Casting .45 bullets

What is the best mould for .45 bullseye ?

H&G 68 200gr LSWC is popular

Also H&G 130.  The SAECO equivalent is #130 and 069 for the H&G 130 and 68 respectively.  The SAECO 068 has a bevel base which some like and some don't.  If your going to cast bullets for bullseye, it is more expensive and requires additional skills.  For starters you need two identical moulds and handles.  You should also have two 20 pound bottom pour pots.  Two moulkds are used.  While one is being poured the other is cooling.  When the first is poured, you pick up the second, cut the sporues dump the close and repour.  repeat the process.

You also need supplemental means of lead melting so you have consistent alloys.  You need a large pot because you'll be casting a lot of ingots.  

A couple of decade ago, a friend and I got 2000 pounds of miscellaneous alloys of lead and lead given to us at a very good price.  It took us three days to refine and blend the lead alone.  Then the casting could begin.  That took an additional 3 weeks.  Then we had to run them thru a Star sizer.   I'm still shooting some of them but the level of effort needed was astonishing.   

You can buy a LOT of pre cast bullets.

I'm probably going to go with the Lyman 452630. I have a range officer would .452 be the best size?

Flytrap1 wrote:I'm probably going to go with the Lyman 452630. I have a range officer  would .452 be the best size?

Slug the barrel and measure. You then can get a bullet sizing die to match.

The Lyman 452630 is the most accurate for me. But when lube/sizing with my Lyman 450, lube is left on the bevel. It needs to be wiped  off.  Size to  .452"      

Lee makes an aluminum 6 cavity 200 grain LSWC mold that is a copy of the H&G 68. It works well in my gun.

yes .452 works well in national match spec barrels.

Having great results from an Accurate mold 45-200HB, basically an H&G 68

1) RCBS 452-201-SW
2) H&G 68
Fired as-cast and tumble lubed.

Magma Engineering has a variety of good molds for .45. All the way down to 155grs if you want. The drawback is that they are two cavity for their casting machines. They can be ordered to fit RCBS mold handles and usually there is a bevel or related flat base in each design. If you want a high quality mold with more cavities, I have had very good luck with NOE molds. They sometimes are not as readily available but they are very good and every one of them I have is a joy to use. If you are really going to cast enough to compete, do yourself a favor and get a Magma- Star lube-sizer with all the accessories. You will crank through 1000 bullets very quickly. I use some PEX tubing to extend the bullet magazine a put a hole in it to put a hex key through to use to hold the bullets in until I get the tube inserted. I pull the key out and the hole becomes a viewing hole to see when the last bullet passes. Keeps things moving right along.

I used a Lee 6 cavity 45 200 SWC. It put out a big pile of really nice and accurate bullets. I have since switched to a magma machine.

I have a Lee 6 cav for their 452-200 copy of the H&G 68.  Have cast about 25K bullets with it.  Good bullet and accurate.  Also used two Lyman double cavity 452460 molds,  good, accurate bullets.  Be careful on using two molds however, my Lymans were about 5 grains different with the same alloy.  If I replace the Lee it will be with a NOE 5 cavity.  The NOE molds are pricey, but have two for rifle bullets and these are works of art, far better than Lee, and rival the best of the other makers.

I have quite a few H&G 68/69 copies. Take a look at Accurate molds which are made to order. I don't recall what his H&G copy is numbered.  The order form asks what you want it to drop at, what alloy (WW, #2, etc) so it drops correctly. Then, brass, aluminum, or iron.
Seems it was about $150 for a 5 cavity aluminum. A higher quality than most molds.

I prefer the H&G 69 myself, which is flat base, the same bullet with a bevel base is a 68.

I have the Lee 6 cavity, which works fine also, but takes a little tweeking to get them running right.

My H&G 68 is a flat base. Early 1960s.

Shoots great, loads with 5066, original Hi-Skor, 231 & 700-X. Lubes have been NRA 50/50, RCBS, TAC#1 and something  don't remember.

Interesting to see what everyone has luck with. For some reason I just cant get the Lee 200 gr to function in my match guns as well as the other molds. The RCBS version of the Lyman 452460 works very well in my gun but it is a bit tricky to get well cast bullets out of them with those narrow driving bands. I found that a swabbing with a Q-tip dipped in vinegar will clean and degrease them enough to produce first class bullets. There are many tricks and tips that serious bullet casters know to get the best out of their molds so look into the forums on that art to help where needed.

kwix, which Lee 200 is a problem? the short button nose flat base or the H&G68 copy 90310?

if its the flat base, you'll have trouble with any flat base and it isn't the bullet, it's your loading dies. BTDT, can now shoot anything with good results.

want to know more?

