Projectile Questions and Anwsers for Newbies

Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Green Horn

Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2014
Messages
27
Location
North Texas
Hello I have a recipe that calls for a 230 gr RCBS molded RNFP bullet and my question is can I use any brand of bullet besides RCBS bullets as long as it is a 230 gr lead bullet like the recipe calls for? I know that RCBS and Lee does not make bullets, so this question is not about there molds but just other bullets in general that are already made like Oregon Trail Bullets that are in similar likeness. The recipe I found is here: http://www.alliantpowder.com/reload...owderlist.aspx&type=3&powderid=1&cartridge=15 However I have found a Lee bullet mold which is a 230 gr bullet and I would like to use it in the place of the RCBS because of the price difference of the mold, a savings of about $50. I think the question is really about the weight of the bullet rather then the shape of it but if that matters please advice about that too. Thanks in advance for the help. (Yep I'm just a Green Horn)

Lee 230 gr
lee230bullet.jpg


RCBS 230 gr
rcbs230bullet.jpg


Well I guess they are not just alike but they are both 230 grain in weight, and a 230 grain weighted bullet is what the recipe calls for. These will be shot out of a single action 6 shot pistol, revolver.
 
Last edited:
If the weight & design match on a cast bullet?

It is for all practical purposes, the same bullet.

Alloy, or hardness may differ.

But that doesn't matter much at all, as far as load data goes.

Match the weight, shape, & number of grease grooves?
You got the same bullets no matter who made them.

Rc
 
Green Horn,

I am assuming you are talking about using these bullets in a .45LC? If so, forget the Lee (it's designed for the .45 ACP) - no crimp groove, bevel base, and ridiculously little grease groove. I would go with the mould that produces the RCBS 45-230-CM bullet that you showed.

Don
 
USSR said:
Green Horn,

I am assuming you are talking about using these bullets in a .45LC? If so, forget the Lee (it's designed for the .45 ACP) - no crimp groove, bevel base, and ridiculously little grease groove. I would go with the mould that produces the RCBS 45-230-CM bullet that you showed.

Don
Click to expand...
Yes I was planning to use this in a 45 colt and thanks for pointing out the crimp groove and other features that matter.
 
Which is what I posted in another thread of yours, when picking a 230 Gr bullet for .45 Colt, make sure it is not intended for .45 ACP.

The bottom bullet will work just fine in .45 Colt, although I have to say I prefer a heavier bullet in that caliber.
 
Which is what I posted in another thread of yours,
Click to expand...

Sho' did




Slow down and take a breath Green Horn. Your reminding me of someone I know!! Like someone here told me once, dont put the cart before the horse-It'll all come together..
 
Reloading recipes pertaining to bullet type are guidelines. You load for the bullet weight, not who made it or its shape. No crimp is required for a light load in a revolver. Different if you're shooting a lever action.
Don't shoot .45 Colt, despite a desperate need, but that FP works like hot dam out of an ACP. It'd be a light target load out of a .45 Colt. Only breaks 1,000 fps with one powder according to Hodgdon.
 
Remember Sunray, this is a newbie asking advise. ;)

He can branch out later when he gets more experience.
 
MEHavey said:
GH:

Get either Lee's 452-252(SWC) or their 452-255(RF) for the 45 Colt
Both have the req'd grease grooves and the necessary crimp groove.

Don't worry about about dramatic 'recipe' changes as these are two
classic bullet designs that will have proper loading data in any number
of powder manufacturers' websites.

EX:
http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/recipedetail.aspx?gtypeid=1&weight=250&shellid=36&bulletid=67

(Note that starting 10% under these powder loads would be prudent)
Click to expand...
Thanks, I plan to try the 200gr and the 255gr however the only good recipe I have right now is for Red Dot and the 200 gr projectile. I cant find any of the other powders that might be a better choice they all seem to be all sold out. I do have some Bullseye but it is not my first choice of the 2 that I have, although I can use some polyfill in the empty space of the cartridge to keep the powder close to the primer since both powders RD and BE are position sensitive.
 
although I can use some polyfill in the empty space of the cartridge to keep the powder close to the primer
Click to expand...
You are WAY overthinking this.

Load'm.
Choot'm!

