New To Casting

[Fshaw]

I’ve reloaded rifles and pistols for many years and reloaded cast bullets for revolvers, mostly 44 Mag, that I’ve purchased but I’ve never cast a bullet. As a hoarder I’ve accumulated some casting hardware, lead and wheel weights but not used it. I’m newly retired, still guiding hunting, fishing and whitewater, hunt actively and want to het started start casting. I am a fan of Elmer’s and have read many of his books. I’ve also spent many hours here and on other sites reading about mold recommendations and loads for the 45 Colt, mold makers and casting basics.

I recently purchased a 45 Colt (5.5”) Ruger Blackhawk that I want to buy a mold for. I have a 429421 for my 44 Mag and am planning to get either a Keith style mold or an LBT WFN, planning on 250-280gr for use at about 1,000fps or a bit more. Use will be informal target shooting and deer hunting in the Adirondacks where a long shot would be 75 yards. I am a fan of Elmer’s and have read many of his books.

I have a few basic questions to start:

1. If you were to buy 1 quality mold for a deer hunting bullet, what would it be? I’m leaning toward 454424, RCBS 270gr SAA, LBT 280WFN, or other wide meplat SWC. I understand that all guns are unique but has one shown to typically be more accurate in a RBH than the others? I’ll have the cylinder throats honed to .4525.

2. Is there a custom mold maker that you like that doesn’t have long wait times and produces top quality molds. I’m willing to pay the price for an LBT mold if necessary.

3. Recommended mold material for a new caster, aluminum, brass or steel?

Thanks and great site.

Frank Shaw

[ryanmattes]

I have and love the NOE copy of the Keith 454424 SWC, and I shoot it exclusively in my .45 Colt revolvers. It's a very well-made brass mold, so it's not too heavy but retains heat well. It drops a 255-ish grain (depending on alloy, the bucket of 9-10 BHN ones I currently have cast are 257 +/- .5 gr) bullet at about .455", which I size down to .454 for my older Ruger Vaquero.

I shoot them both with traditional wax lube and HiTek coated, and have had zero leading regardless of the charge. The wide, square lube groove does it's job when you use traditional lube, and the coating makes lube moot and makes sizing much cleaner, no lube or lead in my sizing dies, and much less force required.

Because I'm not hunting with them, I'm not pushing them quite that fast. I'm using a moderate load with Unique, which is plenty consistent out to 25 yards.

I don't have a lever-action in .45 Colt right now, but I intend to get one. For 50-100 yard shots I would want to use a rifle, since I'm just not good enough with a revolver at those ranges For that, I've also picked up a RNFP mold that's in the same weight and size range, in case I have issues with feeding the SWC. I only got that mold recently, from someone in this forum, and I've cast with it, but I don't remember make or model. When I get back to the house I can tell you what it is.

Pictured below, the 454424 from the NOE mold.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210829/690c3d3956bd3ed32d0d763652b16d68.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210829/3d6e8145f4d78cba25e034390b38f0cf.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210829/c10e7636c2aa7b0a4733b7612a5bafd4.jpg

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[Stopsign32v]

You could not be at a better site for this, that much I can assure you.

And I too am part of the 45 Colt master race team#

[Wheelguns 1961]

While I agree with the molds that you have in mind, I would like to recommend a NOE 454-280 WFN. I use this in my blackhawk for hunting, and have several friends that use it also.

[ryanmattes]

FYI, the RNFP mold I have is an iron Lyman 454190, it drops a ~250gr.

In the picture, the left is my MP .45 HP, the right is the 454190.

Looks good, but I haven't shot it yet.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210829/2287ba77534026435db776546d6d1bf1.jpg

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[Mk42gunner]

Welcome aboard Frank.

I've had good luck with a Lyman 452424 in both my large frame Vaquero and a Marlin Model 1894CB. I size to .452" and lube with FWFL (recipe in the lube section).

No idea on delivery times for custom molds right now, but I have no doubt that Accurate, NOE or MP can and will make good molds.

As far as production molds go, I have never had a bad RCBS mold. Most Lyman's are good, some Lee's need work.

If I were to start over with the .45 Colt now, I would look very hard at the Lee 255 RNFP. I would not pay a premium price for a stock Lee mold though.

Robert

[wv109323]

Your mold choice may depend on how you size/lube or powder coat your boolits. Your mentioned choices are fine. There are several quality mold makers:RCBS, Saeco, NOE, Accurate molds and Mi-hec. These are all top quality.
Availability is uncertain in these times. RCBS and Saeco are handled by retailers so availability is whether they are in stock. NOE and Accurate have reasonable lead times. They have many molds in stock. Mi-hec caters to group buys but has many in stock molds also.
Choice of mold material is not that big of a deal. Aluminum may be best for a beginner because they heat up quicker. Most beginners do not realize how hot the mold has to be. While easy to heat up aluminum also gets overheated quicker. In my opinion with aluminum you need to cast about as quick as you can to keep the mold hot.
Brass is fine and probably produces the best bullets due to the heat retention in the mold. It seems to me brass is ideal while casting at a moderate rate.
Nothing wrong with metal molds. They can get heavy in 6+ cavities. They can rust if left unoiled.
With all molds, your speed of casting needs to be catered to the mold material. Too fast and you get frosted bullets and too slow you get wrinkles. Also how you get the lead into the mold makes a difference. With bullets as big as you want you need to get the lead in the mold quickly, either a large stream out of a bottom pour pot or ladle.
With .45 caliber molds I would suggest brass or steel but aluminum is doable.

[Hedly Lamarr]

I'm semi retired and new to casting also. But I can tell you it's a blast. I just received my first LBT mold, a .430-280 WFN. Veril Smith is still cranking out works of art and it's hard to beat the WFN on game. I also have an Accurate 43-265F which I love dearly. Accurate has a 10 week wait time and LBT is about the same. I'm a big Elmer fan as well, just haven't had as much luck getting accuracy from Keith style semi-wadcutters with my Redhawk. Probably haven't done my part experimenting.