Hollow Base .45 Molds

[Good Cheer]

Any of you fellas use some of the nominally .45 diameter* hollow base designs?
What do you use in, rifles, pistols, revolvers?

I've been trying to talk myself into an offhand plinker to use .45 minies. Something with a real skinny barrel, something that comes to the shoulder about like a Remington bolt action .22.

*There's molds with .445, .450 and .454 on them that I know of, not that any cast at those diameters.:-P

[Nobade]

Sounds like my setup. Somewhere I found an old Ideal .450" minie' mold, and I have a TC Cherokee with a neglected barrel that refuses to shoot anything I have tried except those. Small and light, it's one of the later single trigger ones. I just wish it had more drop in the stock, it's hard to get my eye behind the sights.

[32-20]

If CVA had made the Bobcat in .45, that would be a good choice.

[Good Cheer]

Yes it would. Perhaps another Traditions Deerhunter could serve.

[Harter66]

I have a 454613 called out as a 45 Colts 255 RNFP HB . It is in fact a Minie' of 285 .

[Caswell Ranch]

Another good option is Lyman 450229 Mould, some say it was made for Remington 1858 (that's on my factory mold/mould box also) , shoots very well in Pedersoli .45 Kentucky rifle and pistol and probably any of their other .45 cal guns.

[Good Cheer]

My scary black gun is a percussion Traditions Deerhunter with a clamp-on mounted 2x7 pistol scope that sits in the rack perpetually overlooked and neglected. One of those with a wooden stock painted black at the factory, no doubt catering to that strangest of modern fads, the ugly gun. I could strip the ug off of it, refinish the stock and get a .45 octagonal to round barrel for it. There are so few non-fence post muzzleloaders commercially available these days. It's bad enough being of left dominant eye but wanting something besides a "deer rifle" really gives you chance to exercise your improvisational skills.

[Caswell Ranch]

My scary black gun is a percussion Traditions Deerhunter with a clamp-on mounted 2x7 pistol scope that sits in the rack perpetually overlooked and neglected. One of those with a wooden stock painted black at the factory, no doubt catering to that strangest of modern fads, the ugly gun. I could strip the ug off of it, refinish the stock and get a .45 octagonal to round barrel for it. There are so few non-fence post muzzleloaders commercially available these days. It's bad enough being of left dominant eye but wanting something besides a "deer rifle" really gives you chance to exercise your improvisational skills.

Lyman GP/GPH, Trade rifle , all none fence post. Pedersoli Kentucky/Pennsylvania and the list goes on. Finally the Traditions Pennsylvania or even the Frontier (Frontier is not .45 but easier than reworking what you have). If looking for something different why not look at a fowler or Indian trade musket (not the same as from India ;))

[Good Cheer]

I like my .40 and .54 GPR's. Like TC Renegades and Hawkens too. I'm wanting to go lighter weight. Like I was saying, thinking about something that uses .45 minies and that comes to your shoulder like a Remington .22. For such a rifle the .45 minie molds with their thin skirts appear to be just right.

[Caswell Ranch]

If you get what you want set up, PM me and I'll send you some bullets cast from the 450229 mold. I tried to attach picture with no success .

[Good Cheer]

Thanks for the offer Caswell.

Supposed to have an older traditions half stock coming for this project.
[smilie=w:

[Good Cheer]

I have a 454613 called out as a 45 Colts 255 RNFP HB . It is in fact a Minie' of 285 .

Yeh, Lyman made two different designs of that mold number. One is like a traditional minie and the other is about like a #454190 with deeper grease grooves and a hollow base.

[Ray1946]

This is kind of a late reply to your querie. In the mid 80's I was fooling with a 450229 in a Remington 58' Army; Armi San Marco I believe. I sized the base of the bullet enough to start it in the cylinder and lube the to two grooves. I was using Pistol grade Pyrodex and the 30 gr.(by volume) spout on my flask. I compressed the load with rammer on the pistol until it wouldn't compress any more. Now that I think about it, this may have been an overload. I then proceeded to shoot the pistol over my screens and was totally surprised at the results; six shots averaged 1112 FPS! The shop rag that I cradled the pistol on caught fire and the gap flash burned all the hair off the lower part of my right hand. I used a similar load in a Rogers and Spencer replica, but couldn't get the volume of powder in the cylinders. This probably sounds a little silly, but the hollow base really forms a tight seal and all the pressure developed from the Pyrodex is pushing that slug out the barrel................, BE CAREFUL