Mould advice for Pedersoli 1874 Sharps.

[LarryM]

I've got a Pedersoli 1874 Sharps "business rifle".

I picked the rifle up almost 10 years ago and got a Lyman 457125 mould to feed it. Cast up a bunch using COWW + a little tin and linotype, pretty close to Lyman #2 and had a pretty good bullet that just kissed the .459 lube sizer die and they shoot pretty good but I'm thinking I can do better.
My big boomers all got put away for a few years after I tore up my right shoulder (unrelated to shooting) and had to have it re-assembled. Now several years on I'm back to the casting and reloading bench for the .45-70 and I want to shoot BP exclusively with this rifle and other that a handful of Hornady Leverevolution rounds that's all that it has seen.

Of course I'm scouring the forums here and see that I need to go with a softer alloy so I work up a batch of 20:1 (more or less), I'm dipper casting with my pot running about 750°. I've been casting for close to 20 years so making a good bullet isn't an issue. My frustration comes from my Lyman mould I think. The bullets are dropping at 526 gr and the majority of bullets are +/- .5 gr of that but the darn things are running .456-.457 and are a drop in fit to fired cases meaning I can push it right on down into the case with very little pressure.
I'd really like a mould that will drop a .459-.460 and run 525-535 gr. Partly because I've read in numerous places that the Pedersoli's do better with a slightly fatter diameter bullet and the possibility of BPCR silhouette is a serious consideration in the not too distant future.
I'm more than ready to drop the coin for a high end mould and I'm looking hard at BACO's offerings. Either the Postell or one of the Money variants.
Any insight on which of these or other alternatives my Pedersoli Sharps is likely to prefer?

Thanks

[Bohica793]

Your bullets are dropping smaller due to your alloy. Less tin and antimony gives you a bullet that shrinks more. As to molds, check out Tom's catalog at Accurate Molds. http://www.accuratemolds.com. Be sure to specify your alloy when ordering and he will insure your bullets drop proper size.

[Dan Cash]

What Bohica said. I am feeding a similar Pedersolli Sharps clone which does well with .462 as cast. It thrives on harder bullets.

[country gent]

I have a Pedersoli Long range in 45-70 That's ah=has only seen black powder. I shoot several bullets in it, The lyman 457125 510 grn round nose govt, the 535 lyman postell and an old west 547 grn silhouette. All shoot very well in my rifle.
My alloy is a simple 20-1 lead tin. and SPG or emmerts improved lube.
I use Olde Ensford 1 1/2f powder with around .100 compression. a rem std lr primer. one .060 napa rubber fiber wad and 2 tracing paper wads. Bullets are pan lubed and shot as cast. Bullets are hand seated onto the wad stack and sized just enough to stay in case ( bullets can be turned or pulled by hand). Im slightly off the lands with over all length. I use a compression die to compress wads and powder to seating depth

[indian joe]

I have a pedersoli barreled 76 Uberti - it likes fatter boolits - using reformed 348 winchester brass the case necks are a tad fat and the chamber neck is pretty neat .460 is as big as it will take - 458 sized dont shoot as good.

[smithnframe]

I shoot the Hoch 550 grain creedmoor nose pour mould in my C. Sharps and Pedersoli Sharps loaded exclusively with black powder. Mine come from my mould at .461 and I size them to .458. Good luck!

[rfd]

For the bucks, it's hard to beat a BACO iron mould by Jim for quality and performance, but that comes with about a $150+ price tag.

I'll triple the endorsement for Tom's Accurate aluminum moulds, and I have more than a few Accurate PPB mold slicks for the .45-70's. Tom gives great quality in a custom mold for about $80 shipped.

[bigted]

I will chime in on Tom's "accurate molds" as I have prolly 15 or more from him.

I also purchased a Baco mold configured as the old government mold only throwing a .460 inch boolit.

[Lead pot]

I wish Tom would tool up for the ellipticals. I have several of his moulds brass and iron and they are top quality.

You mentioned starting Silhouettes someday. This would make a great bullet for that game. It's light and it's a well established profile.
It will not make pit safety weight for the NRA long range target rifle match but it would be a great bullet for silhouette and the gong shoots.
I have a Pedersoli 74 and the .458-.459 bullets shoot just fine in it.
You can't go wrong with this https://www.buffaloarms.com/459-487-grain-postel-first-two-bands-reduced-1-cavity-bullet-mould-jim459487p4 if your a GG shooter.
The fellow that designed this bullet for Jim placed in the top 15 and 5th place in the senior class at the Quigley this year using it.
Kurt

[LarryM]

Thanks for the input guys.
I'm going to load up and shoot some of what I've got cast from my 457125 and see what they do then make a decision on a new mould.

[chuebner]

I have the Pedersoli Sharps Silhouette Standard in 45-70 which slugs out at .448 X .458. My best bullet if from an NOE 461-535 mold that drops at .462 and 545 gr. with my alloy. I also have an old Lyman 457125 that drops them at .460 and 535 gr. Both are pan lubed and sized with a Lee push thru to .460 and shoot quite well.