You won't find poly-fill in the most accurate factory loads you can buy.

You aren't good enough to tell any difference anyway.
Unless you are already on the USA Olympic pistol team!

rc
 
rcmodel said:
You are WAY overthinking this.

Load'm.
Choot'm!

You won't find poly-fill in the most accurate factory loads you can buy.

You aren't good enough to tell any difference anyway.
Unless you are already on the USA Olympic pistol team!

rc
Click to expand...
The polyfill was just to keep the powder close to the primer and avoid getting a misfire because bullseye and red dot is so small of a flake and the powder being position sensitive, but your right I doubt I will notice the difference since I am new to reloading and I probably am overthinking it. I have been reading everything I can in order to get it right, and I plan to load one bullet at a time very carefully on a single stage press for a while to avoid a double load or over charge. I dissected a Pierce outlaw Cowboy Cartridge and discovered that it was a 6.5 Trailboss load with a 200 gr lead RNFP projectile and of course a large pistol primer, I used the Lyman Digital scales to weigh the powder in the factory bullet. I did finally get the Lee 2nd edition. the Lyman 49 edition and the Hornady 9th edition loading books so I should have something solid to go by. All of your advice is appreciated.
 
Last edited:
Potatohead said:
Sho' did




Slow down and take a breath Green Horn. Your reminding me of someone I know!! Like someone here told me once, dont put the cart before the horse-It'll all come together..
Click to expand...
I wonder why my other thread was closed down: 45 Long Colt - How do you reload it?
Did I do something wrong or was it being a problem some how, I thought it was a decent topic.

All of your advice is appreciated.
 
Last edited:
It was a good topic, and it wasn't you that got it closed down, I can assure you.

You can always try it again and hope folks will be less argumentative. It's a lively topic.
 
My first try at seating a bullet or using the Press.

Here is 2 pic's of the first bullet I tried seating after I set up the reloading dies, please tell me what's wrong with the crimp if anything and the casing, it seems to have a bulge at the top and a little more to one side then the other, not exactly sure what caused this. This was just a practice run with the dies and no powder or primer was used. Any advice is more then welcome as well as criticism. (yep I'm a green horn!) :D

45colt-a.jpg
45colt-b.jpg
45LC.jpg
The projectile used is a 200gr 454 in a New never fired Hornady case which was ran through all of the dies,
including a Lee FCD, and the dies that were used was Hornady Cowboy Series 45 colt 3 die set.
 
Last edited:
Bullet is seated a hair low IMO.

The "bulge" you see is the bullet expanding the sized brass out a bit. It is normal and shows you have good neck tension.
 
I agree with the other guys, use bullets intended for the 45 colt revolver case, not ACP, and especially that you bullet is a touch low. My only disagreement with the guys above is really a minor one, and one that can be a topic of heated debate. Your pressure realistically builds as powder burns due to the friction of the bullet as it passes through the barrel. Barrel holds bullrt, bullet seals gasses in, gasses expanding very rapidly....pressure. I don't necessarily match bullet design for my loads, but I do try to get similar bearing surfaces (barrel to bullet contact) which sounds hard but realistically it's not. Your diameter is a given so all you have to do is approximate the height of the cylindrical portion of the bullet for jacketed bullets, or in lead the multiple bands that will contact the barrel. If it works out to be .35 inches (number from thin air, don't use it, find your own number) then try to stay pretty close to that number. Deeper lube grooves or flatter bullets put more weight of the bullet inside the case changing case volume as well, so as long as your using a bullet pretty similar to your recipe you should be fine, but when there are large changes in case volume or bearing surface you need to be much more careful. Always load low and work up. Watch your primers for pressure signs and watch your bore for excessive lead fowling building up.
 
The first problem is that your last post was made at 3:20 AM!!! :D

I can't see if your crimp is truly rolled into the crimp groove or not (It's designed to give the case mouth someplace to go without chewing into the bullet itself. To insure that's the case, seat and crimp in two separate steps for now.

Assuming the Hornady Cowboy seater/crimper:

1. Back the seater die out at least a turn from where it would contact the case. Lock it down.
2. Now adjust the seater stem to seat the bullet(s) to the proper depth (top of the crimp groove) -- to where just the teensiest, teeniest, teensiest gap still shows.
3. Unscrew the seating stem significantly. Then lower the whole die to where the it smoothly rolls the crimp into that groove for all the bullets.
 