Bruce, It's the 200 gr H&G 68 knock off. I have been loading the flat base 200 gr RCBS 201KT on Dillon dies without any trouble. What have you found?

H&G made the 68 in both flat & bevel base, I have both. I still marvel at how well H&G's cast. 

Not sure if KenO was referring to H&G's numbering, but the H&G 69 is a 150 grain 270 cal.

There's a few really good mold manufacturer's out there now.  Accurate being one of them, NOE, & Mihec to name some.

Al

NOE makes a hollow point version of the H&G 68 (flat base). I'm not sure what the weight is using the hollow point pins but I would suspect it's around 185 gr.   I have a few of their moulds and they all are first rate products. Al is a good guy to deal with too if you have any questions or special needs. It's nice to be able to go right to the source. Eric at Magma is the same way.

What I found was instigated by discussions on case bulges in loaded rounds, reduced diameters of soft swaged bullets simply by seating them in a too small case, older reloaders commenting on Star dies and on using the larger but older 45 colt resizers etc etc plus the Masaki seater that is like an upside down water glass that seats by the bullet shoulder so any bullet can be properly seated without adjusting the plug. Flat base bullets that didnt start to seat straight wiped the edge of the bullet base causing loss of accuracy. All that said, I use a Hornady 454 casull die to get less case resizing and no bullet bulge. I can now get excellent Ransom Rest groups with flat base bullets whereas previously, I couldn't.

You can try this for free by testing unsized cases. Use some larger die to deprime.The taper crimp 0.463 to 0.469 max holds the bullet in place. Then you can decide if you want different dies. brass brand matters too; Federal was 11 mil wall, Rem and Win are around 9. This changed the interference fit of the bullet in a sized casing

comments?

regards

I would think that all of what you posted is perfectly true and valid, especially with soft, swaged bullets. What I have found recently is that brass I had not had any trouble with suddenly started to have problems going into battery after being reloaded. Some of that brass was 20-25 years old and had been reloaded many times but usually fired in a 1911 and most likely in one of my own guns. Later I acquired more once fired WWC brass from range days at the police department where I worked. Some of my old brass was swapped out for the newer brass, a good percentage of which had been fired in Glocks. Checking the problem rounds with a cartridge gauge, I found that they all seemed to be off just a slight amount right at the rim. Not up above the extractor groove but the thickness of the rim was where the problem seemed to be. Inserting the rim into the gauge first didn't seem to indicate a problem with the rim dimensions either. I ordered a good deal of Starline brass and that all worked well and had no problems. I cleaned the old brass and processed it through a Lee "bulge buster". All of these rounds are being loaded on a Dillon 550B with new Dillon carbide dies and I replaced the expander powder funnel with a new example for the .45ACP that has the high polish finish and the more gradual radius at the point it bells the case. The seater in the new dies is a two sided affair that seats round nose on one side and generic SWC on the other. I use the round nose regardless because it seems to align the bullets without marking them as the SWC side does. When I get my lathe up and running I will make myself a shoulder seater for each of the SWCs that I cast. Since I only use cast bullets of harder alloy or jacketed I'm not quite as worried about swaging down the bullets in an overly sized case. I find that the Dillon funnel/bell mouth unit does a good job of evenly forming the case mouth but if I get too cautious about belling and the bullets are tippy in the case I will sometime get one that is visibly seated off center. I don't know if Dillon makes a powder funnel that would expand to a larger dia. as in the older .45 Colt rounds but I bet the info. is in their specs for the spare parts. The ACP funnel inserts deep enough into the case that the rounded nose is down where the base of the bullet would be when the case bells. Maybe a custom one would be in order. I know that case tension can be a real problem loading for service rifle and you can even deform jacketed bullets if the neck is too tight so I'm sure the same is more than possible for lead rounds. We tend to shoot pistol cases to failure and think that any changes are not enough to effect performance. I have been seeing that all of the rounds that seem to look off center are among the old brass and not among the new Starline cases. I'm wondering if work hardening of the case might be accounting for some of that. The rounds processed through the bulge buster and reloaded seem to be able to shoot knothole groups in the X and 10 ring from a rest at 25 so I don't have a complaint about them right now. The cases do seem to be straighter having come out of my 1911 this time. I will have to shoot some more before I can comment more on them. The other thing I changed is the crimp. I took that down to .469 and that seems to help the feeding also.