[LarryM]

I may not be in as bad a shape as I think, maybe.
I was able to do some shooting this morning at my 50 yard practice range. (I know shooting a 1874 Sharps at 50 yards is practically sacrilege but it's the best I can do for the moment, "somebody" let my 100 yard range get overgrown with willow trees :) )

I'm still kind of new to shooting this style but I was able to print a few decent groups with my "undersized" boolits. Best 5 shot group was just under 1/2" for 4 rounds with the 5th being a called flinch that landed 7" left, a hornet buzzed me. A couple that printed right at 1/2" and a few that ran to 3/4", while not super they do show some potential and I'm cautiously, encouraged.
The load was 70gr Goex OE under at .030 veggie wad and compressed to seat the 457125 to the top of the 2nd band for an OAL case length of 2.890" in full length sized WW cases with CCI 200 primers. I used a blow tube between shots and would run a dry patch after every 5th round, never had any trouble chambering a round.
I ran the loads over my chrono and the avg was 1280 but I had some pretty good spread between hi and lo so I'll need to work on my loading technique some.
My bench is pretty good for shorter rifles and carbines but I need to really work on my technique with this thing and get out on at least a 100 yard range to know better.
I still think I'll end up with a different mould but this one isn't quite trash, I'll adjust my alloy a little and keep working with it for the moment.

Thanks.

[Bohica793]

If you are using black powder and a soft alloy, undersized boolits will bump up at ignition and tend to shoot well.

[Gray Fox]

You could simply Beagle the mold and pick up a couple thou that should give you a good as cast diameter to pan lube. I'd try that before investing big bucks in another mold. GF

[LarryM]

If you are using black powder and a soft alloy, undersized boolits will bump up at ignition and tend to shoot well.

I'm thinking that is pretty much what was happening. I'm finding out this BPCR stuff is more different than casting and reloading for smokeless than I thought it would be, some of us are hard headed and have to figure it out a little for ourselves :D .
My early experiences with casting and shooting undersized boolits has left me a little gun shy but on the bright side I do know how to clean a badly leaded bore. Not something I had to do today though.

[LarryM]

You could simply Beagle the mold and pick up a couple thou that should give you a good as cast diameter to pan lube. I'd try that before investing big bucks in another mold. GF

I'm planning on giving that a try next time I hit the casting bench but can you really have too many moulds?

[bigted]

With my Ped long range rifle ... as memory serves ... my technique for my accuracy load was to cast pretty soft, AND load the Lyman 457125 out far enough that the boolit actually engraved the rifling just upon closing the breech. I believe I loaded em to just 1/16th or so long so the breech block would shove em into the rifling. When and if I needed to extract one before shooting, they would leave the boolit hanging in the rifling. The top grease groove was out of the case so my SPG lubed boolit needed protecting from the loading bench to the breech against dust n grime I did not desire to be introduced in my barrel.

[LarryM]

The best loads I've managed so far with the 457125 have the first lube groove exposed.
I've got to cast up another batch and load some more and decide what direction I need to try.
I had used full length sized cases, I think I'll try a light neck sizing and a light taper crimp next batch.

[EDG]

I use a bullet cast in a Brooks mold I got off of ebay. It casts .460 to .461 and I shoot them at 1100 fps. I use smokeless for excellent accuracy in a Pedersoli Billy Dixon and a Browning Highwall BPCR model.

[Road_Clam]

+1plug for Old West 540gr Silhouette mould. Bernie at Old West manufacures some outstanding brass moulds.

[LarryM]

Well, I "bit the bullet" and ordered a mould from Buffalo Arms. Ordered on Sept 10, delivered on Oct 10. https://www.buffaloarms.com/459-535-grain-postell-1-cavity-bullet-mould-jim459535p1
The mould itself is beautifully made. I managed to fire up the casting pot last night and cranked out about 50 boolits. It was a very short start up and about the 4th cast I was dropping keepers. The mould was easy to use, bullets dropped freely most of the time and it they didn't either a shake of the mold or a very light tap on the handle hinge did the trick.
My bullets are dropping about 1 grain lighter than the sample bullet they sent with the mould so pretty close. I was running close to 800° F, I've had the Lee drip-o-matic for several years but never really care for it. I recently stripped out the bottom pour bits and ran a screw up into the spout to use as a ladle cast pot. I'll try some more with the same alloy at closer to 700° F and see how that does.
Once I've had a chance to load and shoot some of these I'll update.

[Lead pot]

Good choice Larry.

This bullet is an all around good bullet for just about everything.
The only thing that would make it better and that is getting rid of those rumble strips. :D

[John Boy]

The most accurate Pedersoli Sharps bullet I have used at 1000yds is the Paul Jones Creedmoor:
* 536gr - 0.458 - 1:20 alloy - 70gr Meteor FFFg Sifted - .25 felt wad - 1157 fps
7 hits in the bulls eye & 10 ring out of 10 shots
PS: Meteor is left over Curtis's & Harvey powder made in Ardeer, Scotland - era 1972

[Bad Ass Wallace]

I use the same boolit in my Pedersoli 45/90 with 77gns of Wano 2P

https://i.imgur.com/E7vhjh2.jpg