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Hi guys, Ive been reloading for roughly two years now and size and lube my own bullets to help keep costs down. I recently purchased a Rossi M92 45 Colt lever action with the 24in. barrell. Primarily for Cowboy silhoutte games. Does anyone have any input on what bullet mold I should buy?
452664 from lyman it's 250 grs but is accurate,feeds perfecty,holds a decent amount of lube,and handles low velocity very well.
i used it over 5 grs of clays or 6 grs of titegroup for years.
you can also speed it up.
i have shot this boolit from 900 fps up to over 1600 fps and used powders,from clays up through 2400 with good results in my 20" and two 24" bbl'd rossi's.
if this is a new gun i would recommend you slug the bbl as taurus has a tendency to make thier bbls on the large side and you may need to find a 454 diameter boolit for it.
my older 452662 -2-cavity mold will just squeak in 4535+ with ww's and 1% tin added.
my 4 cavity won't make quite that big.
Here is one I really considered buying however I don't have a place to cast at this time. http://www.ranchdogoutdoors.com/inde...products_id=25
Oh and Rance Dog Outdoors in fixing to close soon.
That looks like a good one. The suggestion to slug your bore is a good one. Once you have that figure, try ro cast your bullets .002" larger than the groove diameter. If the rifling is shallow you also might have to make the bullets a bit harder. We can look into that once we know the groove diameter and if the rifling marks on the slug look shallow or deep. One thing I have found shooting cast bullets in a .45 Colt rifle is the rifling twist is usually too slow for bullets heavier than say 255 gr/260 gr. I had a Winchester M94 in .45 Colt and wanted to use the Lyman 300 gr. bullet designed for the 45-60 as I could easily get 45-60 velocity. The twist was too slow and would not stabilize the bullet. It would have cost me as much as the rifle did to rebarrel with a twist around 1 in22" for that bullets so I said to hell with it and sold the rifle.Quote:
Originally Posted by joec
We have a population of hogs down by the San Pedro River but the brush is super thick and that rifle would have been almost perfect with that heavy bullet.
Paul B.
Thank you thats about on the lines of what i had in mind and had considered maybe the dia also . Ok this may sound dumb but how exactly do you slug a barrel is that as simple as forcing a bullet down the barrel by hand to see what comes out. I know that all rossi rifles are a 1in30 twist. I use a 310 gr gas check sized to .430 in my 444 marlin and it has a 1in20 twist but has a much higher velocity
It is NOT a dumb question. The only dumb question is the one a man is too proud to ask. There are some tools and techniques that can make it quite a bit easier. The most common mistake is to use a measuring tool that is not accurate enough to give you the readings you need to make an intelligent decision as to what exact sizer will be needed for your barrel. As I mention in more detail below, you need a micrometer, not a caliper.
To slug a barrel you need an oversized soft lead slug or bullet. A bullet slightly undersized can be "bumped up" by hitting with a hammer to increase its diameter. Oval fishing weights work very well, but are not easy to find anymore as they are no longer legal to use in many places. Hard commercial cast bullets really suck to drive through, soft lead is the only practical way to go. Sometimes you can find a roundball that is the right size if you know someone into shooting muzzle loaders.
The best lube is grease or petroleum jelly because it stays right where you put it - you don't need tons of it, but enough to get the job done.
I like to lean the rifle's muzzle against my workbench and secure it with some masking tape so it doesn't slip, unless you have several extra hands and/or a prehensile tail it will be one less thing to worry about while driving the slug.
I use a length of drill rod a few inches longer than the barrel with masking tape wrappings every inch or two to prevent the steel of the rod from contacting the inside of the barrel. I do NOT recommend using a dowel to drive with - when (not if) it breaks, it will do so at an angle forming two wedges that drive against each other and are EXTREMELY difficult to remove. You can START it using a short dowel, like you do with a muzzle loader, but it take a lot more force.
Drive the rod using a wooden or phenolic hammer.
Drive TWO slugs, just in case. If you are slugging more than one barrel, place the driven slugs from each barrel into separate labeled containers to avoid confusion.
It helps if you have a solvent on hand that will dissolve the lube you used before measuring, but it is not essential, merely less messy if you drop it on the floor and it saves you having to clean the mic afterward.
Measure the slug with a micrometer, not a caliper. Even with a four place (ten-thousandths) digital readout, a caliper is only accurate to two places (hundredths) and you need the three places (thousandths) that a good mic will give you. If all you have is a caliper, don't waste your time, beg, buy, or borrow a mic.
