Mold for .45-70: One lube groove or more?

[RG1911]

I was ready to buy an Accurate mold for my Marlin 45-70 that has an oversize bore, and had decided on a design that has one wide lube groove:

https://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=46-325V

Then I wondered if I was incorrectly applying a Keith handgun cast boolit style to a rifle.

The question, then, is: Should the cast rifle boolit have more than one lube groove, perhaps like this one:

https://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=46-345B

BTW, he will cut the mold so that it throws a .462" boolit.

Thank you,
Richard

[RickinTN]

The first bullet you reference is not a Keith style bullet. It may work well in a 45-70 Marlin. I have 3 Marlins so chambered. Send Tom a message and tell him what weight bullet you prefer and tell him it is for your Marlin. He has nose designs specifically for Marlin throats. I don't think the number of lube grooves particularly matters except a lighter (shorter) bullet will have less room for more than one.
Good Luck,
Rick

[RG1911]

The first bullet you reference is not a Keith style bullet. It may work well in a 45-70 Marlin. I have 3 Marlins so chambered. Send Tom a message and tell him what weight bullet you prefer and tell him it is for your Marlin. He has nose designs specifically for Marlin throats. I don't think the number of lube grooves particularly matters except a lighter (shorter) bullet will have less room for more than one.
Good Luck,
Rick
Thank you. By Keith style, I was thinking of his preference for one wide lube groove; I know the nose is not a Keith style.

I've discussed the requirements with Tom, but the nose shape didn't come up. He was concerned that a boolit sized to .462" might be too large; so I did a chamber cast that shows such a size should work.

I loaded and fired some .460" cast boolits and had no problems. These showed better accuracy than commercial .458" boolits, so I am hopeful that .462" will improve the accuracy to an acceptable level.

Thank you,
Richard

[USSR]

In designing my molds with Tom for my .45-70, we decided that one lube groove was preferable to two. Also, keep in mind that whatever bullet diameter you specify, Tom's mold will drop them at .002" over that, so specify diameter accordingly.

Don

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I don't think number of lube grooves will matter, until you get down into the weeds of the details.
Type of lube, smokeless powder or the holy black powder ...those types of things...

[RG1911]

Thank you for all the information. I'll go with the one-groove design I like.

Cheers,
Richard

[Wayne Smith]

Size and number of lube grooves have more to do with the efficiency of the lube you are using than any other variable. The slipperier your lube is and the more it covers the boolit the less you need. Older lubes were less efficient so one needed more. On my Loverin molds I lube one or two of the lube grooves. The angle of the side has more to do with the release from the mold than the release of the lube in the barrel.