475-400 Lee mould

[DLCTEX]

I finally received my new 2 cav. mould yesterday, examined it (looked good), and scrubbed it and fired up the Lee pot. I preheated the mould by dipping into the melt, then applied Bullplate lube and started casting. It took about 5 casts to get the near cavity to drop good looking boolits, but the far cavity took about 25 before it quit wrinkling boolits. I cast about 50 using ww alloy that had a little zinc in the mix. Seems I accidentally got an ingot from a batch I had been experimenting with a while back. The first clue was the ingot turned yellow and was much slower in melting. I spent some time dipping out zinc that floated to the top before casting. The last ten boolits I cast were pretty frosty. The boolits measured 473 to 475, with the shiney ones being smaller and the frosty ones being the largest. I will load the ten frosted boolits and see how they do, the rest will go back in the pot. I will try some without zinc in the mix to see if they grow any. My guess is that I'm going to Leement this mould to make them drop a little better (they were stickey until frosting) and also to enlarge them. I need to slug the bore, but will see how the 475 boolits do anyway. I was hoping to not need to size them as I don't yet have a 475 sizer and will pan lube and shoot as cast. The boolits are very round and the parting line is very small. I will be shooting them in a Tarus Raging Bull in 480 ruger. Hmm, as I type 480 I wonder what the dia. of the boolit is supposed to be? If 475, why name it 480?

[Lloyd Smale]

your 475 bullets might work but i size my 475 and 480 stuff to 476 and i have 4 of those 2 cav lee molds and they all cast big enough that the sizing die does size them. Keep in mind with lee molds its usually best to cast them hot enough that there right on the verge of smearing the spruce and you might want to insure you have a good ww alloy then add about 2 percent tin to it to get good fillout. It sometimes helps too with the bigger molds to drill out the spruce plated fill holes a bit to get good flow into the mold. I didnt need to do it on my 475 lees but you may need to with your alloy. I sure wish theyd make that bullet in a 6 cavity mold. Its a good bullet but a guy is stuck using those crappy 2 cavity molds.

[dubber123]

Let me know if you want to try any fatter ones. It took 3 trys, but I finally got a good one. This has been a very accurate boolit for me, I just wish it had more lube and a better crimp groove.

[DLCTEX]

I shot two rounds that I loaded with 12 gr. of Blue Dot yesterday, and they seemed pretty mild, so I loaded ten rounds with 13 gr. and fired them today. Not much more 'feel" of recoil and no pressure signs. Tonight I cast some more boolits using a good WW alloy and waterdropped some . These also measured small, so I double checked them with a micrometer (I had used my RCBS dial caliper that had always given accurate readings). The boolits measure .476 (.477 across the seam), so I rechecked the first batch I had cast and they also measure .476. I got a slight amount of leading with the 12 rounds fired, so I used the water dropped boolits and loaded them over 21 gr. H110 and a LP primer. I was busting fist sized rocks at 30-35 yds. When I get boolit fit and load down I'll see how well they shoot. I'm really liking this gun.