Just a quick report on Boomer's 462-420.
Being my first Lee 6 banger I read up on all the threads whilst waiting for it to do the 12,000 mile trip down under. I contacted Dan and some terrific Bull shop lube made the trip south too.
When the mould arrived I did all the modifications suggested. I inserted a hardened screw under the sprue cam, drilled out the sprue retaining bolt and fitted a locked through bolt and cleaned up any burrs as best I could.
I added some Bull shop lube and set to.
Well, the first session was a bit of a flop. My good old RCBS ladle melted (don't ask) so I was forced to bottom pour. The bullets were not dropping and the thermostat on my pot was playing up so I abandoned ship for the day. I made up some laps from the best bullets and spent a profitable couple of hours lapping the cavities. The one positive was the way the Bull plate lube smoothed out the sprue plate movement. It is a winner Dan.
The following day was better. My mould likes to run hot and before long I had a pile of the prettiest bullets you have ever seen.
Well, not that pretty as you can see by the picture, because my particular alloy hates being bottom poured and many of the bullets displayed a nasty but superficial rash. I must have some terrible element in my alloy as I can only get really pretty bullets if I use a ladle. The rash never seems to upset accuracy and weight consistancy is not effected.
My alloy is WW plus 4% tin and these bullets dropped out right on 401 grains plus or minus 1 grain. Wheel weights down here are pretty hard. Diameter was .4625" and no bullet was more than .001" out of round. All cavities were very similar and I could not detect any variation. Thank you Mr Lee. (I thought I would never say that)
Next step was to hone My .461" sizer die out to a touch over .462" which took the best part of another hour. The RCBS gas checks are a snug fit but seated beautifully and with the addition of some of my home made moly lube started to look like a hunting bullet. The bands were just kissed lightly by the sizer die and came out nice and round.
Next to the loading bench. The good part was I did not have to size the cases. Just prime, fill with powder, flare the mouth a touch and push those fat bullets in with firm thumb pressure. I used my crimp die to hold them in and I was ready yo go. My plan for these bullets was for full power hunting loads in my Ruger #1 45/70. Our deer are bigger than northern deer and I customarily use a .375 H&H so you will excuse me if these loads seem a little over the top. AR 2206 is a beaut Aussie powder much like your IMR 3031 and H4895. My Ruger loves it so I loaded up a few rounds of 50 gns, 52 gns, 54 gns and a compressed load of 56 gns. Luckily I have an old friend who lives a couple of miles up the road with a big property so this morning I threw some stuff in the truck and took off.
I set my little bench up and placed the targets a 50 metres. I know it is close but it is easier to track group size at this distant and check the good ones at 100 m later. (Some of my early loads would not hit a refrigerator at 100m so 50 m is prudent for me.)
I fired 3 shots of each load with no sighters or foulers. This lovely barrel never needs them. Results were:
50 gns 2206 Ave. 1780 fps. 1 1/2" at 50 m. mild
52 gns 2206 Ave. 1870 fps. 5/8" at 50 m. sharpish
54 gns 2206 Ave. 1920 fps. 5/8" at 50 m. (2 bullets in one hole!) still OK
56 gns 2206 Ave. 1990 fps. 1 1/4" at 50 m. getting uncomfortable, beginning to string?
Well as you can see these bullets shoot well in my Ruger 45/70. I salute you Mr 45 2.1 - you can certainly design bullets. I have yet to test these bullets at longer ranges but I hope to be able to settle on the 54 grain load with perhaps a 56 grain load as first shot when hunting sambar. I plan to test them out on ferals as this alloy may be a bit hard yet. I have pushed the 405 gn RCBS bullet (Beagled to .461") at 1900 fps with good accuracy using 70/30 WW and pure lead plus 2% tin and the bullets hang together. The straight WW' alloy may be a bit brittle so some more testing is in order.
Nardoo
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Originally Posted by rvpilot76
I knew what ya ment. 
