NEI 500 45 PP mold

[boatswainsmate]

Hello All,
I bought this mold in a recent grouping of molds I purchased off Armslist. I was wondering if anyone could shed light on what type of firearm it was used in. The paperwork states it was designed for a .458 bullet in Linotype. Thanks in advance. Boats
https://i.ibb.co/9WrfRWY/DSCN4872.jpg (https://ibb.co/bXKypXd)
https://i.ibb.co/MsYZYnJ/DSCN4873.jpg (https://ibb.co/Ns8t8xG)
https://i.ibb.co/QQJHbT4/DSCN4923.jpg (https://ibb.co/yPNkfZr)

[Don Purcell]

That mold was designed for paper patch bullets, hence the 500 45 PP designation. The shank area with the grooves is several thousandths smaller than the nose. My father and I have that mold and worked with it back when it was thought you had to have a freebore throat in our Shiloh Sharps rifle. This was almost 40 years ago (Egad!). Since then much, much more has been learned over the years about how paper patch bullets were designed and used. When we used that mold we, like a lot of others were stumbling in the dark trying to make them shoot. But like I said it is designed for paper patch so if that is not your game then it is no good for what you want. I don't ever recall getting this design to shoot very well. Hope this helps and is not too much of a downer. If anyone else had any success please chime in I would be interested in your quest. All the best, Don.

[boatswainsmate]

That mold was designed for paper patch bullets, hence the 500 45 PP designation. The shank area with the grooves is several thousandths smaller than the nose. My father and I have that mold and worked with it back when it was thought you had to have a freebore throat in our Shiloh Sharps rifle. This was almost 40 years ago (Egad!). Since then much, much more has been learned over the years about how paper patch bullets were designed and used. When we used that mold we, like a lot of others were stumbling in the dark trying to make them shoot. But like I said it is designed for paper patch so if that is not your game then it is no good for what you want. I don't ever recall getting this design to shoot very well. Hope this helps and is not too much of a downer. If anyone else had any success please chime in I would be interested in your quest. All the best, Don.
Thanks

[semtav]

might shoot a lot better if you got rid of the bevel at the base !! What dia does it cast ??

[Don Purcell]

semtav, if you are referring to me I do not remember what the specs were on the bullets and yes the bevel they made it with was useless. My father ended up shooting a nose pour Hoch flat base 500 grain and it shot well but we were still handicapped with the free bore in front of the chamber. He passed away 14 1/2 years ago and I own the rifle and have considered sending it to Shiloh for a proper barrel. I have a C. Sharps Arms 45 2 7/8 that shoots a 560 grain paperpatch mold from Buffalo Arms that will cut one hole for 5 shots at 100 yards with 103 grains 1F Swiss powder. That is wiping between shots just testing the load for accuracy.

[Lead pot]

You can make a rifle with .400" free bore shoot quite well but you need to patch the bullet groove diameter.
I have spend a lot of years with rifles that had .430" free bore and it shot every bit as well as the rifles I have without.
Pedersoli did a fine job copying the early Shiloh's that Wolfgang put a healthy amount of free bore in :) but they will shoot well using a proper bullet for it.
That mould is a unusual design with the tapered recess at the end of the shank, I cant say that I ever seen a mould cut like it and this makes me wonder if it was cut for a percussion sharps to hold the silk thread wrapped around the nitrated paper.
Or for a muzzle loader for a chase patched bullet.
I have a PP mould that has shallow grooves on the shank like this one has.
I would take that mould and mill off the rebate and it will make a fine hunting bullet.

[semtav]

semtav, if you are referring to me I do not remember what the specs were on the bullets and yes the bevel they made it with was useless.

I wasn't in particular, but would be interested in the dia. That bevel up by the ogive does make it suspect as a normal PP bullet tho.

[boatswainsmate]

I wasn't in particular, but would be interested in the dia. That bevel up by the ogive does make it suspect as a normal PP bullet tho.

According to the box and what's left of the paperwork the cast diameter is .458

[semtav]

That would make it very hard to use as a patched to groove bullet either. Maybe in older guns with a .462 dia barrel. I patch to groove with a .454 dia bullet and that is as big as I'd want to go.

Sent from my E6910 using Tapatalk

[Red River Rick]

If it had some lube grooves, one might have a chance, shooting it as is.
Using "Rooster" flood lube or liquid alox, may help, but I have my doubts.

RRR

[boatswainsmate]

Thanks for all the information.

[Good Cheer]

My brother experimented with a little lighter version of that same mold from NEI.
He concluded that the design had a specific down falling, that being the from having the groove diameter band in front that the paper patch is intended to be protected by. Nifty idea to protect the edge of the patch from damage. But what he ran into was that the design gave less than satisfactory accuracy. I now have the mold and intend to try it out in a .458 bore diameter rifle. The whole patched boolit will be sized .457 after patching so the lip will go away.

[boatswainsmate]

My brother experimented with a little lighter version of that same mold from NEI.
He concluded that the design had a specific down falling, that being the from having the groove diameter band in front that the paper patch is intended to be protected by. Nifty idea to protect the edge of the patch from damage. But what he ran into was that the design gave less than satisfactory accuracy. I now have the mold and intend to try it out in a .458 bore diameter rifle. The whole patched boolit will be sized .457 after patching so the lip will go away.
Thanks

[boatswainsmate]

Here's a picture casted in my normal alloy.