These fed perfectly through my Thunderbolt. Now I just need to work up a load.

G