Last edited:
position sensitive powders don't misfire because of the position of the powder in the cartridge. position sensitive powders will have different muzzle velocities because of the position of the powder in the cartridge. nothing to worry about unless you need extreme accuracy.

if this was a big problem, reloading manuals would either give a warning about it, or would eliminate those powders from the data.

murf
 
Walkalong said:
Bullet is seated a hair low IMO.

The "bulge" you see is the bullet expanding the sized brass out a bit. It is normal and shows you have good neck tension.
Click to expand...
When you say the bullet is seated a hair to low do you mean the bullet is to deep?
I know it should be obvious but I want to be sure I understand, Thanks
 
WestKentucky said:
I agree with the other guys, use bullets intended for the 45 colt revolver case, not ACP, and especially that you bullet is a touch low. My only disagreement with the guys above is really a minor one, and one that can be a topic of heated debate. Your pressure realistically builds as powder burns due to the friction of the bullet as it passes through the barrel. Barrel holds bullrt, bullet seals gasses in, gasses expanding very rapidly....pressure. I don't necessarily match bullet design for my loads, but I do try to get similar bearing surfaces (barrel to bullet contact) which sounds hard but realistically it's not. Your diameter is a given so all you have to do is approximate the height of the cylindrical portion of the bullet for jacketed bullets, or in lead the multiple bands that will contact the barrel. If it works out to be .35 inches (number from thin air, don't use it, find your own number) then try to stay pretty close to that number. Deeper lube grooves or flatter bullets put more weight of the bullet inside the case changing case volume as well, so as long as your using a bullet pretty similar to your recipe you should be fine, but when there are large changes in case volume or bearing surface you need to be much more careful. Always load low and work up. Watch your primers for pressure signs and watch your bore for excessive lead fowling building up.
Click to expand...
So are you saying that the 454 is more of a 45 acp and I need a 452 for the colt, or is it the style of projectile you are referring to? I hope no one gets into a big debate because I have already lost one thread due to that. Thanks for the good advice especially things to watch for due to faulty pressures, this is all a big help.
 
MEHavey said:
The first problem is that your last post was made at 3:20 AM!!! :D

I can't see if your crimp is truly rolled into the crimp groove or not (It's designed to give the case mouth someplace to go without chewing into the bullet itself. To insure that's the case, seat and crimp in two separate steps for now.

Assuming the Hornady Cowboy seater/crimper:

1. Back the seater die out at least a turn from where it would contact the case. Lock it down.
2. Now adjust the seater stem to seat the bullet(s) to the proper depth (top of the crimp groove) -- to where just the teensiest, teeniest, teensiest gap still shows.
3. Unscrew the seating stem significantly. Then lower the whole die to where the it smoothly rolls the crimp into that groove for all the bullets.
Click to expand...
Yes the Hornady does seat and crimp at the same time with a taper crimp and I thought I had it set but when I started to lower the bullet after crimping, the die had a death grip on the bullet case and I thought it was stuck up into the die causing me to apply a lot of force to get it back out, I knew then something wasn't right! These dies are not supposed to need lube but it sure felt like it did.
 
BigBore45 said:
yes i looks to me a bit to deep as well. bring it up a 1/32"
Click to expand...
Thanks for setting me straight on that, I have ordered some 452 RNFP projectiles that will probably work better in the case and a bullet resizer for the 454. Do you know which is the proper crimp for a 45 colt a Tapper or Roll Crimp?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

T
  • Locked
Bullet question
Replies
4
Views
387
FieroCDSP
F
T
  • Locked
need help for 45acp cast bullet recipe
Replies
14
Views
2K
Marlin 45 carbine
M
C
  • Locked
Help! 240 gr .45 acp, should be 230 gr
Replies
11
Views
1K
Schwing
S
wiiawiwb
  • Locked
Powder load for 45LC with Unique
Replies
12
Views
8K
Rule3
Rule3
T
  • Locked
Four Questions about projectiles
Replies
9
Views
573
The Dixie Diarist
T
Back
Top