Thoughts on this bullet, for .45 Colt?

[Bill in Oregon]

I am kind of favoring this mold for an all-around hunting and long-range plinker in a Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Colt. Whatcha think, friends?

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_det ... 300G-D.png

[Old Savage]

Looks good to me depending on accuracy in you gun.

[Merle]

Looks good, but your gun will have to make the final decision.....

[jeepnik]

300 gr is a good heavy bullet.

[piller]

I like the heavy bullets in my 4 5/8 inch barrel Blackhawk. They are more accurate than I am, and with muzzle velocity around 900 fps will go through anything I am likely to hunt. 300 to 325 grains are not common for the .45 Colt, but I like them.

[Bill in Oregon]

Doing a little more research, the Accurate catalog listing notes that this mold was inspired by the out-of-production Lyman 454629 that was designed by Dick Casull for his .454. John Taffin reported fine accuracy out to 700 yards with the Lyman in a Freedom Arms .454 using the .45 Colt load.

https://americanhandgunner.com/handload ... gun-loads/

[earlmck]

I have a very similar bullet from Lee that casts up 315 grains for me. My 454 Casull in the Rossi lever doesn't like it much which I have been blaming on the stoopid slow pitch rifling our gunmakers insist on putting on the rifle models. I don't have a revolver that would use the bullet so can't say anything about that. It certainly looks like it would be somewhere in the good to great category for revolver use.

If I were shooting it out of a 45 Colt I would prefer a plain-based version though if I thought I would use it in full-blown 454 loads sometime in the future I'd certainly stick with that gas check. I was never able to detect an accuracy benefit from the gas check in my revolver shooting, probably because I was never a good enough shot to detect the difference. Good chance that bullet would shoot fine without attaching the gas check, and depending on how you lube them leaving off the check may or may not be a PIA.

[Bill in Oregon]

Thanks Earl! Glad to hear from you.
I was looking at that very reasonably priced Lee 452-300 RF, but after reading reviews and comments over at Cast Boolits, I was not sure it was consistently accurate out to 100 unless you really kept close track of your alloy. It seemed to do fine for some shooters, and others couldn't get it to shoot.

[JimT]

I used some of these back in the day. They shot well in the 454. The meplat is large enough they were good on game also. If you are not going to use the bullet for killing game but want long range accuracy and velocity retention, a more pointed/rounded nose without a flat is much better. I had LBT make up a long range bullet much like the 457191 except the nose was rounded instead of flat. It weighed around 320 I think it was. At 900 fps it was excellent for reaching out 800 yards or so and was very accurate. It was not intended nor ever used for hunting. But it was fun shooting targets at extreme ranges.

[Bill in Oregon]

Jim, thanks for your thoughts on this. I can see how the LFNS and WFNS would certainly suffer from poor B.C. at distance. I got to thinking about all of this stuff after reading your post about sizing down the .457191 for LR work in the Colt.

[JimT]

The LFN's from LBT actually do pretty well at long distances. The WFN's have to be pushed really hard to get long range accuracy. I was shooting a 5 gallon bucket at 300 yards with the LFN's from the 454. They were accurate enough to hit it. The problem was, I wasn't always as accurate as the load I was shooting! BUT .. the WFN's would not stay in a 10 foot circle at that distance unless I ran them as hard as I could. I had to get them up around 1500 fps from the 7 1/2" Freedom Arms before the accuracy improved. Blunt bullets kill well. They do not fly as well as the more aerodynamic bullets. At normal hunting ranges however the WFN's work really well.

[gundownunder]

I would be inclined to drop the gas check, as even in a rifle there is probably not enough velocity to justify it. There certainly isn't in a .357 rifle, even at 1700 fps.
I'd opt for a smaller meplat to make the bullet more streamlined, unless you want the extra meplat for killing power.
Accurate will customize the mold to your requirements, so work out your optimum OAL and get them to put the crimp groove exactly where it needs to be for perfect cycling and maximum powder space.
As a starting point with an added bevel base to help with streamlining and seating, I would probably go with either the http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_det ... 295A-D.png or http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_det ... 280B-D.png

[marlinman93]

Not a fan of heavy bullets in my .45 Colt handguns. I've had great results with 200 gr. cast bullets, and that's about all I cast or shoot in mine.