I have been trying to decide what mold would be closest to the BD45. I have narrowed it down to 3 (I think). They are the 45-235B, 45-230A, and 45-230D. Attachment 324059Attachment 324060Attachment 324061
Any guess what one is closest?
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I have been trying to decide what mold would be closest to the BD45. I have narrowed it down to 3 (I think). They are the 45-235B, 45-230A, and 45-230D. Attachment 324059Attachment 324060Attachment 324061
Any guess what one is closest?
Don't know what a BD45 is, but I'd go with the 45-235b. Rounded lube grooves have lost lube in storage for me. The B mold has a good angle lube groove. It also has a beveled meplat to aid in feeding. My 2cents.
45-230A is nearly an exact copy. It’s what I use in my Master Caster as he did a better job on the ogive than my original mold from mountain moldsQuote:
Originally Posted by mcnurlenj
I think this is the dimensions for the bullet you are speaking about.
Attachment 324062
Send that drawing (above) to Tom Ellis at Accurate
and he'll put it in the catalog/make it up for you.
Heck, I might even have to buy one too.[smilie=w:
475 that's the one. BD says the 45-230A is the one I want. Thanks BD, I've been contemplating getting into casting and wanted the best bang for my buck mold. The BD45 seemed to be it.
A WFN boolit can have issues feeding in a semi-auto. Since you mention you are just beginning your casting hobby, I want to bring this to your attention.
I have the 45-230A. It works great.
I'm thinking of possibly getting the Saeco 58? 215 gr SWC, also with wide meplat for everyday use on targets and pests around the home. Saving the BD45s for hunting deer (within range), and oh crap ammo. then I'll think on a 357Mag bullet for later. Gonna order the Accurate Molds 45-230A later. Should I order the size at .452 or .453 for sizing and lubing? Any other advise would be welcomed too, possibly the oal?
I think you mean Tom Gibson.Quote:
Originally Posted by mehavey
Unless there’s another Tom at Accurate.
If I have a choice I choose bigger since I believe that it is easier to size down than to Beagle up!.........if you even need to.Quote:
Originally Posted by mcnurlenj
I've had very good luck with several 230 (ish) grain bullets of the same general 0.6" (ish) length with 0.3" (ish) shank and nose shape as the 45-230A - all of them with meplats of about .30"-.32". If you seat them so the point where shank ends and the ogive starts is basically flush with the case mouth, they will feed wonderfully and you'll have no worries of hanging up on a short-throated barrel.Quote:
Originally Posted by mcnurlenj
After some tinkering with several molds, what I wanted was a copy of my LBT 45-230-LFN (a ridiculously good-feeding bullet), but in tumble-lube format to speed production. I VERY nearly ordered the 45-230A with a request to change to TL grooves, but when I started applying the calipers to my LBT's, it became evident that the 45-230H was so close as to make little difference, so that's what I did. Can't lose with any of those under discussion, IMO. The 45-230F is also a good one as it has a very slight SWC step to it that was put there to give the 1911's slide stop more clearance.
If you're planning to run a conventional lube groove through a sizer, spec it for .4525" to .453" with your alloy and size to .452"
Those look good too 45-230H and 45-230F. I was also looking at the 45-210N. Looks similar to a Saeco 58.
The 195Q, and 200Q, T, and U are all sharing the concept of a 0.3" long nose section with the 230 grain bullets we've been discussing, but are dropping the extra weight mostly off the shank. Net effect is the feed dynamics will be identical. . .and you MIGHT be able to use the same die setting. . .Quote:
Originally Posted by mcnurlenj
Hmmm. . .
If you simply reduced the shank on the 230A to something like the dimensions of 195Q, you'd get your weight reduction and you COULD use the same die setting. Hmmmmm. . .
