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I did receive my new Lee .452-200SWC bullet mold and I was able to cast around 475 boolits. Preparing the mold was a cinch, but I had trouble with the spout adjustment screw and the height set adjustment screw. Basically took a lot longer and was a bit messier than my last castings (.356-124TC & .358-158swc). And I was able to get my first feel of 650 degrees of hot molten lead- literaly!

I'm going to go to the range today and test them. I have the 45s loaded with 4.1 grains of HClays, OAL of 1.235, CCI 300s, and PMC cases (.890 in length +.009). I'll shoot around 100 rounds and then I'll try 25 rounds of 4.3 grains of HClays with the same specs minus Federal cases with CCI 500 primers.

I'm waiting for a Blue Norther I hate casting in hot weather. It's always something I do when it's too cold and wet to be outside. Nice looking boolets guys.

Thanks MoJo.I like that the weather has been a bit cooler. Andy, it was good to visit today!

v-rog wrote:I did receive my new Lee .452-200SWC bullet mold . . . I'm going to go to the range today and test them. I have the 45s loaded with 4.1 grains of HClays, OAL of 1.235,

I can't tell from the picture. Were you casting the the mold with regular lube grooves or the tumble lube design?

I assume from the 1.235" OAL it is not the tumble lube design. Hope they feed well in your gun. . . .

With Andy's assistance, I adjusted my 45 ACP rounds from an OAL of 1.235 to an OAL of 1.185 and the bullets cycle better. Yes, I use the Lee tumble lube. Maybe one day I 'll be able to afford a "RCBS Lube-a-matic"...but for now Lee Alox is my best friend.

v-rog wrote:. . . I adjusted my 45 ACP rounds from an OAL of 1.235 to an OAL of 1.185 and the bullets cycle better.

That is why I was asking. 1.235 is too long for the Lee tumble lube design. It will jam the lead shoulder into the rifling and prevent the gun from properly going into battery. OAL of 1.185" is better. I couldn't get 1.185" to feed in my gun (too short), and got rid of that mold.

Basically, in a LSW design, you want about 0.030" showing of lead shoulder above the case rim.

The Lee design really has a squat nose, which leads to the shorter OAL length. I had people arguing with me that a 200 gr LSWC should be loaded to 1.245", but they weren't taking into account the nose profile.

For example, the Lyman 200 gr is closer to the classic H&G design. I took this picture illustrate the difference is design:



Loaded rounds, Lyman on left, Lee on right:

Jumping Frog wrote:

v-rog wrote:. . . I adjusted my 45 ACP rounds from an OAL of 1.235 to an OAL of 1.185 and the bullets cycle better.

That is why I was asking. 1.235 is too long for the Lee tumble lube design. It will jam the lead shoulder into the rifling and prevent the gun from properly going into battery. OAL of 1.185" is better. I couldn't get 1.185" to feed in my gun (too short), and got rid of that mold.

Basically, in a LSW design, you want about 0.030" showing of lead shoulder above the case rim.

The Lee design really has a squat nose, which leads to the shorter OAL length. I had people arguing with me that a 200 gr LSWC should be loaded to 1.245", but they weren't taking into account the nose profile.

For example, the Lyman 200 gr is closer to the classic H&G design. I took this picture illustrate the difference is design:



Loaded rounds, Lyman on left, Lee on right:

J.F. Wish I'd had the benefit of your post a year ago. I ended up having to run around 300 loaded rounds through the Dillon again to seat the boolits further down in the case. That was after about 10 FTF's from my shiney new loads in a row due to that shoulder stopping the slide from going to battery.

Regards,

Gerry

Gyrogearhead wrote:J.F. Wish I'd had the benefit of your post a year ago. I ended up having to run around 300 loaded rounds through the Dillon again to seat the boolits further down in the case. That was after about 10 FTF's from my shiney new loads in a row due to that shoulder stopping the slide from going to battery.

Well, we all live & learn, sometimes the hard way. Re-doing rounds is a lot better problem to have than having KaBoom's, at least.

The guys over at TheHighRoad.org reloading forum were a big help to me figuring it out.