casting 45 acp bullets

[davidtx]

I'm planning to start reloading and casting bullets for my 1911. I'm looking at the Lee 6-cavity molds, but not sure how to pick a bullet style and weight. I'll be using these for range shooting.

Thanks,
-davidtx

[threoh8]

I don't cast, but I do like to shoot cast bullets through my .45. The H&G #68 200 grain semiwadcutter with a bevelled base is my favorite. Accurate, easy to handle, and it cuts clean holes. Lee's 452-200-SWC looks similar. 90310 is the six-cavity version of the mold.

[MoJo]

I like the 230 gr round nose bullet the TL452-230-2R shoots very well in my guns. Cast from Wheel Weights they weigh about 220 - 225 gr. The TL452-200 is another fine bullet it is a 200 gr SWC. Lee makes some great bullet molds and their tumble lube bullets are a great innovation. I have two and six cavity Lee molds in .30, .38, 9mm, .40 and .45 yes, I like them.

[davidtx]

Apart from the casting itself, have you given any thought to how you're planning on lube-sizing them?

A little. I saw your post where you used the case to remove your bullets from the solidified lube. I need to go back and re-read and do more research.

[boomstick]

The 200 gr. SWC's feed well in my Colt but it was set up to shoot them for IDPA by my smithy. Both of my sons have 1911's (a Springfield Armory and a RIA) and they do not feed these rounds well. I assume the smithy polished the feedramp on my gun somewhat. Their guns like a steady diet of 230 gr. roundnose.

Warning... getting into reloading can become an obsessive compulsion! You can never have enough dies, case polishers or presses.

[davidtx]

The 200 gr. SWC's feed well in my Colt but it was set up to shoot them for IDPA by my smithy. Both of my sons have 1911's (a Springfield Armory and a RIA) and they do not feed these rounds well. I assume the smithy polished the feedramp on my gun somewhat. Their guns like a steady diet of 230 gr. roundnose.

Warning... getting into reloading can become an obsessive compulsion! You can never have enough dies, case polishers or presses.

Yeah, I know. I was helping my dad reload wildcat rifle ammo back in the 60's. Both of my brothers reload, one is a world record bench rest shooter. None of them ever got into pistol reloading though. And somehow I managed to dodge the disease until my mid 50's...

[ghostrider]

I'm starting to think about casting too. Where do ya'll get your lead for casting? Wheel weights, other scrap, or do you buy lead ingots from somewhere?

[MoJo]

I use wheel weights and scrap. You can buy pre-alloyed ingots but the savings are diminished

[boomstick]

Interesting story on where I got my scrap lead...

My dad came across a pile of hundreds of 2' x 3' squares of pure lead next to a RR track in the middle of the new mexico desert in the 50's. Each one had one side painted with green OD military paint and a tack hole in each corner where a nail had been.

He asked the local law enforcement what they were for and the sherrif said they were probably a protective coating on some buildings that the army had constructed for nuclear tests but had never used. The buildings were torn down, the lead scrapped and put next to the RR tracks presumably to be hauled off. That never happened and they sat forgotten for years.

My father hauled off as many squares as his old car could carry and we have had more lead to cast with than could be used in his lifetime and probably mine also. He remembered that there were close to 500 of these squares. He managed to haul off about 30 or so.

I spent many happy days as a young man with my dad melting the squares into ingots and learning how to reload.

I can honestly say that other than a few boxes of 30-06 deer hunting ammo, Both my dad and me have never shot any ammo thru our guns other than what we had cast and reloaded ourselves.

Shooting is fun but there is also great pleasure to be had in crafting your own ammo to take to the range. I can set my press up on a portable fold-down workbench and make ammo while I am relaxing with the family or glancing at my favorite show on TV.

In the winter, when weather is just too crummy to go to the outdoor range, nothing passes the time better than a couple of hours casting new shiny "boolits".

1. make ammo
2. shoot the ammo
3. make more ammo...

[quoheleth]

Hmmm...I have a Springer Loaded and a Rock Island Compact that love lead SWC 185gr bullets. I haven't tried the 200gr SWC yet. But both guns feed anything,from SWCs to "flying ashtrays" to ball to LRN.

A 1911-wise fellow told me, once, that if your gun will feed an empty, sized case from magazine into the chamber it'll run anything. So far, he's been spot-on with my guns.

If you want to try various profiles before investing in moulds, check my buddy Brad at http://www.missouribullet.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - great bullets, great prices, great service.

Q

[Doc K]

This works for me:

Lee 6 cavity 200gr tumble lube semi-wadcutter (TL452-200-SWC )
De-greased with Brake Cleaner.
Lube hinges with paraffin.
Smoke (the mold) with a kitchen match.
My alloy is clip on WWs, with stick-on WWs, with a little Tin solder (95% Tin spool from Grainger close-out)
Flux with pine sawdust.
The bullets fill out the mold beautifully.
I lube with Lee Alox. (Warm up the bullets slightly and gently tumble with the Alox in a clear plastic jug)
Lee .452 Sizing kit on my LnL press. (Straight-from-the mold wouldn't work in my gun)
I couldn't believe it when I started, but I have zero leading.