What is your favorite Lee 45 acp mold?

[brstevns]

Like the title says which Lee 45 acp mold is your favorite and why?

[Jniedbalski]

Just got the lee .452 swc and like the mold a lot. It cast great bullets. Haven’t shot any yet but they sure look prudy.

[Walks]

452-230-TC

Feed & shoot swell in My Marlin 1894CB in .45Colt.
Shoot to POI at 25yds in My old RH Vaquero. My std .45Colt Cowboy Load for 25+yrs. Ever since Clays Powder came out.
Six shots into a tennis ball at 25yrds standing up on My hind legs and shooting one handed like a Man.

I can load it in .45ACP Hardball Loads when I run out of #452374.

That 6Cav casts a lot of really good bullets in a hurry.

[toallmy]

I shoot 185 , or 200 gr swc's most of the time out of my 45 auto's , but as mentioned above that lee 452-230 tc with standard lube grove has worked well in every 45 auto I have tried it in , even with the factory spring .

[brstevns]

Been trying to decide between the 200 swc and the 230 tc . Would like it to feed in a rhineland 45 acp conversion besides the 1911

[Conditor22]

452-200-RF Is an accurate shooter. Like the 452-228-1R you need to make sure you seat it deep enough for your barrel.
My shooting buddy regularly shoots out the bullseye (shoots/cuts it out of the target) with this bullet.
For me, it's a tossup between this and an old Lyman mold

[Jniedbalski]

I also could not decide on which mold to get. So I got 2. The lee 200 swc and the 230 tc . Got the two cavity molds. There cheep enuf by both.

[cupajoe]

The 200 gr. RF for me also. Just as accurate as a swc and that big ole meplat is a wonderful thing. My barrel is throated so I can crimp it ever so slightly in the crimp groove. Life is good.

[Jniedbalski]

The 200 regular lube grove 200 gr swc I got just tried them and they shoot great. Only thing I dont like about them is. I casted my lee cut down 32 mold at 80 gr and the 200 gr 45 next. Made a ton of 32 then Refilled the pot and casted the 45’s. The pot sure went down quick.

[Littlewolf]

the lyman 452374, yes i know its not a lee but the 452-228-1R is ok-ish as long as its a 6cav 2cav anything lee sucks (imho)

[Budzilla 19]

Lee 45-200 RF boolit is nice and shoots and feed every .45 I own!! 6 cavity Lee makes a pile of boolits in a short time!! Just my .02

[JBinMN]

I have 3 lee molds for 45. All are tumble lube & are 230gr.. I have 2 of the 2R(RN) & one the TC. I only have the 2 cavs for my 3 Lee 45ACP molds, but I am considering buying a 6cav of the TC one .

My answer to the OP question is that I favor the TC one.

[brstevns]

Very interesting! Have not yet decided. I do have the 255gr FN I could try?

[Winger Ed.]

I have a old Gold Cup, and just use it to kill pesky little black dots when they laugh at, or mock me.

I had a Lee 6 cavity 200 gr. trunciated cone wadcutter and was very happy with it.
Made lots of boolits real fast, and they are very accurate for me with a reduced charge of Unique & lighter spring.

[Misery-Whip]

I started with the 452-200rf. Good boolit. Great accuracy, but was a 2cav mold. Shot a little low and the accuracy node was around 1000fps and a little snappy for target work. I slill load it for those informal friends/family highly competitive meets. I started powdercoating this boolit and the accuracy node moved below what functions. So i still pan lube this design.

In a 6 cavity is the 452-230-2r tumble lube. This thing rains boolits, powdercoats well, Feeds in everything, groups well. Accuracy node at 840-880, shoots right on top of the sight. This is my favorite thus far.:Fire:

[brewer12345]

I cast and shoot buckets of the 200 grain SWC. Have to be careful of seating depth, but it is very accurate with light loads (4.5 grains of bullseye) and full power loads (7 grains of Unique). The mold absolutely spews boolits, so I have it handy for about every casting session when I want to simply empty the pot. The design powder coats just fine and with powder coating it doesn't seem to matter much what the alloy is.

[brstevns]

Do you guys prefer the TL or Standard lube design

[JBinMN]

For handgun boolits I prefer the TL. ( Yesterday I just ordered that 6 cav TL452-230TC I mentioned earlier, instead of the plain lube groove one. ;))

The regular lube groove handgun ones I have now are pretty tiny to handle sometimes so pan lubing is kind of a hassle, so I prefer the TL ones for the speed & ease of lubing.

