OT - RCBS 45-270-SAA Mold

[Idiot]

I want to cast a bullet to use in the Ruger New Vaquero 45 Colt. The mould I want to use is from the RCBS 45-270-SAA 270 grain flat nose bullet mould. I've heard good things about this bullet when used in the SAA and its clones. I have two questions:

Have any of you used this bullet in a long gun and how did it perform?

Have any of you used this bullet cast soft (near or with pure lead) and how did it perform?

Thanks for any responses.

[Hobie]

SWCs don't feed well in most leverguns in which I've tried them and so I gave up on that bullet form in leverguns. I have used it in a revolver and it is all that and then some.

[O.S.O.K.]

I have no personal experience with this bullet design. However, I can tell you that it was designed by Dave Scovill of Handload/Rifle mags and he's written about it. You may check that out and see if there's information that you want there. Or write/email Dave.

Semi-wadcutters feed fine in my Marlin Cowboy.

[Don McDowell]

I have not used that bullet in the 45. I do however own the older style 255 KT RCBS mold. It's quite similar to Scovills design. The bullet feeds fine in my winchester 94 trapper, but if it were the width of a hair longer it would be to long for the New type Vaquero, those big ol long noses come clear out to the end of the cylinder throats. Might be good if you could get ahold of a few of those bullets to try in your NV before springing for the mold.

[Idiot]

Good advice guys. I just automatically assumed that a bullet designed for a Colt SAA would fit in the Ruger SAA clone; oops.

I was wondering about the feeding problem associated with SWC bullets. This is a consideration should I decide to pick-up a lever action rifle; and I might so want to keep that option open. Until then the rifle I'll be shooting them out of is a Handi-Rifle with a paradox barrel - hence the soft bullet question.

I tend toward the Keith style SWC bullets instead of the LBTs simply because the SWC seems to stabilize better throughout the velocity range, especially lower velocities.

THANKS

[DerekR]

That b ullet works great in my Blackhawk and my USFA Rodeo. I'd bet it would work in the NV also.

[kooz]

I have used the 270SAA in a couple of New Vaqueros with good results, using 8.8gr of Unique and the 270SAA they shot to POA for me and shot into less than 1" @ 50ft, basically the same performance from the RCBS 255SWC cast of WW's and 8.5gr Unique. Good luck

[J Miller]

I want to cast a bullet to use in the Ruger New Vaquero 45 Colt. The mould I want to use is from the RCBS 45-270-SAA 270 grain flat nose bullet mould. I've heard good things about this bullet when used in the SAA and its clones. I have two questions:

Have any of you used this bullet in a long gun and how did it perform?

Have any of you used this bullet cast soft (near or with pure lead) and how did it perform?

Thanks for any responses.

Idiot,

I wish you'd sign your name, "Idiot" just bugs me .... sorry.

OK, I have used the RCBS 45-270-SAA bullet in 2 different revolvers, and three different lever action rifles.
>Ruger OM BH 7.5" works great with them.
>S&W 25-5 shoots them OK, but it's got way over sized throats so OK is as good as it gets.

>Winchester 94AE Trapper; feeds them and shoots them like they were round nosed bullets. ZERO problems with feeding. Accuracy is good.
>Marlin 1894 Cowboy; feeds them and shoots them like they were round nosed bullets. ZERO problems with feeding. Accuracy is good.

>Rossi Puma; Had to be worked on just to be able to feed factory ammo, after that it would feed the Keith bullets just fine. Also shot fairly accurately with them.

Those I've bought have been cast from what the caster described as equivalent to Lyman #2. Hard, but not hard like the 92-6-2 alloy most commercial casters used.
I also bought Keith bullets of the same weight but from a different mold from Black River bullets and had him cast them from 16-1 alloy. These work good.
AND, I have my own Lyman 454424 Keith type mold that casts out at 268grs with wheel weights. Shoots lovely.

All of these Keith types were seated out to and crimped in the crimp grove. They might be longer than the standard 1.60 OAL for the .45 Colt, but my guns have more than enough room for the extra bullet.

The one common thing to all these bullets is I buy them sized to .454". This allows for the differences in the various guns I use them in. And both my rifles seem to shoot better with bullets of that diameter.

Why so many folks say their lever guns wont feed or function with SWCs I don't know. Mine work fine with them.

Joe

[Idiot]

Thanks guys for the responses. All of them contain useful information.

J Miller, thanks for your direct mention of how these bullets work in your lever action rifles. I think overall cartridge length plays as large a part in lever action feeding; just as much as bullet profile. I've had some difficulty feeding shorter cartridges with SWC bullets (i.e. 38 Special) but had no feeding problems with the same bullet when used in a longer case (.357 Magnum). Levers that I've owned tended to exhibit the same habit as yours, those that feed well feed everything well and those that didn't had problems feeding everything. Some, like yours, can be fixed. Again, thanks a lot.

[J Miller]

Thanks guys for the responses. All of them contain useful information.

J Miller, thanks for your direct mention of how these bullets work in your lever action rifles. I think overall cartridge length plays as large a part in lever action feeding; just as much as bullet profile. I've had some difficulty feeding shorter cartridges with SWC bullets (i.e. 38 Special) but had no feeding problems with the same bullet when used in a longer case (.357 Magnum). Levers that I've owned tended to exhibit the same habit as yours, those that feed well feed everything well and those that didn't had problems feeding everything. Some, like yours, can be fixed. Again, thanks a lot.

Idiot,

I just thought I'd add just a bit more info for the heck of it.
A couple years ago I got some strange Keith type bullets from a Handloads.com forum member. They came from an old Ohaus mold and have about 2/3s of the bullet outside the case.
When seated to and crimped into the crimp grove the COAL is 1.75". My Win 94AE will function with these, and my OM Ruger BH will chamber them. There is no room for error though, the nose of the bullet is right at the end of the cylinder.
When seated to and crimped over the front driving band the COAL is 1.673" My Marlin 1894 Cowboy and my S&W 25-5 will function and chamber them.
The ammo I had my Rossi altered to feed is loaded with Beartooths 265gr Keith bullet. It has a very large front driving band and large meplat. The COAL with this bullet seated to and crimped in the crimp grove is 1.657". It should chamber in your New Vaquero as it is about the same length as the RCBS bullet you mentioned in your original post.

Joe