RCBS .45 Caliber 230 Gr. Flat Point

[Treetop]

MidwayUSA has this mold on sale right now for $57.52. Regular price is $75.99.

Does anyone here have one of these?

How does it compare to the old Lyman 452423?

It appears to be a fairly close copy with it's rather large diameter meplat and a full caliber cutting shoulder... Thanks for your opinions, Treetop.

[BoolitBill]

Treetop, I have one and I like it very much. I use it in both my .45 long colt and for my .45 acp revolvers (either full moon clips or in auto rim cases). I have not tried it in .45 acp semiautos yet but Mike Venturino had written an article or two in Handloader magazine where he loaded .45 acp semiauto with this boolit. In fact he said that this mold could be used for all his .45 caliber handguns if he was forced to choose only one mold .

[NickSS]

I have one too and it is one of my favorite 45 molds as it can (and is) used in 45 colt, 45 schofield, and 45 ACP. The only mold I use more is my six cavity 200 gr Lee rfp as it works in all of them and is faster to cast. Accuracy is about the same over 50 yards but the heavier bullet works better in carbines for longer ranges.

[Treetop]

Thanks for the replies, BoolitBill and NickSS. I have an RCBS 230 grain flat point two cavity mold on the way from MidwayUSA.

I own numerous .45 caliber pistols and revolvers so I think this will be a well used and versatile mold for me.

Can you share some "non Ruger/Contender" loads using this boolit. I will be using these loads in my S&W model 25-2, 25-5, and a host of 1911s. Thanks again, Treetop.

[AnthonyB]

RCBS 230 FN? I've never seen that one; do you mean 45-230 RN?
Tony

[bigboredad]

I believe he is talking about the 230 grain cowboy mold. I have talked to some guys that have that mold and they love they use it in the .45 colt for handgun and carbine and they say it works great in their acp guns as well

[35remington]

"How does it compare to the old Lyman 452423?

It appears to be a fairly close copy with it's rather large diameter meplat and a full caliber cutting shoulder... Thanks for your opinions, Treetop."

Treetop, the 230 RCBS bullet you reference doesn't compare at all to the 452423. That bullet is a semiwadcutter.

This RCBS 230 bullet is a roundnose flatpoint that has no "full caliber cutting shoulder" at all. It is popular in that it not only is used for Cowboy shooting but also in the 45 ACP automatic pistols and revolvers. It feeds in the autos loaded to 1.220" and yes, I have both this mould and the 452423, so I know the difference.

[saigafan2008]

Thanks for the heads up, Treetop. I just placed my order!

Carl

[Treetop]

RCBS 230 FN? I've never seen that one; do you mean 45-230 RN?
Tony

Tony, type "RCBS 45-230-CM" into Google and take a look at the 230 grain flat point boolit...

[Treetop]

"How does it compare to the old Lyman 452423?


This RCBS 230 bullet is a roundnose flatpoint that has no "full caliber cutting shoulder" at all.

35 Remington, I'm just going by the picture in my MidwayUSA catalog. If you compare the pictures of the 45-230-CM and the 45-230-RN, the CM seems to have a definite shoulder as opposed to the 45-230-RN...

Since you already have a 45-230-CM, I'll defer to your wisdom.

It will simply have to do until I can find an original two cavity Lyman 452423 mold (anybody have a spare for sale or trade?) or the Mihec group buy goes through.

[AnthonyB]

Guys, the RCBS 230CM is my all-time favorite 45 caliber pistol mould. It functions in every 1911 and Glock I have tried, and I suspect it will work in everything else. I ran a Lee group buy of a very similar design a few years ago, and would run another if one of our custom makers wanted to do it again. If I could have only one 45 boolit, this would be it.
Tony

[35remington]

Treetop, nope, no shoulder is present on the 230 CM. The picture is quite in error.

[Treetop]

Treetop, nope, no shoulder is present on the 230 CM. The picture is quite in error.

OK, thanks for the info, 35remington. Have you (or anyone else on the board) ever used this boolit on game? If so, how did it perform? Treetop.

[MGySgt]

Treetop, nope, no shoulder is present on the 230 CM. The picture is quite in error.

Actually the 'shoulder' is the difference between the driving band and the portion in front of the small crimp grove. I shoot a LOT of them out of my 625 and crimp them because they are a wee bit hot - Like I don't shoot them in any of my auto's.

Mine mike out to .443 just infront of the crimp grove.

FWIW

[35remington]

As the OP was using the term, there is no shoulder.

[Char-Gar]

Treetop

Many of us are familiar with the RCBS mold in question, as we have done several group buys, based around that design. Tony (AnthonyB) was one of the first to find it's usefulness in the 45 ACP. The pics of that bullet are a little misleading and what would appear to be a shoulder on the bullet is just a continuance of the nose after the shallow crimp groove.

It is indeed an excellent bullet for 45 ACP round... But lacks the weight, meplat size and shoulder of 452423. Does it matter? Which is better? I doubt if there is much, if any, practical difference in terms of what it does when it hits a target.

I started shooting 452423 through the 1911 pistol in 1961 when all of the experts said it wouldn't work. Today, it seems like many people have broken the code on this bullet and interest has been revived. When cast from linotype 452423 weighs 230 grains and shoots to the sights of most 1911 pistols. When cast from WW, the weight creeps up to 240 or a few grains more.

Yea this many years later, I still shoot 452423/4.7/BE as my standard brush load in several 1911 pistols. I have also put many thousands through various 45 ACP pistols in both the ACP and AR cases.

Most 1911 pistol will feed this bullet fine, but you will find an occasional barrel that needs to be throated for this bullet. It is not a hard task, but still must be done. I have found Norinco barrels need this throating. I do it myself and it is about a 30 minute job.

This bullet also works well in the 45 Colt, but past 100 yards you would do better with a longer (heavier) bullet.

After Lyman dropped 452423 from their lineup, I had Hock custom make a 3 hole mold for me. I sent them some original bullets from an old Ideal mold for them to use as a pattern. When the mold came back, the meplat and the nose was the same as well as the total length of the body, but they did not keep the three driving bands the same length. It worked, but I was never truly pleased with the changes.

Some years back I got a nice Lyman 4 cavity 452423 in a swap with Glen Fryxell and I am very greatful to him. I also have one of the group buy Lee six hole molds for the bullet. Glen scored an original HP version and send me some bullets to test and use. I liked them so much, I had Buckshot hollow point my original old Ideal single cavity.

I am a dyed in the wool fan of the old Keith design..BUT... I truly doubt if it has any real world advantage over the RCBS bullet. I have one of our group buy Lee six hole molds for this bullet and I could be happy the rest of my life, if it was the only mold I had for the 45 ACP.

[9.3X62AL]

Truth to tell--I'm not certain whether the large meplat or the full-caliber cutting shoulder is The Big Killer Element in a cast boolit. I don't think either element does its recipient any long-term good, and both seem to cause short-term fall-overs pretty reliably.

The 45 CM boolit runs like water in a flume through the Glock 21 and S&W 645.

[Treetop]

Chargar: thanks for your informative post! 1961 was the year that I started reloading for metallic cartridges! My Dad bought me a Lyman Spar-T turret press and a set of .30-06 Springfield dies for Christmas. I still have that press. These days, it stays set up for 7.62x39 to feed my AK addiction.

I didn't start casting until I returned home from the service in 1971. Plenty of time to have bought a 452423 double cavity mold, but I kept putting it off and now I can't seem to find one!

But, the quest continues...

9.3x62AL: "Short term fall-overs" That's what I'm looking for!