I have not tried TL the regular lube groove ones I have yet, (IIRC, 102 -2R & 120 TC for ,380 & 9mm) but may do that sometime over the Winter to see how it works for them.

I can lube up those TL ones right quickly & I like that.
;)

G'Luck!
:)

[Sig556r]

NLG for PC

Do you guys prefer the TL or Standard lube design

[TNsailorman]

200 grain RFN shots great for me. Lee lubed and un-sized. One of the tightest shooting .45ACP loads I have used in my revolvers over 5.2 grains of W231 and a Federal primer. james

[brstevns]

NLG for PC

Lost me what does NLG stand for?

[brstevns]

200 grain RFN shots great for me. Lee lubed and un-sized. One of the tightest shooting .45ACP loads I have used in my revolvers over 5.2 grains of W231 and a Federal primer. james

Wonder how it would do in the Rhineland Conversion?

[Rick459]

Nlg no lube grooves.

[Camper64]

No lube groove, designed for powder coated boolits.

[oldsalt444]

Being a bullseye shooter, I go for accuracy. For me, the 200 gr. SWC copy of the H&G 68. The gold standard. I size them .454 for my revolver and .451 in my 1911s.

[brstevns]

No lube groove, designed for powder coated boolits.

OK Got it. I do PC sometimes, but have yet to try it in pistols.

[kmw1954]

ATM I only have one example of a 45 mold and that is a 2 cavity Lee 452-200 SWC. I just got it and have 20 test samples finally loaded up for testing. These are a single lube groove but I am trying these tumble lubed with 45-45-10

[drac0nic]

I have used the 200 LRN mold for my XD and it's finicky on COAL in the gun. Although I'll punch paper with it almost entirely I wanted something a bit more capable than just LRN ammo. I think I've got it licked but my last loads were a bit soggy and the gun stovepiped every other round basically and I had sooty brass. Gonna throw some fairly hot Blue Dot loads together and see if they do any better.

I will say that I don't think that it would feed SWCs successfully based on messing with it some, at least not without work.

[brstevns]

ATM I only have one example of a 45 mold and that is a 2 cavity Lee 452-200 SWC. I just got it and have 20 test samples finally loaded up for testing. These are a single lube groove but I am trying these tumble lubed with 45-45-10

Like to hear how they work out for you

[Dave W.]

I have used the 200 LRN mold for my XD and it's finicky on COAL in the gun. Although I'll punch paper with it almost entirely I wanted something a bit more capable than just LRN ammo. I think I've got it licked but my last loads were a bit soggy and the gun stovepiped every other round basically and I had sooty brass. Gonna throw some fairly hot Blue Dot loads together and see if they do any better.

I will say that I don't think that it would feed SWCs successfully based on messing with it some, at least not without work.
230 Gr LRN feeds fine in a XD but it chokes on 200 gr. LSW.

I have 3 Lee molds, all with regular lube groves, 230 RN, 230 TC & 200 SWC. My son tends to favor the round nose while I like the SWC.

[EMC45]

I too have the Lee 230gr. TC mold and the H&G 68 200gr. copy. Both are EXCELLENT molds.

I shoot them from a Springfield Mil Spec with standard 16lb recoil spring and both are super accurate and super reliable.

The Lee 190 SWC is a good one too. I have that in TL. All the above molds are 2 cavity.

[brstevns]

Anyone using the Lee 255gr RF bullet?

[Moonie]

I also have the 200gr SWC (regular lube groove, 6 cavity) and the 230gr TC (regular lube groove, 2 cavity). I use the 200gr for most everything, the 230gr is good for pistols that are finicky eaters.

[gwpercle]

Lyman 452460 200 grain SWC
With that boolit on top of 5.2 grains Unique I won a First Place trophy in 45 Cal. 1911 Service Pistol.
Gary

[Texas by God]

The 200 SWC over 5 grs Bullseye is my go to combo in my .45 autos, I’ve only just started using the 230 TC and I like what I see. Both Lee Moulds make great boolits. Buy with confidence.

[Dragonheart]

The best .45 bullet ever designed for accuracy the old H&G #68 in plain & bevel base.