Had to buy some more molds

[Caswell Ranch]

275613
275614
275615
275616

Not sure about the typo on one of them.

[Caswell Ranch]

Hope they both work well in 58 Remington and revolving carbine. Not sure about the R.E.A.L. in anything other than a rifle.

[CastingFool]

Typo, yeah, never heard of a luger old army. Lol

[Hellgate]

The 44 cal R.E.A.L. is no longer made but is the only REAL bullet that fits the Remington repros. The 45 REAL's lowest driving band is too big to insert into the Remingtons but might fit a Ruger Old Army. One caveat: be darned sure you have the mold well filled out because if the friction rings (driving bands?) are not fully filled out and sharp the undersized bullet can migrate forward under recoil and jam the gun. It's called "ball creep". You don't want that in a match competition but if plinking you can just press the bullet back in and commence cocking the gun if it hasn't fallen out.
The LEE ROA conical might not enter a Remington chamber you'll just have to try it. It's driving bands are sized for a pistol that likes the .457 ball rather than the .454 of the Colt & Remmy copies.

[ogre]

I have heard of ball creep but did not think it an acceptable topic for discussion amongst dignified company.

[Winger Ed.]

Probably meant to label them 'Ruger Old Army' that was based on their Black hawk frame.

[Caswell Ranch]

Yes, they should have been marked Ruger. I wonder what happened and how many were printed Luger Old Army. On the other box the mold number (in red) does not match todays numbers 90385.

[Caswell Ranch]

The 44 cal R.E.A.L. is no longer made but is the only REAL bullet that fits the Remington repros. The 45 REAL's lowest driving band is too big to insert into the Remingtons but might fit a Ruger Old Army. One caveat: be darned sure you have the mold well filled out because if the friction rings (driving bands?) are not fully filled out and sharp the undersized bullet can migrate forward under recoil and jam the gun. It's called "ball creep". You don't want that in a match competition but if plinking you can just press the bullet back in and commence cocking the gun if it hasn't fallen out.
The LEE ROA conical might not enter a Remington chamber you'll just have to try it. It's driving bands are sized for a pistol that likes the .457 ball rather than the .454 of the Colt & Remmy copies.

New Uberti 58 and carbine (2020 run) are .450 cylinder charge holes and barrel groove depth is .450, grooves are 5 thou deep. I got the .456 mold mostly for the box plus I can size them to .452.

[Hellgate]

My Uberti Remington's chambers are .448. Looks like Uberti improved things.
OK, here's some measurements on the R.E.A.L. bullet diameters of the 44 & 45 calibers that I have no recollection where I found them. So FWIW:
Driving band diameters for 45 cal R.E.A.L.:
Bottom .457
Middle .462
Top .467
Driving band diameters for 44 cal REAL:
Bottom .447
Middle .452
Top .457

[Bob Gular]

Lee makes a 454 sizer that won't break the bank.

[Caswell Ranch]

Can't find any info on the .44 R.E.A.L. I know the band sizes and weight but what was this mold made for.
I know that a Minie mold was made by Ideal/Lyman in size .445 (445-599) possibly for H & A under hammer muzzleloading rifles,
could the Lee have been intended for the same ?

[Caswell Ranch]

My Uberti Remington's chambers are .448. Looks like Uberti improved things.
OK, here's some measurements on the R.E.A.L. bullet diameters of the 44 & 45 calibers that I have no recollection where I found them. So FWIW:
Driving band diameters for 45 cal R.E.A.L.:
Bottom .457
Middle .462
Top .467
Driving band diameters for 44 cal REAL:
Bottom .447
Middle .452
Top .457

Molds came in today, with pure lead the R.E.A.L. are a pain to get to fill out or they are shrinking back, I'm getting an average of 3 thou under each of the sizes you note. Will go back out to the shop in a minute and try again. The Luger Old Army ;) mold is running under size also but only by 1 to 2 thou, interesting that it is tapered with the base being .450 and front edge of top lube groove at .455/456. Casting with RotoMetals 99.9 pure lead. Round ball is so much easier.

[Caswell Ranch]

O.K. cleaned the molds again and started over, results are .44 R.E.A.L. top = .454, middle = .449 and bottom = .444.
On a digital scale they are very consistent at 185.2 grains for every one of 10 randomly picked from 50.

The "Luger Old Army" mold is casting consistent .450.5 at the base and .454 in the middle going to .456 at front edge of top lube groove. Weight is consistent at 223.4 grains with a .2 grain swing (223.4, 223.2).

[Hellgate]

Make sure both mold and lead are plenty hot so you fill out the driving bands. I wonder if a tiny bit of tin (like 1:40+) might get a better fill without hardening the alloy that much.

[Edward]

Make sure both mold and lead are plenty hot so you fill out the driving bands. I wonder if a tiny bit of tin (like 1:40+) might get a better fill without hardening the alloy that much.

It sure will but with pure you have to turn up the heat ,and practice compression casting for sharp edges and COMPLETE FILL Works every time/Ed

[Caswell Ranch]

Numbers I posted above are correct. Ran mold hot and came up 125 deg on lead temp, complete fill, sharp edges but the sizes are
Top= .454, middle= .449 and bottom=.444 this is the Lee .44 R.E.A.L. 185 grain. Also did a test run with little tin in the mix, same.

[Hellgate]

It may be that their cherry began to wear and the sizes are now larger than what I had. Those dimensions should work fine in the Remington Repros.

[Caswell Ranch]

Who knows, Mold was new old stock and still had dried up packing lube in/on it. I think it will work in most .44's (Rem/1860's).
The "Luger Old Army" error printed box holds more promise to me along with round ball.
Lee .44 R.E.A.L. drops in the cylinder charge holes to the middle band and with a gentle press with a finger will push down to the top band, not holding by much, my new production Uberti has .450 charge holes and the other conical will start snug to first lube ring. Could work well with Pietta . May get rid of the .44 R.E.A.L. or both and stick with RB.

[Jniedbalski]

I have one of the 44 single cavity lee molds. My mold is .450 base band .452 middle and .455 front band. It workers extremely good in my 1911 45 acp. Just tried 20 or so and couldn’t believe how good they shot. I casted a bunch more but it’s slow casting being a single cavity. Wish I had my box. I throw all away when I get them. It is a older mold I bought at a garage sale 20 years ago. At first I didint think they would shoot good. They load a little loose at the base then tighten up by the middle and top base band. They group better than most my other bullets

[Caswell Ranch]

It may be that their cherry began to wear and the sizes are now larger than what I had. Those dimensions should work fine in the Remington Repros.

They drop into the Uberti Remington cylinder easy bottom band, drag the middle band and loading lever has to be used to seat (as it should). As far as the bore goes with this bullet, bottom band drags on lands (tested at muzzle), middle band sits in/on crown and that's as far as it goes without a dowel and hammer, yes it should work well. I think it's a keeper and will sell off the "Luger Old Army" mold.

[Woodnbow]

Typo, yeah, never heard of a luger old army. Lol
It’s a Japanese Ruger...