Lee 2-Cavity Bullet Mold 452-228-1R 45 ACP review and question

[iammarkjones]

I made my first run with my new Lee 228gr 1 ogive radius mold today and I have a few things to pass on. I have learned that with these Lee molds it's a bit of a **** shoot, but hey they are an inexpensive way to sample a new bullet style. If you treat them well they will last a long time. I only cast about 100 to use working up a load. Like most aluminum molds I have used, it started dropping good bullets after few warming pours. With the mold heated the first 50 or so went fine. I was running a pretty quick cadence when I started dropping bullets that had wings where the mold halves meet. I found that when closing this particular mold that you have to be extra cautious to insure a proper fit on closing. Not a deal breaker for me since I don't own a lee mold that isn't quirky. I let everything air cool and brought em in for inspection. Both cavities drop at 00.453 (+/-0.0005) using straight WW's. The slugs look nice and have two lube grooves. As cast the grooves are 00.031 deep, after sizing for my barrel at 00.452 that leaves 00.022 for lube. I sized up a slug to set my dies for their head space. This is where I started running into problems. This bullet is designed very short. Getting this bullet seated deep enough to go into battery correctly is a trick. I ended up with a COAL of 1.190. Any longer and the fat little slug hits as it is chambered. This has me worried about working up a load, because the bullet has to be seated deeper. If anyone has any load advise I would appreciate the help.

[Buckshot]

................iammarkjones, welcome to the board! If I'm not sadly mistaken that mould (I have it also) is a copy of the gov't FMJ slug profile. Lee has offered it in their lineup since forever. What pistol are you loading for? BTW, when you size the .453" slug to .452" the .031" deep lube grooves will loose a thou, so they'll be .030" deep.

The Lee reloading manual shows for the 45 ACP and "230gr Lead" boolits OAL's from 1.190 to 1.270" & there is a considerable number of loads listed. Hornady shows a swaged, knurled lead 230gr RN at an OAL of 1.250", but it is Their boolit, while the Lee manual contains load data from all over with no boolit call out. A couple other reloading manuals don't even show a single OAL.

..............Buckshot

[Calamity Jake]

"This is where I started running into problems. This bullet is designed very short. Getting this bullet seated deep enough to go into battery correctly is a trick. I ended up with a COAL of 1.190. Any longer and the fat little slug hits as it is chambered. This has me worried about working up a load, because the bullet has to be seated deeper. If anyone has any load advise I would appreciate the help. "

Your going to have to work up the load anyway so seat to an OAL for good function then pick
a powder from one of the load books, start with the lightest load listed for your boolit weight(what your boolit really weights) and work up to your liking.

[Echo]

"This is where I started running into problems. This bullet is designed very short. Getting this bullet seated deep enough to go into battery correctly is a trick. I ended up with a COAL of 1.190. Any longer and the fat little slug hits as it is chambered. This has me worried about working up a load, because the bullet has to be seated deeper. If anyone has any load advise I would appreciate the help. "



Hits what? The ramp? The rifling origin? Unless you are loading max loads, a little deep-seating on slab-sides won't cause any drama.

And the boolit should impinge on the rifling origin a mite, to reduce end-play.

[Love Life]

I use the same mold and ran ito the same issue. I usually load my store bought 230 LRN to 1.255 for my Kimber custome TLE II and have no issues. After casting these from hardball alloy I loaded a test round to the same usual COL as my store boughts. An absolute no go. So i seated them progressively deeper until they went into the chamber like they were supposed to. The COL my gun likes is 1.235 with these boolits. I did not reduce my powder charge because i was right in the middle of the min and max charge. Have had no issues with the 2,000 i have shot so far.

[35remington]

The 228-1R is not a duplication of the ball or government profile. The 230-2R is a duplication.

The difference is in the name......1 radius versus 2 radius. You've discovered that the nose of the bullet is short, and a duplication of standard OAL's presents the full diameter bearing surface out of the case, preventing chambering because it's hitting the rifling origin.

I have examples of both of these moulds. To duplicate ball, the 230-2R is it.

You're going to have to reduce your loads several tenths of a grain due to the deeper seating. Have you a chronograph? If you do, make up a test series of loads from well below, stopping several tenths below the manuals, and check the speed.

When you're at 820-850 fps, you're there. Pressures will be higher than if the 230-2R was loaded to 1.265" as this bullet seats further out of the case and lowers pressures, but you'll likely still be okay and within normal operating pressures.

I don't know what pistol you have, but in a 1911 best reliability is to be had with the 230-2R, as the release point for the magazines designed to feed it (not the brands you might think; best reliability for the 1911 is with true, tapered lip GI magazines) is correct as is the OAL.

The 1911 was not designed to feed shorter rounds as reliably. Many do, but it's swimming upstream a bit.