Double Duty .45 Caliber.

[USSR]

My newest mold from MP Molds in Slovenia arrived this week. I guess it's my Christmas present to myself. So, today I fired up the casting pot and went thru 9# of my alloy in no time. This mold casts easier than any of my previous MP molds. All I have to do is slide the Cramer hollowpoint pins out from the mold, and the bullets drop off the pins all on their own. The deep round hollowpoint bullets ended up weighing 220 grains after sizing and lubing, while the pentagon hollowpoints weigh 222 grains. Now for the test; would these bullets function in my Series 70 Gold Cup. I seated them so that there was a thumb nail thickness of the front driving band extending past the mouth of the case and then taper crimped it. I was happy to find they fed just fine, despite their enormous meplat. Next up; using them for .45 Colt loads. Nice to have a bullet that can do double duty.

Don

 

[midland man]

nice looking bullets!!

 

[PCFlorida]

Great looking bullets. I got out of casting 25 years ago when I moved from NYS to Florida. Sold all my casting gear and tons (literally) of lead. I've been thinking about getting back into it. When you have time can you tell us about your casting setup? Which molds, lead pot, heater and so forth? Merry Christmas!

 

[USSR]

When you have time can you tell us about your casting setup? Which molds, lead pot, heater and so forth? Merry Christmas!

Sure. Just got a new casting furnace after 35 years with the Lee Drip-O-Matic. It's the Lyman Mag 25, and so far I really like it. All the molds I've bought in the last couple of years have been Miha's brass molds from Slovenia. Here is what I have in .45 caliber in addition to the one above. For the .45 ACP, I have his .452-200 hollowpoint shown here:

Nice mold that comes with both the round and pentagon hollowpoint tips that produce ~200 grain bullets.

Then, for my .45 Colt deer gun (6 inch S&W 25-5), the 454-270SAA shown here:

This one is a hollowpoint version of the RCBS .45-270SAA designed by Dave Scoville. It is devastating on deer sized game when cast of an alloy designed to expand at 1000 - 1100 fps, which is my deer load. This is the beauty of casting your own. You match your alloy to your intended velocity/pressure. No more super hard and wrong diameter bullets from the commercial casters.

Don

 

[Walkalong]

As usual, very nice looking bullets. No wonder you like those molds.

 

[PCFlorida]

Nice write-up, thank you for taking the time.