Raining like crazy here so I got a chance to spend some quality time in the garage. Tried out my BD45 6 banger. No real issues except some trouble filling the base of cavity 3. This might have been avoided by using the 1 lb Rowell ladle. I didn't try that until I broke out the 429421 4 banger I bought off Ebay recently. Described as "rusted with 3 pretty good cavities" I got it for around $25.00 w/handles. Once it got up to heat I had nothing but perfect boolits! The big ladle worked great. For grins I got out a Cramer 45 semi-wadcutter, #5 I think. Looks around 200 gr w/ a bevel base. Again, once up to heat it worked great. A bit of a problem with the cavity closest to me hanging onto a tiny peice of lead right in the edge of the sprue hole. A bit of pencil lead helped.
The BD45 mic'd around .453-4, the 429421 a fat .434-5 which is fine by me, and the Cramer another fat .454. The 45's I want fat for my S+W 1917 which hasn't been great, although not terrible, with 452423. My particular mould is small, casting .448-9 at its smallest. I have high hopes for the BD45. The 429421 will be used in a Charter Bulldog, Smith 24-3 and Rossi Puma.
Now I have to find time to load them up. I have about 8 lbs of BD45, 15 of 429421 and maybe 50 ea of the Cramer. Had a good time anyway.