500 pistol mould for 50 cal?

[smoked turkey]

This may be a dumb question but I don't know if I don't ask. Can I use a Lyman or RCBS 500 S&W magnum mould for 50 cal muzzleloader boolits? The info I have seen says either mould throws a .501 boolit. Seems if I cast of pure lead and use the right lube it would work. The RCBS is 400 gr. while the Lyman is 375 gr. I have a 500 mag revolver and seems like two birds with one stone sort of a thing. While I am asking I notice the mould info says the lyman is heat treated leaded iron or something like that. The RCBS says iron only. Does anyone have an opinion as to which mould block is the best? I have several Lyman moulds but no RCBS. Thanks.
Smoked Turkey

[Cbenc1]

I would refer you to the excellent write up by "Idahoron" titled "paper patching for ML parts 1 and 2" He uses a lee 500 SW boolit and paper patches them with great results. You can find these write ups just a few threads down in this very forum. My opinion is that Lyman and RCBS are both great molds, I use some of both and both brands produce excellent boolits.

[smoked turkey]

Cbenc1:
Thank you for refering me to the paper patching article. I had looked at that but overlooked the fact that he had used a 500 mag boolit. I reread the article and found it to be very informative. Today I looked in one of my old Lyman reloading books and saw an article on it there as well. I was quite impressed with what can be done. I think I will give it a try. I was just looking for a good excuse to buy a 500 mag mould from either Lyman or RCBS. Looks like the perfect thing to do. Now wish I could find a used one somewhere but not too likely. Thanks again.
Smoked Turkey

[Willbird]

The Lee 500 mag mold is a lot cheaper ;-).

[FL-Flinter]

It's going to depend on if you gun likes it or not. Paper patching will likely be a must not only to obtain maximum accuracy but also to help prevent the bullet from sliding off the powder charge creating an extremely dangerous air space (gap) condition. +1 on the Lee mold suggestion.

[Willbird]

My particular mold(Lee) drops pure lead bullets at .504, so they would not be a slip fit in my barrel(TC Omega) as is.

Bill

[FL-Flinter]

My particular mold(Lee) drops pure lead bullets at .504, so they would not be a slip fit in my barrel(TC Omega) as is.

Bill

Bill,

Standard warning, most molds for cartridge bullets are made to cast the stated size using harder alloy lead - soft almost pure lead has a lot more shrink on cooling and can result in the bullet dropping 0.001" to 0.004" smaller than normal.