45 Colt rifle bullets

[jgcoleman11]

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?

[runfiverun]

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.

[joec]

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.

[Paul B]

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.
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.

[jgcoleman11]

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

[versifier]

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.

[jgcoleman11]

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.

[kodiak1]

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.

[runfiverun]

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.

[jgcoleman11]

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.