It actually takes longer to describe than to do it. After the first one, you will know how much force to use, but you have to actually feel it with your own hands to understand the part that cannot be explained in words.
Slugging is a vital skill for anyone who wants optimal results from cast bullets and it eliminates much wasted time trying to do it by trial and error testing, and wasted money on the wrong sizers.
Thank you for your info and help I will get things together and it should be educational and interesting. I have some soft lead for bp balls just need to come up with a rod.
Got me a 300 Grain mould that I am going to try in my 45 LC and buddies 454 Cas. Anyone load 300 Grn for 45LC?
Ken.
bout as heavy as i have gone is 270 in the 45's.
i have gone all the way to 350 in my 44's though and shoot quite a few 315's i swage myself.
i think it's because i have a 45/70 that does 300-500 easily,i don't bother with the heavy's in the colt.
Ok the 45colt barrel has been sluged and the measurement is .4519 to .4520 so im lookin for a .454 mold and sizing die correct. I have a friend hear in town that manufactures cast lead bullets and he has sizing dies for my rcbs lubersizer that i bought from him. If someone is lookin to buy cast lead bullets he does a great job bhn is an 18 all the CAS buy there bullets from him here he is very reasonable.
Ok have another thought rossi makes these rifles in a variety or calibers such as 44mag and 454 casal the 44mag producing 36,000 psi and the casull at 65,000. The 45 colt is only 14,000 if the rifles are all made from the same process [or are they ?] than will the 45 colt in that make and model hold a higher presure to produce a flatter round. Dont worry i dont try this things until I have educated myself some may call it thinking outside the box. I call it just a thought what if or why?
yes it will.
my 44 mag 240 gr cast boolit,model 92 load is 19.3 grs of 2400.
my 45 colt 250 gr cast boolit model 92 load is 19.3 grs of 2400.
the 92 is strong enough.
the trick is to make sure one of those loads don't end up in one of my 45 colt usfa's.
not a problem with my 44 revolvers though.
the 454 casull and 480 ruger versions are designed and built arund those higher pressures like the differences between model 86 and 71 are which are scaled up and modified 92 actions.
0k I have another thought rossi makes these rifles in a variety of calibers such as 357mag,44mag,45colt,454casull the 357, 44 and 454 having a higher pressure than the 45colt. These guns SHOULD all be made with the same process or standards is it safe to use a higher pressure load in the 45colt, will the frame of the gun handle it. Dont worry I dont experiment with these things unless i have researched it. Call it thinking outside the box. I call it just a thought, curiousity.
sorry for the confusion I was looking for my first question and didn't see where it had posted so I asked the same question again. Thanks.
Got a 454190 mold and a 454 sizing die loaded and tried a few with 19.5 of h110 but it was getting dark and nobody to man spotting scope. So hopin to try again soon this is a silouette rifle maybe even hogs any suggestions on accurate loads for up to 100yards maybe even 200. Have read where guys are using the 45 colt for deer but they are using 300 gr bullets.
that h-110 load sounds a bit low to me.
i use 19.3 grs of 2400 in my 45 colt rossi's with a 250 and it's up there.
but that 110 load just don't sound right to me.
h-110 really works best when at full throttle,and can cause issues if you use too little.
Ok im back 45colt rifle load workin great i stepped up to 22.5 of h110 and also 8.5 unique for a lighter target load. Now i have a new project my wife and i bought my boys a nef 45colt 410 survivor rifle for christmas and the tweak on this is the chamber is long enough for a 410 so the 45 has some air time before it reaches the rifling therefore loses pressure and some accu these two loads work ok but lacks a little on being AS accurate. Done some research and found that a 444marlin case can be resized to the same dia as a 45lc and this gets the bullet a lot closer to being where it should be to be politicaly correct and i have a 444, extra cases,and unique load data that would be safe in this gun. Any suggestions?
The 444 is a pretty long case and would have alot of empty space with either if those loads, that may cause pressure problems? A guy might try Trail Boss, maybe? I would just realize that that gun isn't really designed as a tack driver and enjoy it as just a "fun little gun".
Yes, that is correct. Usually you buy the mold and hope for the best, playing with the alloy if it is a bit on the small side, and selling or trading it if it isn't large enough. The cherries (cutters used to make the cavities) are initially cut to drop the listed size with #2 alloy, and they get a tad smaller with each sharpening, so there is a range of sizes a mold might actually drop at despite how it is listed. BTW, 18bhn is fine for target bullets, but way too hard for hunting or self defense.
do you load 350 grain cast for your 4570 and if so what powders and charge weights.