Anybody reload a 330 Gould hollow point in 45-60 or 45-70?

[southfork]

I like the idea of a cast lead .458 hollow point Gould bullet in a 45-60 or a 45-70 hunting round, BUT the 330 grain Gould bullet appears to have the crimping groove too far down the bullet. For lever actions like the 1876 and 1886, with their tubular magazines, a good crimp is needed, and I am speculating that the OAL of either cartridge will be too long to cycle using the the crimp groove on the bullet. Am I wrong? How do you make these bullets work? Do you have to shorten the brass casing a little to get the crimp in the crimp groove?

[Hobie]

Load over BP an crimp over the front band. Well, that's what I do in the .45-75.

[EdinCT]

I have with fair results. It casts a little small for my rifle. However if loaded over black powder it will bump up and the fact that it lacks a crimp grove is fine because the powder stops the bullet from pushing into the case and is crimped over the shoulder of the bullet to stop it from walking out.
Also pufflon filler will do the same for smokeless or a lee factory crimp die works also.
Its on my revisit list in the future.

[Tycer]

What they said. The Gould has no crimp groove. Crimp over the front band for a case of black or into the front band for smokeless.

[Old Ironsights]

As above. Only I load mine over 2400 for .45-70. (won't cite the load without my loadbook, but it came from an older Lyman IIRC...)

[Cast Bullet Hunter]

The Gould bullet was designed before smokeless powder and was, obviously, intended for Black Powder only. With Black the charge is compressed and supports the bullet, there is no crimp groove. Seat to the top band and crimp as Hobie said,

[TedH]

Cast them soft too. When cast from wheelweights, they will be quite explosive, even at BP velocities. I fired one cast from wheelweights into a 12" block of ballistic gel, at 1500 fps. The front 2/3 of the bullet fragmented, and the remaining disc shaped base of the bullet only weighed about 100 gr.

[QCI Winchesters]

I load it over BP for my Springfield, and used to load it in my original Marlin 1895. Never had issues until I loaded some with smokeless. As mentioned by someone else, cast them of soft lead. Harder bullets either fragment, or else don't expand at all.

[southfork]

Would pure lead be too soft? I've got a 50 Lb billet of that. I had planned on casting wheel weight lead, but based on your suggestions I'll go with softer lead.

[Tycer]

Would pure lead be too soft? I've got a 50 Lb billet of that. I had planned on casting wheel weight lead, but based on your suggestions I'll go with softer lead.

http://www.hollowpointmold.com/expansion-results/
http://www.rotometals.com/Bullet-Casting-Alloys-s/5.htm
http://www.lasc.us/castbulletalloy.htm

[siberian505]

I've shot this bullet quite a bit in the 45 Colt, loaded to 1200 fps. Cast them with a pure lead nose and a tire weight base. Expanded well on jackrabbits, dont remember what else we shot with them. My mold casts a .460 diameter bullet and they are accurate in my Trapdoor. with black powder and BlackHorn 209.

[Old Ironsights]

I've shot this bullet quite a bit in the 45 Colt, loaded to 1200 fps. Cast them with a pure lead nose and a tire weight base. Expanded well on jackrabbits, dont remember what else we shot with them. My mold casts a .460 diameter bullet and they are accurate in my Trapdoor. with black powder and BlackHorn 209.

I'm assuming you spent a good amount of time sizing it down from .460 to .454/.452?

[Old Ironsights]

As above. Only I load mine over 2400 for .45-70. (won't cite the load without my loadbook, but it came from an older Lyman IIRC...)

To quote Lyman 47th Ed.:

#457122 HP, 322gr (#2 alloy) 2.550 OAL: "For 1886 Win & 1895 Marlin Only"

2400 21.0gr (+polyester fill) 1293 fps, 14200 C.U.P. (*note: by Lyman, the Trapdoor maxes at 17000 CUP*)
2400 28.0gr (+ poly fill) 1640 fps, 25000 CUP. *max load by Lyman*

FYI: THESE LOADS WERE REMOVED BY LYMAN 49... *IMO* not because they are "bad", but because they actually require one to pay enough attention to rour reloads to not blow up your gun...

MY load is 24gr with no fill... and it seems to work just fine in my Guide Gun and did work fine in my '86.

(FWIW, I shoot 2400 in virtually every caliber I have. It may not be "optimal" but it works, and keeps me from collecting random pounds of "powder X, Y & Z"... and DO have almost 16lbs of 2400)