ROA Hunting Conicals

[rodwha]

I'm considering a mold for hunting conicals (hogs n such). I want an affordable mold that can be sent to my door for under $100. I believe Accurate may make a mold that may work (but I don't like their FN design, which is very small), and there may be others as well.

These are the 3 I've been eyeing:

Lee's 220 grn RN conical. It's very cheap! And the RN profile likely wouldn't get marred by the ram.

Kaido's 240 grn FN. From a video by Mr. Beliveau thses don't take up any more powder capacity then the Lee's, but get a little higher velocity despite being heavier. I like the FN profile for hunting, though I'm not sure it's that much better than the RN.

Kaido's 255 grn FN. Even better penetration properties, but less expansion I'd guess.

Kaido's molds are custom Lee 255 grn FN with 6 cavities. They cost about 4 times what Lee's conicals cost.

It seems RB's do well in general for hunting as long as the range is kept short (~25 yds), and give very good expansion. So it seems maybe a heavy bullet makes more sense.

Is there something else I should consider?

 

[wap41]

I understand Lee's R.E.A.L. mold makes bullets that work pretty good,the mould costs about $30.

 

[woodnbow]

JMO but at handgun velocities you won't be able to count on expansion to any great extent. That leaves a large flat meplat followed by enough weight to give you a long straight wound channel. That of course is the classic Keith pattern which Kaido follows. The meplat doesn't give you anything in the way of expansion compared to the round nose but the pressure wave in front of the bullet is significantly wider (High speed cameras have shown this) which in turn provides greater tissue disruption and better killing power. I've killed lots and lots of small game with the CCI SGB flat point and side by side comparison with hi-vel round nose bullets shows that there is no comparison between round nose and flat point at velocities in the range we can expect from our Rugers... BP revolvers aren't legal for deer and elk in Colorado but for many years I've used the Keith style semi wadcutters in .45 Colt, .41 and .44 Mag with very good results. IMO there is no better bullet design for these "standard" revolvers.

Long winded to be sure but if I planned on using the Old Army as my go to hunting gun I'd buy a mold for the 255 grain Kaido bullet. Work up a load with Triple7 or Swiss and never look back, honestly don't thing there's anything out there that'd be better.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Never tried any of them. However, I lean towards bigger is better.

 

[toolslinger]

I have also had this in mind so I contacted Kiado yesterday. He is out of the bullet molds you mentioned and states that Lee won't be able to make any more till December '13. I went ahead and ordered 50 of each weight to test in my ROA so I can decide which mold I want in the future.

 

[rodwha]

I bought 100 of his 240 grn version, and I have a few of the 255 grn bullets too, which I have yet to try out.

Kaido casts these a little harder than pure (7-11 BHN), and I figured maybe the 240 grn version, going a little faster, ought to give a little bit of expansion compared to the 255 grn bullets.

I asked those with experience at what point the ability for expansion dropped off for RBs to which the reply was around 800 fps.

Though the Lee conical is cheap it just doesn't feel right. And these may also end up being bear bullets too (black). 220 grns just sounds a little light.

 

[swathdiver]

You don't need expansion with Kaido's bullets. They are going to make two giant holes in whatever you hit, one in and one out.

 

[Vermonter]

I've shot Kaido's 255g conicals right through 8inch spruce trees with 35g of 777.

No creep like I've had with other conicals; they shave a nice ring when loaded.

 

[rodwha]

Vermonter: Is that 35 grn charge with an OEM cylinder? If so do you have much room between the cylinder mouth and bullet?

It was recommended to me to try 35 and 40 grn charges of T7 with the 240 grn version, but when I dropped 40 grns I couldn't seat the bullet deep enough and had to use my pocket knife to cut the tip off so it would rotate.

I've had the 240 grn bullets ride off of the charge a couple of times using 35 grns of 3F T7. I ordered them because the largest band was .456" and the 255 grn version are .460", and I figured they'd work better with less stress on the loading lever. Maybe the 255 grn version would stay in place better.

 

[rodwha]

I see 4 votes for "other" and only one who mentioned a REAL. What other projectile mold should I consider and why?

 

[toolslinger]

Found this yesterday
http://www.biglube.com/BulletMolds.aspx?ItemID=09d6fdda-c105-4c87-b269-68ebfdaba982

 

[rodwha]

The link doesn't work, but I figure you are looking at Dick Dastardly's 210 grn FN bullet for BP.

It looks interesting, but I'm unsure why such a large lube groove. It's much larger than many others.

I do like that it claims to work in all diameters of cap n ball as I have a ROA, but need an Uberti 1858 and Walker. Maybe even an 1860.

 

[toolslinger]

Weird that that link don't work. I just copied and pasted the webpage address??
Yes that is the bullet I was trying to link to.
Near as I can figure more lube equals softer powder fouling and possibly less leading?

 

[Patocazador]

I use a standard .452 Lee 255 gr. SWC and squeeze the bullets slightly in a vise to expand them so they shave lead upon loading. That way I don't need to buy another mold and can also use it for centerfire .45 bullets when casting with harder lead.