Casting for .45 Colt

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1TwistedGimp

1TwistedGimp

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You all have been kind enough to help me over the years and again I find myself in need.

FIL recently gifted me a Rossi 92 ranch hand in .45 Colt and id like to reload for it but id also like to cast my own bullets. I know I can buy a mold but which one?
I have access to literally a ton of ingots made from wheel weights from the FIL's tractor pulling days but will I need to make an alloy or will the wheel weight ingot be sufficiently hard enough?

I have been told to steer clear of round nose bullets in a tubular magazine over the years so I guess that profile is out for casting. That leads me to the question "Why did I ever load my old 30-30?". If it was ok in a 30-30 why is it dangerous in a .45 Colt? I only ask cause I have a couple hundred LRN .45 that I took in trade just laying around but I prefer to err on the side of caution. I guess I could reload them and only use two at a time in the Rossi.

What mold am I looking for, I'm thinking a 6 cavity just so I don't have to spend all day casting but again I'm clueless here. I know id like a 250ish gr weight but not sure what I should be looking at as far as molds, lead and money really aren't an issue as far as getting more bullets per lb of lead or which mold to purchase. I'm looking to make heavy hitting loads but not something that will go straight through a bear lengthwise :D.

Seems like casting is going to nearly as interesting as reloading. I personally refuse to pay $35.00 per 20 rounds to shoot this Rossi.

1TG
 
I use this in my 45c pistols. 255 grain flat nose thrown from an older RCBS 2 cavity mold. An hour of casting can yield well over a hundred bullets. Yo will spend more time sizing and lubeing than casting.
 

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It would probably be worth buying a couple different shapes and weights of commercial cast bullets, then trying these out to see what your rifle likes. I am not aware of any problem with the lead RN bullets in magazine tubes as the noses are not pointed enough to cause primer detonation.
The wheel weights will give a pretty soft alloy so if you are using a softer load and god lube and have the proper bullet size you can probably get away with it. If not just add some tin to bring the hardness up slightly and get better mould fill.
As far as moulds you should probably start out with a lee 2 cavity that is closest to whatever bullet worked best in the rifle. That way you can try out a bullet shape and weight without spending too much on a mold that may not work out. And you can always upgrade by adding a 6 cavity and cast with both at the same time.

EDIT: Lee has a 45 mold for a 200 gr bullet in their closeouts section right now for $13.49. Thats as cheap as it gets and when I bought a closeout mold it came with a free tube of their Alox lube.
 
Ewlyon,
Thanks, I assumed I was ignorant and respect your advice on starting with a couple cast bullets first to find what the Rossi likes. This is why I come here and ask questions. I'm happy to hear that I can use the lrn that I have to start reloading! I honestly didn't think it was going to be the worst thing I ever decided to do but thought I'd ask the experts before I got started.

When you say add tin, how exactly do you do that? Are we talking solder or what exactly. Sorry, I know it's a silly question to anyone who knows but I haven't really researched the whole process as of yet.

What is involved in sizing the bullet? I really don't understand the process of sizing a bullet, up to now I have only ever reloaded purchased factory jacketed or plated bullets. I feel confident about the skills I've learned with that and have cranked out thousands or rounds and been pretty happy with my results so far but this casting stuff is an area I've never ventured into.
 
What are the blue bands? Lube?
Click to expand...
Yes. Lead bullets must be lubed to be fired in rifled barrels. There are three ways to lube a bullet:

Tumble Lubing with a lube like Liquid Alox. You squirt a little Liquid Alox into a plastic bowl, drop in a handful of bullets, snap the lid on and shake until your bullets are golden brown, then put them on wax paper to dry for 24 hours or so.

Pan Lubing with an ordinary lube like Lyman Orange Magic or Alox. You put the bullets in an empty cartridge box insert, nose down and turn them over in a shallow pan, so they stand nose up in orderly rows. Melt the lube in a double boiler (you can make one from a tin can and a small pot.) Pour in the lube until the lube grooves are covered, then let it harden and turn the pan over. In an hour or so, you'll hear a "thunk" and you can pick the pan up. The whole mess will be standing free, and you can press out the bullets with your thumbs.

Using a lubricator-sizer. This heats the lube and as you size the bullets, the lube grooves are automatically filled.
 
1TwistedGimp, the tin can come from 50-50 solder or you can get it pure online. A standard alloy is 1 part tin to 20 parts lead. If you treat the wheel weights as pure lead (even though they are not) you should be able to get bullets that are plenty hard for 45LC out of that. For sizing and lube the easiest thing to start out with would be a lee lube and size kit that goes in your press and you use the included lube by tumbling the bullets around in it and then push the bullets through a die that uniforms and reduces the diameter. You may not have to size depending on the size that your bullets drop from the mold.
On the castboolits forum there are many threads covering just about every casting topic that are very valuable to casters of all experience levels.
 
Yes. Lead bullets must be lubed to be fired in rifled barrels. There are three ways to lube a bullet
Click to expand...

Powdercoating is the way to go IMO.

No lube, expensive lubrisizer, tumbling or even worrying about lead hardness. Cast, size, powdercoat, size again...done.

BTW if you want a really light recoiling and fast velocity bullet, I find these a LOT of fun in my 45acp, although they work better in revolvers.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/26...lt-long-colt-452-diameter-160-grain-flat-nose

Here's an example of my 200g SWC.

D0CDE003-85A9-4267-9413-DD474647F4AE_zpsxekjk58t.gif
 
I cast my own bullets for 45 Colt ranging from a 200 gr swc to a 300 gr swc. Just recently I started powder coating my bullets. All you need is powder coat of your choosing,airsoft black BBs,an empty no 5 margarine container,non stick aluminum foil and a toaster oven.
Place your bullets,bbs,a teaspoon of pc in the margarine container swirl this mixture around for 10-20 seconds. Remove bullets place on NSAF bake at 400 degrees for 15 min. Let cool and size but do not lube. Load as normal and have fun.
 