What are you going to cast it for? If it is a semi auto, that 235B with the slightly rounded nose corners looks like it would feed pretty well in a semi. If it feeds with traditional lube, you're good to go. If not, you can powder coat it. It will become slicker that glass and this really aids in feeding. A thrift store toaster oven and some powder from Smoke4320 will get it done. Welcome to the forum, you'll really learn a lot here. Great people willing to help.Quote:
Originally Posted by mcnurlenj
For all intents and purposes the LBT 45-230-LFN and the Accurate 45-230A are the BDacp. They both have minute tweaks, (maybe for an improvement? Or maybe to avoid my request that they keep the BDacp nomenclature to avoid the sort of confusion evidenced in this thread?). When I designed that boolit I published the drawing so that anyone could use the design. And a number of people did. That was my intention. I personally believe that the Accurate 45-230A is an improvement over the original as it has a more secant ogive while still maintaining as much space in the case as possible. I do not own the LBT version, so I can't say more about it. The issue with this boolit is not so much at the throat of the barrel, it's whether it hits the button on the inside of the slide stop on a 1911, (Toms improvement works here), and how long it can be seated to feed out of the magazine. I load Tom's design at 1.230 and it works very well in my 1911s.
:goodpost:Quote:
Originally Posted by BD
If you take a look at the .45 versions of the Winchester SXT, Federal HST, Speer Gold Dot, and others, you'll see that their silhouette looks an awful lot like the bullets we've been discussing in this thread. This isn't by accident.
The cast bullets of this general format are shaped to optimize feeding within the geometry of the .45ACP (and face it - most of them are 1911's), and they have as much meplat as can be got away with inside of that box. My experience with the LBT is that it feeds slick as greased eel boogers - with so little resistance that you think the gun is empty. I chronicled my experiences with getting the Keith 452423 (245 grain SWC with .34" meplat) to feed reliably, and while it can be done, what you get is a hitchy-kerchunky feel with a dented meplat. . .which results from the gun trying to beat the bullet into the shape of the LBT/BD/45-230A/230H.
In a way, you could almost argue that it was John Browning who designed these bullets for us when he designed the space they need to occupy.
John Browning originally designed the pistol that became the 1911 around a 200 grain bullet at 900 fps in 1905. It was the Army that insisted on .45 caliber and 230 grains, so you'd have to give them some credit as well :)
When I designed the BDacp I was after a biggest flat meplat with sharp edges that would work in the 1911, and fly well out past 100 yards, as IMO the only decent cast design for killing things with a 1911 at the time was the Saeco #058, which suffers from having the SWC bevel base shank design with a very shallow lube groove and the lip on the leading edge of the front drive band, and a nose that's too small to really ride the bore. I have that mold as well, and I could never get it to shoot well past 50 yards.
Nearly all of the modern defensive JHPs share some similarity in profile due to the need to fit in the magazine, miss the slide stop and feed on the frame ramp common to most 1911s. The main difference being that the meplat can afford to be smaller, as it's a HP and is designed to expand, which means the ogive is less critical. As the nose of a JHP is lighter, being hollow, the shank is generally longer, taking up more of the case volume.
I was after the largest meplat that would work with the maximum case volume. Thats what really drove the design parameters. Since then at least six outfits that make molds for profit have produced something very close to that design. Veral talked me into trying what he told me was the "Ideal bullet for the 1911", a 200 grain design with a very short rear drive band and a smaller, more round edged meplat. I tried it, and TonyB tried it, (it might have been Tony's mold), and neither of us felt it was ideal. After Veral came home from "vacation", he came out with his own version of the BDacp. The .1 rear drive band is something that took some experimentation to work out, but it has been successful and is almost universal on the variations of this design. Its a function of the obturation of the rear band forcing the lube against the barrel while staying intact enough to carry 99% of the lube along and out. In pure lead it could have been .15; In Linotype it could have been .08; .1 is what worked best with the wheel weight alloy nearly everyone was using at the time at near max for 850 fps. I did not have "plinking" in mind for this boolit, (plenty of molds already on the market for that). I think there were 4 variations I went through before settling on the final design. Mountain Molds cut the blocks for them as I made the modifications. It took about a year and a half to get it sorted out. I still have those early molds, (along with the first Lee group buy six cavity), somewhere on a shelf in the casting closet. As I said, these days I personally use the Accurate mold in my master caster. I think it is an improvement, and the boolits drop out easier due to the slightly shallower beveled lube groove.
I ordered the 45-230A sized at .453 with WW alloy. Hope it works for me, got a lyman 450 to size with 20.00 at the pawn shop.