lee 457-340fp

[canon6]

if any of you guys have a one of these molds I am trying to find out the diameter of the meplat,any help would be appreciated Doug

[wmitty]

Doug, I checked my mold with a dial caliper and came up with 0.241"; If you have a load you'd recommend for a Marlin micro groove barrel with this bullet I'd like to hear from you.

[canon6]

Wmitty,thanks for the info,and I am using NEF 45-70 sorry I dont have any good info for you Doug

[Buckshot]

...................If you guys have come up with 340 Lee's that cast large enough to use in 45 cal rifles, you MUST be living right :-). Over the years I've bought 3 of'em and every ding bling one of'em won't drop a slug over .457". They ARE good for this:

http://www.fototime.com/68E891AD4F08210/standard.jpg

Makes a great heavy slug for the 45 Colt, but that's not really why I'd bought 3 over the years!

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

[wmitty]

Buckshot, I Have The Same Problem With The Mold I Have. I Finally Bumped Some Up To .460" So They'd Work In The Marlin; But They Won't Shoot As Cast Worth A Flip.

[Dale53]

My Lee 457340F shoots quite well in my Marlin (early new issue 1895) with an appropriate charge of 4198. I regularly get 1.5" five shot groups at 100 yards. My Marlin has conventional rifling. I have never checked the barrel dimensions as it works so well.

Of course, the first thing that I did was have a decent recoil pad installed. that original curved plastic butt plate with the "razor" edges about ruined me during my first trial (I was wearing only a white tee shirt on my upper body). I had obvious abraisons with serious bruising. However, a good recoil pad totally solved that problem.

Strong action .45/70's have recoil to contend with if you load them up to the "serious" level. Of course, since I don't have any "Lions, tigers and bears" around here (biggest game is whitetail deer) I really don't need any velocities that exceed the old black powder ballistics.

Regarding the undersize bullet moulds - I wonder why swage dies are not more popular. Most of us have a strong single stage reloading press (mine is a Rock Chucker) and a good swage die in that or even a dedicated swaging press like RCE ( http://rceco.com/MN.asp?pg=default ) builfds, together with a swage die set, used in conjunction with a slightly undersize cast and lubricated bullet should really solve the bullet size problem. Of course, the problem is that the set up for just one bullet would cost about $400.00. Subsequent bullet forming dies would be about $100 per set. I rather suspect that is a real "put off" for most of us.

Our beloved Group Buy moulds sure solve most of those problems, don't they?

FWIW
Dale53

[Dale53]

My Lee 457340F shoots quite well in my Marlin (early new issue 1895) with an appropriate charge of 4198. I regularly get 1.5" five shot groups at 100 yards. My Marlin has conventional rifling. I have never checked the barrel dimensions as it works so well.

Of course, the first thing that I did was have a decent recoil pad installed. that original curved plastic butt plate with the "razor" edges about ruined me during my first trial (I was wearing only a white tee shirt on my upper body). I had obvious abraisons with serious bruising. However, a good recoil pad totally solved that problem.

Strong action .45/70's have recoil to contend with if you load them up to the "serious" level. Of course, since I don't have any "Lions, tigers and bears" around here (biggest game is whitetail deer) I really don't need any velocities that exceed the old black powder ballistics.

Regarding the undersize bullet moulds - I wonder why swage dies are not more popular. Most of us have a strong single stage reloading press (mine is a Rock Chucker) and a good swage die in that or even a dedicated swaging press like RCE ( http://rceco.com/MN.asp?pg=default ) builfds, together with a swage die set, used in conjunction with a slightly undersize cast and lubricated bullet should really solve the bullet size problem. Of course, the problem is that the set up for just one bullet would cost about $400.00. Subsequent bullet forming dies would be about $100 per set. I rather suspect that is a real "put off" for most of us.

Our beloved Group Buy moulds sure solve most of those problems, don't they?:drinks:

FWIW
Dale53

[canon6]

Buckshot,thanks for the info,I am using 350gr Oregon Trail.They shoot real good in my NEF and I am wanting to cast my own.Can you recomend a mold thanks Doug

[Buckshot]

Buckshot,thanks for the info,I am using 350gr Oregon Trail.They shoot real good in my NEF and I am wanting to cast my own.Can you recomend a mold thanks Doug

.............The Lee 458-405HP casts (my mould) about .462" so that one as far as light Lee 45 cal moulds go would work. I hate to suggest their 405 plain base mould as like the 340gr one, I've never had one that dropped a slug over .457". I also have the Lee 457-450F and the 500gr models and they do cast large enough to be useable.

However if you don't just HAVE to have a Lee, then for a plain based slug Lyman makes a couple that are fine performers. Personally I like the RCBS 300 and 405 boolits the best, but they're both GC designs. Don't know if you're set up for them or not.

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