Pick your choice of a Lee 6 banger mold. You can make quite a pile of bullets in short order. Lee sizer and then powder coat them. Once you try it you'll never use a lube sizer again. On top of that you can cost your bullets in whatever color you want. Make some different colors for different loads, different guns, for the holidays, whatever.
 
Powder coating is interesting I have to admit, looks like I need to acquire a sizing die as well now on top of a mold or two.

USSR, those are some beautiful castings, what weight are they, I am toying with the idea of deer hunting on a buddies property with this Rossi, longest range shot would be about 50yrds so the Rossi should be plenty for that purpose.

Sounds like I need a couple different molds, one for plinking and one for possibly hunting.
 
I use the same MiHec mold as the one I think USSR is using. Besides the penta gram shaped hollow point, I also have a standard large HP pin, a small HP pin and a pin that allows for a solid flat nose weighing about 270 gr. Mine is a 4 cavity brass. Google MP molds.
 
Lee Sizing dies are cheap and don't require a lubricator-sizer to work. They screw into your loading press and size the dies point-first, which solves a problem with traditional lubricator-sizer, which have to have a punch that fits the bullet nose.
 
I size before on my 9mm because the mold drops at .363, and I'm concerned if I size after powdercoating (which usually adds .004) it may thin out the coating too much. I'm not too worried about the 45's though.

As for the uniform coating, I got lucky and found a local powdercoating shop that gives me 1/2 pound of quality powder for $5. It coats a lot better than the Harbor Freight stuff. The owner happens to be a firearms enthusiast and was grateful for the 20 rounds of 45 I gave him. He was quite impressed.
 
Every rifle is a law unto itself as to what bullet and load will shoot accurately. In order to get the best accuracy, you will need to size the bullet to fit your barrel.

I have a Marlin 1894 in 45 Colt and a Legacy Puma ’92 (made by Rossi) in 454. This also shoots 45 Colt.

I found the accuracy with the lighter bullets (250-260 grain) disappointing. When I tried heavier bullets in the 300-325 grain range, it was quite accurate. I think it has something to do with the longer bearing surface.

What do you think you will use this rifle for? Will it be a short range plinker? Will you want to hunt with it?

If it is just a plinker, standard pressure loads with plain base bullets should be fine. If you want to use Ruger level loads, a gas check bullet is in order to minimize leading problems.

If you want to use a standard mold from the big manufacturers, the Lyman 452651 325 grain gas check bullet works well.

I have gone the custom mold route and my most accurate bullet is a 320 grain Long Flat Nose Gas Check (LFNGC) bullet mold made for me by Veral Smith at LBT. The solid top receiver of the marlin allows scope mounting and I can shoot 2 inch groups at 100 yards with it.

Normally I stay with iron sights on a lever gun, but for load testing I will mount a scope for added precision. That way I can eliminate the variable of my aging eyes, and more clearly discern the accuracy potential of a given bullet/load.
 
For plinking I run 250 gr RNFP 14 BHN either Lee Alox. Or more recently I have been powder coating. It is usually loaded over 700-X at max SAA charges. This bullet is a Lee 6- cavity mold.

For hunting I run a Keith style bullet in a large hollow point configuration with a gas check, this bullet is a custom mould. It runs 16-18 BHN and I dip the lower 1\3 in water to get a harder base/shank. It is loaded over H-110 or IMR-4227, depending what I can find. H-110 is better as in cleaner with more velocity. Either way it clocks out of my Win 94 20" at 1800-1900 FPS and 1200-1300 FPS out of my 5.5" blackhawk.

Accuracy of the rifle is about 2" at 100 yards and pistol is 2.5" at 50 yards. I did load all the way up too 2050 FPS out of the rifle but lost accuracy past the 1900 FPS mark.

It is devastating on Kansas deer out too 125 yards (field proven)
 
Last edited:
1TwistedGimp said:
You all have been kind enough to help me over the years and again I find myself in need.

FIL recently gifted me a Rossi 92 ranch hand in .45 Colt and id like to reload for it but id also like to cast my own bullets. I know I can buy a mold but which one?
I have access to literally a ton of ingots made from wheel weights from the FIL's tractor pulling days but will I need to make an alloy or will the wheel weight ingot be sufficiently hard enough?

I have been told to steer clear of round nose bullets in a tubular magazine over the years so I guess that profile is out for casting. That leads me to the question "Why did I ever load my old 30-30?". If it was ok in a 30-30 why is it dangerous in a .45 Colt? I only ask cause I have a couple hundred LRN .45 that I took in trade just laying around but I prefer to err on the side of caution. I guess I could reload them and only use two at a time in the Rossi.

What mold am I looking for, I'm thinking a 6 cavity just so I don't have to spend all day casting but again I'm clueless here. I know id like a 250ish gr weight but not sure what I should be looking at as far as molds, lead and money really aren't an issue as far as getting more bullets per lb of lead or which mold to purchase. I'm looking to make heavy hitting loads but not something that will go straight through a bear lengthwise :D.

Seems like casting is going to nearly as interesting as reloading. I personally refuse to pay $35.00 per 20 rounds to shoot this Rossi.

1TG
Click to expand...
I would urge you to start slowly and work into this casting. With a bottom pour pot and a 2 cavity mould you can cast a couple hundred bullets in an hour or so. Also using certified alloy is a better way to get started because you know what you're dealing with in the pot.
My favored 45 colt moulds are the Lee 250 gr swc, and the RCBS 250 KT.
Ps don't sweat buying and using a lubrisizer. They are pretty handy things to have around.
 
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