Patocazador
Member
Does any company have a hollow-base mold for a .454 flat-nose bullet weighing between 220 - 255 grains? Ideally I'd like to find a Keith-style SWC mold in .454.
Hollow-base mold for .454 flat-nosed bullets?
- Thread starter Patocazador
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I am not aware of any standard production mold such as you describe. Lyman makes or made a 155 grain HB mold, 450229. Custom mold makers will make anything you can afford.
Elmer designed a hollow based bullet for the 44 but not for the 45.
Elmer designed a hollow based bullet for the 44 but not for the 45.
swathdiver
Member
Was that the Rapine 454252?
Big Al Mass
Member
Could you achieve the desired result by drilling out the base of an ordinary bullet? Just a thought.
Elmer designed the 429421 for the 44 Special/Magnum. He also designed the 429422, a hollow based version, for the same cartidges. He did not design a HB mold for the 45.
I forgot about the Rapine molds. 454253 and 454155 were both HB designs for the 45 caliber revolvers.
Curator
Member
Lee has a .454 hollow-base/flat nose mould. I think that one drops bullets that weigh around 280 grains.
swathdiver
Member
Hmm, I saw that number attributed to him on a Rapine catalog page. Ok, it says "Keith type".
http://www.castpics.net/subsite/CurMolds/Rapine.pdf
OP
OP
Patocazador
Member
Thanks for the replies but I read somewhere that Rapine was out of business.
If I find a suitable mold, I'll have to measure the length of the bullet to see if it will be short enough to fit in the Ruger cylinder and allow enough room for a decent powder charge.
If I find a suitable mold, I'll have to measure the length of the bullet to see if it will be short enough to fit in the Ruger cylinder and allow enough room for a decent powder charge.
J-Bar
Member
I have an idea. I have not tried it myself. I don't know if anyone has ever tried it, but WTH.
Get a steel ball bearing and grind off enough so you have a flat-bottomed bump with a curved upper surface. The diameter of the flat bottom should allow it to fit in the bottom of the mold when it closes.
Then cast your bullet with that bump inside the mold. You could vary the depth of the hollow by varying the original diameter of the ball bearing you started with.
The lead shouldn't stick to the steel and it should pop out when the bullet is dumped.
It would be a damnably slow casting process to fish the bump out and put it into the mold each time, but if you have enough cold winter days...
Get a steel ball bearing and grind off enough so you have a flat-bottomed bump with a curved upper surface. The diameter of the flat bottom should allow it to fit in the bottom of the mold when it closes.
Then cast your bullet with that bump inside the mold. You could vary the depth of the hollow by varying the original diameter of the ball bearing you started with.
The lead shouldn't stick to the steel and it should pop out when the bullet is dumped.
It would be a damnably slow casting process to fish the bump out and put it into the mold each time, but if you have enough cold winter days...
It works,I've drilled a few out to test them on targets,but it's more work then it's worth IMHO,but if you were going to use them for hunting it would be worth it.
OP
OP
Patocazador
Member
That may have to be the way I go. I certainly appreciate all the responses.
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