Lee mould for 45/70

[mandoman]

For a Black Hills Pedersoli Remington Rolling Block in 45/70. Is not the bullet a .459 ? Lee has several moulds 405 gr. through 450 gr. that I'am interested in.
Only when you get to their 500 gr. mould do you get to the .459. Will the .457 bullet work in the Pedersoli  ?

[Graybeard]

This IS NOT the Classifieds. It's a DISCUSSION Forum not a buy, sell, trade forum. Take it off line or to the Classfieds.  ALL posts not discussion related HAVE BEEN DELETED.

I'd not want to try .457" bullets myself unless very soft or having a hollow base to bump up. You'd need to slug the barrel to be sure but I'd go with either .459" or at the least .458". I'd expect a lot of leading at .457".

[ds7418]

Sorry about that,, it won't happen again. Thanks for a great forum.
 Dewayne

[Freightman]

I have had good results with the LEE 405 HB mold, also the 450 GC mold didn't have as good luck with the 500g pointed with PB.

[Idaho Ron]

My Lee 405 Hollow base only throws 385. Anybody know why? How heavy are yours?  Ron

[Castaway]

Idaho Ron, what's your alloy?

[Freightman]

You are right 375g but I use range scrap mostly with 10% pure lead. Still shoots well, I also have good results from a Lyman 300g PB.

[Idaho Ron]

Castaway, The lead I am using is soft. I don't know the exact ratio but they are REAL soft.  The same lead in a 250 gr LEE REAL throws 252 gr. The 475 gr whitworth throws 475 to 476. The 405 lee Hollow base throws up to 386. I just weighed some.  Ron

[Castaway]

Idaho Ron, if it's soft, seems to me the mould is slightly undersized, either in diameter or depth or both.  If it shoots ok, I wouldn't worry about it.  Anything killed by a 405 grain bullet will also die with one 20 grains lighter.

[Idaho Ron]

To be honest I am not disappointed with it. The soft lead ones go down good but they don't have The taper to them that makes them load good in a muzzleloader. I am thinking about sizing them to .455 or .454 or something like that. My Whitworth mould is supposed to throw .457 but it is .455, They go down good.  The Lee 405 measures .457, if they were a little smaller in Dia it would help getting them started. The .455 Whitworth start good even when I use lead from lead shot. Those bullets are much harder and the Whitworth bullets that are poured hard like that are hard to load but MAN they shoot GOOD! I get 1.25" groups at 100 yards. The soft lead is between 1.5" and 2" at 100 yards.
 The Lee 405's shoot 2" at 100 yards. I would like to make them harder and size them down a bit. I like this rifle so far for target shooting.   Ron