Would 45 cal minie / maxi balls work in 43 spanish?

[ohland]

Always wondered on the 45 BP moulds for the 45. What size do they actually drop? In my little fantasy world, they would drop out of the mould at .445

Since they are long, they might align well with the bore...

[pworley1]

I have used the Lyman 445599 with good results.

[Geezer in NH]

I can tell you the maxi's do not work at all in a 45/70. They may work in the smaller bore so give it a try what's to lose.

[Geezer in NH]

I will bet they will, Mine work great in an H&A rifle that uses that bore pretty much. I Killed a Cow Moose in NH that way with the H&A that others laugh at.

[bedbugbilly]

I haven't got the Lyman mold but my Lee REAL 45 mold drops them at about .450 on the snozz - and of course they are soft lead since I'm going to be trying them in an old H & A under hammer that I recently picked up. I have looked at a couple of used Lyman maxi molds and the last one I looked at was marked 452. If I'm not mistaken (and someone correct me if I'm wrong" - when introduced into the bore from the muzzle, the rings conform to the rifling - started with a short starter and then pushed down and seated with the ramrod. Again - all I'm going by is the size that was marked on the mold that I looked at.

That being said - the mold appeared to create a boolit with very ample grease grooves since it's intended for BP and BP lube. Even if cast over what you need, I think that they would be plenty of grease ring left if you sized it down to what you needed - probably in several steps so as not to distort the riding rings too much? Of course you could cast it in an alloy harder than pure lead as well.

As "different" as it sounds - I almost bought the 452 maxi mold just to try it in 45 Colt. I'm getting set up to reload 45 Colt & Schofield and if they would drop a little over .452 from a .452 maxi mold - it would be interesting to try.

As mentioned above - give it a try and see how it works - that's the only real way you'll know. Before you buy a mold, you might see if someone who has the mold will cast you up some so you can try them out - if it works, then you can go ahead and hunt up a mold.

I have always shot round ball for 50 + years and this is my first venture into using a Lee REAL and at some point, I'll want to try the Lyman maxi as well in my 45. The one thing that I notice on the Lee REAL is that the riding bands of the boolit (for want of a better word) are thinner than the bands on the maxi mold I looked at. I believe the theory on the Lee REAL is that they are made that way to hold lube but make introduction into the bore (from the muzzle) easier and in theory, when fired, sort of "flex back" to scrape fouling on the way out - at least that's my interpretation of the design.

If you try the maxi - please post what your experience and results are - how much you had to size, etc. as it would be interesting. As they say . . . nothing ventured, nothing gained! Take a look at Lee's 45 REAL boolit design on Titan. If you think it's a design you'd like to try - pm me and when I'm casting some up, I'll cast some for you to try. I'm thinking though that if it were sized down, you might loose a lot of bore riding area on what bands there are? Can't say for sure though and maybe someone else has some good suggestions that are better than my thoughts. Good luck!

[Good Cheer]

The 445599 has been .445 for me, that's with two different molds.
Shot them in a H&R .45Colt carbine with a case filled with FFFg, the base ring just stuck in the case mouth.
The skirt filled with lube, a cloth patch wedging the base ring tight in the case mouth, the minie riding the bore.
With that small of a charge the minie expanded into the rifling it's full length.
Best guess is that you'd get full length expansion into the rifling with the .43.

[montana_charlie]

Always wondered on the 45 BP moulds for the 45. What size do they actually drop? In my little fantasy world, they would drop out of the mould at .445

In order to get a measurement for you, I cleaned the grease off of a .45 MaxiBall that was cast and lubed in 1975.

As I recall from when I used to shoot them, the 'body' of the bullet is a 'slip fit' on the faces of the lands, and the top band needed a thump with the short starter to engrave it into the rifling.

The base and center band of the one I measured are nominally .450 (or a tiny bit more).
The front band is .455.

CM