Noob question

[bosco555]

Hi All, I am new here and also new to casting. I have an RCBS mold on order for my 458WinMag. I have a Lee pot with a bottom spout, and have access to lead alloys. I have a lee re-sizer for the same caliber.

My question is regarding top punches...Does one really need them? I tried searching but didn't get anything..

thanks to everyone in advance
bosco

[DLCTEX]

I assume you are talking about a Lee bullet sizer (.459 dia.) and not a resizing die for brass. In which case you do not need a top punch as the lee comes with a bottom punch for nose first sizing. A top punch is use with lubesizers (both sizes and lubes the boolit in one operation) and is sized base first.

[bosco555]

HI Tex, thanks for the reply, yep, talking about bullet sizer. OK, so no need for top punch, I would lube the boolits using Lee alox..that'd be good enough won't it?

thanks again
bosco

[looseprojectile]

are used in a luber sizer to push the boolit down into the sizer die.
If you have ordered a plain base boolit the velocity must of necessity be kept fairly low like 1300 fps or so or you may experience leading.
If you have ordered a gas check type boolit you may find that you can launch them
at up to 1800 fps with little leading.
There also is the factor of lube. At low velocity you might get by with Lee liquid Alox. At higher velocities you will probably need to use a stick lube of some kind.
In a pinch stick lube can be applied with your fingers.
Your Lee sizer has a punch that fits in the ram of the loading press and pushes the boolit up through the die that is screwed into the loading press. Lee sizers are made primarily to size Lee micro band boolits though they will work on any boolit.
The size of the boolit is is important. I try to make my rifle boolits two thousandths larger than the groove diameter of the gun.
I have a lot of respect for a .458 magnum. Real healthy 45 70 loads are duck soup.
Welcome to Cast Boolits

Life is good

[looseprojectile]

My wife gets off work at one thirty AM. Generally stay up till three or so.

Life is good

[missionary5155]

Greetings and WELCOME Bosco555 !
Those Lee sizers are sell-contained complete little kits... but you do need a reloading press to work it.
Before buying into a some stuff you want to take a soft lead "slug" ( Round ball, sinker, bullet) and find out what the THROAT diameter of your rifle is. That area MUST be filled with your boolit to withstand the gas pressure exerted on the boolit base. I would be thinking of a boolit at least .001 + to get a good seal. Do not think "any size will do". The boolit is just like a piston in a car.. too small and there is little compression and all sorts of other problems .
So do yourself a favor and do the research first.. findout the throat diameter then get a sizer at least .001 larger..
As you already ordered the mold we can help you with that when you find out how large a diameter it casts. Again you are looking for a boolit that will be fat enough... In most my caliber".458" rifles they are being fed .460 or larger bolits.

[bosco555]

Hi guys...thank you and thanks again for the replies. Yep I do have a reloading press as I do quite a lot of reloading. Just started casting as 458 projectiles can be costly just to shoot at paper targets..

I measured a bought projectile (Sierra) with my verniers and it was .457, I have cast from a standard lee mold (not gas check, which I bought by mistake) and the slugs coming out of that measure .457 as well.

Must say the LEE is quite precise for the price. I am looking at 405grains and the speed of such a bullet would be in the region of 2200/2300fps. Liquid alox then won't do the job, huh?

Can you guys recommend what type of lube should I use for those speeds?
thanks again to all
bosco

[bosco555]

Or...what about Moly coating the boolits?

[DLCTEX]

I don't think you will get satisfactory results pushing your boolits that fast. You will probably find best accuracy @ 1700 or less IMHO. More speed is not necessary for satisfactory results on North American game, and certainly plenty for targets. I would suggest Lar's Carnuba Red for one of many good lubes available and pan lubing. Do a search here if you are not familiar with pan lubing. .457 may be too small and cause leading problems, but you will not know what your gun wants until you try it or slug your barrel.
Since my surgery I do not sleep more than 3-4 hours at a stretch, so I get on the computer a while, get sleepy, and go back to bed.

[ricksplace]

I don't think you will get satisfactory results pushing your boolits that fast. You will probably find best accuracy @ 1700 or less IMHO. More speed is not necessary for satisfactory results on North American game, and certainly plenty for targets. I would suggest Lar's Carnuba Red for one of many good lubes available and pan lubing. Do a search here if you are not familiar with pan lubing. .457 may be too small and cause leading problems, but you will not know what your gun wants until you try it or slug your barrel.
Since my surgery I do not sleep more than 3-4 hours at a stretch, so I get on the computer a while, get sleepy, and go back to bed.

I agree with 1700 fps, but only with a gas check. I have a custom 458 with a 1-22 twist (ER Shaw). There a lots of loads available on this site, but here are a few of my favs: 500 gr Lee fpgc with 45 gr of 4198. Chrono at 1725. RCBS 300gr fpgc with 21 gr Unique. Not chronod yet, but should be about 1600 fps. Both shoot into less than 2 moa. I use Alox/beeswax NRA formula and size to .4585 I have not had good luck with plain base boolits in my .458, probably because I haven't taken the time to work on it. The two gc molds I have shoot well, so I shoot them. My friend has a lee 400 gr hp pb mold that I am going to borrow and cast a bunch to try. Would you believe I had one of these molds and sold it?

As for North American game, that 500 gr lee cast with air cooled wheelweights generates over 3000 ft lbs and will kill anything that walks the planet with good shot placement. I have shot moose with this load and it's a real thumper. The nice thing about the 458, is you can load it from sparrow fart loads to full house dangerous game loads depending on your mood and what you're shooting at.

[Recluse]

Must say the LEE is quite precise for the price. I am looking at 405grains and the speed of such a bullet would be in the region of 2200/2300fps. Liquid alox then won't do the job, huh?

Can you guys recommend what type of lube should I use for those speeds?
thanks again to all
bosco

For the lower to mid-range velocity loads, try this: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=67654

If you decide to go g/c boolits and max velocity loads, just like DLCTEX said, Lars Carnauba Red is the best lube on the market today. You'll have to pain-lube with it, but I can't see too many folks short of Paul Bunyan firing a lot of 458 at any one sitting. So the pain-lubing won't be that tedious as you won't be doing that many boolits at a time.

:coffee:

[cajun shooter]

First thing to do is forget using alox for lube. Buy a good loading manual or sign up for Handloader on line. You should use gas check bullets with the bullets for a 458 mag that are at least .001 over slug bore. I have shot 458 mags and they provide push on the rear at a good rate. I would look for any starting lead bullet loads as there is neither man or beast that can't be taken with it.